I am currently sitting in the airport because my last flight to Cleveland is delayed. This layover has made me think a lot about my overall experience in Cairo and studying abroad. I must say I feel this experience has been an experience of a life time. I won’t say that experience changed me, but I feel it taught me so many different things about myself. This was not an ordinary study abroad experience that many college students embark on. Living in the Middle East for four months confronts you with a very different culture and way of thinking from my [View Full Entry]

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On our last few days in Lebanon we hung out around Beirut. One of the places we visited is a few miles out side Beirut on a mountain overlooking the city where a statue of the virgin Mary stands, called Harissa. This is a very big pilgrimage site for Christians in Lebanon and throughout the Middle East. The statue is very large and beautiful and can be seen from many different areas in Beirut. There are also two different churches at the base of the statue. Later in Beirut we walked along the corniche or path along the Mediterranean. We stopped [View Full Entry]

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Originally my friends and I had intended to travel to Baalbek during our Lebanese adventure, however, my family told us it would be better to go to southern Lebanon. This suprised us because in America we think of southern Lebanon as less safe, but as I have learned here in the Middle East; many of our preconceived notions are wrong! We began our day by visiting Sidon which is about a half hour south of Beirut. This town is a very different atmosphere than northern Lebanon. Some of the things I noticed when we started driving towards Sidon were the different [View Full Entry]

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One of the goals I had while visiting Lebanon was to visit one of the Cedar reserves. The cedar tree has historic and national significance in Lebanon. The cedars of Lebanon are mentioned constantly throughout the bible as a image of strength and prosperity. The cedar tree is included on Lebanon's flag which further demonstrates its important and significance. We started out our journey early in the morning because it is about two hour drive to the cedar reserve in the north of Lebanon. This is due to the fact that the cedars are on the top of the the Lebanese [View Full Entry]

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It has taken me a very long time to update my blog because I have been swamped with finals. Also, I find it very difficult to put into words my experience in Lebanon. I have wanted to visit Lebanon for a very very long time. Anyone who knows me understands that my heritage is German and Lebanese. In high school I had the amazing opportunity to backpack through Europe and visit Germany, which was an amazing experience. Since, I am studying Arabic and Middle East history and culture Lebanon has always been an interest of mine. Thus, this trip was a [View Full Entry]

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I have loved history ever since I was a little girl and one of the first books I remember reading as a child was the Bible, which is filled with the most remarkable history! Thus, visiting the area around the Dead Sea in Jordan, was a profound experience for me. The previous day we had arranged with the hotel to have a driver take us to each of the sites in the Dead Sea area, because they are difficult to reach from one another. We started out at the Madaba the Church of St. George, the Church of the Virgin Mary [View Full Entry]

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After an amazing day in Petra, we woke up early the next morning to take a mini bus to Amman. I really enjoying traveling this way because it is how Jordanians travel and we were the only foreigners on the bus. Most of the time I look out the window at the scenery. Jordan has a very beautiful countryside. It is very mountainous and tranquil. After a three hour bus ride we arrived in Amman. Amman is an interesting city because it is built on a set of 7 hills, so it has a very cool look to the city, but [View Full Entry]

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On Friday night (April 10th) I began on my ten day long spring break which would take me to Jordan and Lebanon. I traveled with Derek and two study abroad friends from D.C., Darren and Jess. To be completely honest, I was mostly excited for Lebanon, and saw Jordan as simply a stop along the way. However, to my surprise I really enjoyed Jordan, it has a deep history, very nice people and beautiful hills and valleys. We began our journey with a very long night bus to the port city of Nuweiba, which is in Egypt. The bus ride was [View Full Entry]

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Almost a month ago my Architecture class was suppose to go to the area called Bayn al-Qasrayn (which literally means between 2 palaces), however, we could not go because it had previously been under renovations and the President Mubarak still needed to inaugurate the building. Thus last weekend we were able to visit Bayn al-Qasrayn with special permission, the general public though is still not allowed to tour it! I had been very excited to visit these mosques and complexes because they are very significant buildings and have very ornate interiors and exteriors. The first building we visited [View Full Entry]

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Last weekend my friend Rachel invited Derek and I on one of her Egyptology field trips to several of the pyramids which are further out from Cairo, and to the Fayyum Oasis. I was very excited because these pyramids are extremely difficult to get to on your own, and we would be going with her professor who is an expert on ancient Egypt. The field trip literally went all day but we covered a lot of ground and saw about 5 pyramids including the Fayyum Oasis and an abandoned village in Fayyum. The first who pyramids we traveled to were at [View Full Entry]

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