I Told My Parents I Want to Study in ISRAEL | Brainlyne Podcast l Ep. 3

Summary

Dua, a 19-year old Moroccan student, shares her journey studying abroad in Israel and Palestine for two years at a boarding school focused on conflict resolution and sustainability. She discusses her motivations, the application process, reactions from family and friends, experiences on campus and with the conflict, and how it shaped her worldview and college applications. She offers advice on staying resilient through the US college application process, being authentic, playing to your strengths like languages, and ultimately credits her open-mindedness to her unique high school experience.

Takeaways

• 😊 Dua studied at a Spanish school in Morocco but wanted a different educational experience so she applied to boarding schools abroad
• 👩‍🎓 Dua was rejected from United World College twice before being accepted to a boarding school in Israel on a scholarship
• 🚀 Dua had to justify her reasons for studying in Israel to friends given political tensions, emphasizing it was for educational purposes
• 🌍 At the boarding school, Dua bonded with diverse students over discussing various global conflicts and perspectives
• 💥 Dua experienced tense moments during bomb threats but felt safe in bunkers and with Israel's defense system
• 📚 The school took students on trips to borders and conflict areas to learn historical and political contexts
• 🎓 In her second year, Dua focused more on college applications than absorbing from school due to application stress
• ✈️ Dua applied to various colleges abroad requiring financial aid and got into Middlebury College with an 80% scholarship
• 👩‍💼 Dua wants to major in international relations and languages to become a diplomat in the future
• 💡 Dua advises students to be themselves, follow their passions and not compare themselves to others in college applications

Q & A

Where did Dua study before going to the boarding school in Israel?

Dua studied at the Spanish School of Casablanca in Morocco since kindergarten.

Why did Dua decide to leave her school in Morocco?

Dua was not satisfied with the educational system and the experiences she was having. She wanted to broaden her horizons and see something new.

What was the application process like for the boarding school in Israel?

The application process was similar to applying to a US university. Dua had to write essays, provide extracurriculars, and go through two interviews.

How did Dua first tell her parents that she wanted to study in Israel?

Dua first told her parents she wanted to study in Israel when she got her acceptance letter and scholarship. This was while they were sitting at the lunch table after Dua finished her classes.

What languages does Dua speak?

Dua speaks English fluently. She also learned some German and Russian in school.

What was Dua's experience like hearing missile sirens and having to go to bunkers?

Dua says she was never scared because Israel has defense mechanisms like bunkers and sirens. She went to the bunker when sirens sounded, including during final exams.

Where did Dua apply to university?

Dua applied to schools in the US, the Netherlands, France, and Qatar. She got into Middlebury College in the US.

What does Dua plan to study at Middlebury College?

At Middlebury, Dua plans to major in international relations and Russian, and possibly Arabic as well.

What are Dua's career goals after graduating?

Dua hopes to become a diplomat after graduating. Her dream is to work at the United Nations.

What advice does Dua have for students applying to US universities?

Dua advises students not to compare themselves to others and to focus on showing their unique passions and interests in applications.

Outlines

00:00

🌍 Dua's Journey from Morocco to International Education

Dua, a 19-year-old student from Casablanca, Morocco, shares her educational journey starting from her dissatisfaction with the local Spanish school's focus on rote learning in sciences, leading her to seek broader horizons. Despite facing rejections from UWC (United World Colleges), her persistence led her to a boarding school in Israel and Palestine where she studied conflict in the Middle East and sustainability. Her story highlights the challenges of shifting educational paths and the determination to pursue a diverse and enriching learning experience abroad.

05:02

✈️ The Cultural Shift and Application Challenges

Dua discusses her application process to a boarding school in Israel during a tense period marked by conflict in the region. The narrative covers her initial reluctance to inform her parents of her application due to the ongoing Gaza-Israel conflict, her eventual acceptance and scholarship award, and the logistical and emotional challenges of moving to a conflict zone for education. Her story underscores the complexities of applying to international schools amidst geopolitical tensions and the personal growth that comes from pursuing such opportunities.

10:02

🌐 Adapting to a New Educational Environment

Upon arriving in Israel, Dua encounters a culture shock, from intensive security checks to navigating political sensitivities. Her experience emphasizes the importance of open-mindedness and adaptability in new and challenging environments. Dua's account of her educational journey illustrates the transformative power of international education in broadening perspectives, particularly in conflict-affected regions, and highlights her aspirations to contribute positively to global diplomatic efforts.

