So this article was started quite a few weeks ago, conceived as a light-hearted perspective on what a person hoping to study in Iran is really thinking. A person travelling to Iran for the second or third time already knows that Iran is in fact one of the SAFEST places in the world to go, especially as a woman.

I had already started to sell and give away all my belongings (my children however are not quite as keen to part with all their “stuff”…) In fact, there are many open spaces opening up in the house around me, with so much gone, almost a reflection of how a mind too can be opened up when it dispenses with everything that is superfluous.

I started travelling between Iran and Perth in September last year, the first time on a 3 week ziarat visa, the second visit this year a week after the massive blanket of snow descended on Tehran and its airport.

So I arrived, catching up with friends I had made during my first visit, spending time at the Institutes I do videos for, and for which I write articles, and also building a small snowman in the mountains behind Darband. I was also in Iran to try to apply for Howza, the seminary style colleges in the centre of Islamic learning, Qom. Howza  is both traditional and groundbreaking; some of the Islamic world’s great clerics and thinkers teach here, were educated here, or pass through on the speaking circuit. Alhamdulillah, I was given an interview, and now upon my return learned that I have been accepted.

Why a one-way ticket to Iran? Admittedly, it sounds better, does it not, and as I am now still in the process of organising the visa, sadly booking a ticket is not even conceivable yet! Yet it has a deeper meaning, realising that Allah is the One Who pulls the strings here.

Having spent 4 weeks each in Qom and Tehran, 2 weeks in Isfahan, and a short stay in Mashhad to visit Imam Reza Shrine, a longer-term move to Iran is not so daunting. The only daunting aspect could be trying to manoeuvre through Perth immigration if my children ill-advisedly decide to stay in Western Australia. Perth immigration likes no-one, not white Christian women, not the elderly, and most certainly not Muslim females returning from Iran.

On the upside, the positives I will reap while living in West Asia are these;

1. Becoming fluent in Farsi and Arabic, in the not completely distant future (?)

2. Having access to some of the best scholars and teachers in the Islamic world

3. Being surrounded by like-minded students (?)

4. Being able to visit my Islamic brothers and sisters in Iran much more easily

5. Taking advantage of easy and cheap travel (especially bus) to see much more of Iran

6. Visiting a Holy Shrine every single day, if I want to

7. Enjoying the relatively low-cost lifestyle of cheap food and low rents

8. Adding to my sizeable collection of headscarves

9. Being able to afford alterations so I can have my usually far too long chadors taken up

10. Taking part in the shouting of “Allahu Akbar” across the rooftops every year on the Eve of the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution

11. Perfecting the art of how to dodge the true lethal weapons in Iran: Qom drivers

12. Endless opportunities to eat my way through the range of Iranian chocolate manufacturers

13. Time to explore the best parks for women to run in

14. Building more snowmen?

15. Contributing my skills to a nation that is non-imperialist

16. Being at a very healthy distance from Perth immigration officers

17. Learning, learning, learning, every single day!