THIRTIETH ISSUE
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4. SO YOU WANT TO BE A LONGTERM TRAVELER?
SMARANDA RUTZUI
8. LOOKS LIKE I WILL FAIL
HISTORY CLASS! ALMUSTAFA M KHALID
12. SHARING A TRAVEL JOURNAL 22. WHAT IT IS LIKE TO BE A IOANA-ALEXANDRA TACHE
MUSLIM IN 2015 ALEX BARBIER
28. LETTER FROM A LOVER OUMAIMA ABOURABIA
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SO YOU WANT TO BE A LONG-TERM TRAVELER? Written by: Smaranda Rutzui Inspired by Charles Bukowski’s poem “So you want to be a writer?”
SO YOU WANT TO BE A LONG-TERM TRAVELER?
if you think this is what people call comfort zone you’re wrong. because by doing this you will find out who you are but most importantly who you are not and who you’ll never be. if you don’t know how it is to stay in the middle of the road without a map if you have never let yourself get lost into the wilderness without a chance to be saved by someone else instead of you stay home. if you’re afraid you’ll lose the best pieces of advice from your friends, their calls, the late night meetings, their laughter when something goes wrong, your mother’s voice, your father’s caress, your siblings’ bundle of joy don’t do it. if you think you will never be able to have a serious relationship while on the road but only love affairs without a happy ending if you think love is just an old school concept, too staid and dispassionate for this new century don’t do it.
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if it doesn’t get easier to say ‘goodbye’ and ‘see you soon’ in front of every airport, railway station, hippie van, boat, ship or sailboat from this world forget about it. but if you suddenly start feeling hungry for change and foolishness, if notions like “that isn’t possible” make you grin from ear to ear while making your backpack lighter then wait patiently.
when it is truly time you will wake up one morning take your backpack, open the door, leave the maps in the drawers and the keys in your pocket, and without thinking too much you will travel until you die or the world ends while you’re doing it. because my dear long-term traveler, there is no other way
if you never felt the urge of running to the nearest train station and leave all your clothes at home do something else. if you think it’s nonessential to explore the world and discover new cultures if you don’t want to learn new languages and develop new skills you’re not ready.
Written by: Smaranda Rutzui Inspired by Charles Bukowski’s poem “So you want to be a writer?”
SO YOU WANT TO BE A LONG-TERM TRAVELER?
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l l i W I e Looks Lik ! s s a l C y r o t s i H l i a F
Almustafa M. Khalid
I
am currently in a lecture of Contemporary History as I write to you, and I have never felt so oppressed in a lecture before. Just to give you a vague background, I study in Europe in quite a prestegious university that advertises its diversity and an imerging international community that lives and functions together to make peace in the future through entreprenuership. Then, after a year and a half at the university, I am now in history class which really is not a problem, but the problem is, who is teaching this history class!. No matter how boring we may think history is, it does not mean that it is not important, and today I found out how 3 to 4 generations ago people were brainwashed, and still continue to do so. This teacher (and I unfortunately have to call this person a teacher, because teaching is a noble job and this person is not doing it justice) believes in the mainstream media a little too much, and is not ready to even hear the other “non-
LOOKS LIKE I WILL FAIL HISTORY CLASS!
white” opinion. I come from Iraq and my news here in Europe comes directly from the streets of Iraq and not through pictures, headlines or television. I feel oppressed today because this teacher actually works for a television channel making documentaries documenting history in places within and outside the European union, so my main problem is that this is not just a person thinking like that, but a whole community of people. Whenever, I said something contradicting her, she would say “no no no not exactly” about my own history. It is unfortunate that media is controlling these people and that creates a vicious cycle by creating people who misunderstand the religion, culture and history outside the old continent and then they get leadership roles in their communities and the misunderstanding will never go away. Peace will never be achieved as long as people keep their prejudices.
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In the first five minutes of class the teacher said: “ All these Muslim Jihadists, I think it is a problem within Islam”. Terrorism is terrorism, no matter what the people say they believe in, you can find an athiest that steals, and someone like Brievik killing 77 people in Norway and saying that he had done this horrific act for Christianity yet Christianity itself was not blamed by the media like how “Extreme Muslims” are blamed and how their religion is always what motivates them according to western society. We have come to a point of a globalised society that has double standards and Muslims who follow the religion of Islam (which means peace btw) are suffering all around the world because of western prejudice. Let us think about the 1.5 Billion Muslims around the world, if they all believe in killing people for fun, what will happen then? We Muslims do not like these people either, DO NOT tag us with them. They are just some sick people like the ones you have in the west.
