{"id":158,"date":"2016-10-31T05:57:39","date_gmt":"2016-10-31T05:57:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/eyeonthearabworld\/?p=158"},"modified":"2016-10-31T05:57:39","modified_gmt":"2016-10-31T05:57:39","slug":"taste-of-uae-food-for-thought","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/eyeonthearabworld\/?p=158","title":{"rendered":"Taste of UAE: Food for Thought"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

\"Rabiya\"<\/a><\/p>\n

My name is Rabiya Eshete and I am a senior majoring in Entrepreneurship with a minor in Marketing. I\u2019ve always wanted to study abroad since my freshman year because I love to travel and learn about different places and cultures. I began taking Arabic my Sophmore year and I loved it.<\/p>\n

Recently, I was given the opportunity to study abroad in the United Arab Emirates at the American University of Sharjah in the summer of 2016. This was the best experience I have had of the Arab culture by far. It was amazing to witness the culture, food, customs, and weather of the Middle East first hand. I was able to communicate with the citizens with the Arabic I had learned and simultaneously improve it as well. Moreover, the Emirates was not what I had expected. My perception of the Middle East was what the media had fed me. However, my experience shattered my misconceptions and introduced me to a world that was safe, fun, and accepting. I made friendships and memories that I would carry with me for the rest of my life.<\/p>\n

\"hala\"<\/a><\/p>\n

One memorable event I experience in the Emirates was the month of Ramadan. This is a period of 30 days of fasting from sunrise to sunset. During this month I was able to partake in this event for as long as I could endure (3 days lol). However, during these three days of fasting I experienced what marginalized people around the world go through without eating or drinking for hours or even days, I felt myself depending on God rather than the materialistic objects of the world, and most of all I learned self-control and determination. My favorite part about Ramadan was the breaking of the fast after sunset called iftar. Friends and family come together during iftar and share food and laughter.<\/p>\n

\"cooking\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On one of the days, I went to a cooking class taught by Hala Ayash, a skilled chef competed in Top Chef Arabia, and learned how to make a Syrian cuisine, which we later ate for iftar. I am so blessed to have had this experience and I encourage anyone to travel to the Middle East whether it be for adventure, education, or cultural experience.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  My name is Rabiya Eshete and I am a senior majoring in Entrepreneurship with a minor in Marketing. I\u2019ve always wanted to study abroad since my freshman year because I love to travel and learn about different places and cultures. I began taking Arabic my Sophmore year and I loved it. Recently, I was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/eyeonthearabworld\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/eyeonthearabworld\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/eyeonthearabworld\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/eyeonthearabworld\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/eyeonthearabworld\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=158"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/eyeonthearabworld\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/eyeonthearabworld\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/eyeonthearabworld\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/eyeonthearabworld\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}