Mind Soup

“The best journeys are not measured by the places you visit, but by the people who become part of your story.” Over the years, I have been fortunate enough to travel to many countries and experience different cultures, communities, and ways of life. Every journey leaves something behind: a lesson, a friendship, a memory, or sometimes a completely different perspective on the world. In March 2025, I had the privilege of joining a group of 17 students and faculty members from Ursuline College on a 12-day service-learning journey to Nepal. It was my first time visiting the country, and while I was excited to explore a new destination, I quickly realized that this experience would not be defined by the places we visited. It would be defined by the people we met. Through my work with United Planet, I had spent years helping share stories of volunteer experiences around the world. I understood the logistics, the planning, and the mission behind these journeys. But being on the ground reminde...

Two weeks ago, I was attending the Arabnet Digital Summit and I insisted to attend the sessions about Education to understand more about the view of professionals and educators towards the use of technology in education. Needless to say, I was disappointed with what most of them had to say. The speakers still had a traditional approach to education, a Web 1.0 approach as I like to call it. They only cared about using technology to push material to their students rather than stimulate and encourage them to learn. They were promoting 20-year-old technologies such as Blackboard and Moodle (which are basically sites that host the lectures and are traditionally structured to minimize interaction). Some were bragging that they  have implemented these programs in their schools and universities as if it was the most advanced technology and will bring great benefit to their students. Others were promoting them because they sell these programs for millions of dollars to Arab educa...

AUB Carpooling is a very impressive campaign by the Greenpeace club at AUB . ( Facebook event ) The AUB Carpooling activity allows students, faculty and staff the ability to conserve energy while making new friends. Stuck in traffic jams and not finding a parking space? Paying a lot for fuel and parking? Bored of driving alone to and from AUB? Tired of coming and leaving by taxi? Carpooling is what you need! Not only is this a good idea and helps reduce pollution, it also reduces traffic, saves money and possibly creates friendships. I really hope that AUB helps in investing and promoting this project (but they probably won't until media start talking about it as usual.) You can read more details about this in The Daily Star , excerpt below: Erik Zakhia, a third year mechanical engineering student and president of the Greenpeace AUB Club, which is independent from the national branch of the global environmental NGO, came up with the idea when he saw that the faculty o...

Photo of Masri in South Lebanon via NOW Lebanon (from facebook) Last Sunday, during the demonstrations in the South near the Lebanese-Israeli borders to commemorate Nakba , Munib Masri, a petroleum studies student at the American University of Beirut got severely injured after being shot by an Israeli bullet. Masri is Palestinian in origin, but also holds both the Jordanian and American citizenships. Masri has underwent a couple of operations this week; "he is undergoing surgery today. He has already lost his left kidney and spleen in an earlier operation. His spine is also fractured, and he’s sustained injuries to his diaphragm, along with pieces of shrapnel lodged in his back."  ( NOW Lebanon ) In an e-mail addressed to the AUB community, Dr. Peter Dorman, President of AUB, writes: "We are all shocked and saddened by this development, and our thoughts and hearts are with Munib and his family.We are appalled by the unrestrained use of deadly force against un...

I was recently contacted by Tomooh to spread awareness about a scholarship that has been going unnoticed. PepsiCo has an ongoing scholarship program since the past 6 years called Tomooh. It is a scholarship program funding the education of those with high academic performance. It gives partial scholarships starting $500 up to $5,000 depending solely on the academic performance and financial needs of the applicants. Only 500 students are applying each year and more than 200 are getting scholarships; they believe that much more deserving students would apply if they were aware and informed about the scholarships which have become close to 300 this year. For the past two years, the program has been dedicating 10% of its funds for students with special needs. Hopefully this year even more students will benefit. The program is active in Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt, and have given partial scholarships to more than a 1000 students in Lebanon so far, it's their 6th year and deadline f...

After four years of studying at AUB, I think it's time to breakdown a list of typical AUB students that you are bound to meet here: The Westies : are students who have nothing better to do in life but sit outside and around West Hall and socialize 24/7. Some of them even come as early as 7:00 AM even though their first class doesn't start before 2:00 PM.. The Fiskies : are usually the weird English/Philosophy students who hang out outside Fisk Hall and are very culture-oriented. By that, I mean afro hairdos, weird facial hair, slippers, and I'm fairly certain they are high on something other than knowledge. (Also know as the hippies) The Zoo-keepers : are the students who basically live in the area known as the "zoo" which is a small park area facing the AUB cafeteria where they hang out to smoke, cluster, and discuss one-sided politics. The sunbathers : are the students who skip classes to lay down on green oval and get tanned when the sun it out. They are...

