My Fulbright Journey: An ongoing, enriching experience

My name is Ziyad Ben Taleb and I’m from Libya. I was honored to be granted a Fulbright scholarship in 2010 and that’s when my academic trip commenced. I arrived to the United States in July of that year and began my Masters degree in Public Health at Florida International University under the Robert Stempel School of Public Health and Social Work.

Florida International University is the 15th-largest university in the United States with more than 45,000 students enrolled, and maintains a very diverse and vibrant community. The president of FIU is Dr. Mark B. Rosenberg who himself was actually a Fulbright scholar.

With much discipline and hard work, I was able to maintain a high GPA of 3.9, and was recently awarded membership to both the Golden Key Honor society, and the Phi Beta Delta Honor Society at FIU for my academic achievements. I successfully met the requirements for my degree and graduated on August 2012. Being a proud Fulbrighter, I wanted to continue to higher levels of education, therefore two weeks after my graduation, I was admitted to the PhD program in Environmental and Occupational health at FIU, and had the privilege to be supervised by one of the best professors in the field of genetics and human health.

Fulbright provided me with the confidence and the motivation to keep climbing the ladder of success, to pursue even higher levels of education and to promote cultural exchange between United States of America and my home country of Libya.

Living the Experience!

Fulbright is a life changing experience! I heard this expression so many times from a number of friends and colleagues when I got admitted to the Fulbright program in Morocco, but I did not realize how real it was until I actually lived the experience. I still remember the deep joy I felt when I got the acceptance letter to come to the US to pursue my graduate studies. In July 2010, I left home to join the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles to start a Master Degree in Public Diplomacy. The excitement and adrenaline were sky high, but at the same time I felt sad for leaving my family and friends and for moving away from everything I loved and from the comfort zone I so long enjoyed.

The first four months in the US were very tough and demanded a lot of patience and perseverance to adjust to a new life-style that was totally different from the one back home. After the adjustment period, I started gradually and actively taking part of a number of academic and social events. Through these events as well as through my academic program I met a number of wonderful people many of whom became very close friends. My journey in the U.S. has been filled with great human and cultural experiences that widened my views of the world and allowed me to experience and cherish diversity. It also offered me incredible opportunities that helped advance my professional ambitions and strengthen and grow my personal and professional networks.

One of the best opportunities I had during my Fulbright experience was to take part in a graduate student expedition mission to India to learn more about the practice of public diplomacy. In the frame work of my master program, I and six classmates and friends Aparajitha, Maya, Hend, Jessica, Anna and Jerry, travelled from Los Angeles to New Delhi and Mumbai in December 2011. During this expedition we attended meetings and conducted interviews with leaders in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. Our goal was to get an inside look into the current challenges and opportunities India faces today, and assess what that means for the practice of public diplomacy.

For the purpose of this trip and to also generate a broader discussion about public diplomacy we created the following blog: indiapublicdiplomacy.com. Our blog generated a lot of buzz and attracted a considerable audience that held specific interest in the field of public diplomacy or who was simply interested in following our journey in India. Our story also made it to the home page of our university website as one of the main students’ featured stories.

This experience has impacted me at so many levels. Personally, this trip has been great in bringing the group closer together and taking our friendship to a whole new level. As a group we have not only been working, but we have been eating, shopping, laughing and planning everything together while sharing and discovering our experiences and different backgrounds. It has been an amazing bounding experience for all of us. Professionally, the trip has allowed us to meet and interact with different professionals in India, which added a valuable boost to our professional network. It also allowed me as well as the group to build an attractive and inspirational story inside our academic program and inside USC in general. Culturally, I have been exposed to a number of magnificent cultural elements such as food, customs, history and religion and spirituality. Indeed, this trip has been one of the best highlights of my Fulbright experience in the US.

Now, my Fulbright journey has come to an end and I went back home a few weeks ago. I am very happy to be home, but my feelings are still mixed as I feel heartbroken for leaving Los Angeles and USC. I never thought I would feel this way when I first started this magnificent journey two years ago. The amazing people I have met and the great friendships I have forged made my Fulbright experience so enjoyable and so real and I am very grateful for that. Now as a Fulbright alumna I feel more confident, more educated and more mature thanks to the different experiences I have lived. The impact of the Fulbright program will stay with me forever because it helped me grow inside and become a better person.

