Impressions of studying abroad: Lebanon
Sergei Malyzhenkov, 4th year student of the Faculty of World Economy and International affairs, shared his impressions of the trip to Lebanon
This year I was lucky to visit Lebanon. The center where we went to was located in a tiny village called El-Wardani. We live there as well, so it was very convinient as we didn’t have to spend money on public transport. Since it was possible buy almost all necessary things in our village, we went to Beirut only once in several days just to entertain ourselves.
Generally speaking, Beirut is a wonderful city. I think it is called “The Paris of the Middle East” for a reason. Beirut is extremely versatile. Oriental atmosphere and european style complement each other in this city. Taking a walk in Beirut you can start from a regular arabic town (the outskirts of Beirut) and then find yourself in “Western Europe” (the center of Beirut) or even in “Miami” (the embankment).
As I have already mentioned before, we lived and studied in the same place. Our language center was called Dar As-Salam, which means “House of Peace”. It turned out to be true, because this place, that became our home for two weeks, was filled with warm and pleasant atmosphere. Between classes we used to go to a small garden, located on the territory of “House of Peace”, and have some coffee or tea and sweets with our teachers. We also went to different excursions with them on weekends.
We had classes with three teachers – Mr. Said, Mrs. Latifa and Professor Hasan Ismail. Every one of them taught us a particular aspect of the language – speaking practice, reading and grammar. The classes were very interesting and informative.
It turned out that my Arabic level was rather low, comparing to my friends. I was shoked when Mr. Said offered me extra language classes. During siesta we were reading Arabian fairytails such as Sinbad the Sailor, Red Layla (Arabic version of Little Red Riding Hood) and so on. Thanks to these extra classes I noticed that the level of my Arabic had improved significantly within two weeks.
I really appreciate the opporunity that the Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs gave me, and, first of all I’d like to say thank you to the manager of our trip – Ajjawi Hussein Ahmed.
I hope that I will get a chance to visit this place again in the nearest future.