About

Thank you for visiting my personal website! Linda JW is short for Linda J. de Wit; J is for Jeanine.

 

Background

I am what you could call very Dutch: exceptionally tall, blond, major cheese consumer. I grew up in a small town surrounded by flower fields and moved to the city of Leiden to go to university. After completing two Bachelor’s programs in Philosophy and Political Sciences, I left the country to travel, intern, work, and obtain a Master’s degree in Global Studies – from Argentina to India, and from Spain to Dubai.

 

Middle East

It took five continents for me to admit I always found myself coming back to the MENA region. I lived for varying periods of time in Egypt, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Tunisia, and the United Arab Emirates. I am fascinated by the region’s significance and history and, after a lot of struggle, I am finally wrapping my head (and tongue) around Arabic.

 

Profile

Following a love of exploration and creativity and never giving up on the (extra)ordinary, I am driven by a profound interest in culture and language and the belief that the world is not as random as it seems. I think that with curiosity and understanding comes appreciation, and my hope is to contribute to creating more of that in a world connected but divided. This is reflected in my work, where I am happiest when I make things that educate, inspire, or have an otherwise positive impact.

 

Languages

I am an avid language learner. I now speak about six and have studied several more. To help others who are facing the same difficulty of finding good learning material as I have gone through, I created lists of the resources I used for Arabic, French, German, Hindi, Spanish, and Urdu.

Linda J. de Wit