15:02

🕊️ Inside the Peace Education Experience

Dua's narrative delves into the peace education initiatives at her school, including simulations that encourage students from diverse backgrounds, including Israelis and Palestinians, to understand and represent each other's viewpoints. The description of these experiences provides insight into the school's approach to fostering understanding and dialogue among students with historically conflicting identities, emphasizing the role of education in peace-building efforts.

20:03

🚨 Experiencing Conflict and Safety Measures

Dua recounts her firsthand experiences with the realities of living in a conflict zone, including the use of bunkers and the Iron Dome defense system. She reflects on the disparities in safety and security between different sides of the conflict, and her narrative provides a personal perspective on the challenges of maintaining educational and daily life routines amidst ongoing security threats.

25:04

🎓 Transition to Higher Education and Scholarship Pursuits

Dua shares her application process to universities, including her acceptance and scholarship to Middlebury College in the US. Her story illustrates the competitive and complex nature of applying to universities abroad, particularly for international students seeking financial aid. It highlights her strategic approach to showcasing her unique experiences and language skills, which contributed to her successful admission.

30:06

💡 Valuable Lessons and Advice for Future Applicants

In this final reflection, Dua offers advice to prospective college applicants, emphasizing the importance of authenticity, passion, and not comparing oneself to others. She discusses the challenges of the application process, including dealing with last-minute submissions and the importance of having others review your work. Dua's insights provide valuable guidance for students navigating the competitive landscape of college admissions.

35:08

📢 Conclusion and Future Aspirations

The podcast concludes with Dua expressing her future ambitions, including her desire to work in diplomacy and potentially enter politics in Morocco. She reflects on the impact of her educational experiences on shaping her goals and emphasizes the importance of pursuing opportunities that align with one's passions and values. The conversation ends with an open invitation for further questions, indicating a willingness to engage and share more about her journey.

Keywords

💡boarding school

A boarding school is a school where students live during the school year, as opposed to a day school. Dua talks about attending a boarding school in Israel and Palestine after being unsatisfied with her previous schooling in Morocco. She highlights how this experience broadened her horizons and enabled her to learn about conflict and sustainability.

💡conflict

Conflict refers to the ongoing dispute between Israel and Palestine over land and rights in the region. Learning about this conflict was one of Dua's motivations for attending boarding school there. The school incorporated modules on understanding different perspectives on conflicts around the world.

💡diplomat

A diplomat is someone employed by a government to conduct negotiations and manage relationships with other countries. After her experiences abroad, Dua is interested in becoming a diplomat. She sees value in being able to negotiate and communicate across divides.

💡bunkers

Bunkers refer to underground spaces used as shelters during bombings or attacks. The school Dua attended had specific bunker rooms for students to take cover in quickly if there was nearby conflict.

💡United Nations

The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization aimed at maintaining international peace and security. Dua discusses her dream of one day working at the UN, given her interest in diplomacy and passion for creating positive change.

💡liberal arts

A liberal arts education aims to provide broad knowledge across disciplines like sciences, humanities and social sciences. The college Dua got accepted to, Middlebury, is a liberal arts school where she plans to study international relations.

💡common app

The common application is a standard application form accepted by over 900 colleges. Dua talks about writing her main admissions essay - the Common App essay - at the last minute with no external feedback.

💡ministry

A ministry refers to a government department headed by a minister. When Dua is older, she hopes to work with the Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs as an ambassador and contribute to her home country.

💡scholarship

A scholarship provides financial aid support for a student's education. Dua was awarded an 80% scholarship to attend boarding school, and later a similar scholarship to attend Middlebury College in the US.

💡sustainability

Sustainability involves meeting current needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs. Dua's boarding school incorporated sustainability into the curriculum, including through the village's agricultural activities.

