During the Spring Semester of 2012, I had the opportunity to participate in Soliya program at Western Kentucky University. The objective of the online program was to build a bridge between students of the Arab world with those in Europe and the U.S. The Brussels 2012 study abroad trip was the perfect complement to the Soliya experience as it allowed me to apply concepts learned through Soliya to the real world, which is something you can not do sitting behind a computer screen.
As part of the Brussels trip, I have enrolled in an Islam Politics course as well as a course to study policies of the European Union. Both of the courses are crucial to understanding how followers of Islam, many coming from immigrant families, are integrated in to the European culture. The transition has not been easy for first generation immigrants, but one can easily see that younger, second generations have blended well with the European culture.
Interestingly, during the Soliya program, I became friends with a participant who lives in Amsterdam, Holland. As part of the Brussels 2012 trip, students of WKU traveled to Amsterdam, and there I was able to meet my fellow participant, Rosa. She showed me and the group from my school some non-touristy places in Amsterdam, which made for a truly unique experience.
So far, the trip to Amsterdam was the best experience solely based on the amount of English speakers in that city. It made navigating the cobblestone streets easy compared to the French and Dutch speaking Brussels. Rosa expressed that the English language is dominating the commerce of Amsterdam; One time, she expressed, she visited a shop in Amsterdam, and began talking to the clerk in the native tongue- Dutch. The clerk was dumbfounded and asked Rosa if she could please speak English!
(Pictured from left to right- Rosa, me, Dr. Kiasatpour)
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