Done and Done

Done with my final exam, done with my final HW assignment, and done with my contribution for the group final paper, which means that I'm officially done with my academic responsibilities for the winter quarter!

Earlier in the week, R. flew in and we went to Jerusalem to meet some friends including a GSB alum, and check out the Old City. There were clashes last week between Palestinians and the Israeli police - the Palestinian were protesting construction going on near the Al Aqsa mosque. The mayor of Jerusalem actually went against the government's decision (in local opinion, an idiotic move) and decided to halt the construction, so I was able to go to the Old City without problem. Except that I wasn't able to visit Haram al-Sharif or the Temple Mount area - only Muslims were allowed in for prayer.

From there, we went down to the desert (via a freeway that cuts through the West Bank) to visit Masada (pics now posted) and then stayed at a hotel on the shore of the Dead Sea. It was the strangest feeling floating in the Dead Sea. The water felt oily on the skin, and I was ridiculously buoyant. Once the water gets waist-deep, its hard to stand but impossible to sink. I also had a spa treatment - got slathered in hot Dead Sea mud and wrapped in human-sized saran wrap. I'm not sure how healing it was, but it was certainly fun and a bit weird to lie in a pile of mud, squishing it between my fingers and toes.

I'm now back in Tel Aviv and leaving for the airport in the wee hours tonight. I've heard that you get plenty of grief from immigration when you leave Israel (just like when you come in), so the plan is to get to the airport early. After spending way too much time in a plane, I'll be in Delhi. It will be too short of a stay there, but no complaints. The GSB is sponsoring my trip to interview candidates for the class of 2009. After finishing up my interviews in Delhi with another GSBer C., I fly down to Bangalore and conduct more interviews along with Sloop.

After that, I'm going back to Chicago! I've had an amazing experience here and will give wrap-up thoughts soon, but I'm also looking forward to going back and seeing all of my peeps in Chi-town. WoOt.