As the second week of my internship at Amideast begins, I have started acquiring more projects and my time is always spent learning from everything around me. At times, the days seem soooo long because my brain never turns off. I am channeling my inner exchange student by "soaking up" everything around me . . . yes, i must BE the sponge!
I participated in a conference call yesterday with representatives from Amideast organizations all over the Arab world. It was incredible that people from Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Israel, Egypt, Tunisia, and Iraq, Kuwait, and Yemen were all able to tune in with the main office in Washington D.C. for the meeting. The advisors wer going over details concerning the upcoming deadlines for the various exchange and service programs that Amideast offers. For the next six months, I will be part of the contact team responsible for the Youth Exchange and Service (YES) Program and for the Tomorrow’s Leaders Grant and Scholarship Program. I am also working with another intern organizing the Competitive College Club that assists students in preparing to apply for grants and scholarships to study abroad in the Arab world and in the US.
Quick note: when I say Arab world, I am referring to the collection of Arabic-speaking countries in North Africa, the Middle East, and parts of Western Asia.
See this link for more details: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_World
The YES program is a scholarship program that allows academically-driven high school students with advanced levels of English to spend their junior year of secondary school in an American high school. The students attend youth leadership training programs throughout their year “abroad” and participate in community service projects in their respected regions. In the process these students are able to teach their host families, classmates, and community about their country and culture. My role in all of this will be advising the candidates of their portfolios and helping them prepare for the English Proficiency exams and the interview. Sounds like a pretty sweet deal to me.
If you want to read more about the program, check out this site:
http://www.amideast.org/tunisia/academic-and-cultural-exchange/youth-exchange-and-study-yes-program
The Tomorrow’s Leaders scholarship Program is through the US State Department which assists current and recent high school graduate students from the Arab world to study at one of three American Universities in the Middle East: The American University in Cairo (AUC), Lebanese American University (LAU), and the American University of Beirut (AUB). Not only does this program help students from traditionally underserved backgrounds pay for school, but it also arranges for internships in the Middle East or the US as part of their academic program. As with the YES program, students must be academically driven with advanced levels of English to apply for this program. My responsibilities with this program will be similar to my involvement with the YES Program.
If you want to read more about the program, check out this site:
http://mepi.state.gov/exchanges/tlsp/
So this has all been exciting for me because I now have things to be responsible for. It’s a good feeling to have a sense of purpose, even if it is small. For now I am trying to learn as much as I can about the projects in order to best serve the applicants. This starts with getting to know the students who attend events and use the services at the American Corner. Funded by the US government and the Tunisian Ministry of Education, the American Corner is essentially a lounge area where students and teachers can check out the resources, use the computers, and practice English. The American Corner hosts events throughout the week including English Conversation Hour, American Film afternoons, and even monthly Karaoke sessions. Awesome!
For a little more information, check out this link:
(http://www.amideast.org/abroad/programs/tunisia/learn-serve-tunisia/program-management).
The environment in my office is entertaining, to say the least. Everyone is tri-lingual and effortlessly floats between English, French, and Tunsi, the Tunisian dialect of Arabic that sounds like French, Arabic, and Italian mixed together. They laugh because I only understand two of the languages, but i don't think any of their conversations have been at my expense. Everyone seems genuinely interested to make sure to include me in one what they do and offer their assistance when I really look like Im lost. Im off to a good start on this adventure.
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