Highlights

Dua studied at a Spanish school in Casablanca but wanted a different educational experience abroad

Dua applied to a boarding school in Israel despite political tensions and her parents' initial opposition

Dua received an 80% scholarship to the Israeli boarding school, covering most expenses besides insurance and flights

The Israeli airline questioned Dua extensively about her studies and views before allowing her to board

Dua sometimes faced criticism for studying in Israel given her previous views supporting Palestine

At the school, Israeli and Palestinian students bonded over cultural similarities despite political differences

The school arranged peace simulations with Israelis roleplaying Palestinians and vice versa

The boarding school was integrated into a rural village, allowing activities like farming and celebrations

Dua visited politically sensitive areas near borders and settlements to learn about the regional conflicts

By her second year, Dua was focused more on college applications than absorbing from school activities

Dua gained admission to Middlebury College with an 80% scholarship based on her language skills and learning

Dua aims to study international relations and languages at Middlebury to become a diplomat in the future

Dua advises US college applicants to demonstrate passion and originality rather than perfect test scores

Dua's parents were thrilled she got into Middlebury against the odds after supporting her ambitious education

Dua wants to represent Morocco worldwide eventually but also impact politics and her community back home

Transcripts

[Music]

this wonderful brainline podcast and

today we have our guest Dua so that

would be introducing herself and she

will tell us an interesting set of

stories from her pre-high school here in

Morocco and Casablanca to studying into

one of the best boarding schools and

also how she went from there to a U.S

University okay so do I do you want to

introduce yourself sure so hi everyone

my name is

and I am a Moroccan 19 year old student

from Casablanca for the past years I've

been studying a reporting School in

Israel in Palestine where I got to learn

more about conflict in the Middle East

and sustainability and today I'm here to

share my story and how I got into a

university in the US after this

experience okay so thank you that so

that kind of gives us to the first

question before you went to Israel and

Palestine and study there where were you

studying here in Morocco so I was

studying in the Spanish School of

Casablanca I studied there since

kindergarten I did all my education

there but I wasn't really satisfied with

the educational system and with the

experiences that I was having so I

wanted to broaden my horizons and see

something new and that's how the idea

came up okay so you said they didn't

like your experience there what were the

things that you didn't like I wasn't

really satisfied with the education that

I was getting especially because I was

more interested in social sciences and I

was receiving education in Sciences it

was all about memorizing it wasn't very

creative and I felt a bit bored in class

so I I wanted something new okay so at

that moment when you wanted something

new what was the first step to you know

moving towards that new thing and and

how did that work so I did a bit of

research on like IB schools and

international schools abroad I actually

played 2wc twice and I was rejected two

years in a row and my last resort was a

random boarding school in Israel and

this is really weird when I told my

parents for the first time it's very

it's very random thing to tell your

parents I want to go study in Israel and

it was also my last resort and I really

wanted to continue my education abroad

and there was no way for me to finish my

high school in that Spanish school okay

so I know a lot of people might be

asking what is the uwc and tickets high

school that focuses on this building

yeah okay and so let's go to the moment

where you told your parents that you

wanted to go to Israel

how was it exactly like were you on a

table like you know over dinner how did

that come like how did you simply share

it with your friends so the moment there

was a applying to Emma's there was a war

between Gaza and Israel so it was really

tense and from what I was getting

information from the school there were

bombings in the city where the school

was located and students had to sleep in

bunkers throughout their exams and there

were a lot of issues so I didn't tell my

parents that I was applying because

there were just so much tension in the

region that I was scared to tell them

but when I got in and I received my

acceptance letter and my scholarship

that's when we were sitting in the lunch

table I just finished my classes and I

told my parents look I got into this

high school it's really good we're gonna

do the IV diploma and I receive the

scholarship and at the end they had to

agree because you know you sacrifice for

your education I think it's the most

important thing so you did the entire

process

exactly interesting so the school didn't

ask you for like any documents or

anything or would you simply say to your

friends hey it's for like General

application all the documents from uwc

application process

so like every like salary slip or

anything that was like official and I

needed to ask my parents for I already

had that on my laptop so that was really

easy for me okay and what was the

reaction of your of your mom and your

dad and your parents I mean right my mom

is really opposed to the idea because of

everything that we hear about that

region in general and obviously she was

really worried but she knew that like

from a really young age I wanted to

finish my high school abroad like since

I was 13 I told her I cannot finish in

this school anymore like I need to get

out of here and she knew it was my

biggest dream so like it took a lot of

convince and obviously but in the work

like in the end it all worked out yeah

