Student Life at the Arava Institute
The Arava Institute begins with a three-day orientation to student, academic and kibbutz life at the Arava Institute. The Arava Institute is located on Kibbutz Ketura and the dormitories are situated on the grounds of Hadassah's educational complex on the kibbutz. When you arrive, you are brought straight to the dorms, and immediately start getting to know the people who you will spend your life with for the next few months. The student population is generally broken down into a third from North America, Europe, and other countries outside of the Middle East; a third from Israel (Jews and Arabs); and a third from Jordan, the Palestinian Authority and other Middle Eastern countries.
The Arava Institute dormitories consist of four units facing a grassy common area. Each unit is comprised of four rooms, which are grouped around a common area that includes a lounge and kitchenette. Click here for more information about the campus.
The common areas in the units and in the dorms facilitate the program’s social life as students spend a lot of their free time together. Students can attend lectures and movies, which are shown periodically on the kibbutz and there is a library, for research and reading material. Students can use bicycles to cycle on paths outside the kibbutz while others take the opportunity of living in the desert to go hiking and camping nearby. The Arava Institute’s Student Life office also organizes fun trips such as night hikes for a break from the academic pace.
Although each unit has a kitchenette, students are not expected to cook their own meals. Three meals a day are served cafeteria style in the kibbutz dining hall where students eat with the kibbutz members, staff, guests, and others who are staying on the Kibbutz. Some items can be purchased at a small shop on the Kibbutz. Students also use other kibbutz facilities such as the kibbutz laundry.
Arava Institute students are encouraged to sign up for an adopted family with whom they can visit, which helps involve the students in kibbutz life. Students also work one night a semester in the dining hall, so they contribute in part to the kibbutz community.
A kibbutz is not like your basic village or town. Kibbutz Ketura has about 140 adult members who live there year-round and about 50 people who come to study and/or volunteer. There are about 150 children from newborns to university students. The kibbutz raises cows and grows dates. Members either work on the kibbutz or in jobs nearby. The kibbutz has a communal laundry, a library, a communal dining hall, and a small store for essentials and treats. There is no cash machine on kibbutz. There is no post office either, but one can buy stamps in the kibbutz store and mail letters from the kibbutz via mobile post service. Otherwise, all other shopping and errands can be done in Eilat, which is only 40 minutes away by bus. For more information about Kibbutz Ketura please visit www.ketura.org.il/
Classes take place on the Kibbutz too. Students generally sign up for four classes, each three hours per week (in a 1 ½ hour session or a three hour session with a break) plus an Independent Study project, which gives them hands-on experience in an issue relating to the environment. Classes are held four days a week with one day a week given over to one’s Independent Study project. There is also the Peacebuilding and Environmental Leadership Seminar (PELS) which each student participates in, though not for credit.
The campus has several computers located in a former shelter. Students are encouraged to bring their own laptop and have it connected to the Internet in their dorm room. Everything on kibbutz is a five-minute walk. The highway is right outside the main gate with busses going to Eilat in one direction, and to the Dead Sea (2 hours away), Beersheva (3 hours away), Tel Aviv and Jerusalem (each four hours away) in the other direction.
Students will need to bring US$50 for room deposit fee, US$30 for the phone deposit, and US$20.00 library deposit. Books or readers generally cost US$25 per class.
The winters in the Southern Arava Desert (generally November through March), where the Arava Institute is located, are mild and pleasant. Typical winter days feature sunny skies and an afternoon temperature of about 20 degrees Celsius (about 70 degrees Fahrenheit). Clear winter nights in the desert can be quite cold, with temperatures dropping below 10 degrees (down to the 40s or occasionally even to the 30s Fahrenheit). An actual freeze is virtually unheard of. The scarce rains (about one inch per year) fall in the winter, occasionally causing flash floods. There has never been snow. The summers are generally hot and oppressive. Afternoon temperatures over 37 C (98.6 F.) are common, and often go as high as the mid 40s (over 110 F).
The Arava Institute dormitories consist of four units facing a grassy common area. Each unit is comprised of four rooms, which are grouped around a common area that includes a lounge and kitchenette. Click here for more information about the campus.
The common areas in the units and in the dorms facilitate the program’s social life as students spend a lot of their free time together. Students can attend lectures and movies, which are shown periodically on the kibbutz and there is a library, for research and reading material. Students can use bicycles to cycle on paths outside the kibbutz while others take the opportunity of living in the desert to go hiking and camping nearby. The Arava Institute’s Student Life office also organizes fun trips such as night hikes for a break from the academic pace.
Although each unit has a kitchenette, students are not expected to cook their own meals. Three meals a day are served cafeteria style in the kibbutz dining hall where students eat with the kibbutz members, staff, guests, and others who are staying on the Kibbutz. Some items can be purchased at a small shop on the Kibbutz. Students also use other kibbutz facilities such as the kibbutz laundry.
Arava Institute students are encouraged to sign up for an adopted family with whom they can visit, which helps involve the students in kibbutz life. Students also work one night a semester in the dining hall, so they contribute in part to the kibbutz community.
A kibbutz is not like your basic village or town. Kibbutz Ketura has about 140 adult members who live there year-round and about 50 people who come to study and/or volunteer. There are about 150 children from newborns to university students. The kibbutz raises cows and grows dates. Members either work on the kibbutz or in jobs nearby. The kibbutz has a communal laundry, a library, a communal dining hall, and a small store for essentials and treats. There is no cash machine on kibbutz. There is no post office either, but one can buy stamps in the kibbutz store and mail letters from the kibbutz via mobile post service. Otherwise, all other shopping and errands can be done in Eilat, which is only 40 minutes away by bus. For more information about Kibbutz Ketura please visit www.ketura.org.il/
Classes take place on the Kibbutz too. Students generally sign up for four classes, each three hours per week (in a 1 ½ hour session or a three hour session with a break) plus an Independent Study project, which gives them hands-on experience in an issue relating to the environment. Classes are held four days a week with one day a week given over to one’s Independent Study project. There is also the Peacebuilding and Environmental Leadership Seminar (PELS) which each student participates in, though not for credit.
The campus has several computers located in a former shelter. Students are encouraged to bring their own laptop and have it connected to the Internet in their dorm room. Everything on kibbutz is a five-minute walk. The highway is right outside the main gate with busses going to Eilat in one direction, and to the Dead Sea (2 hours away), Beersheva (3 hours away), Tel Aviv and Jerusalem (each four hours away) in the other direction.
Students will need to bring US$50 for room deposit fee, US$30 for the phone deposit, and US$20.00 library deposit. Books or readers generally cost US$25 per class.
The winters in the Southern Arava Desert (generally November through March), where the Arava Institute is located, are mild and pleasant. Typical winter days feature sunny skies and an afternoon temperature of about 20 degrees Celsius (about 70 degrees Fahrenheit). Clear winter nights in the desert can be quite cold, with temperatures dropping below 10 degrees (down to the 40s or occasionally even to the 30s Fahrenheit). An actual freeze is virtually unheard of. The scarce rains (about one inch per year) fall in the winter, occasionally causing flash floods. There has never been snow. The summers are generally hot and oppressive. Afternoon temperatures over 37 C (98.6 F.) are common, and often go as high as the mid 40s (over 110 F).