In seven days around this time I will be in a plane headed towards the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) to take part in a fellowship with the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations (NCUSAR), the Saudi Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE), and the Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission.

This past semester I participated in the Model Arab League (MAL) at Texas State University. It was not too different in basic structure from the Model United Nations clubs I took part during my 9th and 10th grade years in Oklahoma. Students are assigned a country, they research that country’s position on particular topics, then they take that research and act as if they are from that country in different committees during conferences. Of course the major difference is that the MAL only represents the 22 member states of the actual Arab League, and all debate and research is at a higher level than that of my high school experience. Also, the MAL is a program that was designed and instigated by the NCUSAR to help educate students on the Arab world.

My participation in MAL is what gave me the chance to go on this fellowship (because MAL is a creation of the NCUSAR).

Photo: Me winning Outstanding Delegate for my representation of Libya in the Palestinian Affairs Council at the College Station confence hosted by The Bush School at Texas A&M.

As part of the fellowship, my fellow fellows (I get a kick out of that) and I had several homework assignments to do. One was contact media outlets (paper, radio, and t.v.) and try to publish my experience, two was to read Thicker Than Oil by Rachel Bronson and write a review, and three was to read several other articles about U.S. - Saudi relations. I have a few more articles to finish before I’ve completed my homework and the assignments have given me an excellent look at the relationship between the U.S. and KSA. I’ve also done some outside reading to gain a broader perspective and am very much excited about my up-and-coming trip.

This next week is going to be filled with trips to the dry cleaners, packing bags, making lists, brushing up on my Arabic, and getting a hair cut. The following posts should be a lot more interesting to read. I just thought it’d be best to catch everyone up on my progress.

شكراً (thank you),

A. Cotton