but you preferred like Bankers over an

educational system that is not good okay

so what was her like what was his

reaction of your dad was it more of like

a little bit chill usually those are

like chill my dad like basically at home

we grew up like instead of watching like

uh Moroccan TV shows or any anything we

used to work zero like since I was five

I was like exposed to conflict in the

Middle East and he like taught me about

it and we used to talk about it from a

really young age so he was really

excited that would get the opportunity

to see that with my own eyes you know

like get to explore aside that I was

really interested in and I think he

really encouraged me he was really

excited about it nice and so you

mentioned that this girl is that you had

the scholarship as well right yeah so

what was the process like what was it

like did you have to fit in a form to do

interviews what was the process of

applying to Ms so the process is really

similar to the process of applying to a

US University like you need to write

essays you need to write

extracurriculars we go through two

different interviews the first one is to

get to know more about you as a person

it's also really similar just like any

us interview it's a bit chill very

informal they want to learn about you

and what you wanna what you're gonna

bring to the table where you want to

come learn about conflict

Etc

and uh we also had a second interview

with which was with the school counselor

so it was more like are you gonna be

able to live in this stressful

situations and Etc so it was a bit more

psychological okay so why did you want

to go learn about the conflict sorry I'm

repeating your application right now but

I just like as I told you I grew up

watching like conflict on TV and I I've

always known that I wanted to do

something related to conflict in the

Middle East so for me like career

related and everything was like it was

just the perfect opportunity you know

like you don't get the opportunity to

live in Israel and learn about the

Israeli police new conflict every day so

I like I saw the opportunity and I

jumped into it nice and so you said also

scholarships and I'm pretty sure a lot

of people watching would like to know

numbers yeah so was it like a full

scholarship a partial what was the type

of scholarship every year they give

different scholarships and it ranges

from 20 to 80 percent so I did receive

an 80 scholarship and that was like the

highest for this year and it literally

covers everything except for insurance

and flights you have to take care of

that on your own yeah and is Insurance

more expensive in the region or it's

because it's less expensive than the US

it's way less expensive

so now basically how do you convince

your friends I like how would you

convince your dad and everything so

convinced my mom more

is Moroccan moms they always when there

were children next to them and

everything and also I had really strict

parents growing up like I wasn't really

allowed to go out so for a mother that

doesn't let her daughter go to the mall

with her friends how will she allow her

to go live in Israel alone like that's

the big questions and everyone was so

shocked that my parents like agreed to

this but like as I told you they've

always focused on my education it was

always their priority and they always

known that I had big goals in life and I

think that's like the way that I

convinced them is that this is like good

for my future okay so you started your

negotiation Journey from from early

years

nice and now let's go into the trip to

Israel in general how was your first

trip there my first trip was really

started in the

in the which airport I took the a flight

from Marrakesh Okay and like I flew with

the Israeli like Airline El Al and it

was a really interesting experience

because at that time like I was in a

flight where I was the only person

holding a Moroccan passport all of them

were Moroccan Israelis or just Israelis

coming to Morocco so we had a different

procedure to get into the plane and uh

you would be asked really like really

invasive questions in my opinion I was

told to like like they checked my phone

gallery they looked at my photos at my

WhatsApp discussions uh they were they

asked me what subjects are you gonna be

taking what extra curriculars will you

be involved in like really like really

detailed questions and it it was a bit

weird for me because I've never like had

this experience before but yeah but did

you had like any like because I'm pretty

sure that you had a lot of readings that

you did and everything so they do have

in did you have a new phone for example

things that were a little bit

controversial like some political

implies or anything my Instagram profile

picture was the flag of Palestine during

England okay so that's a good start I

was so glad they did not check my social

media like I like that's the the con the

most controversial thing I had for them

and uh they also asked me like where are

you studying and I made the huge mistake

to say it's a school for peace between

Israelis and Palestinians like and that

I think is what like triggered them and

they started asking more questions and

they were I don't know like I think

that's what triggered it like when you

go through any like Israeli type of

questioning don't mention politics don't

mention conflict like just say I'm here

to learn about the culture like just

make it the least as less political as

you can so did you because basically

once it's a short experience that I had

yeah but once I was traveling from

Turkey

this and seems like anyone who travels

to Turkey they go and like they put you

into those like you know underground

places yeah where they can see you but

you can't see them so I had that I had

that no chance but I had that experience

so did they have to put you no there was

all in front of my parents like they

were my parents were so worried they

were sitting in a cafe and I was just

