Study at the ISA program in Israel

- Is Israel a big or a small country?
- Well, of course, big! Otherwise, her name would be Izey ...

Good day, dear reader. I ask you not to swear much, this is my first publication. The photo is not of the best quality, but the main thing is the essence.

In this article I want to share my impressions of the MASA program, which makes it possible to spend up to two semesters in Israel and undergo training at one of the country's universities in the specialty of interest.



I started training right from the second semester, in view of the fact that I have quite a lot of experience. The first semester is for people without IT knowledge. Judging by the feedback of the guys who came without experience and knowledge, the first semester really brought them up to date and gave general concepts about network technologies and Microsoft products. Many of those who came to study and did not lose time managed to prepare and successfully pass exams at the MCSE. (The cost of exams is not included in the program and is paid separately at the request of the student.)

What does the BIT-Technion program include:
1. Education at the Israeli University of Technology (Technion) under the External students program;
2. The study of Hebrew;
3. Dorm room;
4. Lunch on the days of classes;
5. Scholarship (in dollars);
6. Payment of travel (in the form of a sum of money on the travel card);
7. Medical insurance.

Getting ready for the trip

We register on the program website. We make an appointment with the Israeli Embassy by telephone, choose a convenient day. We prepare all documents for a student visa (the list is on the site ). A trip to the embassy is an exhausting occupation that takes a whole day (in any case, in Moscow). If everything went well, you can buy plane tickets (you should make sure that you arrive in Israel not on Friday or Saturday , Shabbat ...).

Upon arrival

We will have to get to the venue of the program ourselves. Either by taxi (expensive) or by train directly from the airport to Haifa (in the case of the BIT-Technion program). It takes about two hours to travel, but time flies unnoticed, most likely you will find yourself in a quiet, comfortable train car with sockets “under 220” and WiFi (departing from the topic, WiFi is almost everywhere, even in a regular bus).

Meeting with the coordinator and check-in

After arriving in Haifa and meeting with the coordinator, you will be assigned to one of the many hostels of the Lower City, the so-called Haifa district with the lowest housing prices, located close to the seaport. A distinctive feature of the district is a huge number of students of similar programs. Also in the Lower City a large number of bars and cafes are concentrated. Another attraction is cats, which live on the streets very, very much.



The area itself is very dirty.
Israel is a very contrasting country.

Hostel

The hostel can be very different depending on the program you came to, on whether you came as a married couple or alone. For example, my wife and I settled in a small "apartment", in which without frills, but there was everything minimally necessary for life: one, but spacious enough room, entrance hall, kitchen and combined bathroom. When you check give a set of the most necessary things.

As you know, this is the minimum set, and for a comfortable life you will have to buy or bring in advance what you consider necessary. Each room has its own WiFi access point (by the way, in Israel the Internet is very slow, the outgoing speed is especially frustrating, the upper ceiling of which is 4 Mbps, and therefore, the use of cloud services in the corporate sector is not very common in Israel) .

A big surprise was the tariffs of mobile operators: full local unlimited (calls and SMS, 6 GB of Internet, unlimited calls to Russia and many other countries to city numbers) cost 59 shekels (about 830 rubles at today's rate).

Leisure

# in the photo one of the walks in Haifa:



If you are going to live on a scholarship, then from leisure you will have a few excursions included in the MACA program, walking and the beach in good weather. All excursions are held with a Russian-speaking guide; comfortable buses with air conditioning and WiFi are used for transportation. During the program, I visited with excursions: Caesarea National Park, Sorek Nature Reserve, Golan Heights, and also went on excursions to the company's high-tech “daughter” Johnson & Johnson - Biosense Webster , which designs and manufactures devices for radiofrequency catheter ablation .



Israel is a very unusual country in which religion and modern life are intertwined. The Shabbat, which I have already mentioned, leads into a stupor: how can there be a day in the modern world when almost nothing works, including public transport? It turns out, maybe this is so, the Shabbat begins on Friday in the middle of the day. On one such day, my wife and I took a bus for a walk and did not have time for the last bus, which led to a walk to the house at almost 16 km, or about three hours in time.

The cities of Israel are very different from each other. Haifa is not the most religious city, with approximately 30% of the Russian-speaking population. Most people speak at least two languages: Hebrew and English, less often Arabic, even less - Russian. People make contact very easily, always responsive and try to help. In Israel, hiking is very common. Haifa is located on Mount Carmel , while walking on the mountain offers many beautiful views. Bicycles, often electric ones, are becoming more widespread. Leaving on the street for a long time without supervision is not recommended.

Haifa's city beach is one of the most enjoyable places in the city. White fine sand, sea, free WiFi sun loungers.
There are many concerts and entertainment programs. Do not leave things unattended (there are thefts), a child running nearby, without hesitation, can run through your laptop or just fill it with sand.

Shops and prices

After arriving in Israel at the end of August 2014, it seemed that in Israel everything was more expensive (on average, 30%) than in Moscow, it was very surprising (I always thought that Moscow was one of the most expensive cities). At that time, a shekel cost about 11 rubles, now - 15 rubles. Gasoline costs 6.4 shekels. Traveling by public transport is about 7 shekels, students get a discount on the purchase of 15 thoroughfares in the form of a 33% reduction in cost. Unlimited monthly travel around the city of 246 shekels. Bread in Israel is very expensive (there is no usual “sliced” bread), the price starts from 7 shekels. A package of milk costs 5.5 shekels. The assortment of goods in stores is several times smaller than the usual Moscow, but there is everything necessary for life. Food in the cafe is expensive, the cheapest business lunch costs from 50 shekels, but the portions are huge, and in most places snacks are included in the price of the main dish. Appetizers are: olives / olives, salinity, hummus, tahini, pitas. There are very unusual products.

Study

Classes are held at the Israeli University of Technology - Technion. The university is quite far from the hostels, the journey takes about 30 minutes by bus on very steep roads with sharp turns. The territory of the university is covered with greenery, it is actually located in a forest by the standards of Israel. The architecture of campuses is very diverse and interesting.

The BIT-Technion program of the second semester includes the following topics:
- Microsoft Exchange (Deploying, configuring and managing);
- Forefront TMG (Deploying, configuring and managing);
- Hyper-V (Deploying, configuring and managing);
- The study of Hebrew.
Classes are four days a week. The school day starts at 8.00 with breakfast in the form of a sandwich and coffee and lasts until 17.00, with a lunch break (in the local food court). There are no strong differences from classes at any training center in Moscow. Leads classes certified Microsoft coach with extensive experience. Classes are very well-equipped, all HP Compaq 8000 Pro computers with 16 Gb of RAM and Core i5. Hebrew in the first month "explodes the brain", then you begin to get used to it. After the first semester, you begin to understand everything, but things are difficult with a conversation. After the second semester, the guys are already talking pretty well. The main responsibility for learning both the language and interesting areas of IT, for the most part, depends on the student. If you want, then this is a great opportunity to find time to to take tests and get professional certificates. Upon completion of the program, a personal certificate from the Technion is issued. I managed to prepare and successfully pass ICND1, ICND2. I’ve prepared for the LPIC-1 exams and will go to take them soon.

Instead of an epilogue

The opportunity to live in another country for some time allows you to compare your usual lifestyle with the lifestyle in another society. Israel is an interesting and unusual country. If you have the opportunity and desire, I highly recommend the MASA program: there is plenty to choose from. A grant is very easy to obtain if you have Jewish roots. I myself am waiting for the beginning of the second semester, for which I have planned an internship (also under the MASA program). \\

I hope you were interested. I will be happy to answer any questions. If you like the article, I plan to write a description of the internship.

Thanks for attention!