First Post

Introductions. Always an awkward start, but even the journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step......

My name is CJ Canton, and I am a college student studying Arabic (inter alia) at Florida State University. I am a junior there, now on the cusp of my fourth acemic year (Fall 2010-Spring 2011). This April I was blessed to find out that I had been selected to recieve the Critical Language Scholarship for Arabic, a US State Department funded program which pays for US college students to travel to foreign countries where languages considered crucial to US economic, culture, political, and securty interests are spoken in order to learn them and gain a mastery of them, which should (theoretically) prove useful to the United States of America at some undetermined time in the future. Anyway, I was (apparently) selected for the advanced level of instruction, and will be sent to Muscat, the capital of the Sultanate of Oman, for a period of slightly more than two months (June 12-August 13) in order to undertake an intense course of Arabic studies, apparently equivalent to one year of formal university-level instruction.

Seeing as I have been truly blessed with this wonderful opportunity, I have taken it upon myself to prepare as much as possible for this spectacular adventure which awaits me. The spring semester at college ended for me two days ago, and I now have 39 (really 38 now but as the time is now only around twelve o'clock PM 3 May, I am choosing to write this entry and perhaps the following entry as if the date were 2 May 2010) days to prepare myself. This will entail trying to learn and practice as much written "High Arabic" as I can whilst at the same time learn as much as possible about the dialect of Oman, particularly Muscat. It will also entail cobbling together the camera, clothes, and other provisions which will be necessary for the duration of my stay in Oman. For personal reasons I find that my self-confidence is highly linked to the state of my physical fitness, and so I will also be using this blog as an exercise blog (thus the title "The Run up to Muscat"). After I have arrived in Muscat I will stop posting on this blog and open up a new, "The Run Through Muscat."

There is much to do, but at the same time I find it hard to express my excitement for this opportunity in words. I have never been outside of the US in my life, and for those of you who do not know Oman is an unbelievably amazing land, a place of exquisite beauty and even mystery, as its people are known for keeping out of the headlines and even other Arabs seem somewhat in the dark about it. Although definitely part of the Arab world, Oman and particularly Muscat have always been an integral part of the naval commerce of the Indian Ocean, and being so far to the East (farther east than any other Arabic countries except for Bahrain and parts of Iraq) Muscat is something of a bridge between Arabic and Indian cultures. Although I was somewhat disappointed when I initially found out that I had been placed in Muscat (the CLS offers programs in five other countries, though the applicant had no choice in where they are assigned), now as I learn more and more about the country I would not go anywhere else if I could!

I can only ask for the help of the Almighty and whatever prayers or positive feedback my readers might offer on my behalf. Thanks for reading this first post and may God bless you.