When food talks of brotherhood, peace, love and unity

© Nadia Bourouba

I am a Fulbright alumnus from Algeria. My friend, a Fulbright from Tajikistan, and I would love to share and confess how our Fulbright grant was truly a life-changing experience.

We studied together at the School for International Training in Brattleboro, Vermont. Vermont, a small paradise on earth, is a very peaceful area known for its green mountains and maple trees.

There, I lived in a house that hosted three international students coming from different countries. Bahrat, with his family, is a young man from India. Bakhtivor, with his wife, is from Tajikistan. And me.

We met and talked whenever we prepared our food. It was in a tiny kitchen that we got to know each other by sharing ideas about politics, religion, culture, and traditions. Preparing our food together was a bridge between three different cultures. Day after day, we got to know each other and became very close. Much love, unity, and care unconsciously emerged, creating just one family; a family that belongs to one and only one culture. It was a culture of love, and brotherhood.

One day, we decided to spread the idea and share this cultural richness with the student community at large. The idea was about inviting other people to join our united family for an international dinner. Our objectives were to bring together the students, to proudly share their culture, recognize the cultural differences, believe in the beauty of diversity, and to celebrate the unity of the entire community.

International Food Day
Although we belong to different cultures, it was not a barrier at all. On the contrary, diversity has been the spice of very beautiful moments sharing everything, including language, tradition, and religion. Everyone was busy preparing his or her traditional food. The Tajik people prepared their national dish called “oshi palov”, Russian pancakes “blinchiki”, and national bread “kulcha”. The Indian prepared “rasam” and “south Indian mixed veggie” and I decided to prepare “couscous” and “shorba”, a kind of soup and traditional cookies. We, graciously, offered to share a few of our traditional foods.

© Nadia Bourouba

The enthusiastic guests, coming from different countries including South Africa, Indonesia, and from different states of United States were very excited to know about the recipes, and were eager to take bites of different varieties of food. Besides, the event was not only limited to preparing food, it also included decorating the house and dressing up in traditional clothes to welcome the guests.

This International Food gathering was very fruitful. It was an opportunity to discover and discuss our differences. And more importantly, it has created a sort of mutual respect, understanding, and appreciation of diversity.

© Nadia Bourouba

Nadia Bourouba (Algeria) 

MAT (Master of Art in Teaching), SIT

Bakhtiyor Isoev (Tajikistan)

Master in International Education, SIT 

Sharing Cultures in Pennsylvania

             Through my work in Fulbright I have the opportunity to interact with and get to know many brilliant people from Bahrain, Oman, Yemen, the UAE, Libya, Jordan and Tunisia. The catch, however, is that this is generally all via email, and it is especially rare for me to meet students immediately upon their arrival in the US.

                At my recent visit to the Dickinson College Gateway Program (along with my colleague Erin Tyler), I was able to meet three of my own students from Jordan, Libya and Yemen, along with two others from Morocco and Iraq. This rare opportunity to ‘put a face to the name’ is very special, and it’s especially interesting to interact with some of these students as they are still in their first 24 hours in the US, some having never left their home countries before.

                Even working with the Middle East and North Africa on a daily basis, events of the ‘Arab Spring’ can still seem very distant to me. It is through these personal interactions that it really hits home as to the students with whom I am working, and the places where they are coming from. While I can read the news each day about current events in Libya, I do not come away with an up-close and personal perspective.

                What I find from attending Fulbright events such as the Dickinson Gateway Program is that regardless of a Fulbright (or any) student’s nationality or background, they are all like-minded, positive people who are ready to make a change in the world. I myself come from the suburbs of Colorado and have yet to visit the MENA region, yet when I spend time with a Fulbright student it is as if there is no difference at all between us. Religion, custom and culture vary throughout the world, and these are things to be shared and embraced. Fulbright offers students the rare opportunity to teach their peers that on a human level we are all the same. I find that this face to face contact with my own Fulbright students serves as a good reminder of this lesson for me.

Around the Table

By the time that our Fulbright students arrive in the United States for their Fulbright program, the staff at AMIDEAST already feels like we know them - at least on paper.  We’ve been the keepers of their graduate application files, read about their aspirations and goals, and have created their immigration records.  We know their parents’ names and what class they didn’t do so well in during their sophomore year of undergrad.  We’ve likely volleyed emails back and forth between time zones for months, finalizing their university placement, helping them connect with their new campus.  However - as is custom in our students’ homelands - it is by sitting, sharing a meal or a cup of coffee, that one truly starts the process of knowing someone.