being questioned but this is told

Israeli men and no no like everything

was in front of them there was no like

underground yeah thankfully okay that's

good nice and so when you arrived there

how was your action of your friends like

because I'm pretty sure that you have a

pretty diverse group of friends here uh

did some people stop talking to you did

some people start talking to you what

was the reaction so in my Instagram I

used to always post stories about

Palestine and advocating for you know

like the end of Apartheid and things

like that so I did receive a lot of

comments from people saying oh this is

like this is very like against her

values like this is very hypocritical of

you today go to Israel and like I do

understand the reactions but like

thankfully like there was no extreme

reaction from any of my friends and like

they all understood my intention going

there like they all understood it and I

was thankful for that so was it a hard

experience or like not really like in

what sense like in a sense where like

you had to navigate

justifying yourself yeah going for

education for something else yeah every

time I like people someone would ask me

like where do you study or I I can't

really say Israel like I I can just like

say it out loud like I I if I say it out

loud I out loud I need to justify it in

a sense like guys don't worry I'm just

going there for my education like um

like people on on social media always

think that I'm going there and I'm like

like supporting the the actions of the

government that I'm supporting Netanyahu

whatever but like I truly like don't

support any of that it's just like any

person going to France doesn't

necessarily support the islamophone be

out there any person going to the U.S

doesn't support the like invasion in

Iraq you know it's any person that goes

to China doesn't support what's

happening to the uyghurs like it's not

that I'm going there to make a political

statement I'm supporting Israel like

it's for my education as like everyone

else does I guess yeah so when someone

asks you where do you study what's the

typical question study next to Jerusalem

like that's the okay but do you say like

usually I study in Ms or I study like

what's yeah but then people will tell

you what is Amazon okay so it's going

there yeah like it's either Israel or

occupied Palestinian territories or in

the Middle East like depending okay

depending on who you are it's okay yeah

nice and so how was the experience there

like actually where

um you know where you were there did you

meet a lot of like International

students or like local students

how's how was the experience which

language do you speak we all spoke in

English and uh yeah like English was the

main language on campus

and I think it was really eye-opening in

the beginning especially everyone was so

involved in politics we selected in

dinner with 10 nationalities talking

about how we see different like

conflicts or different political things

from like our national perspective

talking about the Western Sahara talking

about Israel and Palestine like every

single conflict you can imagine was

brought up in our dinners and lunches

and whatever and I got to really get to

know different perspectives I know it

sounds really cliche but I I wasn't like

expecting myself to be so open at the

end of this experience but I think it

really made me a completely different

person in that sense because I think you

started kind of understanding that if

you really want to make a change or

advocate for something your first listen

yeah like I personally want to be a

diplomat in the future as a diplomat you

need to be negotiating with people that

you don't agree with like you can sit

with I don't know Bashar Assad or

Netanyahu and like come to an agreement

at the end of the a meeting right so I

feel like this opportunity gave me the

experience to bond with people who don't

necessarily share the same ideology or

political opinions as me well like not

letting that affecting our relation and

also like we had really interesting

experiences we had something called the

peace simulation where we have a group

of students representing the Israeli

delegation and a group of students

representing the policy and delegations

you would literally have Palestinians

from the West Bank representing Israel

and right-wing Israelis representing

Palestine and defending you know like

that perspective so I think that was

really interesting like getting to know

so that's actually interesting that you

have a lot of Peace happening as well

right but inside the school that's

relative really also

pretty relevant

really sure like inside of the school

relations between Israelis and

Palestinians were really no actually

like I feel like the closest people on

campus were the Israelis and the

Palestinians like so was it more of like

a selection process by the school or

like like how did that happen you know

because you take literally two people uh

like two group of people might not

necessarily be the best friends yeah and

you put them together and force them to

study together yeah like they were the

secret sauce closest to each other like

you would Israel and Palestinians were

besties literally and uh I think because

to me I feel like culturally speaking

like let's take politics away they do

have a lot in common like like we like

Arabs and Israelis are really similar

like whether it's like personality or or

cultural music everything is really

similar so I think that really helps

like people Bond over you know the

similarities more than the political

differences oh okay and so that's nice

that you have a lot of Peace but I'll in

the outside world you have a lot of War

I think did you have any experience with

war with foamvin with anything like that

were you ever scared at some point I was

never scared because like honestly I

always

like I'm

I'm safe we have an Iron Dome we have

bunkers we have Sirens like I always saw

it as like I always thought about like

