On a Sunday afternoon in March, Professor Nasser Isleem and his family opened the doors of their home to students with a warm ‘Ahlan wa sahlan.’

Isleem had planned this casual event for his students who pursue Arabic at the elementary level from the beginning of the spring semester. Visiting him allowed the students, to step away from the great mysticisms of Arabic grammar in the usual classroom setting and to further our engagement with Palestinian culture.

This small gathering surpassed my expectations as I underwent two very different exposures. On the one hand, I was introduced to a completely different culture from my own. On the other hand, I felt as if I were home.

After introducing ourselves, in Arabic of course, Isleem encouraged us all to go and try some of the lentil soup.

Following our second or, for some of us our third, round of the tasty cuisine, Isleem created a sense of home for his students by saying, “Go and wash your plates! Do what you want — just as if you were home.” Though giggling, many of us went to the kitchen and took care of the dishes.

Later on, we explored the delicious diversity of Arabic food. Everyone spent a satisfactory amount of time around the table full of meat, rice and vegetables of various kinds. After we could no longer bear the thought of consuming more, we finally managed to sit down and chat.

“Here, in NYUAD, you are being fed,” Isleem said and pointed to his stomach, winked and then touched his head.

“Unlike in other schools, here you don’t just learn how to bridge the divide between countries in theory; by talking about differences, you are bridging the divide,” Isleem said.

In our university, not only are our bellies are satisfied. Our heads, as Isleem said, are also being nourished and our mindsets are challenged.

Isleem and his wife shared stories with us that one would only share with true friends, thereby increasing our sense of acceptance as members of their family. During the Isleem family’s stay abroad, people thought that Isleem’s wife was wearing a jalabiyah, or a Palestinian dress, because she believed it was going to snow. However, it wasn’t even winter. Other times, they assumed that she was a nun. This led our conversation to the topic of ignorance and I couldn’t help but wonder, wasn’t I also ignorant of the Arab world before coming here? I hardly knew anything about this region and its people.

However, as Isleem pointed out, coming here with the intention of learning about other countries diminishes ignorance.

“We are all ambassadors here and our goal is to teach others,” he said.

Many of the professors, such as Isleem, try hard to overcome the difficulties of not being able to apply Arabic outside of class by establishing programs like this get-together.

As freshman Hee Eun Kwon pointed out, “Meeting Nasser in his apartment was a new shift in setting and it was nice to see his children and wife; they all tried really hard to only talk to us in Arabic, so it was a great chance to practice the language.”

Freshman Cole Tanigawa-Lau reflected upon his experience in Isleem’s home.

“I was doing something meaningful outside of the classroom,” he said.

Other Arabic students who took part in the event also shared their viewpoints. “It was helpful to see Nasser in his home, being removed from the nature of a professor,” Juliana Bello said.

Ayesha Al Hashemi, Cultural Coordinator of the Arabic Program Committee, and Isleem are working on a J-Term next year in Al Ain. This would allow students to expand their Arabic knowledge over a course of three weeks.

These intentions show that members of the Arabic department are putting a lot of effort into enabling students to bridge the divide between different countries, in a context far away from the classrooms of the Downtown Campus.