There are some days I just don’t feel like writing because either I’m too lazy or there are just so many thoughts and things happening at the same time, so I get really lazy at the thought of writing it all. In the end, the two reasons conclude to being lazy, but I’m sure there are more reasons to it because I wrote almost all the time in Romania.
After I went to Norway with my boyfriend and his roommate, I had about 3 more weeks until I had to leave to go back to San Jose, California. I was feeling bitter sweet to go back home because I had to leave my life in Sweden, my friends, my routine and my Arabic boy. The sweet part is that I got a scholarship for the SLI Language Program at San Jose State. It’s a 15 month program that includes a 6-week long program this summer everyday for 5-7 hours a day, then two online classes during the fall and spring semester, then finally we go to Amman, Jordan next summer! That’s the sweet part, so once I got home from Sweden on a Thursday night I had to move in my dorms at school on Sunday and start the program the next day. I didn’t have time to see my friends, my family or the city. The most important part was I didn’t have time to think about Sweden. People usually have the reverse culture shock after a long travel, that is if you enjoyed your time in that place. I wouldn’t necessary miss the expensive city, but I will definitely miss everything else. It was like utopia in Stockholm.
I just finished my Arabic program and I feel like I can read and write pretty fluently, but reading includes understanding and I don’t understand what I read quite yet. I have lots of grammar and vocab I need to start learning! My greatest accomplishments throughout this program is that I can do some decent looking calligraphy.
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| Kufic Style Calligraphy that says “Al-safar Al-warad” within the dandelion which means “The Traveling Flower” intentionally for my favorite word that explains me, “The Dandelion Traveler.” |
The second accomplishment is that I can speak to my boyfriend in broken Arabic and Swedish now. It was really funny, I learned how to recite the Al-Fatiha (the opening to the Quran) and I thought I would recite it to Ishak who is Christian Arab because that’s the most Arabic I know in a whole paragraph. He was so confused and asked me if I was Muslim now and told me to learn the Lords’ Prayer too.
I came out understanding more about the Arab cultures from this program, though I don’t understand and know everything, but I have dipped my feet into the water and ready to dive in more! This language holds a beautiful mathematical equation of passion, compassion, love, hospitality and acknowledgement within the language along with ethics and culture. I understand where the actions of my boyfriend comes from and most importantly, I learned how to calligraphic! I love it and it’s so calming.
Once I said bye to all the friends I’ve made in this program I went straight back to catering for weddings. After that, I went to Santa Barbara for 2 days with my cousins and my aunt for my cousin’s UCSB orientation. I forget that Northern California is not the only representation of California, it’s so beautiful in Santa Barbara and the radio music is better DJ’ed.
Now, time to figure things out for my last year in university (hopefully), catch up with my friends and family slowly (forgive me my friends) and sell all of my clothes to Crossroads so I can go to Sweden in the Winter.
Over and out,
Dandelion Traveler
dandeliontraveler 