Desert Hoya
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…
“International Student” Posts
Showing 13 “International Student” 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
I Signed Up for 8:30 am Classes Everyday. Here’s What Happened To Me.
Hoang is a multilingual second year at Georgetown majoring in International Economics. He speaks Vietnamese, English, and French, while also learning Arabic. For the Desert Hoya Blog, he shares…
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Desert Hoya
To Be a Desert Hoya When the Sky Was Not Quiet
Zarrish Ahmed, a recent graduate at Georgetown University in Qatar, reflects on finding home, holding still, and being held by a community during a regional crisis that tested everything…
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Desert Hoya
I Got Rejected 68 Times in One Semester: Why Showing Up Changed Everything
I got rejected 68 times in one semester. Sixty-eight. I kept applying to on-campus jobs at our main campus in DC during my study abroad, and the responses were always the same: silence, or a polite "thank you for your interest." Then there were the big ones—PwC, Bain, BCG—all rejections in my first year when I applied for internships. I remember sitting there thinking, "Maybe I should do something else. Maybe consulting isn't for me."
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Desert Hoya
An Introvert’s Survival Guide to Thriving at Georgetown University Qatar
Freshman year can feel overwhelming, especially if you’re navigating a new country, a new education system, and a new sense of independence all at once. Now add being an introvert to the mix. What a nightmare. Though I am very much in the process of figuring things out myself, I have learnt a few survival skills along the way. Here are the skills I needed to survive my first year on campus:
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Desert Hoya
Belonging in More Than One City as a GU-Q Student
When I first applied to university, I didn’t imagine myself ending up on a Middle East campus. Like many students my age, graduating from an American school in Turkey, my idea of “college life” was shaped by American cities, American campuses, and the kind of cultural familiarity that comes from growing up under the influence of U.S. soft power. In my final year of high school, I didn’t even know international branch campuses were really a thing, even for the most impressive schools in the U.S. that my friends and I dreamed about.
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Desert Hoya
From Rwanda to Qatar: The Room That Made Me Feel at Home in GU-Q
When I left Rwanda for Qatar, I recall it with so much excitement, but also a kind of fear I didn’t want to acknowledge. How will I do for the first time away from my family? A new place, new people, new life, leaving everything behind. I kept wondering, How will I make friends? Will I just blend into the background?
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Desert Hoya
I am the First Turkmen Hoya at Georgetown University in Qatar
On my 20th birthday this year, I left Turkmenistan, with excitement, nerves, and the pressure of walking into uncertainty. After a gap year following my FLEX exchange in Texas (Future Leaders Exchange (FLEX) is a competitive, merit-based scholarship program funded by the United States government), I was finally traveling abroad, alone this time. In the U.S., I had always had a safety net: a host family waiting with warm meals, a host father who drove me to school, a host mother who answered every question I had – and yes, even the ones that probably made her question her life choices. This time was different.