Date:  Tuesday, November 9 · 8:00pm - 10:30pm Location: AUB West Hall Bathish The AUB Music Club in association with the AUB President's Club is proud to present November Rain! This is the first of hopefully many awesome events that will take place throughout this year. AUB's talented muscians will be performing on the stage of Bathish (West Hall). They will be covering different musical styles including blues, rock, jazz, alternative and more... Bands that will be performing: Lazzy Lung Home Made Plugged The Passive Standouts Along with other classical, jazz & acoustic solo pieces... -Ticket Price: 5,000 L.L sold as of Monday November 1st on the Music Club stand outside West Hall and at the door. -Non A.U.B students must bring their official ID! - Check out the event's Facebook page . Hope to see you there!

MIND SOUP : After more than one year of renovations, AUB's main cafeteria (the one in Ada Dodge Hall) had its "grande" opening last Thursday (October 14). During the last three working days, students have been flooding into the cafeteria, more disappointed than satisfied. Below is a detailed pros/cons description of the situation. AUB-Themed  Wallpaper © Mind Soup What we like: Definitely the design and the wallpaper which captures the AUB spirit and successfully integrates itself in the AUB campus. The division of food sections is a good idea, students can get pasta, daily dishes, hot sandwiches, cold sandwiches, manakeesh, and drinks from different places, but this also a negative aspect (scattered lines of waiting people, crowding) The colors. I personally like the black, red and white retro thing that's going on. The modern furniture which is a well-deserved upgrade from the bus cafeteria that we had for the last year. Students have a ne...

YAHOO : If you want to avoid the worst-paying college degrees, think twice before choosing a college major that involves children. Included among the 20 worst-paying college degrees are elementary education, special education, social work and child and family studies. That's the conclusion of the latest annual study of college degrees by Payscale, Inc. that compiled starting and mid-career pay for dozens of college majors. Child and family studies earned the honors as the worst-paying college major. The average graduate earns a beginning salary of $29,500. What's equally discouraging is that the salary of someone in this field will barely budge after 15 years in the profession. Food is another common theme for students who major in the worst-paying college degrees. Students who earn degrees in horticulture, dietetics and the culinary arts are more likely to end up struggling financially. College Degree Starting Pay Mid-Career Pay 1. Child and Family Studies $29,500 $...

MIND SOUP :  India's Minister for Human Resource Development Kapil Sibal unveiled on Thursday a prototype tablet computer which is expected to revolutionize the computer industry. Indian minister holding the device. (Photo Credits: AFP) Five years in development, this prototype was produced by a student project with a bill of material adding up to $47, a price that the minister wants to bring down to $35. This device may have primitive features, but for a price like that, it promises to increase the competition on computer production between the major companies. This prototype promises a Linux -based operating system with an internet browser, PDF reader, wi-fi, 2GB RAM, USB slots, video conferencing, Open Office (the free version of Microsoft 's Office) and multimedia content viewers and interfaces. However, this device does not include a hard disk or a storage system. Files will be stored on removable memory cards, just like mobile phones and digital...

Via Maurice Salem , from Cyanide & Happiness (my favorite comics website).

مع إقفال محل أبو ناجي، بداية جديدة «كش... ملك». هذه هي قواعد اللعبة في شارع بلس الذي لا يملّ من تغيير معالمه. إلا أن للتغيير ضريبة تظلّ باهظة على «السكان القدامى»، رغم اعترافهم بأنه «سنّة الحياة»، كما يقول أبو ناجي، مدير أقدم سوبرماركت في الشارع. على عكس الكثير من جيرانه الذين رُحّلوا، هو لن يذهب بعيداً، فقد هُجّر فقط لمسافة بضعة أمتار، كانت كافية لإشعاره بالغربة رنا حايك  «انتقل محل أبو ناجي». تصوّر طالبة من الجامعة الأميركية اللافتة المعلقة على محلّ مختوم بالشمع الأحمر وبأختام رسمية: «لا يجوز فضّها تحت طائلة الملاحقة الجزائية»، لترسلها إلى متخرّجين يعيشون في الخارج. فلكلّ من طلاب الأميركية ذكرياته مع هذه البقعة الصغيرة من الشارع التي تشكّل الطبقة السفلية من مبنى سيهدَم قريباً، كما شرح كيو الشامي، من مكتب مالك العقار، رجل الأعمال، تحسين خياط. «كان الإيجار قديماً، حاولنا رفعه منذ سنوات حين اشترينا المبنى لكن المستأجر رفض، فرفعنا دعوى، وحكمت المحكمة لمصلحتنا. أخيراً، قرّرنا هدمه لأننا نملك عقارات أخرى وراءه تشكّل مساحة شاسعة إذا ما جمعت معه. هكذا، نستطيع خلال السنة المقبلة بناء مج...