She arrived in Tehran the day after Neda Soltani was shot dead in the streets, a murder that added fuel to the most heated days of recent Iranian protests.
But as UF junior Neda Zaman landed at Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran on June 21, she mostly thought about reuniting with cousins, aunts and uncles.
As video of Soltani's death hit YouTube and circled the globe, tens of thousands protested the re-election of Iran's controversial President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad by marching and chanting in Tehran's streets.
For Zaman, the reality of Iran is wider than media portrayals. Safety concerns convinced Zaman's relatives to bypass staying in Tehran and take her directly to their home in Shahroud, about 250 miles east of Tehran. Here Zaman shopped for gold at the local bazaar, smoked hookah, enjoyed leisurely siestas and attended her aunt's wedding, an elaborate four-day event.
Political discussions peppered the relaxation.
"You get different stories. A lot of it is word of mouth. My great aunt said there were no protests, but she has regular TV so it's state-controlled. I talked to my friends, and they say things are still going on," Zaman said in a Monday phone interview from Iran. She will return to Florida on Sunday.
While Iran's government blocked Facebook and certain blogs, Iranians around the world, including ones in Gainesville, have been using those sites to stage Web protests.
Patricia Woods, a UF professor of Middle Eastern politics, said the grassroots movement has been exhilarating for Iranian students in the United States.
"Much of the Iranian-American population is extremely critical of the Iranian regime, much more than Americans," she said. "I think they're delighted that this is finally happening."
Farzad Fani-Pakdel, a UF chemistry doctoral student who moved from Iran nine years ago, said he was inundated with chain e-mails, some mocking and slandering Ahmadinejad, others supporting him.
Iranian students at UF largely support opposition candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi, Pakdel said. And many are embarrassed by Ahmadinejad's anti-Israel comments.
Some Iranian students carpooled to Orlando polling stations to vote in Iran's June 12 election.
When Ahmadinejad was declared the winner, they protested on Turlington Plaza, holding signs demanding that their votes count.
But Pakdel said he's against such demonstrations in the United States.
"We don't want to bring the United States into this. It's an internal issue," he said, referring to the widespread Iranian contempt for foreign intervention.
A self-described moderate who supports neither candidate, Pakdel talks often with his parents and siblings in Iran and to other UF students who are interested in Iranian politics.
"I had to graduate, and deadlines were coming," he said. "This thing took up a lot of my time."
And while demonstrators in Tehran have gathered widespread media attention, voters outside of Tehran may have swayed the election toward Ahmadinejad, he said.
UF graduate Siavash Kouchek, whose father is an Iranian refugee and who spoke on Iran at the Civic Media Center, said that his parents were sad about the election results.
However, Kouchek is hopeful that the support for democracy shown in and outside of Iran is a sign of coming change.
"We could be more connected to the West," he said. "We're the same. It's been too long with us separated from the rest of the world."
