ALO Newsletter
Thirteenth Edition: October 25, 2015

Featured Member: Ashleigh McGrath '16

Ahalan wa sahalan! My name is Ashleigh McGrath and I'm currently a senior at Elon. I am an International Studies major, concentration in the Middle East and minoring in Political Science and Economics. It was daunting to begin studying Arabic. Learning the language has been a large challenge, but the number of challenges has twice as many rewards. Last spring, I had the amazing opportunity to study abroad in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. When people ask me how my experience was, I am unable to put my response in proper English, or Arabic for that matter. The only thing I can say is that, as St. Augustine once said, "The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page." Being fully immersed in Middle Eastern culture was immensely breathtaking. As my senior year draws to a close, I know I will take the lessons from being abroad in Jordan and apply them to my life, to seek new challenges and new heights every day.