Almustafa M. Khalid
LOOKS LIKE I WILL FAIL HISTORY CLASS!
“I'm a Muslim. I've been a Muslim for 20 years. . . . You know me. I'm a boxer. I've been called the greatest. People recognize me for being a boxer and a man of truth. I wouldn't be here representing Islam if it were terrorist. . . . I think all people should know the truth, come to recognize the truth. Islam is peace.” - Muhammed Ali
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S haring a Travel Jo I
will begin by saying that this was an experiment – everything that I am writing in this article came from an idea I had in the middle of the night and I thought, why not put it into practice? As I was explaining in the earlier description of this experiment, my curiosity was to find out why do people travel and how do they perceive their travel experiences. And so I did – I put together few questions related to travel and I have waited (anxiously, to be honest) to see whether or not people will respond to my ‘challenge’. And they did; and I am very thankful; and I am very pleased that my experiment wasn’t a failure. It was a good start and hopefully, one day I will turn it into something bigger, if I get the opportunity.
SHARING A TRAVEL JOURNAL
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain
ournal
Ioana-Alexandra Tache
To put it differently, what I have tried to do was to combine my interest in travel with what I have learned throughout my academic life, that is, research. Shortly, I wanted to ask people questions about their travel experiences and then analyse the answers I have received, in order to draw some conclusions on the subject. I believe it is interesting and helpful to find out why do people make certain choices, what is the reasoning behind it or how do they perceive different concepts/situations. Therefore, after thinking of what do I look for in a travel experience, I created a survey (travel journal) and, with the help of others (friends and social networks) distributed it. I was surprised to see that twenty-one people of ten different nationalities – British, Dutch, German, Indian, Iraqi, Lithuanian, Mexican, Moroccan, Romanian, Spanish – from all over the world and from so many different backgrounds, revealed similar opinions. believe that what I have gathered is pretty impressive information
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The last thing I want to mention before presenting the findings is that I have divided the responses into five categories: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5)
Reasons for travelling; Opinions on travelling; Dream places; Best travelling experience; Other insights on travel.
This being said, here are the findings. As four out of the five categories were open-ended questions, the answers I have received are roughly 2,500 words, therefore what I am going to include in this article are some of the responses that caught my attention. Therefore, it is time to share the travel journal with whoever is interested, because I believe that what I have gathered is pretty impressive information.
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1. Reasons for Travelling At first glance, the majority of the respondents – to whom I will refer to as ‘travellers’ from now on, believed that the most important reason for travelling is the cultural experience (86%). In the same lines, two of the factors that influence their decision to travel are the culture-related aspects which have the same importance as the money issues (67%). Other relevant characteristics that contribute to the travelling decisions are the local attractions (57%) and the destination (52%).
2. Opinions on travelling
SHARING A TRAVEL JOURNAL
When asked whether or not travelling is an important aspect of their lives, only two people said that it isn’t yet, but they hope to change that soon enough. The rest of the opinions tended to focus around four main themes describing why do travellers find their experiences important: • Knowledge and Understanding ‘Getting outside your own everyday bubble (physically and mentally) is important if one wants to grow… Understanding the world better ... and enjoying some awesome food, people and scenery.’ ‘If traveling happened to me more often, it would be important because of its ability to fuel this source of life which is knowledge.’ • Change of perspective ‘Get a fresh perspective, learn new ways of thinking, becoming more tolerant and open’ ‘Travel a lot, learn a lot. Also, culture shock can be very eye-opening of one's (worldview) limitations.’ • Relaxation and Getting away ‘I love travelling and I believe it is the best way to relax.’ ‘It helps me get away from everyday life. When I’m travelling I’m usually running away from something but at the same time I’m running towards something new and exciting.’ • The company – Family or Friends ‘I personally enjoy traveling for the pure purpose of having a good time with my friends. That's why, in my opinion, I believe that the company is more important than the journey or destination.’
