Oh boy, I have some catching up to do!
On Friday afternoon I finally met the other participants of the UVA-Yarmouk program in NYC- 32 in all from universities all across America with large groups from Harvard and UVA. I am one of two graduate students, and everyone is very nice and we all seem to get along great. After a few hours of orientation and a lovely dinner we hopped on Royal Jordanian and buckled up for the next 11 hours. Take off was a bit sketch, I didn't think we would get the bird in the air! After that though the flight was good, well, as good as sitting through the night in a little chair throttling through the sky can be.
Anddd TOUCHDOWN!! Complete with game-winning applause we graced the land of Jordan at the Amman airport. Coming down my face was glued to the window to watch the parch desert unfold into in patches of watered groves and orchards, small villages, and larger communities surviving in the land of the ancients. Thankfully the airport was on the modern side (complete with a Starbucks!) and we were welcomed by a 55 passenger bus that took us the 2 hours to Irbid. We stopped off at a Cozmo grocery store to grab some things and change money, which means I now own Arabic shampoo. We rolled into Irbid at about 9:00 in the evening on Saturday and right into our assigned apartments. I share a nice sized apartment with a junior at UNC Chapel Hill. We have a big living room, a small kitchen, a small bedroom, and a bathroom with a washer(!). WE began to set up residence...
A few power converters and plug adapters later Hana, my roommate, and I realized we didn't have the right set up to get all of our electronics working. We went off with a couple of other folks basically going from shop to shop in about a mile distance asking every clerk in our broken Arabic/English for the correct plug we need. Alas! We did not give up and the fruit of our victory is what is allowing me update the blag!
Buying groceries has been fun- the stores are filled with strange things and with strange labels. Canned meat next to the Nutela with 8 different kinds of tomato paste but only one kind of cheese with "American style" cookies and Indian spice boxes. Needless to say we've managed to feed ourselves, in part to the sandwich shop across the street that sells falafal or dejaj (chicken) for .5 JD and operated by a very friendly guy, Saiid, who has quickly become everyone's friend.
I haven't spent much time in the restaurants around here, but I did go to a Western-style place to watch the World Cup Italy match. I was surprised to see on University St. a McDonalds, Popeye's, Papa John's, and Pizza Hut.
On Sunday we took a tour of Irbid and also went to a Museum downtown on the archeological finds of the area- from ancient settlers, to Rome, to Islamic Dynasties, to the Ottomans. We also had a tour of the campus which is modern, yet simple. On Monday we had our placement exam, which was basically 2 hours of staring at the test and wondering if I had actually taken Arabic the year before if all of this was my imagination. Luckily, everyone felt the same way so we will all be going through Arabic Boot-Camp clueless. Ahh, and today (Tuesday) was the first day of classes... but enough of that for now!
I have to get back to the grind- so much Arabic so little time!
Ma Salama!
Oh be sure to check out the pictures I posted!!
your apartment is so cute! jealous! also i want all of the food. and arabic shampoo! (ps this is michelle)
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