A Year in the Fulbright Life: Hevar’s Story
For the next year, Fulbright MENA will be showcasing a handful of students as they study in the United States with their new series, A Year in the Fulbright Life. Each month, spotlighted students will share an update as they continue on their Fulbright journey.
July 2019
On July 7, 2019, we, the Fulbright Foreign Student Program finalists from Iraq, were hosted by the U.S. Consulate General in Erbil for a pre-academic departure orientation session before leaving our home country. Public Affairs team members and AMIDEAST representatives helped prepare and guide the selected candidates for our upcoming trip. Detailed information and tips about American culture, culture shock, sexual harassment, visa regulations, and U.S. academic standards were provided during the orientation, which were very informative.
July and August 2019
On July 20 2019, I arrived at Columbus International Airport where I had the opportunity to get to know my first American host family in the United States. They were very kind to me and we talked for an hour, during which they provided me with a lot of information about my new home state (Michigan) as well as about my academic university (Lawrence Technological University). We shared our contact details, and they told me that they are always ready to help, which really motivated me”.
The next day I started my first session at “Ohio Program for Intensive English (OPIE) 2019” at Ohio University. It was a welcoming session for Fulbright scholars, in which each Fulbright scholar had the chance to give a brief introduction about his or her country and culture. Then we started to talk to each other for a few minutes to get to know each other more. The instructors explained the four week schedule of the program with a summary about the courses, both elective and required, and also the activities during the program.
We had the opportunity to explore the big campus with some Fulbright scholars from different countries around the world. We learned that the school hosts over 34,000 students each year.
In early August, I had the chance to be hosted by an American family for the weekend in Cleveland, Ohio. It was a very new experience for me, and I learned many new things from this wonderful and lovely family of three; Karin, Jack and their lovely son Talon. We promised to see each other in the future and to keep in touch.
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