Tomorrow is the start of the new term at the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) Herzliya for me. That means I will start teaching the “contemporary Iranian politics” course for the fourth year.

For the last three years the course has been very popular. For two of three years I received the highest teaching grade in the Lauder School of Government, Diplomacy and Strategy. I teach the course in English to the international students in the morning. In the afternoon I teach the Israeli students in Hebrew.

My course was so popular among the Israeli students that there was a waiting list. This is why this year, instead of being a seminar, it has been turned into a class, so that instead of 25 students, I can teach 50 students. I am very proud of that.

Its so exciting to teach Iranian politics here in Israel. There is so much enthusiasm. Its almost electric and very catchy.

Am I nervous? Yes I am.

At the beginning of a new semester I am always nervous. I always want to give it my best. And you never know what next year’s students are going to be like. And each year when I start teaching a new class, I miss my students from all the classes before. I feel like I am cheating on them with the new class. Strange, but true. After meeting over 13 weeks, I always feel there is a bond between us. I am not afraid to say that I even suffer from a small dose of separation anxiety at the end of the course.

So tomorrow is a new class (well two), new day, new semester. Lets see how it goes. And if all else fails, I will always have Maz Jobrani to help me out. Very few people describe the difference between Iranians and Arabs better than him 🙂