Just as common in most parts of the A-rab world I have frequented. I would do it with friends who had befriended me, and I was proud since it meant I had integrated much more rapidly than American peers. When other study abroad students would look at me in shock or disgust, I loathed them.

Study abroad should be more than transporting your ass to a different geographic location, it should mean exchanging cultural mores and ideas, but I digress.