Thinking about Sharjah?

Choosing a program for most people includes: weighing the pros and cons, talking to alumni, looking and comparing prices between programs, looking into what the program offers, and then finally making the decision to choose that program. Unfortunately, CIEE makes that quite difficult! There are so many programs to choose from... but there is a singular reason why you should choose the Sharjah, UAE program. You belong here. If you think I am wrong, prove it. Join this program, and you will see that I was correct.

Culturally relative, of course, you probably want to know who I am, and what made me choose CIEE, Sharjah UAE? That is why you are looking at this blog... that is why I looked at the CIEE Sharjah blog after I decided.

I am a junior from Fairfield Univeristy in Connecticut, USA. I am the second student from my University to study abroad in the Middle East. I am conducting a private research project here that was influenced by a professor from my home university who is obsessed with Turkey, and I truly appreciate learning and experiencing new culture, especially Arab culture.

I am also quite crazy... I chose this program on a whim, which is also how I go through life, whenever I make a decision I never hold back (if you are going to do something, go all the way). I would also never go back and regret my decision though. I am learning, growing, living, and experiencing everything that is necessary for a human being to go through to achieve a truly perspective of a Global Citizen, a Jesuit core at Fairfield University. I have met amazing people here already and it has only been two weeks. I have also experienced cultural things I never thought I would ever be able to experience, growing up in America for my entire life.

I have learned a new definition for the word appreciation, understanding, and happiness. I came from a country that is hostile to immigration and foreign workers to a country that is made up of immigrants and thrives off of foreign workers. I have a French roommate, who is also an exchange student, and self-converted to Islam in France before attending AUS. I am attending a University with one of the most diverse student bodies in the world, learning a semitic language through uninterrupted and intense instruction, and I have the ability to travel the Arabian Peninsula and the rest of the Middle East.

It is the most amazing and life-changing experience I have been through and it has been 20 days.

More to come.

Pce & Love

KT