A Typical Weekend In Auburn...

The life of a college student is often reflected as the period of life in which a young adult continues his or her education at a long distance away from home, full of different kinds of experiences. Long lasting friendships are forged throughout the college life, with football games to attend to, multiple late nights at the library and a lot of parties. Even if this might be a vague description of the college experience and it might seem as common for the vast majority of graduates and current college students, it is not like that for some other students.

In the case of Aziz, an international grad student from the Saudi Arabian city of Al Hassa, it has been an experience with mixed feelings and emotions. “The first time I came to the U.S. was in 2014, I spent two years at Washington just to study English,” Aziz said. One of the first things that I first noticed was the amount of self-reliance that Americans had. Since I was on my own, I had to do everything otherwise no one was going to do it for me. That changed my life and made me more organized.”

Aziz had offers from other universities that were willing to give scholarships for him to continue and finish his Ph.D. on Pharmaceutics, but recommendations from people he knew made him take the decision to pick Auburn. “They make International students feel welcome when they come here. When I got here people helped me to find an apartment, a car, things to do during the weekend,” Aziz said.

He then pointed out that it was the things to do during the weekend what really contrasted to the activities Muslims prefer to do during their free days. He mentioned that a lot of his friends like to go to Atlanta during the weekends, it is something that is common for them. And since it is not a trip that a regular college student would make every two or three weeks, it is essential for them.

“One of the main reasons we go to Atlanta is because of supermarkets,” Aziz mentioned. This supermarkets sell a special kind of meat called “halaal,” and it is a special meat that mainly Muslims and Indians eat. The halaal is the Arabic word for permissible. Halal food is considered one that strictly follows to Islamic law, as perfect as stated in the Quran. The way in which Islamic law suggests slaughtering animals or poultry is called “dhabiha,” and consists of cutting the jugular vein and the carotid artery.

This makes that during the process, the animal’s blood drains from the meat, while the individual recites verses known as “tasmiyas,” in which basically the individual gives thanks and dedicates the animal to God.

This is a very important aspect for the Muslim community in Auburn, since there is not a single store like that where they can buy the halal. Since we eat different things, we have to go to special places to buy spices, meat, and all those things,” he added.

But the trip to Atlanta also serves as a way to explore the big city. Atlanta is house of different Arabic restaurants, Arabic coffee shops, even a big Mosque is located near downtown Atlanta.

When asked was a typical weekend for Muslims at Auburn was, and for him personally, a weekly gathering happens every Friday night, in which they rotate the reunion place. Friday serves as the day of the week to hang out with friends, play video games, card games, eat dinner and call it an early night.

Saturday is dedicated to the family. “We like to go bowling, walk around the park, organize big barbecues, things like that. For Sunday, I like to come back to the lab and prepare for the next week. That’s kind of our weekly schedule,” Aziz said.

Aziz, like many other Muslim students, spend their weekends traveling to Atlanta where the food is the focal point of their visits. They prefer to spend their free days having a coffee with friends instead of going out to the picturesque and

interesting nightlife in downtown Auburn.