“U.S. citizens living and working in Lebanon should understand that they accept risks in remaining and should carefully consider those risks.” I received this message at least once a week from the state department’s traveler email program about the risks I could potentially face if I go ahead with my plans to Lebanon. I graduated college in May 2013 and I needed to get out. Throughout my senior year, I was looking forward to and planning the day I would board a plane to Beirut, Lebanon and start my career in international journalism.
Over the summer, as my trip got closer, friends and family would regularly remind me of these risks and with worry in their face, try to deter me from going to Lebanon and instead tell me to go to Europe. I’ve never traveled abroad before, but I knew I wanted to go to the Middle East. No travel warning or conflict would stop me from leaving the comfort of my home in Cleveland, Ohio and set out to experience something completely out of my comfort zone. And that is exactly what happened.
On the evening of September 18, 2013, I landed in Beirut. I fortunately had a familiar face to pick me up from the airport. My jet lagged, hungry and excited self needed some liquid caffeine in my body. My friend took me to a familiar place for an American: the local Starbucks. With just one sip of American coffee, I had a taste of home with me. One of the several things I noticed when I first arrived was the amount of traffic on the road. It was rush hour so it could be expected, but it wasn’t so much the amount that shocked me, but rather the way people maneuvered their cars in and out of lanes. I felt like I was in a Fast and Furious movie and I was the passenger along for the ride. Fast-forward two months, and I still can’t bear the thought of myself driving. If I did, it may end in an anxiety attack.
Besides the sporadic and unorganized traffic, I have grown to appreciate the differences between my culture and the Lebanese culture. It’s one of the advantages of traveling to a foreign place for the first time. My trip to Lebanon is the first time I stepped outside the U.S. Even in college, all the students had opportunities to enroll in a study abroad program, but for me, it was wasn’t financially feasible until I received a journalism scholarship to travel abroad.
Before coming to Lebanon, I read and watched as much as I could to inform myself about Lebanon and the region. You can prepare all you want about a country, but the only way to really get a clear picture of a country is to pack up and go there. Since 9/11, the American media has put more emphasis on covering the Middle East. Often generically portraying the region as a place of danger and anti-west sentiments.
As a foreigner coming from a country where the media influences the discourse and ideas, the painted picture of Lebanon as a dangerous place for expats, especially for Americans is far from the truth. In just the two months living in Lebanon, I have been to many places that even some Lebanese have told me they haven’t been to. I went to El-mina, Tripoli, Byblos, Saida, Sour and several northern villages in the mountains not to mention the neighborhoods outside Beirut. Each time I have been given a warm welcome accompanied by endless amounts of food and Turkish coffee. I haven’t been to the Lebanese-Syrian border or inside the neighborhoods of Tripoli. If I do, then I may have my first encounter with danger, but for now I have stayed out of danger. As you can imagine my parents are relieved, but it doesn’t stop them form worrying. I’ve had taxi drivers welcoming me to Lebanon followed by a curiosity of my place of origin. When I answer, “the states”, the driver usually tells me a story of when he visited the states or how he wishes to make a trip there. One thing I know for sure, there are many nice people here willing to help me when I’m struggling to talk to a non-English speaker in English for directions.
I haven’t been here for long, but as each day ends, I learn something new. It’s sometimes a new word, a new place, a new person or cultural practice. The beauty of staying in a new place is that I appreciate the things I have back home, while also realizing the negative things such as American foreign policy decisions or economic inequality. I’m learning a lot about myself and I have a greater knowledge of the world and cultural understanding outside the bubble I call the U.S. Every day is exciting and I’m here to stay to find out more about this country.
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Kaylyn Hlavaty is currently a freelance journalist. She received a Bachelor's degree of Journalism from the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University in May 2013. She also has a minor in political science from Ohio University.