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But, besides all these bits and pieces, there was one traveller who kind of did the job for me, as s/he summed up most of the viewpoints: ‘I have never been someone to feel homesick but quite the opposite … Somehow I think I try to educate myself by traveling, confronting myself with other lifestyles and habits and thereby increasing my understanding. Also sometimes I just like to escape.’
3 Dream places In terms of what would be a traveller’s dream place the answers were extremely diverse; locations ranging from a small studio by the coast/forest to all world’s exotic beaches, from countries such as USA, India, Tanzania, Iraq, Japan, Laos or Australia to whole continents such as South America or Europe, and even to the outer space. Others just can’t choose: ‘I don’t have a dream place. All the world excites me’. But when it came to why did they think of that particular dream place, the vast majority referred to the culture of the place, one way or another. Most of the reasons included cultural aspects of different kinds that the travellers seek to find, understand or go back to such as: people, religion, heritage sites, language, food or the mix of old and new. Overall, some of the dream places that caught my attention and there is no need to comment on them, as they ‘speak for their selves’ were the following:
SHARING A TRAVEL JOURNAL
‘An island full with all my closest friends. No internet, no contact with the outside world, just us and no worries.’ ‘Definitely Southeast Asia! And I say this because I have been blessed to meet the kindest of people here, friendly, warm and very helpful at all times! Also south east Asia happens to have gorgeous virgin beaches, untouched tropical forests and is also home to some of the largest ancient cultures and religions…’ ‘Baghdad, Iraq... I am longing for the return that I have been restrained from. Yes, I want to be back and live with people that understand me, great landscapes... from green gardens to golden sand and even ski resorts... Iraq is full of amazing places to go.’ ‘My dream place is always the next destination that I go to. I don't think I have a dream place, as I want to see everything…’
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4 Best travelling experience The travellers addressed the question of ‘How would you describe your best travelling experience in few words?’ in two distinct manners: some chose to talk about an actual experience (a particular place they’ve been to), while others imagined how would their best travelling experience look like (a vision). To be honest, this is how I wanted things to turn out and apparently it worked out perfectly. On the one hand, the ‘realists’ described their experiences in different sides of the world, showing their appreciation to certain social, cultural or natural aspects. On the other hand, the ‘visionaries’ expressed how do they perceive a great travelling experience, without exemplifying it. Here are some examples:
SHARING A TRAVEL JOURNAL
‘Relaxing, fun, a great cultural experience, people I will never forget and good food.’ ‘My airport hours are really prized to me. Almost always, I have flights that take me over 40 hours whenever I need to move back to college, etc. I love the layovers in airports reading books, sleeping in chairs and eating home-made rice and beans.’ ‘For me, the best traveling experience is formed of 3 major components: journey, destination, company. The journey should a pleasant and fun one, maybe going through places I never visited before or where I can see spectacular scenery. The destination should be a calm, silent and relaxing one… The company should consist of a significant other, and a few close friends. Sure you can have fun with a person you love, but I believe that if you mingle and socialize with a few other friends, you can have a lot more fun…’
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5 Other insights on travel
Turning to the last part of the experiment and the only optional one, four travellers chose to share some other insights on their travel experiences. From my point of view, at least, even if there were few answers, they are meaningful and totally worth considering. • ‘There is never a bad trip. It is all about the experience. Never judge a place because something bad goes in that country, every place has its positives and negatives.’ • ‘I would write a book, by the end of my 60s, hahahah, but hopefully I will visit all I have in mind until then.’ • ‘Never go the same place twice ’ • ‘I don't regret a single one of them.’
SHARING A TRAVEL JOURNAL
This being said, these were the results of the ‘Travel Journal Experiment’. Of course, as with any analysis, there should also be a conclusion. But after gathering all this information, I feel like enumerating several conclusions. This might be possible within my next, hopefully bigger experiment, but for the time being, I will stick to a single conclusion. As you have seen, travellers from several sides of the world have taken part in this mini-research – to whom I would like to thank again! We are believed to be so different (and we are in many aspects), but still, we seem to be the same. There are common points of interest that bring us together even if we are not aware of them. As proof may stay this experiment which showed how travel is one common point of interest to people from all over the world who seem to be sharing the same ideas. For a second, let’s leave behind the wars, the poverty, the hunger and the other negative parts of this world; despite all these harmful circumstances, the planet is ours, it’s beautiful, it’s highly globalised and it looks like no matter where you come from, you seem to have similar thoughts on a certain subject as a person from the other side of the globe. As much as some want to express superiority of any kind, there are still people – like us (the travellers, the readers, the contributors and hopefully more than this) – who see the positive sides of the world and try to exploit them in a way that others could also see the good in people, places and cultures. Thank you for your help and for your attention. Until next time open your eyes and your ears to what the world has to tell you!
