Alexandra Hartmann was a junior at Nebraska Wesleyan University when she decided to study abroad in the Arab World. Even though she took Arabic classes, her home institution’s lack of a Middle East Studies program left her to study the MENA region on her own time. In turn, Alexandra participated in AMIDEAST’s summer 2010 Learn & Serve Tunisia program in order to enhance her Arabic and knowledge of the region.

While in Tunisia, Alexandra and fellow AMIDEAST students took Tunisian Colloquial Arabic classes and volunteered with local Tunisian organizations. Other lecture courses were taught in English, which Alexandra found to be very productive. Today, she remains in close contact with many of the Tunisian, American, and British friends she made while on the program. Alexandra notes, “My time in the AMIDEAST program lead to a growing curiosity in Tunisia.”

Following the program, she returned to Tunisia after the Jasmine Revolution to continue her Arabic studies and conduct research with SIT during the spring of 2011. Currently, Alexandra interns with The Middle East Institute in Washington, DC while taking Arabic classes. She plans on graduating from Nebraska Wesleyan in the spring of 2012 and returning to the Middle East. She hopes to spend a year learning Arabic in the West Bank, and eventually would like to obtain a Master’s degree in Middle East Studies.

Overall, Alexandra says, “I contribute a lot of these experiences to the success of AMIDEAST's program.”