First Week of School

I moved into my dorm room this past weekend. I am staying at the Near East Theological Seminary which everyone refers to as the NEST or in Arabic, kiliyet lehoot. My roomate's name is Anita and she is from Armenia. I ask her MANY questions about what it is like to live in Armenia and questions about Armenian history and attitudes. She is incredibly kind and loves to go exploring with me and talk about everything. She is the perfect roommate and I know I'm really lucky to be put with someone who I can be good friends with.

There is a big Lebanese-Armenian community in Lebanon. This is a new dimension of Lebanon that I am just learning about. All of a sudden, I am going to an Armenian school, my roommate is from Armenia and everyone around me is speaking a mixture of Arabic, Armenian and English.

The school I am attending is called Haigazian University and it is an Armenian institution. However, the make-up of the school is roughly 40% Lebanese-Armenian, 50% Arab-Lebanese or just Lebanese, and 10% other Lebanese minorities. The school is about a 20-minute walk from the place where I sleep. These are the classes I am taking this semester:

1. The History and Politics of the Karabakh Conflict
2. Middle East Politics
3. International and Political Relations in E. Asia since 1945
4. New Testament
5. World Religions: East

I think that these classes and class discussions will be particularly interesting in Lebanon. Even today, before he even introduced the class, my Eastern religions teacher gave the class a speech about how we don't have to worry about him getting in trouble with God for teaching us about other religions. He said God knows what he believes and he will be fine. He kind of apologized to the class for having to teach about non-monotheistic religions which would NEVER happen in the U.S.

Also, the instruction is given in English, but teachers and students will ask and answer questions in Arabic and I love it because it really makes me feel like I am in a classroom in Libnan.