Collegiate Times

Daniel Amar

Amar:

Living in Israel is not like what you see on TV — war and all that. Everybody asks me about that. Yes, there are things that are not, and will never be, accepted (in the U.S.), but the situation is not as bad as it seems. But I’ll tell you a story. I was practicing with a team 45 minutes away from my hometown. I travelled 45 minutes each day to go to practice because it was the best team in my region. But this place was under the attack of the rockets from the Gaza Strip. So every time we had practice, there was an alarm, and we’d have to take cover in the middle of practice. We’d wait for a couple of seconds and hear the bomb explode and then we’d go back. Then another alarm … we’d take cover and wait. So there are a couple things that aren’t nice or pleasant, but I wish it was quieter and that there was finally peace. In my military experience I’ve encountered face-to-face (interactions) with people from the Gaza Strip, and Arabs from everywhere. I can tell you for sure that they all want peace. They all want to get along. The (war) is all political and that’s it.

CT:

I can tell that you speak English fairly well. How did you learn the language?

Amar

: I didn’t learn from visiting here; I just improved it here. When I was a little boy, I would watch shows like “Friends” and “Seinfeld” all the time. But especially in Europe and in Israel, there is a lot of English influence in our lives. The language is all around us. But for me personally, I developed my English by watching American TV.   

CT:

How is school in Israel compared to school in the U.S.?  

Amar:

What has impressed me so far is that everybody here has one goal: to study. At Tech, in class, there’s no talking and people don’t mess around. They are here to listen and study. In Israel it’s different; people talk to make friends. (But here) you don’t talk in class, you don’t fool around, and you focus on learning. I like that a lot.

CT:

What surprised you the most about our school?

Amar:

Well I can tell you about the athletic department. It’s very professional and very organized. Everyone does their part and they have a lot of knowledge. Also, the school is huge — it’s like a city.

CT:

Speaking of sports, as you probably know, our school loves football. Did you go to our first game?

Amar:

I went to the first game against Georgia Tech. It was amazing — wow.  There’s nothing like that. (There were) 60,000 people, everyone wore orange and maroon, and were crazy about football. It’s completely different. The biggest stadium in Israel holds 40,000. Everybody here loves the football team, and the most amazing thing that I noticed is that even if the team loses or the quarterback (makes a mistake) the crowd is still cheering and is supportive anyway. That’s amazing.

CT:

Is there any advice that you wish someone had given to you before studying abroad?

Amar:

Before I came here I thought, “OK, no problem. I’m coming here and it will be OK.” But you don’t think about the real things that affect you during the day. The real tough things — no one can prepare you for that. It’s not like a movie; it’s not short. It’s real life and it will be a struggle school-wise and socially. If I could go back and give myself advice, I’d say prepare and be ready because it’s not going to be a game, and it’s not going to be easy. Stay strong.

Continue Reading:  « Previous12

A version of this article appeared in the Sep 13 issue of the Collegiate Times.