By: Frederika Chavous

After two weeks at An-Najah University in Palestine I can definitely say that I have grown up a lot ‎in both academic and personal ways. I taught the workshop of Italian Language and Culture ‎because some local students are going to have a trip to Italy and so they had to learn about ‎greetings, numbers and days of the week; how to present themselves, how to ask for information. ‎So we studied a little bit of vocabulary and after that we talked a bit about the Italian Culture, ‎history, art and food. We also saw different pictures of the cities they will visit. After that we still ‎had time to play some games in order to learn about Italian hand gestures, because they will have to ‎know about it. We also touched on stereotypes about Italians and Italians’ most common ‎characteristics. The main purpose was to prepare them as well as possible for their trip.‎

It was a wonderful experience for me, actually still a student in Italy. They made me feel really ‎comfortable and appreciated, particularly because I was younger than most of the students and I was ‎worried about that. In fact, all the students and volunteers here were very nice and polite, showing ‎how much they care about us. We always felt comfortable and safe everywhere we went during our ‎trips around Palestine.‎

We really had the opportunity to see what the real Palestine is - from the University to the Bedouin ‎tent, from the refugee camps to cities such as Nablus and Hebron - and to discover how beautiful it ‎is to watch the sunrise over the Dead Sea, to eat the traditional sweets of Nablus, to meet different ‎communities as the Samaritans and to discover many energetic, strong and hopeful people, such as ‎those from the Freedom Theatre.‎

I really want to thank everyone here for the energy they have and for the wonderful experience they ‎offered us, one that we will never forget.‎