:)

What I expected when I came to Hebron was a week of Arabic lessons, a place to sleep, and a few excursions. What I got when I came to Hebron was a second family. Not only was my host family quick to adopt me - by my second day, they were calling me their new daughter - but the Excellence Center itself, staff, students and volunteers, felt like a big, chaotic, warm family. Everyone eats breakfast together in the morning, works or talks or drinks sweet tea and bitter coffee in the kitchen between duties, and cooks a communal dinner together on Thursdays. The students and volunteers come from all over the world - during my time here, I met people from Australia, Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, the USA, and Mexico - and all of them have interesting stories. Equally, all of the Palestinians I met were incredibly welcoming, and happy to be able to show visitors their country.

I have studied Arabic for three years, including a year living and studying in Amman, Jordan, so this wasn’t my first experience in the Middle East. From my previous experience, I can say that the teaching at the Excellence Center is of a high standard. With my teacher Afnan, I studied both Palestinian colloquial and Modern Standard Arabic. We looked at a wide range of material and topics, from rap songs to poems to newspaper articles, jokes and comic folktales to documentaries. I really appreciated her calm and patient approach, as well as her ability to be flexible and adapt to what I wanted.

Outside of lessons, I got to see much more of Palestine. In Hebron, we visited the Old City and the Ibrahimi Mosque, as well as excursions to see local industry, such as glass-blowing, pottery, and leather workshops and the factory which makes the Palestinian keffiyeh. Outside of Hebron, I went with the center to visit Ramallah and Jericho: we visited sites including the Mar Saba monastery and the new Yasser Arafat museum in Ramallah.

Additionally, I really benefited from the time I spent with my host family - being able to immerse myself entirely in spoken Arabic in a home environment was challenging but has proven really rewarding. It wouldn’t have been possible without their amazing hospitality. Practising my Arabic with the staff and teachers at the center outside of lessons was a great opportunity as well. I also appreciated getting to know the other volunteers, and the experience of being among only a few native English speakers in a place where English is the lingua franca has been eye-opening.

Finally, I have one piece of advice for anyone planning to come to the Excellence Center, whether to study or to volunteer: you really do get out what you put in. It might seem exhausting (I know it has been for me!), but if you try your best to participate, help out, and talk to people whenever possible, you will find you learn as much outside your lessons as you do in them, not to mention the real friendships you will create. I wish I could have spent longer than a week in Hebron, and I’m definitely hoping to come back in the future - inshallah! (“If God wills,” a phrase anyone studying Arabic will learn to use often...)