Now is the end of my 2 weeks in Qatar. I had an excellent time there, everyone from the TAMUQ staff, to the managers at the companies we visited, to the locals we met there were extremely welcoming and kind. My initial perspectives were overall valid, Qatar is wealthy, welcoming, deeply connected with their Islamic faith and culture, and they have a ton of expats. What is very interesting to me is how the country can keep a distinct and true Qatari culture. Qataris could easily view themselves as just a small appendage of their much larger and more powerful Saudi neighbors but they don’t. Likewise, it blows me away to see that despite the population being close to 90% expats, they have managed to preserve their culture.
My perspective has changed quite a bit when it comes to my understanding of Islam and being able to relate to the Arab people. My perspective especially broadened when we went on the mosque tour. Our tour guide for one of the sections was extremely informative and left me with a great deal of respect for Islam. I do not view Muslims as just some other group of different people out there anymore, they are now another group that I feel I can relate to. I’ve found that Arabs are not at all like they are portrayed at times in the news and are not that different from us. In fact, I found them a bit similar to the Latin culture that I was raised in.