Global Crossroads Study Abroad Blog

June 14, 2012 10:30pm (outdated post again)

It’s really hard to remember the day of the week while I’m here. I keep thinking it’s at least one day earlier. I definitely consider that a good thing, though. Better to have time fly than to have it drag on from boredom, or unhappiness.

It has been way too easy in Amman so far. I was expecting culture shock, a great disparity in understanding between myself and Jordanians. I’m (almost) disappointed that I haven’t been made uncomfortable so far. This trip is about challenging myself – how can I learn Arabic and experience Jordanian life if I’m still in my comfort zone? That is one thing that I’ll really have to take initiative on. My family speaks excellent English, all of them. One of my host brothers won’t even say a word of Arabic unless I pull a tooth out first. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s start again where I left off last, shall we?

Eduardo, Rachel, Charlotte, Halima, Dillon, Perry, Heather, Casey, me, Jena, and Madiyeh. Cynthia and Lelabari aren’t visible.

The past four days have all been orientation for the study abroad program. They usually have a very long orientation period, but because summer semester is so short, they had to fit it all into the first week here. Orientation has been a blast, partly because all of it involves working with my awesome classmates. Honestly, I could not have chosen a better group for my program. I was so worried before the trip that the other students would be too enthusiastic, or not enthusiastic enough. That they would “check out” whenever things got hard, or form cliques within the group. This group has thrown all my worries out the window. Everyone is friendly, excited, and engaged. My roommate during the orientation, Jena, is so confident and happy. We have two Spanish speakers that like to geek out about ancient literature and historical exchanges between Spanish and Arabic. We’ve got students from west, east, and central US, as well as Toronto, Mexico, and Colombia. My classmates are lovely and already very close with each other. I can rest easy knowing that no matter what happens with this stay, they will be what makes the trip when other experiences don’t.

Speaking of other experiences, getting sick is awful. The second night in our hotel, I woke up to terrible stomach pains. The pains lasted all throughout the next day, making it really hard to engage in our orientation activities. After a lot of Pepto Bismol and probably nearly 100 oz of water, I got over the sickliness and could finally properly enjoy our introduction to the city. And enjoy the food! I keep forgetting to take pictures of my meals, but I got some of them. In case you didn’t guess from my earlier post, Jordanians are in love with felafel and hummus. But there’s also shawirma, baba ganoush, mansaf, yogurt, rice, lamb, chicken, peppers, tomatoes… It’s no wonder my stomach couldn’t handle the food at first – things are so well-spiced and rich! The Jordanians are right, I am going to gain weight here. What am I to do when everyone tries to stuff me with anything they can find, and it all tastes delicious?

Quite likely the meal that did me in that night.

Eating dinner with Madiyeh, Heather, and the rest of our group. Featuring none other than felafel, hummus, foul, and many fresh vegetables.

Our orientation involved a lot of meals and excursions. We’ll be spending a lot of time in Abdoun circle, close to where our school is. It has fantastic restaurants (and also Subway and Papa John’s, but I’ll try to resist any possible temptation). We’ve also gone to various famous sites in Amman since getting here: the Roman Ampitheatre (my favorite), Al-Hussein Mosque, the Citadel, Rainbow Street. The Roman Theatre and the Citadel have me stoked for Petra and Wadi Rum. These monuments are breathtaking. And Jordan has few restrictions on what you can touch, so I’m able to really get up and feel the warm stone built thousands of years ago.

No photos of the Roman Theatre (mudaraj rumani) could do it justice. So beautiful. Photo courtesy of Dillon Bowman.

The Citadel, with the giant Jordanian flag in the background. Photo courtesy of Dillon Bowman.

Other adventures? Orientation includes a so-called “drop-off,” meaning we are put in small groups and sent off to fend for ourselves in some area in Amman. We had to do a scavenger hunt to learn more about popular restaurants and stores. Our group went to downtown Amman, the crowded, older, more traditional region of the city. We learned about a Palestinian restaurant, a great place to buy cheap DVDs, and the oldest bookstore in the entire city.

More posts to come soon! These are still outdated, so I’m struggling to keep up while also posting pictures with my stories.

Maa’ Salama

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