AUS Graduate Gets Into MIT

AUS alumnus Ali Al-Sammarraie, who studied abroad at Louisiana State University (LSU) in Fall 2014 and then graduated with a degree in architecture, has just been accepted into the Master in City Planning program at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the USA. After graduating AUS, he went to work for Perkins + Will for two years, before applying to pursue higher studies. Ali told us, “part of my story is IXO,” and explained that his exchange program at LSU helped him realize his ability to rise above any challenge.

We wish Ali the best with his upcoming studies at MIT!

Ali at MIT

 

Spring Break Stories

During the Spring Break in April, our IXO students travelled the world. Incoming exchange students Caleb Bullard and Chase Connor went to Egypt, where they visited the Pyramids of Giza, the Red Sea, Cairo, Luxor, and Aswan, and ended their trip with a cruise along the Nile River. Meanwhile, Josephine Ekwall and Lauren Slade went to Tbilisi and enjoyed the beautiful mountains in Georgia.Other students visited Thailand. IXO Peer Advisor Dinete Kollanur visited the United Kingdom, where he bumped into our CIEE Coordinator Abu Bakr Alani during a soccer tournament in Manchester. 

Left to Right: Dinete and Abu Bakr in Manchester

Caleb (left) and Chase (far right) on their trip to Egypt

 

IXO Student Receives Scholarship

Bianca Tardio, a Fall 2016 exchange student from Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), recently received the VCU Upperclassmen Scholarship for strong academic performance. During her application process, she wrote an essay about how studying abroad here at AUS impacted her, and described how she joined the VCU Global Education Office as a volunteer to encourage VCU students to study abroad. IXO congratulates her on this wonderful achievement.

Farewell to Graduating PAs

We bid farewell to all of our graduating Peer Advisors: Dinete Kollanur (SBA), Seham Nasser (SBA) and Tarek Alsayed (CEN). IXO congratulates them on completing their bachelor’s degree in their respective fields, and wishes them all the best for their future endeavors. They will be deeply missed. 

Left to Right: Lillie, Linda, Dinete, Seham, Tarek, Grace

 

Welcome Back!

IXO is in the process of welcoming back all AUS students who studied abroad in Spring 2017. We love this time of the year when we get to hear all about our students’ overseas adventures.

IXO Student Contributes to Flashbacks

We hope you all saw Flashbacks, a collection of six short plays that ran in the College of Arts and Sciences last month. We attended, and were proud to note that former IXO student Julian Drumm (see above) from Westminster College, USA, had written one of the acts named “Second Chances.” In addition, our IXO colleague Abu Bakr Alani, CIEE’s Resident Director, also acted in “Baba Ghanoush,” another act in this play.

IXO Connections Are For Life

Incoming Fall 2014 exchange student Carlos Aguero from University of New England unexpectedly ran into fellow exchange student Julian Drumm from Westminster College in Salt Lake City, Utah recently. They were happy to meet for the first time after having spent a semester here at AUS together.

Left to Right: Carlos and Julian in Utah

 

Best of Luck

IXO wishes everyone the best of luck with their upcoming final exams. We wish you all a relaxing holiday and safe travels over the summer, and extend our heartfelt best wishes during the holy month of Ramadan.

Great Publicity Recently

IXO received a lot of great news last month!

AUS was ranked as the most diverse student body in the world by Times Higher Education: https://tinyurl.com/k59juko

US News voted the UAE as the number one destination for study abroad: https://tinyurl.com/mhlh5hs

Sharjah was recognized as a top 100 student-friendly city by QS World Rankings: https://tinyurl.com/k549sbz

The UAE was shown to be the second safest country in the world by World Economic Forum: https://tinyurl.com/mo8ubxg

In response, Dr. Linda Angell contributed an AUS blog posting about why AUS is the best place to study abroad within the UAE: https://tinyurl.com/m7f6gaj

World Patch for Graduates

IXO will be handing out world patches to all graduating students who have studied abroad via IXO to honor their achievements and congratulate them on completing their higher education.

We encourage students who are graduating in Spring 2017 to stop by and collect these badges from our office in the main building (MG 43).

World patch for graduating students who studied abroad

UAE voted best country for study abroad!

