WASHINGTON, D.C. — Clay Holk has always been interested in history. Now, thanks to the influence of certain teachers along the way, the 21-year-old from Magnolia Springs, a senior at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, has chosen Arabic studies as his minor.

Clay recently returned from nine weeks of study at the University of Jordan in Amman. It was when he was a sophomore at Georgetown that he took, on a whim, what turned out to be in his words a "great class" by a "great professor." The class was on the history of the Middle East.

"Having a great professor helped me get interested in the subject itself," said Clay recently.

Georgetown's School of Foreign Service has traditionally prepared students for work with the State Department, international business and academia.

"I've started to get more interested in the economic aspect of it - international economics or trade," Clay said.

But all the great, influential teachers and classes aren't on the college level, and Clay, a 2004 graduate of Foley High School, would be the first to say so. Indeed, it was courses in international relations he took at FHS as a sophomore and junior that ultimately put him on the course he's on today. Martha Howard was the teacher.

"I had great teachers there," Clay said of FHS, "teachers who encouraged me, like Monica Taylor."

So what's the perception of the Middle East to a young man who has been encouraged and inspired by great teachers?

"American culture has become a world-wide phenomenon," said Clay, who left Washington for Jordan on June 12 and returned Aug. 16.

"Our final trip was to one of the new 7 wonders of the world, the ancient Nabatean city of Petra. It was also the site used in the third Indiana Jones movie, and thus, sensing an opportunity, local businessmen have converted their shops to the Indiana Jones gift shop, etc." (Excerpt from Clay's Middle East travel blog kept during his trip to Jordan and Egypt.)

Young people in Jordan love McDonalds and blue jeans and are "very heavily influenced" by American culture, said Clay.

"At the same time, it's different from America."

"Actually, it's not entirely true to say that my Fourth (of July) passed without fireworks (literal and metaphorical); my hotel, the Palmyra (but don't let the fancy name fool you), is a popular spot for large gatherings, including, according to their brochure, business meetings, conventions and WEDDINGS. … Anyway, looking back, I can't remember if it was exactly on the 4th or somewhere thereabouts, but one night, after the procession had taken place and the bride and groom were in the elevator heading up to the procession hall, all I can say is that someone said or did, well, something. In one of the most amazing spectacles I've ever seen, a fight broke out in the back of a wedding procession. Apparently, this man had worn out his welcome, and was made aware of it … by about a dozen gentlemen in the wedding party. Droplets of blood on the hotel lobby floor, truly an auspicious start to marital bliss."

Amman is a city of approximately a million, while Cairo, Egypt, is 20 times larger. Of Amman, Clay said the people are friendly and open to conversation.

"I never told anybody (in Amman) I wasn't American," said Clay, noting the people in Jordan distinguish between the American people and American government.

Clay is hesitant to draw sweeping generalizations about the people in the two countries he visited during in his recent travels. Yet, he does mention one thing.

"Most people who I would talk with - pretty much every person in Jordan and Egypt - they were not supportive of President Bush."

In Jordan, 750,000 Iraqi refugees have come into the country as a result of the Iraq war. The Jordanians fear an American pull out will worsen the situation.

"The real fear is … a real civil war will develop and the 750,000 will become millions," Clay said.

"It's kind of funny, but there hasn't been a lot of variation in the people whom I've met here in the hotel; for some reason, it seems to be incredibly popular with soccer teams from the area. Apparently, I can still manage to give off that 'former soccer player' vibe because nearly all the people whom I have gotten to know have either been soccer players … or coaches. … That was why getting to talk, to spend a bit of time getting to know four Palestinian kids, each probably about 7 years old. … Later that night, one of the boys introduced me to his family, and I had a long talk with his father, who worked in PR of the West Bank university system. This eloquent, insightful man gave me some of the most poignant insights which I have received here; the 'cultural exchange through sport' was truly his baby. 'I have every reason to hate the Israelis,' he said, 'but I am a man of peace because this cannot continue. My two brothers were killed by the Israelis; I have been jailed by them several times for nothing … (but) instead, we must work together, through something we share, through sports."

"I've come to love D.C. It's my home away from home," said Clay, who, nevertheless, expressed the wish that he could come home to Magnolia Springs more often.

It was back here, at home and at FHS, that Clay was a participant in the "Model U.N." program for three years.

"I guess that was my first exposure to the world of international relations," he said.

"That night was the experience that really sealed my decision of Cairo: my trip to the market at Khan al-Khalili. Seriously, we hadn't gotten out of the cab before we started being hounded. … Basically what happened next was just a whirl of confusion, a sensory overload, a half a mile of shops and people yelling at us to stop by and 'Hello, you are from America?' … Since the US embassy is in between our hotel and where we were, we decided to walk by it … at 1:30 in the morning. Although the guards could (not) figure out why we wanted to stop by the embassy so late, (was there an emergency? Nope, just wanted to see it.) we walked by, flashing our passports … to get in, see an American flag, touch American soil and be out of the way."

Clay is the son of Bob and Lolly Holk. He has two sisters, Christen, 28, who lives in Tallahassee, Fla., and Carla, 25, who lives on the Eastern Shore.