Posted Tuesday, July 25, 9:15 p.m.
Heather Bentrum traveled about 7,500 miles to get a break from her California hometown and D.C. the summer before her senior year at the Elliott School.
With a concentration in Middle East studies, a penchant for traveling and some Arabic classes under her belt, she enrolled in a program at the American University of Beirut in mid-June. Only a few weeks into her stay in Lebanon's capital - which was once nicknamed the "Paris of the Middle East" - Bentrum found herself minutes away from a war zone.
"Israel bombed the airport and I heard it all from my room. The airport is very close to AUB," Bentrum said in an e-mail interview earlier this week. "This was the first moment that I realized it would only get worse."
On July 12, Hezbollah killed three Israeli soldiers and kidnapped two, according to CNN. Israel destroyed targets in Southern Lebanon and escalated its response by bombing Beirut's airport and blockading the capital's port July 13. The two have continued to trade fire over the past two weeks.
Speaking of the escalating violence, Bentrum wrote: "I did not sleep due to the bombs shaking the building and windows and, of course, the loud sound … and when I stepped outside, the air was thick with smoke."
Bentrum is one of more than a half dozen GW students who had been studying in the region before the conflict broke out in mid-July.
Tracy Schario, director of Media Relations, said the University has contacted at least seven students who were enrolled in study abroad programs in Beirut and that all are well. There are also five students in Israeli academic programs and six students who are on an archaeological dig in Israel with professor Eric Cline.
Since none of the study abroad programs are affiliated with GW, the University only has limited details on the students' statuses.
"We continue to monitor the situation as it evolves," Schario wrote in an e-mail last week. "If there were a GW program in Beirut, the response would be similar. However, there would be more information available through registration records and faculty/staff involved in the program."
Heather Bentrum traveled about 7,500 miles to get a break from her California hometown and D.C. the summer before her senior year at the Elliott School.
With a concentration in Middle East studies, a penchant for traveling and some Arabic classes under her belt, she enrolled in a program at the American University of Beirut in mid-June. Only a few weeks into her stay in Lebanon's capital - which was once nicknamed the "Paris of the Middle East" - Bentrum found herself minutes away from a war zone.
"Israel bombed the airport and I heard it all from my room. The airport is very close to AUB," Bentrum said in an e-mail interview earlier this week. "This was the first moment that I realized it would only get worse."
On July 12, Hezbollah killed three Israeli soldiers and kidnapped two, according to CNN. Israel destroyed targets in Southern Lebanon and escalated its response by bombing Beirut's airport and blockading the capital's port July 13. The two have continued to trade fire over the past two weeks.
Speaking of the escalating violence, Bentrum wrote: "I did not sleep due to the bombs shaking the building and windows and, of course, the loud sound … and when I stepped outside, the air was thick with smoke."
Bentrum is one of more than a half dozen GW students who had been studying in the region before the conflict broke out in mid-July.
Tracy Schario, director of Media Relations, said the University has contacted at least seven students who were enrolled in study abroad programs in Beirut and that all are well. There are also five students in Israeli academic programs and six students who are on an archaeological dig in Israel with professor Eric Cline.
Since none of the study abroad programs are affiliated with GW, the University only has limited details on the students' statuses.
"We continue to monitor the situation as it evolves," Schario wrote in an e-mail last week. "If there were a GW program in Beirut, the response would be similar. However, there would be more information available through registration records and faculty/staff involved in the program."