That is why I was so excited when my colleague Ethan and I were invited to travel to Carlisle, PA for a Gateway program at Dickinson College.   Through this orientation program, we were able to meet six of our students who had just arrived to the States the night before and watch them as they experienced the U.S., many for the first time.  In the two days that we were on campus, we attended great lectures on a variety of topics and volunteered at a vibrant community food bank.  My favorite part of our time at Dickinson though, was the unscheduled moments where we could talk to our students, answer their questions, allay their fears, and learn from them and their stories.

It was in the breakfast hour, when the students debated the merit of each Olympic sport, with their national bias shining through.  It was at lunch, when the students shared the changes in their countries since the Arab Spring while simultaneously coming to terms with their first exposure to a plain, baked potato.  (Ethan and I quickly shared the joy of butter and sour cream).  It was at dinner, when the students discussed their academic interests and professional goals with local community leaders, gaining insight into the way business and community is perceived in the US.

We drove away with an energy and excitement for the adventures our students were just embarking on.  If our two days were any indication of the next two years for these students, they will learn a great deal, and share even more.  For me, it seemed the perfect way to start an exchange program designed to instill mutual understanding between nations.

University of Montana

My name is Mushtaq Al Rashidany, a Fulbright alum from Iraq with a Master’s from the
Linguistics Program at the the University of Montana (2012). I went to the University of Montana through the highly competitive Fulbright Program, and I was placed at UM by the Fulbright Program based on my qualifications and interests. I was a little hesitant in the beginning when I first arrived at the university as it was the first time for me to be away from my family. Soon after though, I was surprised at how great this university is with its faculty, students, and friendly environment. The office of Foreign Student and Scholar Services which is in charge of the admission of foreign students at the university has a very friendly and helpful staff. They took  great care of me and did everything they could to help me engage actively in university life providing all kinds of support whenever I needed since my arrival. They helped me find proper housing and with registering for classes, and I never had trouble dealing with any issue on campus since they were always there for assistance. The Foreign Student and Scholar Services (FSSS) office has interesting programs for international students like the Missoula International Friendship Program where I was introduced, like every interested international student, to “a host family” from the Missoula community. The FSSS also gave me the opportunity to be matched with a friend (a local student on campus) through the unique Global Partners program.


I love the University of Montana because it is a multi-cultural and diverse community that makes no difference among its students regardless of their race, religion, and nationality. Everyone at this university enjoys the same rights. I admire UM students’ high manners, and the wonderful friends I met on campus made me feel like I was home. In fact people in Missoula, not just at the university, are very interested to know about other cultures and religions of the world, so they are excited to meet international students, which was clear to me on several social occasions. I was surprised at the many fun activities and field trips that were organized for international students throughout the semester--I did not have time to attend all of them. I also found many resources on campus to help students deal with difficulties in study, stress, and financial problems.

Although I struggled at the beginning in my studies, the amazing encouragement and support from my very friendly professors and colleagues helped me make my way through the two-year Master’s Program successfully by getting the highest grades! UM professors always encourage students to work together in doing their homework assignments and papers by sharing ideas.

The University of Montana offers many opportunities for international students to represent their home cultures. I was highly motivated by that to present a cultural talk about my country, Iraq, in my second semester during International Week, which is organized every year for international activities.  I appreciated the efforts of the International Programs department during this particular event. I also wrote “a comic play” in one of my classes, something I had never done before, which  is strong evidence that the academic and cultural environment of the university motivates students not just to be competitive in their studies, but also to  discover their hidden skills in other fields and to show their creativity. I don’t think I could find such opportunities and rich environments at any other university.

Having graduated from the University of Montana and having become a Fulbright alum, I’m planning to encourage students from my home town to apply for the prestigious Fulbright scholarship. This way they can experience the rich academic atmosphere of U.S. universities and get a chance to represent their culture and religion, and to use their knowledge to rebuild their country when they graduate.

Arriving in the U.S.

Portland, Oregon

I consider myself to be a curious person, but I had never learned the name of Oregon, the state just between Washington and California. I am Lebanese, majoring in Architecture. When my interest grew in sustainable practices in Architecture, I presented my application to the Fulbright Committee in Beirut and a few months later, I officially became a “Fulbrighter”.

