Any foreign language major who has spent a year living in one of our “language houses,” will agree that it is one of the best opportunities that McDaniel offers. The German, Spanish, French, and Arabic departments all have their own house. In each of these houses there is an exchange student who will study at McDaniel for the year on a scholarship, and her job will be to help teach McDaniel students her native language. I have spent the past academic year living in the Arabic house with four other Arabic majors plus Sasha, a student from Birzeit University in Ramallah, Palestine.
Having the opportunity to not only get language instruction in the classroom, but also be able to come home and work with a native Arabic speaker has helped me tremendously. I have learned not just about the Arabic language, but also about Palestinian culture.
Because of the close proximity of all of the language houses to each other, many of us have become close friends over the past year. I’ve never had a group of friends before that all speak so many languages or come from so many different cultures, and it’s honestly the coolest. I’d also be willing to bet that I’ve met some of McDaniel’s best dancers through this group of friends, and I think I’ve picked up from pretty rad moves over the year.
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