what if I was in Gaza I knew I know I

wouldn't be safe right like no bunkers

no Sirens no anything so I always put

myself in that like I am in Israel

Israel like really has all those

mechanisms to defend itself and like I

was never afraid of anything but uh it

also like taught me like it's we call it

conflict but at the end of the day is it

really a conflict when like both sides

are so like unequal I don't know so

there's really no kind of uh discussion

between one powerful side and a size

yeah like no conflicts yeah like uh

honestly like sure you will like I would

feel scared like for example you have uh

90 seconds so when you hear the siren

you have like 90 seconds to go to a

bunker

and like imagine you're sleeping imagine

you're in the shower like those are the

worries that I had like will I have

enough time to go to a bunker if I heard

a siren would I hear a siren while I'm

sleeping like those are the type of

words that I had but it wasn't really

huge so a lot of people would be asking

in general what what is a banker like

what does a banker look like yeah share

with us the experience of a banker and

go in there and what before going to

Israel like through a banker with a

broom like uh underground like really

scary and dark uh our bunker was the

class where we took our final exams like

uh in Israel basically every house has

one room with metallic windows and a

metallic door and that's the bunker it's

just like any random uh room in the

house and in the case of our school we

had one class and we also had one small

common area with couches and a piano Etc

so it's just like a normal room with

like with the windows and door oh okay

so basically it change the architectural

structure of Israeli where in every

building you need to have a bunker yeah

exactly and so when you hear the alarm

then everyone runs into the yeah exactly

okay in 90 seconds you have all the

school in one place yeah okay

that's nice and did you ever had to so

when did you have to go to a bunker like

when there is bombing like so whenever

you hear a siren but also the thing is

that when we we had like bombings uh

last May I was actually taking my final

exam for like for University Admissions

and like it was a listening exam for a

language and you know you have to pay

attention to those little details and I

heard a bang in the sky and like Gaza

actually like announced that we will be

sending missiles to Tel Aviv so guys get

ready and

um we didn't hear a siren uh but the

siren was heard like if like two

kilometers away from our village so is

the siren in like everywhere or in like

in the building like Israel has really

small tones like like for example like

Casablanca would be the size of I don't

know half of Israel and and like they

have really small towns and every town

has their own alarm systems and some

throughout the year they do try those

Sirens so you'd be sitting and suddenly

you hear a siren and there's like the

trials to make sure that everything is

working perfectly and I know we had like

in the town and in the village where we

lived we had sirens

so when they go off you have to

immediately go to the bunker yeah oh

okay so you have to go to a bank around

so in our case we didn't hear the sirens

like the sirens were heard like as I

told you one or one or two kilometers

away from us so just like for safety

like reasons we went to the bunker but

we did hear the bombings oh okay that's

interesting yeah yeah and so basically

can you go to a bunker whenever you want

or yeah unless you're here because if

you're an exam and the exam is getting

hard yeah everything is small I mean

it's not like I don't mean to to say

that way but basically if you need just

to go to Bunker anytime like are you do

you have that freedom or yeah like the

bunker like the class was an open space

the common space was also like we used

to hang out there literally like it was

like in in the random house like let's

say not an educational building like it

would be for example a bedroom and that

bedroom is the bun current yeah it's

just like any normal room oh so it

integrates naturally yeah you don't even

notice until you look at the windows and

like the metallic door and like okay

this is a punk this is the banker yeah

yeah nice and so

um knife on campus did you have like

activities what did you have what were

you doing we lived in a village which

was an agricultural Village we had

families there and we were really like

the school was trying to make us

involved in the community so we had

communal shabbats and every religious uh

celebration was celebrated there we also

had minimuna which is American Jewish

celebration and we were really involved

whether it's like serving in the dining

halls or washing the dishes milking cows

working with chickens and animals

feeding deers Etc this is like related

to the like Village Life and related to

the school we had every type of

extracurriculars but I think it was more

focused on anything that is like a

sustainability like uh forming a blah

blah blah and uh politics it was very

political like the extracurriculars that

we had like to learn more about the

conflict like our trips they would take

us around the region like I visited like

the Syrian the Lebanese the Jordanian

borders we we went to the Gaza border

like they made it very interesting in

the sense that you can learn a lot about

the conflict and all the like political

socio-economic and environmental

components of the conflict as well

so that's very interesting and they do

ever travel travel to places where there

were conflicts yeah like we went

we went golden High

land Heights we went to a place like

there was an observatory and they were

telling us that those are the houses of

Hezbollah

we went through like the the like a

village that was literally like at the

border of Raza we looked at the borders

Etc like they always tried to take us to

these places

special like circumstances where you go

