Thought I might share some pictures of what it’s like up here right now! (Click on each image to enlarge it)

Since the very beginning of civilization, people have endeavored to attempt to measure time. Some came up with sun dials, others with sand glasses and in our modern world, we have hours, minutes and seconds calculated for us by digital clocks. It must have been a jolly invention for those who came up with it as a useful tool to measure the intangible. But to a student dreading the moments till he/she leaves home, time is the cruelest thing.

I’m sitting in a boxed up plane with the craziest back-ache (courtesy of the concrete-like chairs) with frayed nerves at the wailing children, looking out of the window of what must be the millionth plane I’ve been on in the past two months alone. Everywhere around me there’s something that can tell me how much time we’ve spent on board or how much we have left; my laptop, my watch, my phone, my screen and the unfortunate air hostess that marches up and down the aisles.

I hate watches. Unfortunately I cannot seem to live without them, but I hate them nonetheless. I think every student studying abroad must feel the same way. No one appreciates or perhaps realizes the value of time as much as we do. No one like us appreciates the difference one day or half a day can make when you’re at home rather than at whatever miserable place you’re headed.

The ironic thing about it is, 99% of us wanted to leave home so badly to start our new lives so far away to get an education, and once we’re there, once we’ve looked around  and realized that all these beautiful streets and buildings and gardens somehow cannot replace the somewhat littered streets of our own neighborhood, our wonderfully sandy nature and safe homes, we ache. We ache to be back in our kuwaiti bedrooms with everyone waiting on our every need, we ache for the warmth of our mother’s arms and our father’s smiles, and I ache for noise.

Strange, yes. As much as my little tyrant brothers manage to drive me insane, I miss their noise. I miss their cheeky smiles and pertinent questions. I miss it all. ..because in a few hours, I’ll be back, and I’ll be dragging up my bags all on my own, and I’ll open the door to my apartment, and there will be.. silence. Silence and me. Silence, me and probably a whole lot of rain or snow. How uplifting -.-

Scary as it may be, we realize the importance of making every moment we spend at home the fullest because only we understand that, god forbid, we may not find everyone here when we come back. We know how important it is to actually tell our families exactly how much we love them, because we don’t get enough time to show them. I guess like all things in life, a good education has its price.

Sad thing is, if only a similar education was available in our own country, we wouldn’t have to go so far. Although living abroad has it’s many perks and educates us well in life, most of us would rather be home. Yes, we have many universities and colleges in Kuwait, but how many of them actually have proper accreditation? How many of them actually care about the student’s brain rather than their paycheck? NONE. Kuwait’s secondary education has become a commercial industry and Kuwait University is a completely different shameful story. We have professors hitting on students and vice versa and professors who don’t even have real certificates! Scandalous, but very true. Many teaching at Kuwait University have bought their accreditation from Egypt and the likes and are now given the responsibility of educating our youth. If I were to write of KU’s flaws and corruption, I don’t think this post would ever end.

– Apparently there’s less than 40 minutes to landing now. Great, another timely interruption. Time hates me.

For those of you smugly sitting in your homes with everyone around, be very grateful for living with your families. Make the best of it. For those who, like me, are forced to live elsewhere, pick up the phone and tell your family how much you love them, and when you’re home, treasure every moment you get. Time flies. Literally.

You never know when or how or where a loved one may be taken. Time is short and evil and before you know it, it would have robbed you of your youth and all that comes with it. Be stronger than time. Be prepared.

Never leave home without hugging your parents however awkward it may feel at first. Never leave or let them go or sleep with them mad at you or hurt. Because when the sun dawns, you may not get that chance to say “I’m sorry”. Don’t leave your siblings thinking that they don’t matter or that they’re unappreciated. If you’re mad at anyone, don’t carry that hurt around. It’s too heavy and it will eventually break your back. Forgive. Because forgiveness is not saying “what you did was okay”, it’s saying: “what you did is not okay, but I can move on and value better things”.

Nothing is worth a rift with those closest to your hearts. Nothing. Don’t wait till it’s too late to realize that. Live, laugh, forgive, forget, and most important of all, no matter what, never go without saying “I love you”..

As the world moves forward in its education and intelligence, our dear country takes a zillion steps back.

If you’ve been to the cafeteria in Kuwait University’s Faculty of Medicine, you will know exactly what I mean. They’ve put up a retarded old office partition to segregate the girls and boys while they munch their lunch. Because really, that is SO mature.

