Typical Study Group

Today I met with a group of students from the university for a study session.  We wanted to rehash this weeks lectures and take another look at the new terminology.  It was a very productive meeting at a local coffee house.  Our group included myself and another student from the United States and one student each  from  Iran, Egypt, South Korea, Japan, and Thailand.  What a treat if was to talk about peace politics and how to define peace with such a diverse groups.  Students shared stories from personal experiences to exemplify different peace building strategies and conflict resolution models.  This is learning taken to a new level.  Not only did I better understand the concepts we learned in class, but I also learned about elections in Egypt, land issues in Japan and family settlement of disputes in Iran.  Upon coming to UPEACE I really only knew the geography of the western world but after just two weeks I can place counties in Asia and Africa because of students showing me where they are from on the large world map in class.  Learning is a given here.  It happens naturally and the students are the teachers just as much as the professors in the classroom.