Ioana-Alexandra Tache
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What it is like to be a Muslim in 2015 By: Alex Barbier
A
fter Charlie Hebdo’s shootings, many questions were raised. What is to become of us, of our liberty of expression? I join the French people in their mourning, fervent lover since years of Charlie Hebdo’s insolent behavior towards authorities, of their truthful and vulgar denunciations through humor as well as defender of the principles (what’s left of them) of their republic. But the loss extends way beyond the talented journalists, drawers the economist, bold policemen and the janitor savagely assassinated. On the 7th of January, as if a war was declared, we all lost a part of our innocence. Our frivolity flew away with the souls of those who fought and perished for the sake of freedom. We all feel threatened, obliged to face the truth and admit we are no longer safe in our beloved nations, wherever.
WHAT IT IS LIKE TO BE A MUSLIM IN 2015
The menace, we feel, could emerge from anywhere. Anywhere but we known, since 9/11 where the media and public opinion turn first when hearing the dreadful word « terrorist ». The terrorism culture replaced the communism fear and USSR hatred during the cold war, initiated by our friends and allies from the dreamland of military power. Arab culture, Muslim religion, oriental traditions have all been mixed up in a tasteless but scary soup of groundless prejudices. However, on this faithful Wednesday, reactions of French president François Hollande, public opinion leaders and even political opponents were fair and wise. Appealing to national unity and consequently keeping minds away from amalgamation, the French leaders did a touching, useful job.
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Sadly enough, this did not prevent the attack of several mosques in France, the anti-islamist comments on social media and the persistence of doubt in many minds. The identification of the attackers seems obvious, they shouted « Allahou Akbar », claimed to have avenged the prophet, them must be Muslims. Muslim religion forbids the killing of innocent civilians and even if Charlie Hebdo’s writers and drawers were considered enemies of the religion, even if they had sufficient hatred to justify their acts (to themselves at least), nothing would justify the cold murder of one of an other Muslim man and the janitor, irrelevant victim. I firmly believe no right-minded partisan of Allah would ever act like so, it is contrary to the peaceful message the Quran and most religions try
to deliver and transmit. In France, in Europe in general, Islam’s worshipers must be counted with. Widespread population, their culture assimilates with ours, bringing exoticism to our rusty traditions, colors to the definition of diversity. The menace, we feel, could emerge from anywhere. Anywhere but we known, since 9/11 where the media and public opinion turn first when hearing the dreadful word « terrorist ». The terrorism culture replaced the communism fear and USSR hatred during the cold war, initiated by our friends and allies from the dreamland of military power. Arab culture, Muslim religion, oriental traditions have all been mixed up in a tasteless but scary soup of groundless prejudices. However, on this faithful Wednesday, reactions of French president François
LEE FRIEDLANDER – AMERICA BY CAR
Hollande, public opinion leaders and even political opponents were fair and wise. Appealing to national unity and consequently keeping minds away from amalgamation, the French leaders did a touching, useful job.Sadly enough, this did not prevent the attack of several mosques in France, the anti-islamist comments on social media and the persistence of doubt in many minds. The identification of the attackers seems obvious, they shouted « Allahou Akbar », claimed to have
avenged the prophet, them must be Muslims. Muslim religion forbids the killing of innocent civilians and even if Charlie Hebdo’s writers and drawers were considered enemies of the religion, even if they had sufficient hatred to justify their acts (to themselves at least), nothing would justify the cold murder of one of an other Muslim man and the janitor, irrelevant victim. I firmly believe no right-minded partisan of Allah would ever act like so, it is contrary to the peaceful message the Quran and most religions try to deliver and transmit. In France, in Europe in general, Islam’s worshipers must be counted with. Widespread population, their culture assimilates with ours, bringing exoticism to our rusty traditions, colors to the definition of diversity. The menace, we feel, could emerge
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from anywhere. Anywhere but we known, since 9/11 where the media and public opinion turn first when hearing the dreadful word « terrorist ». The terrorism culture replaced the communism fear and USSR hatred during the cold war, initiated by our friends and allies from the dreamland of military power. Arab culture, Muslim religion, oriental traditions have all been mixed up in a tasteless but scary soup of groundless prejudices. However, on this faithful Wednesday, reactions of French president François Hollande, public opinion leaders and even political opponents were fair and wise. Appealing to national unity and consequently keeping minds away from amalgamation, the French leaders did a touching, useful job.
