Current Scholars – Olivia Jones
Olivia Jones
During the summer of 2012 Olivia Jones participated in a Language and Cultural Immersion program sponsored by the American Middle East Institute and the Omani Ministry of Higher Education. The program was a nontraditional exchange where fifteen American students lived with fifteen Omani students for seven weeks. The group spent three weeks in Pittsburgh, the Americans learning Arabic and the Omanis learning English. Then, the group traveled to Oman for four weeks to continue their education. They attended classes at Sultan Qaboos University in Muscat and toured the country. By the end of their stay in Oman, they had been to all but two of the country’s nine regions.
Some personal reflections from Olivia:
To say that Oman is a beautiful country is an understatement. That being said, the country is underdeveloped compared to its other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) neighbors. To me, this is the appeal and beauty of Oman. I interacted with people from diverse cultural backgrounds, Beduin cultures, city-life, mountain cultures, and coastal cultures, yet they were all Omanis and all eager to show our group their traditions. One would be hard pressed to find a people as welcoming as Omanis.