My Arab Spring

The trip was absolutely unforgettable, not only because of the new cultures, oil-supported riches, or insights into the perks and troubles of our campus in the Middle East, but mainly because of the people we had the chance to meet. Although each of the campuses that prestigious Western universities have in Education City, Doha, is required to recruit a certain percentage or number of Qatari students each year, many of the most active and enthusiastic students actually come from Pakistan, Jordan (often from Palestinian families), or other countries in the region. During all the fascinating visits to places such as the Museum of Islamic Art, the headquarters of the TV network Al Jazeera, or the traditional Souq Wagif market, many friendships were established between the Evanston group and NU-Q students regardless of where they're from, and many of us returned to the US with a rather different outlook on the Middle East than some of had perhaps held beforehand (for one of the travelers on the trip, this was actually their first journey outside the U.S. borders).

Still filled to the brim with the good impressions I left Qatar with, I decided to seek out those students who were in Evanston for the spring on study abroad from the Qatar campus. We became good friends and I can only hope to get the chance to visit Qatar some more in the future. What I had to "visit" a good deal in the reality of spring quarter, though, were my economics textbooks. While registering classes for the spring, I boldly opted for Intermediate Macroeconomics and Econometrics at the same time, two courses that proved more challenging than one could perhaps think. Both were taught by great professors, Mr. Lawrence Christiano, one of the world's most cited economists, and Mr. Richard Walker, a British professor with impressive teaching skills and knowledge. Good professors, however, also expect only the best from their students. Unlike what I heard is the Czech system of teaching undergraduate economics, the American way is more focused on understanding the underlying concepts rather than solving endless quantities of textbook problems and the two professors' exams exhibited this spirit a good deal. To put it in a metaphor, my econ courses gave me a run for my money, but after chasing them down the block a little bit, I believe I more or less caught them.

The other two courses I took, consumer insight in integrated marketing communications and developing and marketing popular culture, were closer to my heart and thus more engaging. The former was taught by the magnificent professor Mersey, who was able to keep most every student on the edge of their seats with their eyes pinned on the board despite having to teach three-hour lectures, and always stick to the point and principle while keeping the material engaging. The latter course was once again with professor Rein, but this time conceived as basically one giant group project: Each one of about seven groups had to develop a sitcom all the way from pitching the initial idea to networks to shooting a trailer and coming up with the script for scenes from the pilot and preparing a press kit. A good deal of luck is required for these group project to be fun, but luckily my group was productive and easygoing, so we had our fair share of laughs while producing our show Love Bytes about a young programmer entering the dating world. The most interesting part of that class were the countless invaluable insights we got from Mr. Kwatinetz, a Los Angeles producer and media mogul.

In summary, this has been one of the most interesting quarters (although thankfully I could say that about almost every single one), and now I'm looking forward to another one of those opportunities I was talking about in my last blog post - the ones that are waiting for the inquiring student to apply - in September, I'll fly with Career Services to New York City and explore a number of companies and meet alumni at the Media & Marketing Career Trek. For now, though, it's time to go outside, enjoy the summer, and watch the soccer world cup.