According to a survey completed by 8,000 Millennials, UAE was ranked the best country to study abroad (followed by Singapore and India) as reported by the US News. The attributes assessed during the survey included cultural accessibility, enjoyment and cultural attractions. Please find the complete article at https://tinyurl.com/n75ncsd

IXO Participation in Global Day

A couple of our exchange students participated in cultural club performances at the AUS 2017 Global Day. Jade Williams from Howard University participated in the Nigerian Cultural Club performance and Rainie Grant from Butler University participated in the Palestinian Cultural Club performance.

Jade performing with the Nigerian Cultural Club

Rainie performing with the Palestinian Cultural Club

Mohammed Joins IXO

Mohammed Abdelsalam joins the IXO Team as a new Peer Advisor. Mohammed studied abroad at Virginia Tech, USA, in Spring 2016 through ISEP Exchange and has been an active member in all IXO events. We are pleased to have him join our team!

New peer advisor Mohammed Abdelsalam

Zachary Londo Visits IXO

IXO enjoyed a surprise visit from Zachary Londo in March during his spring break in the UAE. Zachary is an aerospace engineering student at the University of Alabama and had studied abroad at AUS in Spring 2016 via API. We hope Zachary enjoyed his spring break here in the UAE!

Zachary Londo with Grace Morales in IXO

Welcome Back

IXO welcomes all students after an exciting and adventurous spring break!

Scholarships Abroad

Former IXO Peer Advisor and international relations major Anusha Grewal is currently studying abroad with a scholarship at Cyprus International University as a visiting student. She had previously been abroad in Spring 2016 as a part of the Semester at Sea program. 

Anusha found schools outside of the US and UK that provide scholarships for international students. She advised that students consider going abroad as a visiting student, as these programs can sometimes be very affordable.

Outbound Summer Study Abroad Process

Are you studying abroad this summer? Please remember that all outbound summer study abroad applications are processed directly through the Office of the Registrar (MG10B). IXO does not collect applications for outbound summer study abroad.

Students can download the Summer Study Abroad Course Approval Form here: https://www.aus.edu/downloads/file/1442/permission_to_take_summer_courses_outside_aus.

Study Abroad, Spring/CY 2018

Applications are now open for AUS students who want to study abroad in Spring 2018, or for the full calendar year of 2018. The deadline to apply is May 6, 2017.

Visit IXO (MG43) to talk to a Peer Advisor about your many options. To apply, or for more information, visit www.aus.edu/ixo or contact us at ixo@aus.edu.

A Musandam Adventure

Dr. Linda C. Angell shares a recent IXO adventure:

Every semester, IXO plans a dhow cruise out of Dibba in the Musandam Peninsula for that semester’s cohort of study abroad students.

 

For our Spring 2017 trip, we planned an early departure from campus, with 32 of us leaving at 6:30 am from the Library Roundabout. We arrived at the Omani border by 9 am, and sailed right through immigration without any problems. We parked our bus in the sandy parking lot just next to the marina and climbed on-board our dhow.

 

The weather that day was perfect, and we had a fabulous day enjoying the views, swimming in the sparkling emerald waters in several coves, snorkeling, exploring the little beach villages, falling off the banana boats, visiting the natural limestone caves, having our lunch, jumping off the boat, reel fishing, and catching a barracuda.

By the time we pulled back into the harbor at 6:30 pm, as the sun was setting and the fish market onshore was bustling, we were all tired and sunburnt and happy – looking forward to a nap during the ride back to campus. We jumped into the bus and set off. As we were departing the parking lot, we found the way was blocked by a variety of boat trailers that had parked haphazardly around the entry points. The bus driver saw an incline just ahead that looked like it led to a more spacious area, so off we went. We got about 50 meters before the wheels started spinning, and the bus became mired in sand.

The guys all piled off, and soon were busy working to put stones and wood under the tires, to provide some traction. After a couple of attempts to drive away, the women also clambered down to lighten the load a bit and hopefully, to help free up the bus. 

Over the next two hours, we all watched in fascination as a parade of progressively larger vehicles and bigger crowds stopped by to try their luck at freeing up the bus.  First, a very nice Omani gentleman in a Land Rover with a winch parked nearby, and after a lot of fuss and confusion around the front of the bus trying to figure out the best place to attach the winch, the Land Rover gave it a try.  The attempt drained its battery without any sign that the bus was budging, and the Land Rover had to be jump-started. 

Next, another Omani gentleman in a pickup truck stopped and offered to get the bus unstuck for a mere 1,000 AED. He had a ‘special system’, he told us, that was guaranteed to get the bus out. We talked him down to 500 AED, and told him the money was his if he could get us out of there! He tried, no luck.  So that was Plan B.

