Where I've Been Over the Last Two Months

Fact: I don't like coffee. I just like saying Coffee Clutch in my best and deepest New York accent. Considering I'm a New Yorker, I'm pretty freaking good at it. So I've got my tea and I hope you have your heated beverage of choice, because it's time to gab the day away.

Yeah, I know, it's Saturday night not Friday morning but my schedule got a little messed up because of all of my continent hopping and jetlag, so I hope you can all forgive my lateness. 

But now onto the actual content of this post. 

On January 21st I left the great City of New York. Yeah, that's right, I'm a native Manhattanite. I love this place with all my heart, but my body is filled top to bottom with serious wanderlust. So after I finished my undergrad degree in December, I packed up my stuff and went to London for 2 months. I even did a weekend in Paris. You may already know this because of my two London posts (1 & 2) and my Paris post. But when I left London, I didn't go home. I went to Israel for another 2 months.

Garden behind my brother's apartment building. Roses. Casual.

Let's go to the beach-each, let's go get away.

And neither of these pictures say ONE FREAKING WORD about my brother/sister-in-law/niece/nephew or any of my friends who live there now.

Needless to say, it's a GREAT vacation spot. It's also a great tourist location except I've been so many times (both on programs and otherwise) that I've pretty much seen all the major attractions and didn't bother with any of that this trip.

But this post isn't about why Israel's great. It's more about my stay in Israel. So let's get to that.

I haven't posted about my stay in Israel previous to RIGHT NOW because this is a book blog and, while Israel is A LOT of things to me, it's not a bookish place. It's probably just about everything else, but not a bookish place.

So I bet you're wondering WHAT I did while there, given the absolute lack of bookish things.

Basically? I spent the last two months hanging out in a country I know really well, hanging out with friends and babysitting. I got most of my books from my library in NYC in ebook form, which didn't make me super happy. I also went to a book store or two while I was away to see what English books made it to the shelves and which books have been translated. I think I was surprised to see how much the stores seem to love Maggie Stiefvater's Wolves of Mercy Falls series (MULTIPLE copies in English and Hebrew).

The covers are the same so I don't think you guys need the translation

But this whole lack of books thing I've been dealing with doesn't make Israel NOT a great place. The friends and family I saw while abroad definitely made up for the lack of books. All of the time I usually spend in bookstores and reading was spent staying up way too late with people I can talk to about anything, baking with my niece and chasing my nephew around.

All of that being say, even though I ALREADY really miss everyone I left back in Israel, I'm really happy to be home. And not just because I can now go back to buying ALL OF THE BOOKS again (which I pretty much already have - PEACE OUT LUGGAGE RESTRICTIONS). I also really missed NYC a lot. I missed my bed, my books, my home... all of it. So despite the fact that all of my friends and family who live in Israel kept saying "just stay" - I didn't. Clearly. 

What I did do was buy a couple of books in Hebrew. 

That's If I Stay on the right and The Fault in Our Stars on the left.

I don't know if I'm ever actually going to move there (I know it seems INSANE to just pick up and move countries, but, well, Judaism can be insane at times - and so can my friends and family) but I do know it's important to me to feel COMFORTABLE there if I do move - or at least when I visit. I'm hoping bettering my Hebrew by reading two of my favorite books can help with that. They're maybe not the easiest reads and I'm REALLY not sure how they're going to translate, but with a book in one hand and a dictionary in the other, I'll eventually work my way through both of these. Eventually.

So that's my last two months in a nutshell. A lot of lazing, a little work and a ton of warm weather. But now I'm back in New York and I'm ready to start REAL LIFE. When I was a kid growing up in New York I always dreamed of being a GROWN UP in the City. Now I'm gonna do it. If you follow me on Twitter I'm sure you'll get to read aaaaaalllllllll about it.

Do you travel a lot? Maybe you also have friends and family who live far away? I know it's hard for me, but I try to cope. But even though I love all the people far away, I still can't help but be pleased once I make it home! Do you guys have these issues? Let me know I'm not alone in the comments below!