So now, Portland, Oregon (a place I had never thought of visiting) is my home—6,813.5 miles*— away from home for the next two years.  (* This is 10,965 km - that’s another difference I need to get used to.)

Columbia, South Carolina

This is yet another place I never imagined I would visit. From September 3-7, 2012, I was one of the many people participating in the Gateway organized by the University of South Carolina. It lasted for four days and was truly an enlightening experience leaving me with friends in every corner of this round blue planet.

September 3^rd was the longest day of my life, as I spent 31 hours on my journey to the United States.  Twenty-four of these hours were on the flight to Columbia, South Carolina from Beirut. Thank God for airplanes; it would have taken me longer if i relied on my hiking and swimming skills. I arrived at 10 PM EDT.  It was dark and a little bit cold, but the reception was warm.  Julie (who turned out later to be the miracle worker of the entire event) drove us to the hotel where we spent the next 3 days.

Speed dating is common in the United States.  We don’t want to be the exception for that. In a matter of a few minutes, the 40 of us knew at least half of the attendees, using the “speed meeting” ritual.

Where are we from? I will give you a hint.

Our names were: Basil, Berno, Myo Myint, Marcela, Nenad, Massiel, Natalia, Fayal Abdermane, Eva, Gesa, Martha, Georgios, Stephane, Zoltan, Rakesh, Sylmina, Daniel,Sara, Guisy, Grace, Mohammed, Charles, Melissa, Sumiko, Alexandr, Rubee, Sophie, Mathiew, Sarah, Jenni, Lora, Kyle, Albert Stevan, Mlondi, Kimin, Carlos, Minzu, Jaber, Duygu, Sercan, Caglar, Andrew.

We came from :

 Bahrain, Brasil, Burma, Chile, Croatia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, France, Germany, Greece, Haiti, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Mexico, Moldova, Nepal, New Zealand, South Africa, Spain, Tawain, Tunisia, Turkey, and the United Kingdom.

I felt like I had visited the entire world.

The first day, Dr. Alexandra Rowe, Director of English Programs for International students at USC, along with Dr. Michael D. Amiridis did an amazing job welcoming us. Not only that, we had a brief introduction to American history and diversity, starting 200 years ago in the same city we are all visiting. This was for the past.  As for the present, they gave us amazing advice, provided insight into the whole orientation program, and hope for the future. Next came understanding U.S. academic culture, then a session about appropriate interpersonal relationships. Do you think that the day ended that simply?

No! Changing our clothes really fast and bringing along  the ‘country’ spirit (which we did not know we had) we headed to the USC campus. There we enjoyed a group dinner followed by  line dancing lessons with Country Spirit, a community line dancing club, and other members of the Columbia community, including the Columbia Council for Internationals. At the end of the first day I was tired from all the fun we had.

The second day began with discovering our learning style inventory, a very interesting approach to what might seem random, but is actually scientific and accurate: learning behaviors. The following sessions were even more animated, especially when discussing U.S. politics and people, followed by very practical advice concerning our health and wellness for the future months. The closing session discussed our accident and sickness plan as exchange students and researchers.

Later we took a guided visit to the historic South Carolina State House and its gardens and monuments, and to the USC horseshow (every building has a ghost story). Do I need to say more? Even though I come from Lebanon, where 200 years are a small fraction of history, i couldn’t help but admire the history of these buildings constructed over the past 250 years.

The third and last day began with a self reflection and contemplation on how to extend this orientation. We are having fun, we are travelling the world with pictures and stories, and we are making friends. What more does one need? Apparently, we needed to understand U.S. culture to avoid culture shock and to meet Fulbright grantees from various countries studying at University of South Carolina and North Carolina State University. This Thursday happened to be the first Thursday on Main Street:  Art and Community time! The street came to life, starting from the museum of Columbia.

We had dinner for the last time together in the hotel. We heard amazing voices, witnessed amazing coordination from the gospel chorus in USC. Then, climbed to the hotel’s rooftop, where a small party between friends started. The night ended, but our program and new chapters of our lives have just begun.


Grace Aaraj is a Lebanese Fulbrighter pursuing a Master's in Architecture from University of Oregon, Portland.