Blogging From Beirut

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Aug. 3, 2010) - Six University of Kentucky students are nearing the end of a five-week research trip in Beirut, Lebanon. Five of the students - Christopher Robbins, Katie Perkowski, Ashley Westerman, Kelsey Thomas, and Noha El Maraghi - are journalism majors in the UK School of Journalism and Telecommunications, while political science Ph.D. candidate Ralph Schoellhammer joined the group as part of his doctoral research.

The students, who have been in Beirut since early July, are documenting their experiences in a blog. The blog details life in the dorms and classrooms of American University of Beirut, spending time by the Mediterranean Sea, learning about the politics, culture and society of the region, and road trips to Baalbek, Byblos, Damascus and more.

Accompanied by journalism lecturer Terry Anderson, they have visited Palestinian refugee camps, interviewed officials and heard lectures from top professors and experts. Each student will complete a journalism project based on his or her research.

"This has been a remarkable chance for these students to see part of the Middle East and to talk to the people who live here - Christian, Sunni, Shiite and Druze - about the region's problems and opportunities," Anderson said. "It's a point of view they don't get in the United States, and has helped them understand the Middle East more thoroughly than they would ever have been able to."

The group has contended with uncertain Internet connections, food that sometimes disagrees with American stomachs, and a large but friendly campus cat population, among other adventures. To read their blog, go to www.beingbeirut.blogspot.com.

The program is funded by Issam Fares, former deputy prime minister of Lebanon, and owner of Fares Farms in Lexington.