Over the past few months I feel like I have indulged and took in a lot of new knowledge that I haven’t been introduced before in my life. This course helped me have a wider scope of understanding more to life and the people around me. I got introduced to knowing my identity more and questioning what was most important to me in life, i understood the real meaning of biases, empathy and othering and how to not fall into this loop whole and know when you are surpassing it. What I also got to know more about was the concepts of equity, social justice and the operations that are happening all around us and how to be more proactive in life when these situations occur. When I first started the class and I was asked about who I am and how I viewed my self and identity it was the first time ever that I was asked this question, listing down what’s so important to me in life helped me understand how I might take a lot of things that I love in my life for granted.  I remember as well how I always reacted to how I believe that my identity changed after covid-19. I specifically remember the the video of Mays Imad on Trauma https://youtu.be/i9A-VM8iawc , and how asking yourself and others, “how’s your heart” is a very important exercise that I’m still carrying it with me and using it after this video to help me know if I’m okay or not. The video done by Chimamanda Ngoz The danger of a single story talking about the problem of othering was something that I linked with automatically because its so sad to believe that most of without noticing are put in the situation of othering or bias. I still remember the example that she gave in the ted talk about how most of the book characters are named after famous westernized names not names coming from our cultures which is sometimes ironic. Just because you want to feel inclusive and fitting in doesn’t mean you should delete your identity or not have empathy for others, but instead its so important to showcase who you are and where you actually come from like Chimamanda.

Adding on when I played the BBC Syrian game Syrian Journey and spent SpentI was put in the situation that I had to choose what other refugees are going through, I was never that empathized with other nationalities after I understood what they actually are going though and how oppressed they are. The feeling of not being able to choose anything and that your losing your country, family and money just because your country is at war is the worst thing that can happen to any person and im so grateful that Im not put in this situation. The most emotional reading and hardest one I had to do in this course was the Lina mounzir one  (hypothes.is anninotation link). The one that talks about the importance of Arabic language and how we take it for granted, adding on the use of imagery and the explanation of how war occurring nonstop in their country made me feel guilty for not doing anything to help them. All of the reading and videos done in this course challenged my Comfort zone as I always run away from emotional and sensitive topics that I have to reflect on, so this course helped me develop in that area. Some questions that I might have about this topic would be how do you help and support the people who are under occupation for example or how to not be biased against people who are against my beliefs and values, these can be discussions taken with me in Soliya rounds as well.

When reflecting on myself I learned that I am capable of handling tough and deep conversations, I also learned how much I’m closed in a bubble and don’t have that much world experience that would shape me later on in my life.I want to know will I always present myself to different people like always or when I’m put into different situations Il be having a different identity and priorties. I want to have a wider international’s experience and see how different nationalities and living of people would affect them in who they are and I believe this is what Soliya will help me develop.

When interacting with people who are different from me I realized that in general I’m good with adaptation and I’m able to work and collaborate with anyone. I just want to see how different mindsets view how to become a good global citizen and what are the characteristics needed for it. I want soliya also make me understand more what is global digital citizen and how it differs from anything that is digitalized alone. Adding on I want to see how different vultures view the importance of understand digital literacy.

When I first started the Soliya session I noticed that I had a lot of Palestinians in the group and one Israeli I thought to myself omg this would be a total disaster and I was shaking from stress because I didn’t know what to expect, but then at the end everyone was understanding of the other and the Palestinians where so calm which made me a bit frustrated at the moment, but then at the end I noticed how they always pick their battles and know what to say without making a scene out of it and I think this is  what I would be maintaining throughout the sessions.