My name is Maher, I am from Jordan and I have been living a great experience as an exchange student here in the United States of America since I arrived in August 2014. Basically, I decided to come here because I want to experience new things in my life, and I want to take this great chance to study in the US and improve my English, also to learn about Americans culture and traditions and teach Americans about Jordanian culture and traditions. I am currently being hosted by Scott and Jane and their second son Corey in Ohio in which I spend wonderful and unforgettable times with them. I also experienced and discovered a variety of new things including living the lifestyle of an American host family which cannot be shown in just a movie, and learning about American culture and traditions and trying American food. Furthermore, learning in one hand about how American and Christian holidays celebrated in the USA such as Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, and Memorial Day, has been an incredible experience one cannot fully live by just reading or watching a movie about it.

         On the other hand, I have taught the local Americans about the Jordanian culture and traditions. Additionally I taught them about Islam religion and how we celebrate holidays such as Eid AL-Fitr, which comes after Ramadan, the month we fast in, and Eid AL-Adha. Also, I have cooked for my host family some of the traditional Jordanian food such as Mansaf which consists of rice, lamb meat and a type of yogurt called Jameed. Also, a popular dessert called Harreseh which looks like a cake but consists of Semolina instead of flour, with coconut inside. Me and my host family have visited and experienced many places with each other in the United States, such as going to The Outer Banks in North Carolina as a family vacation. That was one of my best experiences here because I didn’t just see a completely new place that I didn’t thought I would visit before, but it was with a great American host family which allowed me to experience many of their traditions in that week, also meeting many of their family members for the first time such as their son’s Matt father and mother in law, Keith and Elizabeth which I also had great times with them. Also visiting Richmond, Virginia where I got to see where my host family first son Matt and his wife Grace live. This was a very good time because I got to know them more and to do many fun things with them such as bowling or going to a huge outside mall with them. Another place that me, my host family and my friend Hunter visited was Niagara Falls in New York. Seeing Niagara Falls, going to the aquarium where they have many different kinds of fish, seals, and sea animal, also spending a really fun time in this trip was wonderful and definitely made it a great experience.

         Being enrolled at my high school and meeting the great teachers and students has been an honor for me. I have made incredible friends and went with them to some fun places and activities, including The Scare Grounds, bowling, ice-skating, watching movies, biking, and going to fairs such as the Street Fair where I met many new people and especially because it was almost just after a month or less from my arrival it was really nice to get to know more of the students even before school starts. I have taught my peers and teachers about Jordanian culture and traditions in different ways including just answering different questions in everyday talking and giving presentations in classes in my high school, in which I included pictures of The Jordanian flag, food and deserts, some of the places in Jordan including Amman which is Jordan’s capital, a picture of Petra which is one of the seven wonders of the world, pictures of the Dead sea, some of the Jordanian natural reserves, an audio of the national anthem, and a video of the traditional dancing which is called Dabkeh. Also some information and pictures about the Jordanian King Abdullah the second and other general information about Jordan. So I lived the life of American teenagers in an American high school which taught me a lot and was very beneficial for me. Including trying the different activities that the school provide for them such as watching the school’s different sports games such as American football, Baseball, Golf, and Basketball. Going to homecoming, to Prom, joining some Community service projects and participating in Physics Olympics in which we build different projects and competed against 16 schools at Youngstown State University. My school got 6th place of the 16th and I got first place of the 16th with one of my projects which was the ping pong ball launcher and got a congratulation card by the president of Youngstown State University Jim Tressel which is a very famous celebrity in Ohio.

During my exchange year, I met people from all around the world and became good friends with them through my exchange organization Academic Year in America (AYA). We make a group of students from fourteen different countries! This has helped me discover other new cultures and learn about them. Our group with our local coordinator also visited many new places and learned more, such as Ohio’s Statehouse building in Columbus and meeting Ohio’s Senator Joe Schiavoni. He taught us a lot about American government and American officials. Also, I visited Walt Disney World, Florida, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Washington DC, and New York City. In each of these trips I learned about diversity when I saw people from all around the world. For example New York City where I saw 9/11 museum, Freedom tower, Statue of Liberty, Empire state building, and many other great buildings. Also I saw the development of it which was amazing.

Finally, I will never forget the good times I have spent here with friends, teachers, host family and all the people I have met from my exchange program, I will always share it to everybody, recommend it to people to live this experience, and be always proud of it for the rest of my life.