What is this blog about, anyway?

Hello and welcome to my blog! Thank you for taking the time to read this, and for following me on my exciting adventure to Morocco this summer. Now, why on earth am I going to Morocco? Glad you asked!

About a year ago, I was talking to the lovely Noa Gur-Arie, a friend of mine from B-CC. She told me about her yearlong exchange with the Kennedy-Lugar YES program. She lived in Morocco for a year and had so many good things to say about the program. Sadly, it was too late for me to spend my senior year in Morocco, but I asked her if she knew of any summer programs. She mentioned NSLI-Y, a program that does summer as well as year-long exchange trips to Morocco.

After that conversation, I was so intrigued that I decided to do some research.

The National Security Language Initiative for Youth, aka NSLI-Y, is a scholarship given by the State Department for high school students to travel abroad to study critical languages. You can read more about it here: http://www.nsliforyouth.org/

In my program, I will be traveling to Rabat, the capital of Morocco, to learn Arabic. I will take classes at the Qualam wa Lawh Language Center (http://www.qalamcenter.com/), and I will live with a host family.

Personally, I have been fascinated with Middle Eastern history, Islamic Culture, and current events in the region for the past couple of years, and learning Arabic would complement those interests perfectly. I hope to study international relations at the University of Maryland in the fall, and eventually go on to work with refugees. Fluency in Arabic will be crucial to my success in all of those areas. NSLI-Y seemed like a great way to learn the language, get a head start in college, meet new people, see the world, and experience new things!

So long story short, I applied for the program, got selected as an alternate (put on the waitlist), and then on the last possible day that they could notify me, I found out that I was a finalist for the program! And here I am today!

Any alternates out there who are reading this blog- there is hope!!! Do not give up! You can make it!

I'll post soon with updates on my preparation and pre-departure process! T-minus 5 days until I leave!