In the summer after my Freshman year, I took beginning Arabic. It was brutal. Everyday for over 4 hours, we studied. I had prior knowledge of Arabic so it was a little easy, but I soon realized memorizing the letters was not as important as knowing vocabulary or grammar. 

Arabic is a beautiful language. It is amazing how each word has a root, and based on the root you can figure out what the word means. The patterns in the language were difficult to learn, but once you learned them, it made understanding Arabic so much easier. 

The culture of the Middle East is very different from each country you go. North Africa and the Levant, even though they speak Arabic, have different cultures. By learning a little of their dialects, one is able to peer into their cultures. I look forward to the Fall and living in an Arab country. I'll be learning a completely different dialect of Arabic (called Darija) but I am excited to continue on my Arabic journey.