"three thousand years of beautiful tradition, from moses to sandy koufax....." -- walter sobchak (the big lebowski)

Walter Sobchak may not roll on Shabbos, but you can be as sure as hell he has his sukkah up.

Tonight begins the holiday of Sukkot and thus the revival of the Abbott family sukkah. I can only hope that in these chilly autumnal nights with gusty winds, said sukkah does not reconvene to a neighboring forest.

Sukkot has remained one of my favorite holidays. What other holiday consists of sukkah-hopping and sukkah-partying and sukkah-sleeping? And who doesn't love a good 'trog? Moshe in the Israeli movie Ushpizin became so enamored with his etrog of choice he shelled out 1000 shekels.

In fewer than three days, I'll be in Israel, home of Moshe and his beloved etrog. The idea that I'll be there for a year still hasn't quite hit me yet. Maybe that's why I've only packed three sweatshirts and twenty pairs of socks so far. Or, maybe, the fact that I can't bring my entire wardrobe (forty-four plus shirts to college - I'm talking to you, Shayna Mont) hasn't quite hit me yet and therefore I have no idea how to pack.

I realize less is more in terms of packing; however, sometimes I can't help but think my notion of quantity is warped. My dad's idea of packing for a month is one pair of shoes, two pairs of underwear, and three bottles of Allegra.

I'm hoping within the next 48 hours I'll find the balance.

Rebecca Abbott

(Kivunim - www.kivunim.org) - a gap year before Barnard

nine days

With nine days until departure from JFK to Ben Gurion, I consider what I left to do. Buy space bags. Buy a commercial-sized box of Luna bars. Somehow fit my life necessities into two fifty-pound bags. Visit the doctor for the last time to undergo my final shots and TB test (what even is that?!).

Upon visiting the travel clinic at Hopkins a month ago, the nurse handed me thirteen packets for thirteen different countries of thirteen sets of information about each country's public health and hygiene. She appeared satisfied that I would survive and/or elude the flu, typhoid fever, malaria, diarrhea, dehydration, polio, tetanus, meningitis, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, and hay fever.

"Oh, one more thing," she said, pointing at a map of India. "You'll be at risk for rabies in every country, specifically India. We're recommending the rabies vaccine - for $795."

My mom looked at me.

"You'll be in India for only a few weeks," she said. "Stay away from the monkeys."

Whether I encounter rabid monkeys in the next eight months or not, I hope to continue and maintain this travel blog. Check back often to hear about struggles with packing, jet lag, learning Arabic - the whole mishegas.

Rebecca Abbott

(Kivunim - www.kivunim.org)