I’ve spent a lot of time this week reflecting on my experience in Qatar this past break. Having never been to the Middle East before, and only really seeing it through the lenses of the main stream media and social media, I had many misconceptions about the culture, people, and religion found there. Spending several weeks in Qatar shattered my perception of the Middle East and showed me that we are all more alike than we are different. Obviously, we weren’t walking around Tehran or Baghdad, we were in a very safe, westernized, and modern region of the Middle East. We likely would have had a very different experience in those cities.
The food was amazing, and their geography was a huge contrast to anything I’ve seen in the states or other places I’ve traveled to. It was truly a beautiful country, despite being a desert. There were massive sand dunes and nice beaches. Doha was a mix of their traditional architectural style and super modern, which was also a unique contrast. The people that we interacted with were all incredibly polite and respectful, and were very accommodating.
I will definitely be traveling back to the Middle East at some point, it was an incredible experience.