Among the four assignments that stood out to me the most, there was, firstly, the Mays Imad video. It made me realize that to be able to understand or even help anyone, we need to be well ourselves. This makes sense because if we are already having a hard time by ourselves, how will we bear someone else’s issues? Also, there was the idea that it is essential to be aware of our own well-being so that we can even help ourselves solve personal problems. Without being aware of our own problems, it is unreasonable to expect them to be solved.

Secondly, the TED Talk about how languages shape the way we think made me self-reflect on the true effect of different languages on my identity. I distinctly remember Charlemagne’s quote about how speaking an additional language result in having a “second soul.” This made me think about my shift in self-expression (for example, in humor and even logic) when switching between each language I speak. However, I still ask myself what causes these shifts. What if I couldn’t speak a different language? To what extent would it have affected the way I think now? This is one of the topics I hope to explore through my Soliya experience since it is all about meeting people from different backgrounds.

Then there was the process of creating my AltCV and sharing it while viewing other people’s ones too. This assignment made me think about how differently everyone’s path in life is and how our achievements impact our perception of life, even within a group where most of us have a lot in common (being AUCians, Egyptian, early 20-year-olds,…).In my opinion, to become a better “global citizen”, it is important to consider how different people are in order to understand each other and manage meaningful conversations; and I eager to see how I’ll put this into practice during Soliya. Here again, I could use this throughout my Soliya experience by remembering that there will always be differences between us as people, but it doesn’t mean we can’t bond on different topics.

Finally, there was the digital narratives game. These games really put into perspective how different people’s situations are. I found it very interesting because often, when we are told how hard a situation is, we may understand the words, but we’ll never really know how it feels to go through it. Even though we didn’t have to truly live the experiences in the games, it made it easier to sympathize with people’s positions and understand their decisions more.

About what I would do if the issue of Palestine came up, I actually had my first session yesterday and it did come up. I felt a little bit stressed about how future interactions could be affected by this conversation since it is a sensitive topic and we all come from different parts of the world which translates into different beliefs and opinions. We decided it would be the topic of discussion for next week, but I hope we’ll be able to exchange while listening to each other, without fighting. I’ll do my research before the session to be more secure in my arguments but I hope the facilitators would stop the conversation is they notice it is getting too stressful.