Banned from Iran!
I just found out that the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has rejected my application to spend the summer studying Farsi in Tehran. I've emailed for clarification, but so far (two days), I've yet to get an additional response. All I've heard, this from the University of Tehran's International Students Office, is:
| "Dear Scott Fisher, We are sorry to inform you that your application has not been approved by the admission office of the ministry of Foreign Affairs." |
Banned due to my nationality? Or did they Google me and find something they didn't like ... ?
For those wondering why anyone would want to send their summer in Iran learning Farsi/Persian, I actually found the place both interesting and surprisingly friendly when I visited last year. Plus, for someone interested in researching U.S. relations with 'rogue nations', Farsi would seem a useful language to pick up.
Scott
P.S. On a separate and highly unrelated note, I have a couple of good friends who went to the University of Texas. Spending the past couple of months working on this University of Tehran application has made me laugh every time I've heard "UT" referred to as a university in Tehran instead of Texas. Maybe I can get them to send me a t-shirt ...
