Faren what?

I left my full-time job, packed my bags, with great emotion said goodbye to my friends and family, and started my 17 hour flight from my country, Egypt, to Washington, DC. All of this didn’t open my eyes on the amount of change that I would be making in my life when I decided to complete a master’s program at James Madison University.

During my trip from Dulles airport in Washington, DC to Harrisonburg I decided to call my dad to let him know that that I reached my destination healthy and safe. My dad asked me:

“So, how is the weather there?”

I looked at the car thermostat screen to check the reading, and it was a temperature I’ve never seen in my life!

“The thermostat reading says it is 77! I guess it is broken or something” I replied.

And after few moments of silence, I said:

“Oh wait! I guess they use a different temperature scale here, right?”

My dad had a good laugh, and the driver interrupted:

“Yes buddy, we use the Fahrenheit here.” he said.

“Fahren what?” I said.

And at that moment I realized that I am just starting a journey, in a whole different country, in a whole different part of the world.

My name is Mohamed Serry, a graduate student in the master of Adult Education and Human Resources Development Program at JMU. I am also a writer for The Graduate School. This is my first blog entry. I plan to share my experiences with you during my new journey. A journey that I am happy to start rather than afraid of, and excited about rather than worried about.

Read more blog entries here.

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