Ramadan (رمضان) and 2nd week

Hey everyone,

So I've been pretty busy with classes, clubs, and trying to improve my all around Arabic. I'm going to start this post off with a quick recap of week 1 and the previous week. I will discuss Ramadan later in the post, where the fasting started for us yesterday morning.
I've been put in the level 1.5A Arabic class (صف ١،٥) with 11 other people out of the 11 out of the 174 Arabic students. There are level 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5,...4, and ours happens to be one of the bigger classes.

Every Wednesday we have an obligatory lecture to attend at night which is followed by a small meal prepared by the cooking club earlier the same day. For the first 3 weeks levels 1 and 1.5 go to lectures that are partly in English and Arabic separated from the upper levels. The first week's lecture had several people talk about their experiences learning Arabic where they are now "fluent" speakers. By fluent I mean in the Modern Standard Arabic and not necessarily in more than a couple dialects. For those who don't know, there are many dialects of spoken Arabic which makes the process of learning and being able to communicate with different Arabic speakers a longer one that that of say Spanish or French.

We have class from 8:45 to 330 every day with break for lunch. On Wednesdays we get out earlier to take two hours to join a club. There's clubs ranging from opera and Quran to Calligraphy and Colloquial music. Now I am in the music one which helps me learn some of the other dialects that we don't work on in class.
On Friday we have late night movies that the Arabic school attends and Sunday evenings are tutor sessions with the TA's, some of which spoke at our first lecture and who have attended the Middlebury language schools. There are 1-on-1 office hours every day except Wednesday and so there is also plenty of time outside of class to get other types of exposures to the language.
I will try to get more info and the names of the movies we have already watched at a later time.

This last Wednesday lecture was on Ramadan. Ramadan is when the first verses of the Quran, the sacred book of Islam, were revealed by Allah. Over the month of Ramadan the verses are recited. Fasting goes on during the daylight hours and family and friends get together after the sun has gone down to eat. Not only is fasting a part of the practice but also abstaining from other things for the entire month, like alcohol, too. I'm participating in this for a real experience here and not just to try.
There's so much to say about Ramadan and I only know so much. If you are interested in learning a little bit more about why it's practiced, who practices it, in which parts of the world it is practiced, and other facts about it then you can read up here:

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-Issues/2013/0709/Ramadan-101-Ten-facts-about-the-holy-month-of-Ramadan/What-is-Ramadan

or here:

http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/05/world/ramadan-fast-facts/

There are plenty of sites out there explaining it. I will probably add more as I am still learning about Ramadan and what it really means.

Now that I am more in the flow of the program I am going to try and write more often. I hope you enjoyed reading and until later!

May-June

Hey everyone,

It's been nearly a year since I wrote last and the last time I wrote was about my adventures in Paris and my internship work I was doing and working with kids in the culturally diverse 18th district. The language I was focusing on was my French while I was surrounded by people who also spoke Arabic and made friends with others who speak Spanish. Now I will be taking language intensive courses in Arabic through the Middlebury language schools at Mills college in Oakland, California.
I will be studying form June 13th until August 8th and then from there, anything is possible.

This first blog is just going to recap the end of final semester senior year up until about now.

Enjoyed my last AIA formal at Witt: Me and Sasha!

Enjoyed a final trip to Yellow Springs as a Witt senior: L to R; Lizzie, Champ, Me, Evan, Jane!

Took a trip to Chicago to spend some time with family: Colleen, Bridget, Timmy, Cara, Lilli, Jay, Weston!

Helped out my hermano

Saw a Memorial Day parade with a pretty embarrassing finale 937 with 30" rims style!

What the hell is that? Patriotic because they stick flags smaller than your average notebook on the back of each one.... hmmm

 Shot my first zombie between the eyes!

Took a trip to Sandusky, OH! Thank you Hannah!

Made a trip back to TC, MI for a couple days to see some old friends! Jess & Leesha out frolfing

Made a trip to Boulder, CO! Thank Champ!

Had a great senior moment for Cinco de Mayo: Becca, Jesse, Jane, Anna, Rob, Tiana, Martin

The biggest event out of all the rest was obviously graduating after 4 yrs and 3 summers of intense studying. Graduation went off with only minor weather issues. Finally Graduated from Wittenberg studying foreign languages and economics with specializations in Spanish and international economics.

Was gifted my own stoll with my birth country's colors and seal on it and walked with my own, non Wittenberg-affiliated cords. I didn't realize until then that our degrees don't actually say what we studied, just the transcripts.


Now I am in Berkley, CA and I have made some new friends, great people from India!
Neha & Soham! You guys are great people!!!!

And this is where my adventures in Cali started, with Swati! It will continue with Arabic school and more pictures!

Hope you enjoyed reading! With love from Cali and until next time!