No Sleep Allowed

January 24, 2008
The pitting dread and sadness turned into excitement as we drove from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The scenery was beautiful, like I have only before seen in pictures and movies. This excitement quickly dissolved when we got to Hebrew University campus. We were shuttled like cattle from room to disorganized room waiting in line after line getting room assignments and filling out paperwork. All of this after an overnight flight landing at 7am. And so the sleep deprivation continued as we had to stay up for a mandatory Academic Orientation at 4pm, which was pointless because I kept drifting off and didn’t remember a single thing. We finally meandered back to our apartments at 6pm during which I apparently managed to fall asleep while still walking. Back at the apartment I showered, unpacked, almost had a sleep-deprived sad breakdown from looking at pictures, realized that things will be so much better after a good night’s sleep, and went to bed at 9pm. I could not have gotten through this day if I were not with my fellow nurses.