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Post 1 – Pre-Departure Expectations

I leave for Amman in a little over a week! Ever since I started learning Arabic I have been so excited to study in the Middle East, and now the time has almost come!

Why am I doing this?

I love studying Arabic, but where the classroom emphasizes grammar and spelling, this summer is an opportunity to practice my speaking and listening skills and get exposure to the Levantine dialect. I like to learn languages because I view language as a bridge to people. There is only so much Arabic that I can learn in a classroom, and this immersive experience – exposure to spoken language and cultural understandings that accompany daily life – will be truly invaluable and will allow me to finally connect language with people and culture.

What am I expecting to get out of this experience?

By the end of the Qasid program, I hope to be able to sustain a conversation with a native speaker in the Jordanian dialect for upwards of 10 minutes, covering topics that go beyond the realm of small talk or daily life. Additionally, I hope to improve my MSA abilities to the point where I will be able to fully comprehend a news broadcast at normal speed and score a 3 on an OPI test.

I know that this summer will be very challenging – 4 hours of in-class instruction in MSA and 1 hour in dialect, along with 4 hours of outside work 5 days/week. But I am fully prepared to put in the time because I know that the returns will be immense. Beyond the work itself, what is most daunting to me at the moment is that as a Catholic, I will be in the vast minority (over 92% of Jordanian people are Muslim). This will definitely be an adjustment, but at the same time, it will be such a unique experience to be in a country that has a national religion and observe how this manifests in daily life – one thing I am looking forward to is experiencing the call to prayer.

While there won’t be much free time during the weeks, I hope to also get involved with an organization called “Reclaim Childhood”, which is an after-school sports program for young local girls and refugees. To truly immerse myself in Jordanian life and culture is to understand that a large part of the current landscape is marked by the influx of refugees. There are over 3 million refugees living in Jordan, mostly from Syria and Palestine. Volunteering with Reclaim Childhood and playing with the young girls will be a great way to better my skills in the Levantine dialect, but it will also allow me to learn about their experiences – a window into a large and growing crisis in the region.

When I arrive in Amman, I expect an adjustment period, but while 2 months sounds like a long time right now, I know that at the end of the program, I will be wondering where all the time went. I will try to make the most of the 9 weeks I am in Jordan and am so excited to meet the others in the program and immerse myself in the language, people, and cultural landscape of Jordan!

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What do I Expect From This Experience

I expect that I will learn a lot about how willing I will be to embrace the discomfort that will come with experiencing a new culture, and through this discomfort I expect that I will be able to find similarities between Italian culture and my own culture while also finding out how cultures influence values and life choices.

If I decide to embrace the discomfort that will come with trying to immerse myself in a culture that is not my own, then learning about the culture will be much easier and I expect that I will be able to more easily find the similarities between Italian culture and my own culture. It will also be much easier to observe how culture affects the values of its people if I accept that this experience will be far from comfortable.

If I fail to embrace the challenge that lies ahead of my, then I expect that my goals that I have set forth for myself will be much more challenging to achieve.

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Pre-Departure First Post – On My Way to Brazil

Hello there! I’m Matt, and I’m thrilled to share that this summer I have an exciting adventure ahead of me in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. I’ll be immersing myself in a Portuguese language study program, seeking to deepen my proficiency in this beautiful language. It’s the perfect opportunity for me after completing a demanding first year in the Keough School’s Master of Global Affairs program. A busy finals season just wrapped up where I dedicated myself to extensive research and writing. Even though it admittedly meant sacrificing sleep, I also managed to pack up my apartment in South Bend, as I won’t be returning until January 2024.

This language study experience in Brazil serves as a steppingstone for my upcoming Fall 2023 off-campus internship. I’m incredibly fortunate to have secured a position with an international organization that focuses on research and advocacy, specifically aimed at promoting recognition and protection for the LGBTIQ+ community. It’s a cause I am deeply passionate about, and I can’t wait to contribute to their noble mission. However, while my previous professional experiences have focused on this human rights research and advocacy in Latin America, my limited Portuguese has meant I have not been able to delve into work on Brazil.

Brazil boasts a reputation as a melting pot of cultures and its LGBTIQ+ community forms an integral part of this mosaic. By learning Portuguese, my hope is to build bridges of understanding and empathy. I aim to be better equipped to connect with locals, engage in meaningful conversations, and learn firsthand about the experiences, joys, and struggles of the LGBTIQ+ community in the country. It is my fervent belief that cultural exchange and dialogue are catalysts for change. The last time I was in Brazil, I was a child and have since lost my grasp on Portuguese. Coming back after years of living in different parts of the world is definitely going to feel like a full circle, and I am heading into this new experience with an open mind and ready to learn about the Cidade Maravilhosa.

Matt

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Pre-Departure

Last summer, I worked as a resident volunteer at Hesed House, a homeless shelter in Illinois. And wow, did that experience shape me. I remember having zero expectations going into it, unsure what I would even be doing exactly. I just showed up. Once again, I find myself unsure what to expect for the summer—going into Costa Rica and learning Spanish—but I do know that I want to just show up and take it in.

Frankly, I am insecure in my Spanish abilities. In fact, it has been at least a whole semester since I really studied Spanish. Regardless, there is this deep desire within me to be at least colloquially fluent. There is something about language that is so ontological to someone’s identity that makes it so appealing for me to learn languages. And I want to understand people, take part in how their world is constructed through words. My friends, some of my best friends actually, are native Spanish speakers, and so learning Spanish has become a driving force within me. And I believe it would help me understand even beyond those closest to me. 

Back at Hesed House, I used to help with the laundry, folding blankets and sheets—sorting them. And there was this one resident who would always help. Estefan. Spanish was his first language and I remember wishing desperately in those moments that I was fluent. I remember feeling so thankful for his patience and consistent effort to communicate with me even as I shuffled words out of my mouth. I remember wondering how it must feel to be in a place where you couldn’t communicate in your mother tongue. 

Learning Spanish has not been easy. It feels like I’m trapped in my own mind. Stuck on the words, on the conjugations. I never learned a language that I didn’t grow up speaking (English and Japanese) until university. And it feels so discouraging at times. As if I am a baby with a fully cognitive adult brain. I know what I want to say. I know how I want to say it. Just not in this language… 

It makes me think with much humility how difficult it must be to emigrate or push yourself out of the comfort zone of your primary language(s). Admittedly, I have been a coward. I try not to raise my hand in Spanish classes; I try not to practice Spanish with my friends beyond the bounds of what I know. But I think language is so human in that way. In that, the only way to become fluent (at least efficiently) is to be around others who speak the language and to use the language yourself.

Costa Rica is going to humble me. And the homestay situation will ensure that I can’t hide away from this opportunity. So I am going to show up. I am going to confront the uncomfortable need to depend on others’ help and even come across unintelligible. And I hope if anything I will be able to accompany others.

I have never been to Costa Rica or Latin America in general. I recognise from the Intercultural Development Index I tend to be more polarising with my perception of cultures and when I’m not, I tend to be minimising of cultural differences. I grew up with two nationalities, Japan and the US, that I constantly compared and contrasted. The question is how can I balance differences and similarities of cultures effectively. And to what extent is it helpful to do so without judgement and to what extent is being aware of my judgements and preferences useful in understanding myself and others.

My hope is to come closer to an answer over my time at Costa Rica. For now, I plan to just show up.