The tragedy of this isn’t just the fact that its ugly and seriously retarded how you can only see half of Burger King’s overhead menu thanks to the kick-ass wall, but because of all students to segregate, these students will be working long, devastating shifts once they graduate and they won’t have a clue how to act around each other!

The problem with these uneducated minds, is that they take an islamic concept they do not fully understand and go wild with it. They approach the need for segregation by linking it to “5olwa”. 5olwa is what the Prophet PBU warned from and it is the tension that grows when a man and woman are alone. But he did not say put walls in public places and ignore the fact that sooner or later these students will have to work together!! .. let alone that there are OTHER ways they could meet up and get together? :S

I, personally was always part of a mixed environment as I attended a mixed school and now study abroad in a mixed university (obviously), and yes, there are things that do go on that are of question but that is not always the case. If a child is raised well to respect her/his self in the means of dealing with the opposite gender, they will not go crazy. I guarantee that! If a child however is not made to understand the limitations in dealing with the other gender, then they (excuse my language) will experiment whatever crosses their mind and naturally be attracted to do so.

I’ve seen how people here gasp when witnessing any boy-girl interaction and to be honest, I can’t really blame them. Why? Because they do not understand it. They’ve been raised in gender-segregate environments and attended segregated schools and perhaps their interaction with the opposite gender (other than family of course) was not introduced till they were either in university (back when classes were not segregated) or when they got their jobs.

As a student who has worked with guys, I can speak from experience and say that there CAN be a responsible, professional, respectable relationship between the two genders when taught how to respect those boundaries! The need for young minds to be trained into being able to work together without tension with the other gender is crucial for their career lives.

Now, some of you may be thinking that I am “westernized” or straying from our culture, but I am not! I am not saying let’s dance around the fire and not get burnt, but mix in moderation. Mix for the right purposes, under the right conditions.

I left Kuwait University for many reasons, one being that when my friend and I walked into class, everyone started whispering. Literally. Not because either of us shared their skin tight outfits, killer heels, bright red lipstick or huge heads (god knows what they stuff in them!), or because we had a bad reputation (god forbid), but because we spoke english and were known as the ‘mixed school girls’. Some of you may think I exaggerate, but I kid you not! This once, the girl sitting in front of us turned around and randomly asked us “you went to a school with boys in it right?” so I say “yea.. ” she gasps and says “like.. in the same room?! They could be sitting on the table next to you?!” I didn’t know whether to laugh or be insulted. Seriously, what is with this image people have about private schools?? The sad part was I sat there in that seat in KU and I was only sixteen years old while this girl was probably  twenty and I was studying in the Faculty of Engineering -.-”

Here, if you ask a guy for a pencil in the library or a reference, 99.9% of the population will think you’re asking for a number! ..but wait.. that can’t be.. because the libraries are segregated too !!! :0

I think who ever set these rules has gender issues or perhaps is simply paranoid. Segregating college students is taking away your respect in them and their values! Sure, not everyone is “honorable” and yea I get the “better safe than sorry” theory they have going on but what about preparing them for the real world? College should not only be about text-book education.

I remember seeing a bus full of senior high-school girls from a government school stopping by our university gate that year and the girls piling up for a tour on the campus and I was truly shocked beyond words at what we saw. I am not generalizing that all government school girls are like this, but stating what I saw! The girls were giggling and squealing like god knows what, some were attending to their pocket mirrors, blush, mascara and it was .. sad. Really sad. I was probably younger than all those girls but I seriously pitied them. I pitied all our country that this is what we are coming down to. Desperation. These girls are just that; girls. They have not yet seen enough of the world or begun to understand anything beyond the walls of their playground and yet they are throwing themselves in every direction because they DON’T know and they DON’T understand.

It’s the same with guys. I live in a community in Ireland which is strongly concentrated in arabs. There are three categories in which the guys fall into: the nerdy who don’t have time to change their socks, the wild guys who can’t control themselves because of the cultural shock, then, there’s the group of guys who are far too young but run away from it all and get married *smacks forehead*

So am I what they call “free” as is the popular term they use nowadays for untraditional people ?? No, I am not. Do I say yalla, let’s all hang out and be chums? No! The problem is most people do not recognize that moderation is important! Do not become an extremist in anything! It’s unhealthy.

We’re losing our youth and the logic in some of the men running this country is slowly driving our society to the ground rather than protecting it. I say: do not open up too much that you cannot stick to your path, but do not shut your eyes so tightly that you trip over your toes.

None of the content of this blog is intended to insult any of our readers and is only the point of view of the author.