The U.S. Airstrike in Syria and Its Consequences

Just when I, and the majority of the gap year students, thought that a trip to Syria and Lebanon was within our grasp, our dear mother nation decided to bomb a small Syrian town in an attempt to kill Abu Ghadiya, suspected of smuggling Al Qaeda fighters into Iraq. Syrians, enraged by this blatant violation of international law, have since come together in a wave of anti-U.S. demonstrations that have forced the U.S. embassy in Damascus to close and the Syrian government to respond harshly toward Americans and American organizations. For example, while the American embassy chose to close in response to Syrian riots, the Syrian governemt has since closed American schools in Syria and deported their non-Syrian students and teachers. By the way, I'm not 100% sure about any of this but I'm pretty sure that I have the basic story right. In response to this, either these deported students have looked to King's in their hour of need or King's invited them to apply. In any case, King's has accepted six of these students from Syria to join our community and attend classes for the second semester in January. They will visit campus next week, during which they will live in the dorms, visit classes, learn about King's expectations, and experience daily life here. The school is also planning to pair these new students with current King's students so that they have somebody to talk with and ask questions. Also, finals have been postponed till the end of the Fall trimester so that students can cover more material and prepare more. The reason why the students need more time to prepare is that , a few weeks ago, the school required teachers to give midterm exams (some lasting up to two hours) while using a trimester system for the school year. Basically, a recipe for disaster. So, now exams are scheduled to start on November 25th and last right up to December 3rd, the day before Winter break begins.