1. Cognitive and Intellectual Learning: What I Have Learned

From the first class until now, this course has covered so many topics that caught my attention and stayed with me. Four of them influenced me the most intellectually: microaggressions, the 4 I’s of oppression, the war-writing reading, and the games Spent and Syrian Journey.

The first topic that stood out to me was microaggressions. We learned that they are brief, indirect put-downs aimed at a marginalized group (Sue & Spanierman, 2020). What I found interesting is that the same comment can mean different things depending on who hears it. In our role plays, we heard comments like “you’re soft,” which implies that men should not show emotion, and a joke that people from Banha are stupid, which reduces a whole group to a stereotype. The microinterventions taught me that I can respond calmly instead of staying silent or arguing, for example by explaining that men don’t have to be emotionless.

The 4 I’s of oppression changed the way I look at everyday situations. I learned that oppression starts with an idea that one group is better than another, and then it shapes institutions, interactions between people, and even how people see themselves. When I discussed sexism with my partner, I could see all four in daily life. The video also explained them in an easy way, so I know I can use them outside of class.

The war-writing reading was the most emotional one for me, especially while I was annotating it. The writer imagines an English reader judging a mother who says “Alhamdulillah” after her son’s death as cold or fanatical, when it is actually how she survives her grief (“War in Translation,” Lit Hub). It showed me how quick judgments erase people’s real feelings, just like headlines turn people into numbers.

Finally, Spent and Syrian Journey moved me from understanding to feeling. Making impossible choices with little money, or as a refugee trying to survive, made empathy something I experienced, not only something I read about. At the same time, our discussion of compassion fatigue taught me that feeling too much can lead to burnout, so I need to care about others while also looking after myself.

I hope to use my Soliya experience to enrich what I learned in this course. Talking directly with people from other countries will let me hear how they experience stereotypes, single stories, and bias in their own lives, and compare their experiences with what we studied in class. It will also show me how empathy turns into understanding when I listen to real people and not only read about them. I also hope to see whether ideas like the 4 I’s look the same in other cultures, and to notice my own assumptions as they come up in conversation. In this way, the ideas from the readings, videos, and games will become real experiences that deepen my knowledge.

2. Intrapersonal Learning: What I Have Learned About Myself

This course has been challenging for me, and it began in the very first class, when Dr. Maha asked us to describe ourselves in one word. I could not answer. I searched for a word that described me and only found “human,” which made me feel that I was nothing special, just like everyone else.

The activities that followed helped me look at myself differently. In the identity activity, we wrote ten words that show who we are and then removed them until only two remained. I was surprised that love and appreciation were the words that stayed, because they were what was left after everything else was removed. In the ALTCV activity, I made a slide about who I am and searched my photo albums for pictures that represent me. It made me nostalgic for the things that make me happy, like flowers, sitting by the beach in Alexandria, and visiting Old Cairo.

These activities showed me that I have a lot of potential that is still hidden. I still wonder how to find it and how to describe myself in a way that feels true.

In Soliya, I expect my identity to shape how others see me and how I see them, but I do not want to be seen only as an Egyptian. I am also a person who values love and appreciation, who finds happiness in simple things like flowers and the beach in Alexandria, and who has strong opinions and is not afraid to defend them. I may meet assumptions about my culture, but I also want people to know my character and my own point of view, not only where I come from. Introducing myself to people from other countries will push me to think about who I really am beyond one word, which I struggled to find in our first class. By listening to their values and comparing them with mine, I hope to understand my opinions better, discover the potential I still have hidden, and move closer to knowing who I really am by the end of this course.

3. Interpersonal Learning: How I Interact With Others

In this course, I learned that interacting with people who are different from me starts with listening, not judging. Playing Spent and Syrian Journey showed me that people make their choices under pressures I cannot always see, so I should not decide who someone is before I know their story. This makes me slower to judge and more patient when I listen to someone’s experience. Learning about single stories and compassion fatigue also taught me that I should care about others without reducing them to one label, and without forgetting to look after myself.

Becoming a good global citizen is something I am still learning. To me, it means respecting differences in culture, gender, and faith, staying curious about the world, and being willing to change my mind when I am proven wrong. What I still want to understand is how my own choices and words can make a real difference beyond my own surroundings. I hope Soliya will be a place where I can practice these qualities. Hearing how people from other countries see the world will show me perspectives I have never considered, and it will also show me where my own assumptions come from. I want to leave Soliya as someone who listens more, judges less, and understands that caring about the world starts with caring about the person in front of me.

I will use the experience to improve how I interact with culturally different people by asking questions before judging, sharing my opinion as my own experience, and staying patient and respectful, even when we disagree. I also want to share more than one story about Egypt, so people do not see my country through a single story.

4. Discussing Palestine and the Middle East During Soliya

If the issue of Palestine or the war with Iran and the Middle East came up in Soliya, I expect it to be controversial, because the group includes people from different countries, races, and opinions. Some people will feel strongly, and emotions may run high. I would defend my point of view, which is that what is happening in Palestine is genocide and cannot be accepted. At the same time, I do not agree with what Iran is doing, and I believe that condemning one act does not mean excusing another.

If I could direct the discussion, I would start by asking everyone to share how the conflict affects them or the people they know, because personal stories help us see people instead of headlines, as we learned in the war-writing reading. I would also set a rule that everyone speaks without interruption and that we disagree with ideas, not with people. As for support, I may need a facilitator who can slow the conversation down if it becomes heated, and time to step back when I feel overwhelmed, since compassion fatigue taught me that I need to look after myself.

This reflection was proofread with AI assistance (Anthropic, 2026). Anthropic. (2026). Claude (Sonnet 5.5) [Large language model]. https://claude.ai