University of Arizona’s Center for Middle East Studies has awarded me a Foreign Language and Area Studies grant to study Arabic this summer in Irbid, Jordan. I’ll be teaming up with a group of Wildcats, most of whom I know already, in the first Arizona in Jordan summer abroad program. Seven weeks later, my Arabic will hopefully be much better. Intensive classes, Arabic-only rules and one-on-one tutoring should help me get more of this language I’ve spent the last 3 years battling to grasp.

This list of people who helped me receive the generous grant is rather long, but I’d like single a few: Dr. Adel Gamal, Dr. Leila Hudson, Maggy Zanger and Christian Sinclair. From writing letters of recommendation to helping me craft my statement of purpose, I couldn’t have gotten it with out them.

Expect posts from the border of Israel, Syria and Jordan, and probably some video work about Syrian refugees and water issues in the river Jordan’s tributaries.