Hello!

Hi everyone, my name is Anna Sito and this is my first year at American University. I am originally from Washington State (which is on the West Coast of the U.S.). I plan to double major in International Relations and Business. In my free time I like spending time with my friends, listening to music, going to the gym and reading (although it seems like I do not have too much time for that during the school year).

I like the topics everyone has mentioned so far and in addition I was hoping we could discuss the issue of human rights and whether there should be documents like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and what the UN's role should be to protect human rights.

I hope everyone is well and I look forward to talking again soon!

~Anna

I'm Cassandra

Hello everyone!
My name is Cassandra, and I am in my first year here at American University. I am studying International Relations, hopefully with a focus in the Middle East. I am also studying Spanish and Arabic language. I am originally from Ohio, which (I can never miss an opportunity to brag) was the home of the Wright Brothers, inventors of the airplane. Actually, they were from my area, so there are a lot of buildings named after them. Granted, their first actual flight was actually in North Carolina, but we nurtured them. :) I have tons of other things to brag about concerning Ohio and my hometown, should anyone care to hear them.

Originally, I was from a town in Ohio that was pretty much in the middle of nowhere, where my neighbors included cows, roosters, ostriches, and llamas (the last two are kind of strange). It was good to grow up there, but when I grew older, we moved to a slightly larger place. And now here I am in DC (kind of a big city for me), which I like a lot. I do not like NYC for the record, as all the traffic and such is kind of scary.

In my free time, I like to read. Also, I am a belly dancer, and have been for four years or so. I would like very much to start to learn dabkah. Otherwise, I just hang around the dorms here and hang out with friends, or explore DC. There is so much here, like monuments and embassies. A tradition here is to go trick or treating for Halloween at the different embassies.

I really like to travel also. I went to Peru to see Macchu Picchu, which is incredible, Canada, Costa Rica, Norway, Italy, and Turkey. The husband of my cousin is from Turkey, and my newest aunt is from Iraq, though she is Chaldean. Both have taught me so much in the last few years. I am happy to have a large extended family. If nothing else, there is always something interesting to gossip about. Everyone knows everything about everyone else, but it is all in good fun, I think.

I am also on Facebook, if you want to find me. I loved talking with you all and can't wait to do it again. I am not sure yet what I would like to talk about, but I've been trying to read up on Oman lately. It's really very interesting.

Later I will upload some pictures. Hope to hear from the rest of you soon!
-Cassandra

Hi, My name is Will

Hi Everyone,

I figured that I would get the ball rolling with personal introductions as well as issues that I would be interested discussing in the future.

My name is William Herman and I am currently a junior at American University studying international studies and education studies. I am from a rural area in the state of Maine (it is the most northeast state in the U.S. and borders Canada). I have an interest in music, sports (ice hockey is my favorite), and politics. In my free time I like to go to the gym, spend time with my girlfriend and friends, to play sports and to play and listen to music.

In our future discussions, I would be interested in exploring the issues of gender roles and religion. I feel that in these two areas our cultures are quite different. Hopefully, by talking about these differences we will all come to understand (even if we do not agree) with each others' perspective.

Hi, this is Natalie!

Hello! This is Natalie, originally from California, a state on the West Coast of the United States. I am in my first year at American University and am majoring in International Relations and studying the Japanese language, though I am also familiar with Spanish.

I agree with Asma that education is to me the most interesting topic, though I also like Will's suggestion of discussing gender roles and religion (especially gender roles) since in these areas there are undoubtedly many contrasts between our countries.

I am very excited about doing this project, and hope to learn from all of you a lot about Omani culture and hope that you will gain something from talking with us.

Blog is up!

This is the group blog for the video-conferencing international communication project between students from American University in Washington, DC, and students from the Modern College of Business and Science in Muscat, Oman. Feel free to post and comment.