It was winter 2012 when I arrived in the Kurdistan Region. I had been invited to be a lecturer in English at Soran University, a newly established, state-funded university. 

I was driven from the airport in Erbil to the Pank resort in Soran in the middle of the night. I awoke the next morning to mountains covered in clouds and a thick gray rain that looked just like what I’d left back in Manchester, except that the air smelled so fresh and clean. I was hooked already.

Nothing could have prepared me for living and working in Soran – it was completely different to anything I had experienced before. Settling down in the city I never got bored of looking at the mountains. Wherever I wandered there was a mountain ahead of me, each one unique in its formation. Walking up Zozg on a Sunday afternoon, taking the cable car up to Korek, wading through the snow, exploring the caves in Bradost, there was wonder in each landscape.

There were also countless precious moments from the classroom. The students were so willing and eager to learn. Even when I introduced new ways of thinking and understanding that gave them tools to think independently and find their creativity, they rose to the occasion, seizing the opportunity to use critical and analytical thinking.