An-Najah National University Orientation
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Living in Things About Nablus to See An-Najah National Nablus and the and Do in West Bank Nablus University Orientation for p 2 p 6 p 11 University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies About An-Najah National University p 3 General Information for SOAS Students p 4 www.najah.edu About Nablus Approximately 63 kilometers north of Jerusalem, settlements in the world, the city contains archi- quarters for skills and goods. Nablus is also a Nablus is rich with centuries of history. Strate- tecture from Roman, Byzantine, Crusader, and commercial center for the northern West Bank gically located in the beautiful valley between Ottoman times. The Old City of Nablus dates and Nablusi soap, made from local olive oil and Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, Nablus is a cul- to the Mamluke period and is indicative of tra- caustic soda, it has been produced in the city for tural hub for the Palestinian people. Considered ditional Middle Eastern Souks and marketplaces more then 250 years. to be one of the oldest continuously occupied that still exist today. It is replete with specialized About An-Najah National University An-Najah was founded as An-Najah Nablusi and Khadouri Campus. personnel who seek to continuously improve School in 1918 and has since evolved into a large, An-Najah is the largest institution in Palestine, the content and the internationalization of our technologically advanced institution, comprised with approximately 20,000 students who pursue institution’s standards. of four campuses: the Old Campus, the New quality education and personal development. Campus, Hisham Hijjawi College of Technology, We have 1,790 academic and administrative on Nativ N e S or p f e ic a k b e a r r s A General Information for SOAS Students A y n t - i s N r a e ja iv h n National U Schedule Classes Teachers Students will Every teacher has Days: Sunday-Wednesday be taking four classes: office hours. Program Times: 9am-10:30am – Class Palestinian Colloquial, Arabic instructors and their office hours are 10:30am-11am – Break Literature, Arabic Grammar, and the following: 11am-1pm – Class Conversation and Listening. All • Dr. Raed Abdel-Rahim: Old Campus classes will be in the New Campus Office (12-1pm, S./Tu./Th.), New Library. Attending lectures is mandatory. Campus Library (1-2pm, M./W.) An absence of six lectures will result in • Dr. Abdul Khalek Issa: New Campus expulsion from the program. Library (1-2pm, S./Tu./Th.) • Dr. Momoun Mubarakeh: To be Announced Program Contact Information Dr. Raed Abdel-Rahim, Head of Program mobile: 059-8926660 [email protected] Teaching Methods Field Trips Arabic Partners and Assessment The program The program will Teaching methods organizes monthly trips to assign Palestinian students as utilized include the textbook, various Palestinian cities, such as, partners to practice Arabic. Students homework, reports, field study, Jericho, Hebron, Bethlehem, Jenin, and are expected to meet with their partner and e-learning. The program avoids Qalqiliya. Students will watch films about at least twice per week. translation into English – you should talk these places and practice communicating exclusively in Arabic in class. Assessment with locals while there. Afterwards, students is based upon exams (which include conver- will write about their experience. sation and listening sections), homework, and written reports. Living in Nablus and the West Bank Transportation Within Nablus Private taxis have a blue rectangle on the door. They will take you directly Between Villages and Cities within the West Bank where you tell them to take you for the fixed price of 10 shekels. However, There are also servees taxis that run to nearby villages and other cities. traveling to some of the further out places will cost more, especially if you are These are the bigger taxi vans. All three stations are close to the city center. crossing the city center. For example, Askaan Amria is usually 15 shekels The big one (where you can also catch buses) is where you will find the from the city center (although it should be 10 from the Old Campus). servees taxis going to other cities, such as Ramallah (17 shekels), Qalandia/ A servees taxi has a black rectangle on the door. These taxis run fixed routes, Jerusalem (17 shekels), Jenin (15 shekels), or Jericho (50 shekels). and you can get on and off anywhere along their route. These are much Often you cannot get a servees directly from Nablus to where you want to go. cheaper because you are only paying for your own seat. Most servees taxis To get to Bethlehem, you need to go to Ramallah first (17 shekels) and get run to/from the city center. The servees between the city center and the New a different servees from there (20 shekels). But if you tell the driver here in Campus is 2½ shekels. There is also one that runs between the Old and New Nablus that you are going to Bethlehem, he will often make some phone calls Campuses for 2 shekels. and connect you with a servees going to Bethlehem somewhere outside of At either end of the route, the servees will usually wait to fill up before it leaves. Ramallah, and you can then avoid driving into the center of Ramallah (which If you want to get on a servees in the middle of a route, you just need to wait saves some time). until one with an empty seat is driving by. Usually they will honk at you to let The other two servees stations are smaller and serve the villages surrounding Nablus. There is one on each side of the city center. Generally, the western you know they have room. station serves villages to the west and north, whereas the eastern station If a servees is empty, you can “convert” it to a private taxi, and they will take serves villages to the east and south, as well as Tubas and Salfit. you where you want to go for the same rates as private taxis. Note that all these stop running around 6-9pm (depending upon the day You do not need to carry your passport around with you as long as you stay and the route), so make sure you leave early enough so you can get home. in Nablus (don’t cross any checkpoints). Whenever you leave Nablus, to go Otherwise, you will have to pay a much higher fee for a private taxi to take either to a village or another city, make sure you take your passport with you you the whole way. If you are somehow able to get a servees late at night, in case you get stopped at a checkpoint. expect to pay a higher rate. Additionally, if the servees is partially full, and it seems like it won’t fill up anytime soon, you can buy the extra seat(s), and the driver will then be happy to depart immediately. If you are taking the bus, they stop running around 4-5pm. To Israel The simplest way to get to Israel is to go through the Qalandia checkpoint near Jerusalem. You can take a servees there from Nablus (17 shekels). Once there, you can board a taxi (10 shekels per seat, or 50 shekels for the whole taxi) or a bus (7 shekels) to take you across the checkpoint and drop you off at Damascus Gate in Jerusalem. There are also Israeli bus lines that serve the settlements that you can use, but this requires knowing the timetable and getting a taxi driver from Nablus to drop you off/pick you up from the bus stop. If you are going to Tel Aviv, it can save you a lot of time. You also can cross into Israel through Jenin if you want to go to northern areas. Food Produce Markets Grocery Stores Restaurants Eating at a Palestinian Home Generally, to Most other There are Palestinians buy produce, just ask items you can find plenty of places are very hospitable, for a bag and start filling it in the grocery stores. to get cheap and quick so you will most likely at up with the vegetables or fruits There are smaller stores all sandwiches to go, such as some point be invited to eat at that you want (but only put one throughout the city that have a falafel (usually about 3 shekels) somebody’s home. You should type in each bag). Then you decent selection. The largest and shwarma (usually about expect to be fed a lot of food, hand the shopkeeper your bag, supermarkets are Bravo and 11-12 shekels). almost always including meat. and he will weigh it, adding or Superstore. Bravo has a lot of At sit-down restaurants, you If you are a vegetarian, you will removing pieces to make it an the rarer, imported items that shouldn’t expect them to bring want to tell them that ahead even kilo. you can’t find elsewhere, but it Some larger items (such as you the check as soon as of time, and specify that you is also on the whole a bit more watermelons or heads of you’re finished eating. Usually also don’t eat chicken or fish cauliflower) are sold per unit. expensive. Superstore isn’t people will stay awhile after (Palestinians only count red You don’t have to haggle over quite as large, but it also has a they finish eating, so they just meats like beef or mutton as the price here – prices are pretty large selection and pretty good don’t want to rush you.