Meanwhile, the crowd was growing thicker – it appeared that we were to be the Friday night entertainment for this small Omani village.  Probably, there were 200 people all milling about, in a rather carnival atmosphere! Someone must have called Civil Defense, because they showed up around then, along with some guys in hard hats. There was a lot of conferencing going on. Every effort to move the bus also involved a group of 20-30 people at the back (or sometimes the front), pushing with all their might – it really was a Herculean effort for all involved!

Eventually, a large flat-bed truck pulled up, the kind you see towing broken-down dump trucks, etc. The flat-bed was hydraulically lowered down to form a kind of platform, and a larger winch was attached. After a lot of hubbub, another attempt was made until the chain snapped with a loud cracking sound. Still the bus made no sign of moving. The large flat-bed truck pulled away.

A few moments later, shouting could be heard all around us as a backhoe-type of heavy earth moving vehicle came up to lend a hand. We all thought that this must be the moment we were waiting for, and we were filled with hope and good cheer! The backhoe tried pulling from the front of the bus, and then went around to the back – it tried rocking the bus back and forth – but really that bus was simply not going anywhere. That was becoming abundantly clear. 

Meanwhile, we had been standing on this beach, with no facilities of any kind nearby, for approximately 2 hours, and we were all beginning to feel the need for some personal comforts. The situation was looking progressively more hopeless, and the bus was now displaying cracked windows and peeling paint from all the pushing and shoving. 

Increasingly desperate phone calls to the bus company, and the Transportation people at AUS, were being made while these attempts were going on. It transpired that the bus company was unable to send another (replacement) bus to pick us all up in Oman, as that meant a driver with a visa to enter Oman, and that required a day or two to organize. So, after two hours stranded, the decision was made to walk the two kilometers to the UAE border, where a bus could actually be sent to rescue us.

We started walking, and we must have been a real sight, the 32 of us all strewn out and straggling along the road to the border. Some of our amazing Peer Advisors began flagging down cars and asking if they could assist by shuttling us in groups of 2-3 to the border. The driver of one of the cars we stopped said he had a bus, and went off to get it – a few moments later he pulled up with a bus that was miraculously big enough to fit all of us. Once to the border, we walked across, and over to a pleasant beach park just inside the UAE border – a place where we could sit and rest and where we had facilities and restaurants nearby. There were several families out and enjoying the park, with camp fires, etc., and truly the situation could have been far worse. The moon was beautiful and the stars were out, and we had a football in our midst.

We waited there for 2 hours while a bus was dispatched from AUS to come and get us. The bus arrived around 10:30 pm, and we all clambered exhaustively (but happily) on board. We got back to the AUS Campus around 12:55 am, literally 5 minutes before the curfew! Success, in the face of adversity! And another great story to tell our friends and colleagues.

IXO Students Explore UAE

Incoming exchange students of Spring 2017 have been busy exploring the UAE in the past month. In our very own city of Sharjah, the 2017 Sharjah Light Festival, where iconic landmarks were adorned in vivid colors accompanied by beautifully composed music, took the students by surprise. They were able to witness art in an Islamic setting and enjoy these installations that were located in various areas of the city, such as Al Majaz Waterfront, the Blue Souk and Al Qasba.

Students were also taken to the region’s first multicultural festival park, Global Village in Dubai, where they enjoyed cultural shows, food and shopping from pavilions set up by 75 different cultures from around the world.

While in Dubai, exchange students and the IXO staff visited the Mirzam Chocolate Factory at Alserkal Avenue to experience the flavors of real cocoa and richness of the only locally made chocolate in UAE. During the visit, they toured the factory and enjoyed brownies and hot chocolate.

Since football is a vital part of the UAE’s popular culture, CIEE coordinator Abubakr Alani arranged for students to attend an Emirati league match between Al Ahli club of Dubai (one of the best teams and the reigning champion) vs. Al Shabab club. Students had kushari, a famous Egyptian dish, prior to the game.

They also took a trip to Al Ain where they enjoyed the hot water springs beneath the Jabel Hafeet mountains followed by some barbeque.

Finally, in mid-March, they had a day-long dhow cruise around the scenic fjord areas of Musandam, Oman, departing from Dibba.

 Chocolate tasting in Mirzam

 Students barbeque at Hot Springs Park, Al Ain

 Students at Dibba, Musandam, Oman