like do they protect over protect you a

little bit or how does it feel like like

um the Ministry of Education in Israel

has a lot of requirements so in some

areas we need to go in a bulletproof bus

we always have a military with us and a

paramedics just in case

uh and also there is a lot of

restrictions like uh my last trip we

were supposed to go to and the ministry

didn't allow it like especially with the

change of government the recent one uh

we had a lot of restrictions in the

school like sometimes like we wouldn't

be allowed to like people wouldn't be

allowed to work your fears or we

wouldn't be allowed to like um have the

Palestinian flag or visitors visit

certain places or have certain speakers

because of you know the new government

and so with all of this happening were

you able to focus on education were you

able to study and actually like so I

think the first year was like I was

really involved especially the first

semester I was really trying to learn

but by the second year like all that

curiosity is early like okay I've

already learned enough I'm doing the IV

and I'm not playing to colleges like I

need to shift my focus so in my case I

thought Ms was really short because I

only really enjoyed it the first year

and the second year I was so far behind

in everything related to college

applications and like uh studies and and

exams that I only focused on that and

like I kind of ignored all the you know

like learning interesting aspect that I

came for

that's nice and so then you started

shifting to universities right applying

to University then like my focus totally

so did you apply to Moroccan schools

American schools where did you apply to

it so I tried to like apply apply to as

many schools as possible because I just

had the

what if just what if I don't get in

anywhere and I applied to schools in the

US I applied to schools in two schools

in the Netherlands I applied to

transport and I applied to Georgetown

Qatar and like those are the the schools

that I did nice so how was the

acceptances or rejections in all of them

so in the non-us universities I think it

was it was fine

it was with the scholarships like like

scholarships are very scarce in Europe

and uh and like you have to go through a

really long process which is really

weird to me relating to the US it was

it was it was hard but I wasn't

expecting like it to be easier to be

honest because I heard a lot of horror

stories from people who were rejected

everywhere and things like that so I was

prepared for it and I received one

acceptance that I was really happy with

so I was like satisfied like okay I

didn't get into an ivy league but I got

a skull that I like which is fine for me

nice so which school is that that's

Middlebury College great so what is

Middlebury I know that it's a pretty

good yeah ranked School in general so

can you explain a little bit what is

Middlebury and so it's a liberal arts

college at the border with Canada and

yeah it's like a school rural area and

interesting liberal arts college nice so

what did in your application did you

mention a lot of things about what you

learned in your two years of uh boarding

school what was the what was what made

you get accepted into that school I I

don't know I think it's as cool as

really focused on languages and I think

like that I think that aspect is really

made me stood out like as any Moroccan

like we do have a lot of languages I

think we need to like highlight diet in

our application I think it's our

strongest uh characteristic and I really

focused on the languages aspect and also

on like the political learning that I

had at Ms like those were the major

components of my application nice so

which languages do you speak I speak

well

English fluently and I learned a bit of

German and I also took Russian in school

oh wow so they should definitely be

interested in general so how was the

application for the uh for Middlebury

did you did you need scholarship did you

require scholarship or did you apply it

for like without a scholarship how was

the fun so I applied for scholarship to

the Cs

L me a huge

like those many words I couldn't

understand like I I think it was the

like the hardest part of it was the CSS

profile to be honest it's like very

confusing yeah it's basically if you

don't have like a system in place yeah

in general okay and so how was the

scholarship in general did you receive

like a full scholarship like a partial

how was there so just like Ms it was an

80 scholarship which is like

idea but I was happy because at least I

got in somewhere and yeah that that was

it nice but 80 if of like a school that

probably cost 80 000. yeah that should

be something like sixty thousand dollars

a year yeah exactly 64. nice that's

great and so what would you be studying

in Middlebury so I'm I'm like I have a

bunch of requirements because it's a

liberal art colleges so I need to take

classes in every area but I want to

major in international relations and

Russian and probably Arabic as well

probably Arabic as well nice because I

know that means we have a really famous

language school yeah the people from all

over the U.S come to it exactly yeah so

are you planning to do that to become

like a diplomat or what do you wanna

well I think like every like with all

the experiences I've had so far I feel

like the ideal thing for me would be to

become a diplomat you know like having

the languages and having the like things

that I learned at Ms I feel like the

ideal thing would be diplomacy nice so

one of your targets might be potentially

like working at the UN or is that

something that's like my dream is

working oh really interesting that's

great did you get to tour the UN or not

yet I've never been there okay well

actually they let anyone tour there

really yeah it's uh even though a lot of

people think that it's really really

well guarded but actually it's more of

like also a touristic okay Place yeah

where you can go and simply yeah sure

that's my dream yeah well nice well we

