Boys’ apartment: What happens inside the homes of students on scholarships

Ever wondered how Saudi students on scholarships are living without their parents? Ever wanted to see the life they live and the house they live in? Well, three Saudi students made this possible with their YouTube show named Sheggat Aleyal, Arabic for “the boys’ apartment.”
Since 2005, people have been creating and sharing Web videos on YouTube, the second largest online search engine. “Video gives people a voice,” YouTube founder Chad Hurley wrote, which is what the Saudi youth are currently doing with their You Tube shows, and this is the case with these students.
A growing number of Saudi students abroad started getting in on the action with cooking shows, where they help other students around the kitchen and other helpful channels to guide each other with cooking and cleaning 101, studying and learning where to go.
Sheggat Aleyal is a YouTube series, which talks about the life of three scholarship students from different backgrounds and different regions in the Kingdom but who are roommates in San Francisco. The show is Produced by production Studio Inekas, Arabic for reflection, which was founded by Saudi students from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco.
The students are using this show to share their views on the lives of Saudi students abroad. The series was written and directed by MBA student Osama Salih, starring Salih Alajmi, Rakan Zahid and Osama Salih.
The series features a new method of filming and is known as the (Docudrama) or drama documentary, a dramatic action documentary template; in other words the characters of the story are aware and interacting with the camera in their lives; that gives the viewer an opportunity to experience the show as if they were present at the location of the camera.
The series debuted on the first of Ramadan and will consist of four episodes; the first episode got almost fifty thousand hits on their channel. This Ramadan, the students are going to revile stories of how they cook Iftar and resist temptation during fasting hours.
The show has been getting many compliments and encouragement from other students on their Twitter account and YouTube channel. “This is a great idea to make parents comfortable to see how their sons and daughters are living. When my mother saw the show she said she finally saw what I was talking about the whole time,” said Afrah Al-Turki, twitter subscriber.
Another Twitter subscriber says it is much more entertaining to see your life on video. “I can relate to this, I have been living this life of doing nothing and staying at home with my roommates playing PS3 all day and night.”