Learning Arabic

I decided to learn Arabic for March Madness because my entire family is Lebanese and speaks Arabic. Recently my mom and I have been traveling to Lebanon and visiting family so I am now put in even more situations in which speaking, or at least understanding, Arabic would be useful. I wanted to be able to have a comfortable level of understanding which would make me less confused when trying to interact with my relatives without my mom or any English-speaking person there. So this was my starting off point: to learn how to understand Arabic and how to communicate effectively. I got an Arabic book to study with my tutor over Skype, Najate, who is an Arabic Literature teacher in Lebanon. I learned to read and how to speak classical Arabic. The plan was to go to Lebanon over Spring Break and make a video of my trip, but since that was not possible, my mom and I went to the Lebanese neighborhoods in NYC and I made a video of myself practicing my Arabic. Even though I could not do what I had planned originally, I still was able to make a very interesting video and of course, gain some very impressive Arabic speaking and reading skills.