What do Palestinian film, Lebanese dessert and the phrase “ah-lan” all have in common?

No, they aren’t all featured in the recent film “The Kingdom.”

Nor do you have to travel far to see all three featured in the same place; learning about contemporary Arabic culture from a variety of different countries is simple as dropping by the Student Learning Center for meetings of the UGA Arabic Club.

Co-presidents Jonathan Pride, a junior French and international affairs major from Atlanta, and Daniel Hanna, a junior from Atlanta majoring in English and economics, said they invite students of all levels of Arabic proficiency to come flesh out what Pride calls the “skeleton” of Arabic education taught in the classroom.

Participants can do so in addition to celebrating the everyday experience of living amid artists and cooks in modern-day Arabia.

“If anyone is in Arabic class and wants to learn colloquial, everyday Arabic – what the book won’t teach you – then this is the place for you,” Hanna said.

“A lot of it is cultural stuff,” said Pride. “Some of it’s geared toward language, but some of it is reading and translating and appreciating Arabic poetry, some of it is Arabic films.

“It’s kind of a cultural milieu.”

He also said the club plans to take a trip to Atlanta, where members will taste authentic cuisine and visit a hookah bar.

The club’s second meeting of the semester will be held Tuesday, and will feature a screening of the film “Hot House.”

Annum Masroor, a sophomore from Savannah majoring in Arabic, international affairs and comparative literature, has attended Arabic Club meetings since they began three semesters ago. One of her favorite meetings showcased a delectable student-made dessert called nemoorah.

“It’s a dessert-cake, made with honey, and very tasty!” said Masroor.

Often students from the club will bring in homemade treats to share with the group, to try new types of dishes with which they were previously unfamiliar.

For Masroor, the club just builds on what is an already fascinating study of Arabic culture.

“I’m already interested in the language and culture, so this is a really fun way to feed that interest,” she said.