Thursday, February 12, 2009
Start of Spring Semester
The first few weeks consisted of meeting the new study abroads this semester and immersing myself in a new set of classes. This semester I am taking Service Marketing, Strategic Marketing, and Corporate Finance. Now being familiar with the city, it was very easy to adjust and start classes. Besides school, I have given presentations about my previous trip to the Rotary clubs here. The speaker for a Dubai Rotary Club meeting was the RI President. It was great having the opportunity to meet him and learn about his campaign against child mortality. On the weekends I was able to attend the Dubai Dessert Classic one day. The gulf course is right next to my university. Also, I went to Musandam, Oman to go hiking, and camping. Tomorrow I will be going to the Jebel Ali Race Course, since a friend of a Rotarian invited us to watch his horses run. That should be entertaining, and give me a little taste of home.
Winter Break
One of the roles of an Ambassadorial Scholar is not only be a goodwill ambassador to your host club, but also the entire district. As the fall semester ended at the American University in Dubai, a fellow ambassadorial scholar and myself decided to attend Rotary clubs throughout the district. I was assigned to district 2450, which is the largest geographical rotary district. This district is composed of nine countries (Egypt, Sudan, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, Jordan, Cyprus, Armenia, and Georgia) on three continents. I had only the time and resources to choose a few.
After finishing my finals on December 17th, I headed to Lebanon from December 18-26th. In Lebanon I met with seven rotary clubs and gave presentations to nearly all of them. One of the clubs even aired interest in doing a joint project with district 7190. The goal of the project is to promote environmental awareness in the youth of Lebanon. While in Lebanon, I also met with two rotaract clubs. One of which we will be organizing a joint project with the Rotaract club we are forming in Dubai. Also, I had the opportunity to partake in another Rotaract club's project on Christmas eve in Beirut. This involved giving gifts and food to families in need in the poor districts of Beirut. I spent Christmas with a Rotarian that I met in Cyprus. It was a great experience to see how other parts of the world celebrate Christmas. While in Lebanon, I also had the opportunity to see a huge portion of their country. This includes the Cedar Mountains, historical sites, and the Jeita Grotto. Rotarians again provided us with places to stay, more food than I could bare at times, and transportation.
From December 26th-30th I went to Jordan. I met with two rotary clubs in Amman, and a Rotaract club who brought us to Jerash. While in Jordan I also went to Petra, swam/floated in the Dead Sea, and went to the place where Christ was Baptized. It was amazing being at the Jordan River which creates the border between Israeli and Jordan. In the distance you could see the start of Jerusalem. This was also on the day that Israeli started their air strikes on Gaza.
On December 30th we returned to Lebanon. For the two days I spent here we only had time to say goodbyes to the Rotarians I had previously met the week before. On January 1st I flew to Yerevan, Armenia. After a prolonged stop in the airport I finally arrived. Clearly the weather here is colder than where I had been for my previous travels, but it was tolerable. The first day a Rotarian picked me up from the airport and showed me around Yerevan. I even got to meet his son during visiting hours in a military barracks. This gave me a different perspective on things. After staying with this Rotarian for a few days we went to Georgia by train to meet with other Rotarians in Tbilisi. The weather here was milder which gave me the opportunity to explore even more. One rotarian here who didn't even realize that I was coming till the day of, took two days off of work to show me around his country. In Tbilisi, I again got the chance to meet with both rotary and rotaract clubs. During our stay in Armenia and Georgia I also got the opportunity to celebrate Christmas again since they don't celebrate Christmas till Jan 6th and 7th.
Tomorrow morning I return to Dubai and start classes on Sunday for the spring semester. Looking back on my past month, I realize how amazing of an experience it was to see how Rotary impacts communities throughout the world. Whether it is projects that Cyprus took on of giving food, and aid to the Lebanese during the 2006 war, or a Lebanese club taking on the task of planting one million cedar trees throughout Lebanon, or Deborah Miles Czech jumping into frigid Lake George to raise $4,000 for the Rotary Foundation, to support its charitable activities in the world. It is amazing to see the impact Rotary projects have in peoples everyday lives. Overall, this experience has given me a complete new understanding of what "service over self" and "making dreams real" means.
After finishing my finals on December 17th, I headed to Lebanon from December 18-26th. In Lebanon I met with seven rotary clubs and gave presentations to nearly all of them. One of the clubs even aired interest in doing a joint project with district 7190. The goal of the project is to promote environmental awareness in the youth of Lebanon. While in Lebanon, I also met with two rotaract clubs. One of which we will be organizing a joint project with the Rotaract club we are forming in Dubai. Also, I had the opportunity to partake in another Rotaract club's project on Christmas eve in Beirut. This involved giving gifts and food to families in need in the poor districts of Beirut. I spent Christmas with a Rotarian that I met in Cyprus. It was a great experience to see how other parts of the world celebrate Christmas. While in Lebanon, I also had the opportunity to see a huge portion of their country. This includes the Cedar Mountains, historical sites, and the Jeita Grotto. Rotarians again provided us with places to stay, more food than I could bare at times, and transportation.
From December 26th-30th I went to Jordan. I met with two rotary clubs in Amman, and a Rotaract club who brought us to Jerash. While in Jordan I also went to Petra, swam/floated in the Dead Sea, and went to the place where Christ was Baptized. It was amazing being at the Jordan River which creates the border between Israeli and Jordan. In the distance you could see the start of Jerusalem. This was also on the day that Israeli started their air strikes on Gaza.
On December 30th we returned to Lebanon. For the two days I spent here we only had time to say goodbyes to the Rotarians I had previously met the week before. On January 1st I flew to Yerevan, Armenia. After a prolonged stop in the airport I finally arrived. Clearly the weather here is colder than where I had been for my previous travels, but it was tolerable. The first day a Rotarian picked me up from the airport and showed me around Yerevan. I even got to meet his son during visiting hours in a military barracks. This gave me a different perspective on things. After staying with this Rotarian for a few days we went to Georgia by train to meet with other Rotarians in Tbilisi. The weather here was milder which gave me the opportunity to explore even more. One rotarian here who didn't even realize that I was coming till the day of, took two days off of work to show me around his country. In Tbilisi, I again got the chance to meet with both rotary and rotaract clubs. During our stay in Armenia and Georgia I also got the opportunity to celebrate Christmas again since they don't celebrate Christmas till Jan 6th and 7th.
Tomorrow morning I return to Dubai and start classes on Sunday for the spring semester. Looking back on my past month, I realize how amazing of an experience it was to see how Rotary impacts communities throughout the world. Whether it is projects that Cyprus took on of giving food, and aid to the Lebanese during the 2006 war, or a Lebanese club taking on the task of planting one million cedar trees throughout Lebanon, or Deborah Miles Czech jumping into frigid Lake George to raise $4,000 for the Rotary Foundation, to support its charitable activities in the world. It is amazing to see the impact Rotary projects have in peoples everyday lives. Overall, this experience has given me a complete new understanding of what "service over self" and "making dreams real" means.
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