See stories from GVSU Study Abroad Scholarship Recipients before, during & after their adventures abroad.
Palestine & Jordan 2014-15
I received the Padnos Scholarship for the 2014-2015 academic year in order to study Arabic and International Relations. With the scholarship I studied at both the West Bank of Palestine, at Birzeit University, and at the Consortium for Global Education in Amman, Jordan. My time abroad included activities such as tutoring, community works projects, and joining a circus. These days, I’m continuing my education and language studies in a different location, Istanbul, Turkey. Although Arabic is not widely spoken between Turks, due to the increasing number of refugees fleeing conflict from Syria and Iraq, the demand for Arabic-English speakers in Istanbul is on the rise. In Istanbul I study Turkish, Circassian languages, and international relations courses at Bo aziçi University. My current goal is, after graduating from Grand Valley in the coming academic year, to pursue a postgraduate degree here in Turkey.
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