I've now been here a month, enough time to give me an impression of life in Beirut. This is of course different to any impression Lebanese people have of their city as my different background gives me an altered perception. Furthermore I've spent the majority of my time in the central districts of Beirut where people are well-off and live comfortably - although brief meetings with the poorer Palestinians in and around the Cola Junction bus station, who are more curious and relatively poorly educated, have not changed my opinion.
Beirut is an incredibly easy city to exist in. I have never been singled out for being a foreigner. On the other hand, anytime I have approached someone to ask for help they have gone out of their way to assist me; for example the grocery store owner, who, when asked for directions to the art museum, immediately got his car and drove me and my friends there directly. Or the assistant in the shawarma shop in Baalbek who, when he didn't have change for a $100 note, ran off up the street with it to his mate in the Western Union shop who was able to break it up.
I have never heard anyone badmouthing or complaining about other nationalities, ethnic groups or religions which, given the brutal history of sectarian violence and outside interference in the country, is quite remarkable. Again I should add the disclaimer that I've not been in contact with all the various social groups, but I have been lucky enough to communicate in broken Arabic and English with taxi drivers of various religions (in cars in various states of disrepair) who have also given me this impression.
In order to save space in my backpack I only brought one pair of everyday shoes, a pair of light-coloured Hummel trainers. Long walks up and down the Corniche and weaving in and out of traffic in the road and parked on the broken pavement, as well as an unexpectedly high amount of rain and cold weather, have all taken their toll on these, and they have now been replaced with a sturdy pair of brown shoes which set me back around £15 from a bustling marketplace under the flyover of one of the city's main highways (I also picked up a warm jumper for £1 here).
On a personal note, the first weeks have been a headrush of new impressions, studying, sightseeing and new people which, while keeping life exciting every second of every day, can be hard to keep up with. I have discovered that I can survive on an average of 5 hours' sleep a night, on the other hand I have taken up drinking coffee. I also eat meat a couple of times a week only and could easily become a vegetarian if shawarma didn't taste so good - I have cooked meat at home once since I've been here.
One element of being a backpacker is that you often make fast-burning friendships with people whom you briefly share a hostel or some other space with before moving on. The same thing applies as an exchange student, but over a longer term, so that, at least to some extent, you make friends in a more real-life context - though a temporary one nonetheless. Three of the closest friends I have here all left on the 1st of March and two of my best friends from Aarhus arrived on the same day, as if to draw some kind of unwanted neat line under the first month. I am happy to be staying for the next three.
One of my Aarhusianske friends, Emily, who arrived in Beirut during the last week, has a blog with a different take and far better photos than I can hope to offer. See it here:
http://emilykatemerrick.tumblr.com/
Beirut is an incredibly easy city to exist in. I have never been singled out for being a foreigner. On the other hand, anytime I have approached someone to ask for help they have gone out of their way to assist me; for example the grocery store owner, who, when asked for directions to the art museum, immediately got his car and drove me and my friends there directly. Or the assistant in the shawarma shop in Baalbek who, when he didn't have change for a $100 note, ran off up the street with it to his mate in the Western Union shop who was able to break it up.
I have never heard anyone badmouthing or complaining about other nationalities, ethnic groups or religions which, given the brutal history of sectarian violence and outside interference in the country, is quite remarkable. Again I should add the disclaimer that I've not been in contact with all the various social groups, but I have been lucky enough to communicate in broken Arabic and English with taxi drivers of various religions (in cars in various states of disrepair) who have also given me this impression.
In order to save space in my backpack I only brought one pair of everyday shoes, a pair of light-coloured Hummel trainers. Long walks up and down the Corniche and weaving in and out of traffic in the road and parked on the broken pavement, as well as an unexpectedly high amount of rain and cold weather, have all taken their toll on these, and they have now been replaced with a sturdy pair of brown shoes which set me back around £15 from a bustling marketplace under the flyover of one of the city's main highways (I also picked up a warm jumper for £1 here).On a personal note, the first weeks have been a headrush of new impressions, studying, sightseeing and new people which, while keeping life exciting every second of every day, can be hard to keep up with. I have discovered that I can survive on an average of 5 hours' sleep a night, on the other hand I have taken up drinking coffee. I also eat meat a couple of times a week only and could easily become a vegetarian if shawarma didn't taste so good - I have cooked meat at home once since I've been here.
One element of being a backpacker is that you often make fast-burning friendships with people whom you briefly share a hostel or some other space with before moving on. The same thing applies as an exchange student, but over a longer term, so that, at least to some extent, you make friends in a more real-life context - though a temporary one nonetheless. Three of the closest friends I have here all left on the 1st of March and two of my best friends from Aarhus arrived on the same day, as if to draw some kind of unwanted neat line under the first month. I am happy to be staying for the next three.
One of my Aarhusianske friends, Emily, who arrived in Beirut during the last week, has a blog with a different take and far better photos than I can hope to offer. See it here:
http://emilykatemerrick.tumblr.com/
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