So being here is a little difficult in some aspects- mainly the culture of city israelies (i am trying not to generalize too much).
So, i thought this was just in tel aviv, but in jerusalem too you meet the pushy, rude, unprofessional, stubborn, hard-to-deal with, thinks-everything-is-not-a-big-deal, Israeli. I know I am going to say all these things and offend people but from the people I have met and in the setting i am in i will jsut say this: I dont know how israel functions without falling apart
okay, so basically this all stems from signing up for classes at school. ill preface this by saying that I am happy with my schedule, just not the system.
So i am used to an orderly system where you sign up for classes online and you get a specific time where you rush rush rush to try to get into classes by the spots that are available. then the first 2 weeks of classes you attempt to get into classes you arent enrolled in by signing up for waiting lists, hoping someone has dropped that class and you by a stroke of luck were online at the same time, and occasionally pleading teachers for empty desks.
At Bezalel it is very different, or at least for us international students. what we had to do is go to the individual secretaries of each department and plead to get a spot in classes. The other students had already signed up for classes so half the classes I had pinned for were already full.
"Are there ANY spots?"
"No"
"Is there any way to get in, i'm only here for a semester"
"so, there are no spots"
"i dont understand, what can i do to get in? what if someone drops the class?"
"there are no spots"
Great, so basically in this world of art i am the bottom of the food chain. basically we were told we could only take fine arts, no other departments would be open sorry. hello? i was promised fashion design, ceramics, photography, why did i come all the way here?
Turns out in israel its not 'what you see is what you get' its very very different. i went to the fashion department and had a similar conversation and tried hard to convince the secretary that i should get a spot. nothing. i left politely cried for a while and vowed i would go home the next day ("this isnt worth my time") and called my counselor (who is a student there) for help.
"you cant be polite, noa, that doesnt work here, you have to push" she said to me.
so we went back to fashion and she pleaded with the lady and made her look at the class lists and somehow a magical spot opened in 2 classes. Thank god.
A similar story happened with ceramics. No spot no spot no spot. So i went to the class and pleaded with the teacher and as uncomfortable as i felt that i was inconveniencing her, i said "do i want to be here or not?" i could be polite and sweet noa and walk home with nothing or i could endure some discomfort and get into this class. and somehow there was an extra wheel and i got in..
SO, what i am saying is somehow after these 2 tumultous weeks i got the classes that i wanted, but boy, couldnt there have been an easier way? i was all under the control of these secretaries who never showed up and were always on break, and when they were there had to be convinced to open their books and not roll their eyes at me and say "no room for international students". now this isnt an affront to secretaries because i was one once, but this culture that i dont know how it stands on its feet.
THERES A BETTER WAY! i want to shout.
i love israel but i could do without people shoving me and not saying excuse me, class starting half an hour late because not everyone had shown up yet, and it taking 3 days for the internet to get set up, our studio keys to be handed out, our bus passes to be bought, things like that.
SORRY, THAT WAS MY RANT. just had to say it. maybe ill erase this now...
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