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Things Jack and I Learnt in Italy During Study Abroad
Sama Alissa is a senior majoring in Culture and Politics. During my study abroad semester in the Villa Le Balze, I was accompanied by little Jack the Bulldog. Jack…
“Experiential Learning” Posts
Showing 11 “Experiential Learning” posts
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Desert Hoya
What Georgetown Taught Me to See: A Museum is Not What I Thought
Sazid Hasan is a second year student at Georgetown University in Qatar. I have always liked museums. However, looking back on my first year at GU-Q, I now feel…
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Desert Hoya
Contemplation in Action: My Summer Research on the Rohingya Community
Sazid Hasan is a second year student at Georgetown University in Qatar. Every first year student at GU-Q takes a Pro Seminar course in their fall semester, which is…
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Desert Hoya
From Doha to Buenos Aires: How Global Education Shaped Me
“How should we reinvent the city?” This is the type of question that Georgetown students like me are being trained to answer on the daily. We talk about a plethora of things–from the stock market to the politics of conserving energy. Here, discourse that questions, provokes, and stretches you is normal. So when I landed in Buenos Aires in Argentina for the Doha Debates Town Hall, it felt like the most natural extension of what we already do in the classroom.
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How To Not Waste Your Summer 101
For me, summer is usually a heap of unrealized plans, spontaneous travels, and the irritatingly slow mind marches of daydreaming on my bed. The summer of 2025, however, to my surprise, was completely different. In the spring semester of my first year, I knew I wanted to spend the summer doing what I love—writing. Good writing, nevertheless, flourishes when one is in a new setting, with differences capturing your every sense. So, I looked for summer writing courses in various countries, with the intention of challenging myself.
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I Emailed This Professor Hoping to Join Her Class – It Became the Most Influential Course I Took at GU-Q
At GU-Q, certain professors’ names become part of how students help one another to navigate this place. These names are passed along with a simple recommendation such as, “take her class if you get a chance.”
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Beyond Borders: What a Fishing Village in Indonesia Taught Me About True Community Engagement
As part of Georgetown University in Qatar's Community Engagement Program, I traveled to Indonesia expecting to make a difference. Instead, the community made a difference in me. Our journey began with three days in Jakarta, conversations at Georgetown Asia Pacific with Scott Guggenheim and Yuhki Tajima, walks through old Batavia exploring the remnants of five different colonizations, and visits to the Istiqlal Mosque and Jakarta Cathedral. But it was the four days that followed in a fishing village that truly transformed my understanding of what it means to engage with a community.
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How I Embraced Uncertainty at Georgetown – Then Found My Path through Research in Greece and Indonesia
When I was a first year student, I used to worry that my academic interests were too scattered to fit neatly into the structured world of university research. It wasn’t about the variety of academic opportunities offered at Georgetown, rather the uncertainty of how to navigate them from an interdisciplinary point of view. Even so, I wasn’t sure whether these interests would translate into tangible opportunities.
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How GU-Q’s Travel Programs Turn Studying Into an Adventure
Travel has always been one of the most powerful ways to learn about history, about the world, and about ourselves. There’s something deeply transformative about stepping into a place shaped by a history different from our own, immersing ourselves in its culture, and seeing firsthand the realities we’ve only encountered in books or lectures. That is why I have come to love traveling, not just as a hobby, but as a way to grow.
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What Have GUQ Students Been Up to This Summer?
How was your summer? I still can’t believe that fall semester has begun and I am a junior! It’s been two years of writing and talking to you all and now I am entering the second chapter of being a student at Georgetown. Summer is every university student’s favorite time! It is an opportunity to reunite with family and friends, a space to research and intern, and most importantly travel.