To the Muslim population and my dearly beloved native Belgium I say don’t apologize. Don’t be sorry for the behavior of monster, that couldn’t respond to humor by humor. We need to live side by side, and to fight side by side when and if the time comes. We all are humans and must defend that status against the Barbary. We must stand up together, even though disciples of different beliefs, to defend our right to liberty of expression, cult and most important our right to live. The recent events proved we need unity more than ever, we need to understand our fellow citizens, fellow humans and open our minds to the beautiful horizons tolerance offers.This also applies to the wars we participate(d) in abroad. The « monsters » I quoted before were also created by the hatred
LEE FRIEDLANDER – AMERICA BY CAR
our (Europeans) support to wars, ISIS fighting, bombings generated. Before trying to fight injustice on our lands, let’s remember to act wisely when it comes to international decisions and relations.
By: Alex Barbier
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رسالة من محب
Letter from a lover Oumaima Abourabia
LETTER FROM A LOVER
يشهد الدهر على قدم الهوى في القلوب يعترف الزمان ببراءة الهوى من الذنوب تسرد األيام رحلة الهوى على الدروب يكشف طبيب الجروح ما للهوى من نذوب The eternity witnesses the arrival of passion to the hearts Time confesses the innocence of passion in the sins The days list the travels of passion on the roads The wounds doctor reveals that passion will never be thawed
يبحث محقق الشعور عن سبب ذلك فهل للهوى من حروب؟ يقول عسكري صدوق نعم للهوى حروب مع كل الشعوب يبوح الجهل قائال هوى اإليمان ليس بمرغوب يرد العلم إن هوى اإليمان ملحبوب
The investigator of feelings is searching for the reason why cant passion be thawes? Has passion gone through wars? Says a truthful soldier: Yes, passion has gone through war with all the people Ignorance reveals saying religious passion is not desirable Answers knowledge that it is desirable indeed
قد حكمت محكمة الحي القيوم بصدقه فهو خالص الوجوب اتبع أهل اإليمان حكم الوهاب فما كسبوا إال الخير املكتوب تجاهله أهل الجهل فما اتبعوا إال الطريق الضال املقلوب
Allah’s court had sentenced that knoweldge is right Follow the people of faith, they only gain the best of what’s written Ignores this the ignorants, they only take the lost, inverted ways
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اشهد أنت يا مجرب الهوى على إخالصه النقي و اعترف بان غيابه عنك ثانية يجرد قلبك من اإلحساس الوفي اسرد كيف امتلك شعورك و روحك و تفكيرك و جعلك عبدا قوي اكشف عن سره الدفني الذي جعل حرصك على الصالة حرصا ملي Testify you, who tried passion about his pure devotion And admit that his absence from you a second, rips your hear from the feeling of loyalty List how he owned your feelings, your soul, your thoughts and made you a better worshipper Reveal his secrets, the ones that made you eager about your prayer dicipline.
ابحث عن سبب امتناع البعض عنه فالبد أن يكون سببا جدي قل الشهادة بصوت عال فما يمنعك إلى خبث جني بح بما يكنه صدرك لترى كم هو لقلبك صحي رد على كل جاهل بالصمت ما دام لم ينصت لكالم النبي اتبع الحق فهو عن الباطل مجلي تجاهل الباطل فهو عن الحق مخفي
I search for the omission of others, it must be a serious cause Say the testimony aloud, it is the slag of a reap preventing you Let go what is inside your chest to see how healthy it is for your heart answer ignorants with silence, as long as they did not listen to the prophets follow what’s right, it is for the sins and eraiser ignore the sins, they are for the right, an enemy.
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