YIPPEE!

If you're wondering why I've been off-line for almost a month, I have a perfectly good explanation. Well actually two of them come to think of it. First, I was home over winter break enjoying lots of eating, cold weather, and running... more on the last one to come but I'll stick to the subject for now. I also spent time at home making preparations for a 2 week hosting role I would play immediately after I returned from the US. On Jan 8/9, 25 students from a combination of the University of Maryland College Park College Student Personnel and Higher Ed Administration (both Master's and PhD students) and 1 more faculty member from each of those respective institutions came to Doha to engage in a 2 week long immersion study experience. They spent the first 3 or so days going to every possible landmark and cultural tourism spot you could possibly think of to go to in Doha, followed by 3 days solid worth of meetings with student affairs staff from various Education City branch universities, a weekend packed with more culture, another day of visits but to Qatar University and College of the North Atlantic Qatar, a 3 day Young Professionals Institute (affectionately referred to as YPI, or "yippee"), and one final day of anything and everything they hadn't had a chance to do. I know they left exhausted, but I'm confident each one of their lives was significantly impacted by the experience (the word "trip" just doesn't seem to do it justice). More blogs on discussions, learning points, and outcomes to come but I'll leave you with a few articles that made it into the local and regional English newspapers...

Gulf Times - 1/10/10

The Peninsula - 1/12/10

Gulf Times - 1/20/10

The Peninsula - 1/20/10

The Peninsula - 1/21/10

Gulf Times - 1/23/10