Traveling as an Arab has always been an interesting ordeal. I’ve heard all the crazy TSA stories there are, and they just get even wilder over the years. One of my cousins was driving back from Canada into the States and got pulled into custody for hours (her last name was flagged in their system, but she didn’t care for that; she was just mad they were trying to confiscate her olives and za’atar). Having a Lebanese stamp alone will reel you into many questions. I’ll probably never be admitted into Israel without a massive interview, which is especially odd given that I’m an American. Still, they don’t care about that. Funny enough, I was actually in Lebanon during the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah War, and our airport got blown up. We had to go through Syria to get back to the States, which took quite a while because of my mother’s immigration status, but I’m here now, so… I won.
My boyfriend also has a couple of interesting stories about his time in Lebanon. The last time he visited, he wanted to go to this famous falafel shop in Tripoli (people needed clarification about their plans to go, considering its occupation by Al Qaeda). He didn’t mind a little danger, but the flags were a bit much. He was more upset by the fact that the famous falafel spot was closed. In his own words, “Like, if I’m bouta get captured by Al Qaeda, at least lemme get my sandwich.”
If I wasn’t a threat to national security already, I now know a bit too much about nuclear weapons. It’s not like it was my choice; I just happened to attend a school that requires science-focused courses for liberal arts majors. I was expecting a more classic liberal arts education, but I honestly don’t mind Stevens’ curriculum. If anything, it makes me more well-rounded.
Modern philosophers are sort of looked down upon, and I’d be far more obnoxious if constantly quoting Camus, Nietzche, and Dostoevsky. It sucks because, at one point, philosophers were really cool. Plato stayed flexing on his students (literally). I like to imagine that we would have been gym buddies (keyword, imagine, he wouldn’t take me that seriously. Plato believed that women were physically inferior to men).
Anyways, back to the point. Traveling as an Arab sucks right now. I can’t even take a direct flight to Beirut because of terrorist hijackings in the 80’s (the CIA still has to find some of these terrorists, and when they do, I will throw a RAGER). Hopefully, circumstances will change one day, but I doubt it. Sorry, no happy ending in this one.
