For the past two weeks we haven’t had wifi in our apartment, but today they finally set us up. We actually weren’t sure if we wanted it because my roommates and I have gotten to know each other so well without it, but this will make it easier to communicate with friends and family at home, so that’s good!

Jordan has been amazing so far! My roommates are great, and classes are going well. We actually just started classes last wednesday, and the weekend here is Friday and Saturday, so today was my 4th day of class. Elliot, Jeffrey, Max, Alex, and I all got put in level 2, which is good, but level 2 also starts 6 chapters ahead of where we were at Rice, so I definitely have to catch up!

I feel pretty good about using my Arabic this time around in Jordan, but I think it’s probably because I don’t have my host sisters or anyone to fall back on to translate, so I have to use it to get by. Arabic is difficult because there is both a formal and written register (which is what we learn in class) and a spoken variety. These two can differ quite a bit, but we learn the formal one, fus7a, because everyone learns it across the Middle East and Northern Africa. This is the language the news in spoken in and the newspapers are written in. The spoken variety, 3ammiya, is what is spoken in the streets with family and friends. This dialects is different throughout the different regions of the Middle East, so what we speak here in Jordan is also spoken in Lebanon, Palestine, and Syria, but not Egypt, Morocco, or Algeria, for example. All in all, I feel a lot better about using the language skills I have and not being afraid to make mistakes. If you get lucky, people correct you and you learn for next time. I just don’t really fear looking like an idiot anymore haha.

I did get sick this weekend with some kind of cold or weird infection, and I wasn’t doing too well, but my host sisters brought me antibiotics, and the guys from Rice brought me soup and Gatorade and 7up so that I wouldn’t die, and it’s worked pretty well! I feel so much better than I felt on Wednesday! (Thanks, Elliot!)

This weekend I am going to Petra, Wadi Rum, and Aqaba from Wednesday- Sunday with the Rice group, so I’m super excited for that. I’ll post after!

Hope everyone at home is doing well!!

Best wishes from Amman,
Valeria

Wifi is a little iffy right now, so a longer post once I’m settled with internet in my apartment and everything, but safe and sound in Jordan! I’m actually outside Amman at the moment with my host family from when I lived here in high school, but I’ll be back in Amman setting up my apartment later today. The apartment I got is nice! I have the master bedroom so I don’t have to share! There is a living room and it comes with appliances and of course air conditioning. The area is safe and close to school! Pictures to come!

Here it is!

The countdown to lift off

Ma7es during sunset

Although I read blogs regularly and really appreciate the ability that some people have to share their lives with an astounding amount of clarity and insight, this is pretty awkward. I have a feeling there will be about one view every week to this blog (hey Dad!), but that’s totally fine! So here goes, Dad, and whatever other unfortunate souls I’ve roped into reading this: hope you enjoy reading about my experience this summer.

On June 11th at 10:30 PM, I leave JFK and the USA to travel to Amman, Jordan for roughly 3 months. It will be an amazing experience, I’m sure! I get to travel with 5 other Rice students, but only 4 are in my specific program (the other girl, Zainab, got the Critical Language Scholarship!) So my crew for the months of June, July, and August will be Alex, Elliot, Jeffrey, and Max! I can’t wait to get to know them better and experience Jordan in a new light.

Oh, right. I feel like I have a slightly different perspective because I actually have been to Jordan before. I was lucky enough to go on a 3 month exchange program during my junior year of high school; then, I went back to live for a month during Ramadan the summer before my Senior year. I lived with an amazing host family, whom I love very much! They gave me a consistent source of comfort and direction when I was handling the ups and downs of travel at times quite terribly. There are 5 daughters in the family, and I was fortunate enough to grow very close with them, and I hope to spend a lot of time with them this summer! Funny story, they just moved from where my apartment will be to all the way across the city. That’s okay, though! Taxis are cheap in Jordan.

This time, while I’m so excited to see Jordan again and live there like I have twice before, I’m also so thrilled to experience it in a completely different way, at a different time in my life, with different people. I hope that Alex, Jeffrey, Elliot, and Max are ready to have me carting them around everywhere: forcing them to do weird things like drink out of a spring and expect them to enjoy every minute.

Can’t wait!

My best friend and travel companion, Frances, and I at Petra

Hello world!

This blog is to document my summer study abroad in Amman, Jordan from June to August at Qasid Institute!