The Trip of a Lifetime

This trip was absolutely academically stimulating, but much of what we learned was outside of the classroom. Both professors, Paul Arthur and Zaid Eyadat, were very well connected and ensured that we were exposed to an education beyond what they as individuals could provide. That is not to say that they themselves weren't excellent lecturers, they were, but there is a difference in being told about a conflict academically and experiencing its effects in real life.

This program is divided into two parts, the first being between London and Northern Ireland learning about the Troubles and the methods of conflict resolution used in that particular case. The second part is spent in Jordan learning about the variety of conflicts in the Middle East and the challenges to finding peace in the region. Each part of the trip involved speaking to many distinguished individuals with interesting insight in their respective fields, but in both parts of the trip there was a single experience that impacted me more than any other.

In the first part of the program we spent a few days in Northern Ireland in order to get a feel for the conflict that we had been learning about. One of the cities we visited was Derry (/Londonderry). The night we were in Derry we went to a Theatre of Witness workshop. In this workshop women from both sides of the conflict discussed their experiences during the Troubles. This served to humanize the conflict. These were real people who had their lives turned around, they weren't on video or in a book, they weren't academics or politicians. These were normal people. It was a unique moment that I could not have had on a different program or under other circumstances.

I had a similar moment in the Jordan portion of the program. Instead of our normal class session one day we got on a bus and drove to the northern desert to speak with a tribal sheik about peace and conflict resolution. While we were there we had the opportunity to speak with an extended family of Syrian refugees. We spoke to them about their experiences in Syria, of their journey to Jordan, and of their treatment as refugees. This gave us valuable insight to the Syrian conflict and the status of refugees.

This program provided us students with unique and incredible experiences. Each day was different and held a new adventure or learning opportunity. I learned more in the few weeks I was in this program than I have in most classes in my entire undergraduate education an in my graduate education thus far. I wholeheartedly suggest that if you are considering this program that you go.