Ivana Gabriele-Smith, 2016 NSLI-Y Arabic alum
After eight years, I knocked on my NSLI-Y host family’s apartment door in Amman.
I have studied in Amman three times. The first time was during NSLI-Y in 2016. The second time was during study abroad in college. As for the third time, it was nearly eight years after NSLI-Y, during the nine months that I spent in the city as a participant in the CASA (Center for Arabic Study Abroad) program for advanced Arabic language students, as a CASA I Fellow.
When I entered my host family’s lovely apartment this time, everything in it was as I remembered. We ordered ice cream from Talabat, a food delivery app. We discussed our lives and the events that had passed since my previous visit.
When I returned to the US, I saw in my room the goodbye present from my host family from 2016, a box that I see every day, a box made of wood inside of which is written:
Ivana
Best of Luck
In addition is a drawn heart and my host mother’s name.
When I look at that wish, I feel safety and love and think of the identical box that my NSLI-Y roommate owns far away from me on the other coast of the country. The greatest gift that my host family gave me was not the wooden box, but rather, forever feelings of love and warmth that transcend time and borders.
