Amideast Education Abroad in the MENA

As an Arabic and French speaker, I firmly believe the significance and indispensability of cultural exchange. Being a Chinese provides me a different lens in observing from an “outsider’s” view toward the Islamic world fused with heterogeneity and diversity, either in terms of languages or cultures of social domains. My main objective is to uproot Eurocentric and essentialist viewpoint toward the Third World, Morocco in particular. Both language courses and area studies courses have equipped me with manifold lenses of experiencing and contemplating. Even general history courses of Africa and Morocco taught in French could be intriguing in its wide scope and focused attitude toward the inter-cultural and intra-cultural reflections. Doubtlessly, a year in Morocco has offered me a unique and wonderful time frames in shaping myself in perceiving the Islamicate arena at large. Languages are merely tools for their insights but worthwhile upholding the multilingual perspectives in delving deeper into the Arabs!

The classes were well organized and comprehensive. I left the program feeling like I had a good understanding of the conflict situations that we had studied and how they had been or might be solved. The professors were very knowledgeable in the topics they were teaching, not only from doing research but also real life experiences that they drew upon. They mixed personal stories into their lectures to give us a more realistic picture of what they were describing. The organized outings were well planned and interesting, as well as relevant to our studies. I felt that I got the opportunity to see several very important locations in each country that we visited. I definitely came back to the US with a broader understanding of the Northern Ireland conflict and the situation in the Middle East, and as a result I have more nuanced views on current events.

I didn't know what to expect from Amman, Jordan, but I had a great time there. It's a beautiful city with great food (the hummus and the falafel! I miss it). Shopping in the markets downtown, seeing art and culture, eating good food and smoking hookah just about everywhere. The only thing was that I was there during Ramadan, and a lot of shops and restaurants were closed during daylight hours... but that inconvenience was far outweighed by how cool it was to observe & experience Ramadan and the holiday at the end of it! (And the kunafa... delicious Ramadan dessert.) Plus, the tourist destinations in the rest of Jordan were amazing! Petra was incredible, Wadi Rum (the desert) was unreal, the Dead Sea was SO cool, and Aqaba (on the Red Sea) was gorgeous. Unforgettable experiences. This was my second AMIDEAST program, because I had such a great time on my first one (Area & Arabic Language Studies in Rabat, Morocco). This program was very different but equally amazing! The academics were seriously challenging; we spoke Arabic for five hours in class each day and then did Arabic homework for another 1-2 hours at night. My roommates and I occasionally declared "Arabic-only days" in our shared apartment, which were a lot of fun. Needless to say, my Arabic skills improved a LOT. I loved my Arabic professors, and made close friends from my classes that I'm still in close contact with. I had an amazing time on this program.