Week one

My first week at the King’s Academy is complete! So far it has been wonderful. The weather is in the mid 40’s, sunny with strong winds, the food in the dining hall isn’t too bad, and Jordanians are extremely kind and welcoming. This week I started on what will be my typical schedule for the next four months. I started my internship at the University Counseling department, and it’s been great so far. I work with in a very busy office with five, very nice women, on a variety of projects. I’ve created files for students, filed papers, edited students college essays, worked on college stuff for my self, and even got to practice a bit of Arabic with the the people in the office. On top of everyone being super nice, there is even a man who works in the building that brings trays of coffee for us throughout the day, and if you know me, you know how much I love coffee, even though it’s Nescafe, which is not very good, but does the trick (the other option is to drink Turkish coffee which is never going to happen again, I got a huge caffeine buzz, and the coffee hurt my throat and stomach).

King's Academy

This week I also started my classes. I am taking an introductory Arabic course four times a week which is good so far, except the issue is that the class started over a month ago, so I have quite a lot of catching up to do! Also, twice a week, all of the Junior Fellows go to a Middle Eastern history seminar, which has been very interesting so far. On top of my internship and classes, I also have to help with academic support one night a week, and tutor students in different subjects. I am doing the language night, and was expecting to help with French and maybe English, but apparently the students do not read the schedule, and I got four students who wanted help with Chemistry. 

Although I have enjoyed my first week, before last night, I was been a bit frustrated that I have not left the campus the whole time. Although the campus is nice, and the people are great, it’s extremely western, and it hasn’t really felt like I even left America really. However last night, I finally got to go out since it was the weekend (the weekend here is Friday, Saturday). Along with two other Junior Fellows, we took a taxi to the town outside the campus. I finally felt like I was in Jordan! Madaba is a very authentic Middle Eastern town, known for its Greek Orthodox, and Byzantine era Churches, and it’s famous Byzantine mosaics. The narrow streets, crazy drivers, what appear to be old ruins, shops, little restaurants, people staring at the Americans, and quite possibly the most delicious smelling bakery on earth, all add to its authenticity. The three of us walked around for a while, took pictures, and then we went to this little tea and food place in the center of town. Inside, it was just the kind of little restaurant that you would hope to find in the Middle East; the walls were lined with built-in sofas, tiled floors, stone walls, and low ceilings draped with fabric. I had a fantastic night, but that was only the first night of the weekend, tonight, I am off to Amman...

p.s. I will be sure to post many many more pictures once I go out more!