have a future diplomats with here today

great and so what would you advise the

upcoming students in America

like don't be discouraged because in my

like Entourage I had people who were

perfect students they had counselors who

have like a lot of experience getting to

getting people into Ivy Leagues people

weren't asking for scholarships they had

perfect sad scores and I literally had

nothing of that I wasn't like the ideal

student in IB I uh I had the really low

STD score that I didn't end up sending I

required a lot of financial aid and I

was really insecure and I really thought

I wouldn't get in anywhere and in the

end it worked out really well for me

compared to other people who had better

stats or like you would think they would

have 100 times more chances than you of

getting in but in the anything just like

show passion in what you do have a

really cohesive application and be

personal in what you're writing and have

you know like original extracurriculars

that demonstrate a unique interest I

think that's my biggest advice for

anyone who is going through this process

yeah and I also think actually that

because in applications when an

application is over polished yeah it's

really really nice they know that there

were a lot of bucking behind that and

they're looking sometimes more for

students who might not necessarily have

that much of a back-end but they have

some sort of guidance but not much of

like like I like my common up essay

nobody read that like okay so that's the

question is it because you didn't have

someone to read it or because it was

personal it was personal but also okay I

have to admit it was very last minute oh

okay I think that's nice I didn't have

time to send it like my friends started

writing in April and by like summer they

had everything finished I wrote mine uh

because I was I always like

procrastinate because I have so many

ideas that I can't pick one so I wrote

mine like literally the day before

sending my applications okay I think we

should cut this one so that's not it I

know I'm just kidding no but that's like

I really advised against this it was

really stressful for me and I also had

like a bunch of gram grammar mistakes

that I could have easily avoided so

always have someone check it before it

doesn't need to be an English teacher

just can be someone from your family

like always have someone give you

feedback because I went into some

political topics that I could have

avoided I think could have been better

just always have someone read it whoever

it is so what was the topic of you

coming a person I wrote about like the

process of becoming more open-minded

through the color like

[Music]

respective shifted in certain like

related to certain things

okay yeah that's nice and for you

supplements you do have supplements or

so I have supplements for other Unis but

like Middlebury doesn't have any

supplements little essays so the only

thing they read was my common up oh and

they don't have SAT scores as well yeah

it's consumptional hey so everything

that go to is that last essay

nice and so what are your plans in the

future would you like to come back

working Morocco or like just work in the

UN what's your so I think like

um I'd like to start something a bit

more International and like travel

around the world a bit but I still want

to you know at the same time be doing

something for Morocco and that's why I'm

really interested in working for the

ministry of like Foreign Affairs like

still like being an ambassador from Rock

Around The World we're presenting your

country and also trying to make a small

impact but like for when I'm older like

30 40 I'd love to come and do politics

in Morocco like actually help like my

community and yeah that's nice well we

have actually a brain line leadership

Club in general that we take some

students to the Parliament and we take

them to Ministries yeah so yeah so that

would be a nice way also for you too

yeah

great and so what was the reaction of

your parents when you once you got into

Middlebury they were super excited I

think they were happier than me because

I was like telling them throughout the

whole application process look like even

my counselor when I told her look I'm

applying to this school she was like

this is literally a lottery like we have

many perfect students who don't get even

like get into their safeties so she told

me this is a lottery you have like one

percent chance of getting in like look

at it this way so you won't be

disappointed and that's the way that I

also spoke to my parents like look I'm

just trying this like if it works it's

perfect but if it doesn't there's also

other Alternatives so when I got in they

were really happy that you know like the

the worst case scenario didn't happen oh

yeah that's nice yeah

great and so what would be one last

advice that you would give to students

uh I think this is so cliche but I'm

gonna say it be yourself and don't

compare yourself to others I think the

most detrimental thing you can do to

your mental health through this process

is comparing some yourself to someone

who either has better grades or has more

help or more financial capabilities

don't do this just focus on your passion

and focus on what you want to like the

impact you want to be making in the

world like also like I read about this a

lot universities are like a business

like you need to bring something to the

table in the future they want you to be

donating so you need also to show

certain capacities from successful

people you need to show them that I can

be a successful person in the future

this is how I can be a successful person

so I think that's like my personal

advice nice yeah well thank you so much

wonderful uh podcast yeah so thank you

so much for for this wonderful podcast

and if you have any follow-up questions

you don't have please feel free to reach

out to us and we'll be happy to connect

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