The President, Mrs McAleese, was in her element here yesterday. She addressed about 600 students and staff at the Sultan Qaboos University, answered questions, spoke about her own background, and emphasised the importance of education. The warmth of the applause of the audience indicated their appreciation of her message.
In the evening, she toured the Mattrah Souk (market) and was escorted through colourful, busy alleyways. But there was no opportunity for shopping - yet. The President also viewed the sights from the dramatic Jalai Fort, built by the Portuguese in the 1580s and meticulously restored, and she and her husband, Dr Martin McAleese, viewed an audio presentation of the history of Oman in a cave-like chamber.
The start of her visit made the front page of the Omani Daily Observer yesterday with a colour photograph of her meeting with Sultan Qaboos, her host, at the Al Alam Palace.
For the President's address at the university, the male students, in their white dish dashas and daggers, sat on one side of the lecture hall, the female students in long black robes and headscarves on the other. Answering questions from the floor, Mrs McAleese told one female student to aim high. There was no place, she said, where the talent of a woman could not make a difference. To one of the boys who wanted advice on a choice of career, she said: "Don't always take the easy option; stretch yourself."
Asked for the greatest challenge of her career, she said the most significant was being born in Belfast and transcending the conflict. She learned that every energy spent on conflict was energy wasted.
When asked what the main challenge for Ireland was, she said it was probably to sustain its success and the peace north of the Border.
Mrs McAleese told the students and staff that while Oman and Ireland were separated by distance, and their historical paths did not appear to have crossed until this century, there were remarkable similarities. "We have each crossed over, and rapidly, from an old world to a new world. We are each writing fascinating new chapters in our people's history and we each know that our greatest natural resource is our people and their intellectual empowerment. We both face the challenge and the adventure of our changed and changing times, our changed and changing expectations."
Dr Vincent McBrierty, the Pro-Vice Chancellor at Oman's only university, which has 9,000 students, is from the same street in Belfast as Mrs McAleese.
Before she departed, Mrs McAleese met some students who had graduated in Ireland.