Today is my last day here in the beautiful country of Oman. It’s bitter sweet. I have really loved my time here. This has been one of the best months of my life. I have had such an amazing time and met so many new people that I don’t want to leave, but I want see my family and friends. Being a 14 hour plane ride is much different than being a 12 hour drive away.

Hey everyone! As my time here comes to a close unfortunately, I have decided to share a few tips about studying abroad from what I have learned. I hope everyone has been having a fantastic time reading about all my adventures. I hope everyone gets the opportunity to go on a study abroad experience. These weeks have by far been the best weeks of my life. I have had an amazing time meeting new people and learning new things about different people and cultures. Somethings you wo

Classes were cancelled for Thursday our last day of the week. I’m sure you’re wondering why. Well the tropical storm Ashobaa will be hitting Muscat (the city where I will be living). The city will be in a state of emergency as a precaution. The last time a storm hit Muscat it DEVASTATED the city. The Dean of our college explained it could even be as bad as a Katrina situation or it could just be a little drizzle. The officials are not sure exactly how devastating the storm wi

Yesterday I had my first test. It was difficult. I believe I did well, but I would never say that it was easy. The Arabic language itself is very different from English. Personally to study I break it down into three categories. I learn how to pronounce it using phonics by writing the pronunciation in English, I learn how to write it Arabic, then learning what I means in English. Unlike languages such as Spanish and French you have to learn an entirely new alphabet! Also ther

Yesterday we went on another adventure. We went to the ancient cities of Nizwa and the ancient village of Misfat Al Abreyyin. The village has been inhabited for over 4,000 years! Not much has changed in these as you will see in the pictures, but that’s what makes these so unique. Nizwa was our first stop. It was once the capital of Oman.

So yesterday I did something completely outside of my comfort zone and not a typical Mallory thing. I climbed these huge rocks that hurt when you fall (trust me I know) to get this beautiful pool of water in the mouth of a cave. From the moment I got here everyone talked about wadi shab. These magical water caves where you can go spelunking (something I wanted to do as a child because the word sounded cool). When I heard water and spelunking I wanted to be signed up immediat

So Sunday I went to the Royal Opera House to see musical about Ibn Buttuta. He was an explorer from Morocco where he traveled to China, North and West Africa, South Central, and Southeast Asia, and Eastern Europe. I suggest reading a little bit about him. He was an interesting man.

Like promised this post is about the Q and A from our tour of the mosque. Our guide was more than happy to answer any questions we had about Islam, Oman, or anything else we wanted to know. At the very beginning she introduced us to her friend who she very proud explained was a female engineer. She attended University and received her bachelor degree then masters in the UK. She then came back home to Oman and now works as an engineer with men. She gets paid just as much as t

Today was another wonderful day. Today we visited the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque. Using the word grand doesn’t give this beautiful place justice. Besides being so large it was also extremely beautiful. The grand mosque had beautiful architecture, stained glass windows, and carpets. Parts of the building came from all over world. Places like Iran and India. Our tour guide joked that even the tvs aren’t Omani and were made in the China. The only Omani product were the stain gla

Today was by far the best day I have had since visiting Oman. My group, also known as Squad, went dolphin watching and snorkeling in the Arabian Sea which feeds into the Indian Ocean so basically the Indian Ocean. And it was magical. We shared the boat with two other families, but they didn’t seem to mind the loud American young adults.

Yesterday was our first Omani cultural lesson. It was very interesting and informative. We learned about traditional Omani قهوة (coffee). For this lesson the leaders separated the men and women. Women were taught downstairs while the men were taught upstairs. We were told to sit around a mat as a professors demonstrated.

So I’ve been in class for four days now. I’ve been asked a few questions about the Academic side of this Study abroad trip. The “main” reason while I’m here. Classes are offered Sunday- Thursday. Fridays- Saturdays are considered the weekend. I have been taking intensive Arabic classes from 8:30- 1:10.

Well it’s been about four days here in this beautiful city. It’s a great, wonderful place. Very hot, but great. The first day was mainly touring and the other three we class. I will be noting a few observations here: