AUK Students Participate in George Washington University Study Abroad Program

Two AUK students were awarded scholarships to participate in a six-week summer program at George Washington University (GWU). This summer program provides AUK students with the opportunity to take two three-credit undergraduate classes at GWU, along with fully paid tuition, health insurance, and accommodations. Batool Hasan and Omar Khalil were the recipients of this year’s scholarship in the summer of 2018.

Their experiences are summed by the following categories:

Academic:

Batool was exposed to different schools of thinking as this experience pushed her to take classes she would not normally gravitate towards. She registered for two courses, a philosophy course titled Ethics in Business and the Professions, and a Comparative Politics course. Batool greatly enjoyed the ethics class as it tackled moral issues in engineering and encouraged class discussion. The Comparative Politics course offered a nice change from her usual engineering classes through analysis of different political regimes and why they succeed in certain conditions and fail to progress the livelihood of citizens in other circumstances.

Omar was enrolled in two courses—World History and Media Arabic. World History was an intensive yet fascinating course that dealt with many important historical events throughout the world since the 15th century, culminating in how these events have shaped the world as we know it today. Media Arabic was an advanced Arabic course that Omar had initially started with great trepidation but quickly grew to enjoy as he spent classes exchanging cultural ideas with his American classmates. He has learned a great deal about the techniques English speakers utilize in learning Arabic and has imparted knowledge to his classmates on the linguistic dichotomies between Classical Arabic and Modern Standard Arabic.

One of the ways Omar sought to make the most of his stay in Washington DC was by improving his professional skillsets. As a student deeply engaged in app and game development, Omar took part in a couple of developer meet ups where he was able to network with many other game developers, try their projects and receive valuable feedback on an app he is currently working on.

Cultural:

Batool aimed to engage in as many activities as her short time in D.C. would allow. She will forever remember the hustle of the Fourth of July parades and mesmerizing fireworks. Being a fan of museums, she visited the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the Renwick Gallery, the Museum of Natural History, and other lesser known museums such as the International Spy Museum. In addition to that, she had the opportunity to see the White House, visit George Town, the Mount Vernon estate and the old city Alexandria.

Living in the heart of a metropolitan city was a striking change as it was always hustling with movement. Everything from restaurants to supermarkets to university buildings was within walking distance from the dormitory Shenkman Hall. “Staying in a dormitory allowed me to make friends easily as I was always meeting people,” Batool remarks about her experience at Shenkman Hall.
 
Not only did Omar enjoy his time in Washington DC as a tourist as he visited many of the Smithsonian’s museums as well as the city’s most important monuments throughout his stay, but he also endeavored to experience the city in a way that better integrated him into the environment, helped him cope with culture shock and even made him feel like he was closer to the heart of city life: by living as a local. He cooked for himself as often as he could, revisited several tucked-away yet beautiful bookshops and cafes, befriended locals through meet-ups, discovered obscure reading spots by the Potomac River and even changed up his jogging routes constantly to remain active and spontaneously discover new areas he would never have encountered before.

Personal Growth:

Batool accomplished two goals before her experience at GWU even started: Travelling alone for a long journey, and visiting a country she had not been to before. As soon as she reached the dormitory, she quickly got acquainted with her dorm mates, who later on became a family to her, and joined together to visit the monuments and surrounding area in an effort to make the most out of her experience. Batool also crossed off another item on her bucket list with a visit to New York city, in which she visited the Empire State building and Statue of Liberty.
    
From developing a sturdier work-ethic from his intensive classes to broadening his cultural awareness, Omar has gone through a lot of personal growth that he attributes to the George Washington Summer Program. There were ups and downs throughout the experience, but everything Omar has gained will benefit him tremendously in his academic, professional and personal life, and he would recommend everyone to take part during the next program.
 

AUK students Batool Hassan and Omar Khalil at George Washington University