Shavu'a Echad

The first week back hasn't given any of us much room to breathe. Our classes in Arabic and Hebrew hit the ground running from the very first day and have not relented. Over the break, Tyler, Huoshin, and David took an extra Hebrew Ulpan and have moved up a level ahead of the rest of us.

That has left Dustin, Ryan, Dominique, Titus, and myself as the five remaining Master's students left together in our class. It's a solid core group, but the pressure to move up the rungs of the ladder is intensifying.

We were greeted our first day back with Varda, our Hebrew teacher from the previous semester. She liked us so much that she requested to teach level Bet (B) so she could have us again. I've already noticed that I understand nearly everything she says when she speaks in Hebrew and now that we're out of level Aleph (A), everything is in Hebrew. Lucky me, I guess.

Arabic is different. Despite Dr. Hakim being the most profoundly intelligent and interesting professor that I've ever had, he is an unforgiving terror in Arabic. There has been no time to review what we learned over the past four months. For we have to continue moving forward so that we can translate Arabic sources to use for our papers. This means lots of yelling on his part and lots of fear-induced fingernail chewing and hair-pulling on our part.

He handed our tests back this past Wednesday. Titus and myself managed to skirt by with an A. We both made a 90 on the exam, but when Hakim spoke to me after class, he made it abundantly clear that a 90 means 10% of everything I do is wrong, which is entirely unacceptable.

Personally, I find it a bit unreasonable, if not altogether humorous, that perfection is expected of us in the classroom when it's not even expected from God. I'm still trying to work that one out.

Perhaps the most powerful force on all of our minds are our papers.With papers still due from the previous semester, there seems to be a sense of urgency to work hard for the next few months on progressing toward our degrees. This, in essence, means that we technically are taking eight classes at the moment. The work from last semester hasn't gone away. It's merely been piled on.

Some people are handling the stress of the workload in a highly structured and methodical manner (Tyler and Ryan comes to mind). Some are going about it haphazardly, chaotically bouncing from one task to the other, but no less focused on the task at hand (Huoshin). Others seem to be doing their best just to keep their head above water (Dustin and myself).

The glimmer of hope in all of this is threefold as I see it:

1. We've done this once before, so we know what to expect this time around.
2. We're all in the same boat together.
3. Our seminars for this semester are actually pertinent to our lives and to what is happening around the world.

The three seminars that I selected were Iran: Between Islam and the West, Islam and the West: A Clash of Civilizations?, and Economics and Demographics of the Middle East.

And all three of my professors are absolutely outstanding. Dr. Menashri teaches the Iran class and is regarded as one of the world's leading experts on that country. He was also the professor that sat at the table with Dustin and I all those months ago during the Master's luncheon.

Dr. Shavit is teaching the Islam and the West course, which has been a dream come true. In fact, this one class is essentially the entire reason for why I came. It's an International Relations course on steroids. Already, we've read Francis Fukuyama and Samuel Huntington, two of the 20th century's most influential minds on "neoconservatism." It's a class where debate will surely abide. On the list of topics to discuss will be 9/11, Al-Qaeda, Neoconservatism, the Bush Administration, and the Obama Administration.

Jackpot!

And the Economics class is finally a more scientific and analytical study that has immediate bearing on the current shape of the Middle East. The first day of class, Dr. Rivlin started writing production functions. I could have leapt through the roof. Grab a sledgehammer and start knocking down the Ivory Tower, boys and girls! Finally we have a seminar that is practical! And he is a Brit to boot, which shined through in his dry, self-deprecating humor.

All in all, the first week (shavu'a echad) has been a far smoother transition than even I anticipated. It was good to be home, but it's good to be back.

More updates to come soon.