By Farhad Nibir, a participant of this one of a kind academic excursion.
Who does not want to travel in style, moreover when it is all expenses paid? This was one of a kind experience, traveling with our Honorable Vice Chancellor Father Patrick Daniel Gaffney to Oman, with 7 other like-minded and amazing people from my campus.
In the middle of January, I got a notification of a friend mentioning me on a post from our university’s official page on facebook. A circular was posted about a one of a kind excursion to Oman. I read the description multiple times and couldn’t believe until I landed in Oman.
So, I applied without a second thought and got a call for the interview and got the chance to fly to Oman with 7 other incredible individuals from my campus as well as our Honorable Vice Chancellor Rev Patrick Gaffney.
In this excursion, two Notre Dame campuses, University of Notre Dame, Indiana and Notre Dame University Bangladesh, were merged for a one of a kind excursion in Oman, for a whole week. We were hosted by Al Amana Centre, an interfaith dialogue centre situated adjacent to Muttrah Souq in Muscat. They planned a week long itinerary including disparate wonderful locations, surrounding Muscat, such as National Museum, Ceremonial Palace of the Sultan, Wadi Shab, Wahiba Sands (Omani Desert), Wakan Village, Nakhl, Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque and so on. We had a little leisure hours, which we spend on Muttrah Corniche.
The whole week passed like, I was living in a dream. Traveling to a new country with some amazing people and meeting more amazing people was a hell of an experience. We had a lot of discussions with each other at various locations. We learned a lot in this whole trip. It was always a dream to travel to a new country, visit places and meeting new people. Notre Dame has made this dream come true.
Lastly, as we were planning what to do prior the trip, I took up the decision of making a vlog series of this whole e trip. And this is just the trailer. And right now I have also decided to write blog about it too. So, I will be writing the travel diary of Oman in couple of parts according to my vlogs. Stay tuned for part 1, it will be coming out soon.
About Al Amana Centre: Al Amana Centre is an inter-faith dialogue centre, established in 2013 in Muscat, Oman. They host various groups for inter-faith dialogues from all over the world. We were there for their “Inter-cultural Exchange Program”. They also have some other programs. For more details check out their website.
Al Amana Centre website: https://alamanacentre.org
An Architectural Marvel (Visiting The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque) - https://tripnownet.wixsite.com/eatsleeptravelrepeat/post/an-architectural-marvel
