Orientation

CIEE (Center for International Education Exchange) provides a comprehensive four day orientation when students arrive in Amman. During this time we stay at a hotel in the city. There are approximately 100 students in the program for the semester. A few are staying the year and returning from last semester, but the majority are new students. Of these 100 people about 60 will be staying with a host family and 40 will be living in apartments. I will be living with a host family.

Throughout the course of our orientation we got to see parts of the city, the University of Jordan (UJ) and meet the people we’ll be spending our semesters with. On the first day we went to a few landmarks in Amman which introduced us to the city we’ll be living in for the next four months. It’s HUGE! And I feel like that’s an understatement. The city is built on seven hills so no road is straight. There are no such things as city blocks like New York or Chicago might have so it’s going to take me a while to learn where things are.

Views from the Citadel

Not only are the roads different but the drivers are different too. A Jordanian woman I met summed it up nicely. “In America, you learn to drive but not how to avoid accidents. In Jordan, we learn how to avoid accidents but not drive.” Some two lane roads become three or four lane roads if the drivers deem it necessary to get somewhere a few seconds faster. Thankfully, we are not allowed to drive so I won’t have to worry about that.

Another place we visited on the first day was ACOR. ACOR is a small library where many academics (often they are in the process of writing books) do research. But it is open to all students and it has free internet! Another factor that makes ACOR appealing is that it is the only place in Jordan that offers JSTOR. For those of you who don’t know what JSTOR is, it is an online database of journals and publications that is available at almost every college, university and high school, among other places, in the States.

On our second day of orientation we got a tour of the UJ campus which is where we will be attending classes. UJ is much bigger than GU in terms of area and attendance so that will be an adjustment for me. About 38,000 students attend UJ and it’s a 25 minute walk from the north to south end of campus. I don’t have my bearings quite yet, but once I spend a few days on campus I’m confident I’ll know where everything is.

The third day of orientation was lecture day. We got lots of information on rules and regulations while we’re here, the area, living in a homestay and a “survival” lesson in Colloquial Arabic. Jordan is a safe and stable place…but in a rough neighborhood. King Abdullah said, “Jordan is between Iraq and a hard place,” which is a comment that many people repeat. So despite the fact that it is relatively safe, there is the risk of something happening. Other interesting facts about Jordan: Traffic accidents are the second leading cause of death. It is the third poorest country in the world, I’m told, in terms of water availability. Women must not make eye contact or smile at people they do not know. This is proving very hard for me to get used to and is a 180 degree change from my trip last summer to Zambia.

We also met our host families on the third day! This was nerve-wracking but exciting. I am living with a couple who are about the same age as my parents. After a somewhat quiet ride to their apartment in the Shmeisani neighborhood, the conversation picked up a bit. Their English is better than I was expecting and they are really, really kind. Nuha has taken to calling me “habibti,” which means “my love” in Arabic. They have also expressed multiple times already that they want to make me feel as comfortable as possible and it is very important to them that I am. They are Muslim; Nassar works, Nuha does not. A few of my rules: curfew is 10pm (somewhat negotiable); no male friends at the house, ever; always ask before bringing female friends over; never bring alcohol home, come home intoxicated or smelling of alcohol; shower daily (although I've since learned I can only shower 2x/wk at the house)! As nervous as I was, they are kind and generous people and it will be great to live with them.

Our fourth day of orientation was all about our academic schedule. This semester I’ll be enrolled in four classes. Two of these will be Arabic language courses; of these one is Modern Standard Arabic and the other is Colloquial Jordanian Arabic. These classes are very intense and I’ll spend about 12 hours a week just in language classes. The other two courses will be area studies courses. For me this is “America and the Arabs” and an internship (hopefully). In total I’ll spend about 18 hours in class each week and 30-40 extra hours studying and doing homework, most of which is for language classes. Our weeks run Sunday to Thursday with Friday as the holy day. This is definitely going to be another mental adjustment.

Classes in Jordan are different than classes at home. Three things stand out. First, everything is hierarchical. Second, things are professor-centered. Third, education is a privilege! Basically this means that classes are lecture based, there is not much discussion, if you have an opinion that differs from your professor—keep it to yourself and grades are based on one or two exams. A couple other things are different. You are not allowed to eat or drink during class. Water is a possibility but gum is a definite no. Lastly, you have to look nice when you go to class! Sweats don’t cut it here. Maybe, hopefully, a few of these things will stick with me when I go back to school in the States…we’ll see. 

Tomorrow is my first day of class and I’m really looking forward to it.

At one point, Amman was named Philadelphia. 

Me and Hannah at the citadel. 

Amman

From the top of the historic Greek amphitheater.