So... tomorrow I am printing off a one-way ticket, getting on a plane, and flying to Damascus. I'll have my two friends sitting next to me, two huge bags filled with clothes and hair gel and other crap, two years of Arabic classes under my belt, which will hopefully get me somewhere... but the rest is pretty uncertain. I'll climb a rope ladder up an ancient holy wall to get into my hostel. And then I'll probably look around at the vibrant beauty that I anticipate will fill Damascus, the city that I'll call home for the rest of the year.
I decided last spring that I wanted to take this semester off and focus solely on studying Arabic; recently, I decided to extend that to a year. Arabic has morphed from an academic interest into a passion for me. I don't just want to learn about wuzens and short vowels; I want to be able to travel around the Middle East and talk to people, learn about cultures through the local language, get to know about an individual's life by speaking to her in her own dialect. The classes at Damascus University are supposed to be intense, and that's exactly what I want right now. I also hope to volunteer with the UN High Commission for Refugees Office in Damascus. We are going to be living in a city that is home to one of the most intense refugee problems in the world. So many lives in Iraq have been destroyed, so many have been uprooted... I just want to do sommmmmething with the purpose of helping these people who have left their lives behind. Through volunteering with the UNHCR, I want to research refugee rights and the social assistance that is given to refugees. I want to try to view human rights from the eyes of those who understand the reality of conflict and its aftermath.
...on a different note. I cannot explain how much I will miss everyone. My friends have become my family. And I am so grateful for my family, my whole family, the one that runs so much deeper than blood. It breaks my heart to leave you guys, but I know that when I come back you will all be more amazing and more beautiful and you will continue to conquer the freaking world. I couldn't forget one moment, one laugh, one story, if I wanted to...
Not to be a tool and quote Kate Hudson from "Almost Famous," but it's all happening!
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