Right before he left Syria Thursday, American student Daniel Streitfeld sent us his impressions of a country in turmoil

ONLY ON THE BLOG: Answering today’s six OFF-SET questions is Daniel Streitfeld, 26, from Dallas, Texas. A 2008 graduate of Middlebury College, he arrived in Syria on March 6 of this year, and was studying Arabic independently. He sent us the following answers right before he departed Syria on Thursday, April 28.

First of all, are you in danger when you leave your apartment?

I live in the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Damascus. During the weekdays I have felt safe going out and walking around. To be honest, if you didn't know better, it looks positively tranquil–old men smoking water pipes, children out and about, even some older European tourists sight-seeing.

However on the weekends you must be much more careful. Last Friday I was sitting in my bedroom with the door open and at about 3:00 p.m., I heard sustained machine gun fire for about 30 minutes, in the very heart of Damascus.

On Saturday night, a bar owner warned us that he thought there was a gunfight in the street, but we saw nothing. Last week I was in the old Roman city of Bosra, about 15 miles east of Der'a. I didn't see anything abnormal, but the normally popular tourist stop had turned into a ghost town–people seemed to be staying inside their homes for the most part.

Can you travel freely in the Damascus area? Can Syrian citizens?

In the center of Damascus, there is no problem traveling around freely, certainly during the week. The exception would be the suburbs that have seen more protests–most notably Douma.

I have a British friend who lives in a suburb in that direction and to arrive to his house he must go through passport checks, and there are tanks along the road. He told me in the last few days that he has seen numerous people packing up their possessions and going away–going anywhere else. Many shops in these suburbs have closed down, and public transportation in these parts is sporadic or non-existent, particularly at night.

One thing that really, really scares me are the police, security officers, and soldiers all over the city. I want to emphasize that these are not necessarily proper 'soldiers' in the Western sense. Many of them are plain clothed, and most of them look like they are about 17 years old. They all walk around with their machine guns slung over their shoulders as if they were toys. I have seen them leave machine guns simply lying on chairs and whatnot.

You see them walking around the street, walking on the roofs of buildings, surrounding the mosques and central squares, etc. They are absolutely everywhere. The point I want to emphasize is that I think as the military action escalates, it could descend into just pure anarchy.You can't even tell who is a soldier or not, it's just men (and boys) with guns everywhere.

President Assad repealed the country's 48-year-old emergency—an important demand by protesters.  But the government is still crushing demonstrations. What happens during the protests?

To be honest, when I heard about the repeal of the emergency law, I was personally 90% sure that the protests would just stop there. But then 2 or 3 days later there were more and bloodier demonstrations.

I think the action was seen by the protesters for what it was–entirely symbolic. As I have seen noted in many news articles, even under the current laws, you still need a permit to organize a demonstration (which obviously wouldn't be granted to anti-regime Syrians).

What happens during the protests – as far as I can tell, is that a bunch of people gather together, often after attending Friday prayer at a mosque, and chant slogans – for more civil liberties, for political parties, perhaps for an end to the regime. And then they get shot. Obviously I haven't attended any of these protests, but people hear things, videos are coming out. The truth is there if you want to see it.

Among the people you are able to speak with, is there a sense that Assad will hold on to power at any cost?

This regime is very entrenched. It's not just about Assad – it's about all of the established political leaders, both in the regime AND those who have been co-opted by it.

In Damascus particularly, many people have economic reasons to hope that the regime goes on. Anyone associated with the government – and not just ministers but even taxi drivers and university professors – has a strong reason to see the current regime continue. A lot of the economic elites in Damascus are clearly worried about stability and how partial or total anarchy might affect them financially and just in terms of pure physical risk.

Also some of the religious minorities – the Christians, the Shiite's, are very, very worried about their position in whatever might come next. There is a long, long history of sectarian violence in the Middle East. Uncertainty is scary. The Christian Syrians with whom I’ve talked seem to be in almost complete denial that anything could change here – they keep saying that 'next weekend' things will calm down. It's always 'next weekend.' Personally, I have seen the last several weekends, and I don't want to see anymore.

I had a very interesting conversation today with my Arabic tutor – a young, well educated, relatively liberal, fluent English-speaking Damascene woman. We started discussing the 'situation' and I quickly became shocked at her views.

In the course of an hour, she told me that she thought the U.S. and Israel were inciting the protests, that the situation in Der'a was being blown out of all proportion (she told me in fact it was confined to a very small area of the city), that the U.S. and Europe were glad to see Syrians die, and she also wondered why the foreign press wasn't emphasizing that not all of the deaths were of protesters (some of them were soldiers as well, she reminded me).

What scared me was that she had these views even given how young and internet-savvy and educated she was. There's just an incredibly large gulf between what many Syrians believe, or dupe themselves into believing, and the reality on the ground.

I just kept staring at her like she was a brain-washed zombie. Many Syrians just don't want to (or can't) accept what's going on here, don't want to admit that there are people throughout Syria (and the entire Middle East) who have legitimate grievances and are addressing them forcefully. It's just scary.

We understand that you know Tik Root, the American student who disappeared in Damascus on March 18, was taken into custody by Syrian authorities, and through the efforts of his parents and many others, returned to his home in Vermont April 2. How did you find out about his disappearance and did you try to find him?

I was good friends with Tik Root for the 2 weeks or so that he was in Damascus. I bumped into him at the Arabic course at Damascus University and we found out that we were both Middlebury Panthers.

I had drinks with him the night before he was detained. I called him a few nights later, oblivious to what had happened to him. Of course he didn't answer that phone call. I didn't find out about his disappearance until a few days later when I returned to classes at Damascus University after a long holiday weekend. His American roommate informed me that he had gone missing. The U.S. Embassy had already been contacted at that point, so there wasn't much I could do, short of contact his parents and give them my moral support. It was a general feeling of helplessness.

Given how worried Tik’s parents were about him, I suppose I’ve got to ask this question: Are your parents worried about you?

My parents of course have been extremely worried about me. In fact they strongly 'urged' me to leave the country about 2 1/2 weeks ago, when the U.S. Embassy issued its first travel warning.

At the time the situation was limited to other cities across the country, and I (along with my mostly European ex-pat friends) felt certain that we would be OK, that there was no imminent danger.

After last weekend, when the protests arrived to Damascus, and last Monday, when tanks were roaming all over Der'a (and the land border to Jordan was closed), I knew it was time to go. Everything fell apart more quickly than anyone could imagine. I probably should have left earlier, but I guess I'm young and stupid.

I'm flying out to the Gulf this Thursday. I absolutely do NOT want to be here for another Friday – I'm properly scared now.   

Will you return to Syria?

I would love to return to Syria at some point in the future. It's a beautiful country with an amazing history and an incredible ethnic and religious mix of people. It's basically the cradle of civilization. Damascus is the oldest continually inhabited city in the world – it's a beautiful city with extremely friendly people. I've experienced more anti-Americanism in London than I ever have here. It's a shame, in many ways it pains me to leave–none of my friends wants to go, either. We have all been savoring our last few days here. In many ways (until the protests started) we felt like we had stumbled into a little known secret that most Westerners were too scared to visit. I would love to come back in the future.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Daniel's sister, Rachel Streitfeld, is a CNN Congressional Producer in Washington, DC.

CLICK HERE to see our coverage of Tik Root's detainment in Syria.

Here's Eliot's interview with Tik and his father: