Before I arrived here I’d made up
my mind that I wanted to do one of two things, either join the army, or work
for the government. Joining the army fell by the wayside quite late on in the
process due to my discovery of beer and women and the realization that I
couldn’t deal with the incessant boot-polishing and getting up at the crack of
dawn.
I ended up Beirut by a strange
route. I left secondary school intent on studying International Relations at
university, however first I had a GAP Year to complete. By a set of strange
coincidences I ended up living in the South Pacific, intending to fly airplanes
for the Royal Tongan Defence Force after getting my Private Pilot’s License in
1999. Once there, well, the island’s a small place and I was going stir crazy.
Luckily I met a guy who ran a publishing house in Manhattan, was offered a job
and accepted. A summary of my thoughts on Tonga? A beautiful place, don’t drink
the moonshine, be prepared to be the smallest guy in the bar. However, I will
be eternally grateful to George for all his support.
New York was a blast, pure and
simple. Living in cheap accommodation in Queens, I made, and blew, what seemed
to me to be a small fortune. Bars, clubs, restaurants, I did them all. Made
some really good friends and tried my hand at publishing. Little did I know I’d
return to that.
After the GAP Year I spent the
usual three years completing a BA in International Relations and Security at
the University of Bradford in England. Focusing on the Middle East, regional
security apparatus, asymmetric warfare and ethnically and religiously-motivated
violence. Funnily enough, I wrote my thesis on a certain Hezbollah.
After realizing that a BA in
International Relations was about as useful as a chocolate kettle when it came
to getting employed, I decided to embark on an MA. But the question was
“where?” The answer soon presented itself during a family holiday to Lebanon.
In short, I saw The American
University of Beirut (AUB), applied, and was accepted into the Center for Arab
and Middle Eastern Studies (CAMES) MA course. I soon fell in love with Beirut
and Lebanon as a whole, and decided that my future lay here.
As a by-product, my final thesis was on Israeli Security in the Twenty First
Century.
I worked for two publishing
houses, one educational, one focusing on Middle Eastern luxury life, before
turning to freelancing. I’ve been doing it ever since.
I hope you enjoy Brit in Beirut,
my take on ex-pattery in this most wonderful of cities.
If you’d to drop me a line,
please do so at britinbeirut[at]rocketmail[dot]com.
The Brit
