I really can not believe that in less than two weeks I will be living in Amman, Jordan.  For starters, the extent of my experience with foreign travel has been a couple of spring break trips to the caribbean that were more or less confined to resort areas, so I can not really say that I have ever been immersed in a culture that is all that different from my own before.  In addition, my school, the University of Richmond, will have just started offering Arabic this upcoming Fall Semester; therefore, I can not speak a word of this language.

While both of these facts may create a perception that I am woefully underprepared for my semester long trip to Jordan, I feel that the only neccesary skills or traits a person must possess for going abroad to a foreign country are an open mind and a willingness to learn.  And you better believe I am going into this trip with both of these traits.  Being obsessed with politics, especially that of the foreign variety, I have been very interested in the Middle East because of the region's geopolitical importance and because of the region's unique location that allows it to be a crossroads of civilizations.  Having never traveled there though, I have always possessed a sense of doubt when I debate the current events of this region. For how can a person really speak with any authority on an area he/she has never traveled to?  As I'm sure you can see, education and expanding my horizons are the main impetuses for my traveling to Jordan. 

I feel that the structure of my study abroad program, SIT Study Abroad, will really allow me to achieve these two goals.  My program consists of two main components: the first is a 9 week homestay period in Amman, while the second main part of the program is a 4 week independent study project in Amman. 

During the first 9 week period of my time in Jordan, my program will consist of three main bases: living with a Jordanian family, three classes, and educational excursions to various parts of Jordan.  I am quite excited about the prospect of living with a Jordanian family as the setup will allow me to have some very eye-opening conversations about the perspectives that Arabs have on various current day events.  My three classes will consist of three hour Arabic lessons, a seminar course on modernization and social change in Jordan, and an anthropology course that will prepare me for the last month of my program.  In addition to my homestay and classes, my educational excursions will help me see Jordan and the Middle East first hand as the trips include going to the Dead Sea, the ancient ruins at Petra, and even a week long stay in Syria.

While my first 9 weeks in Jordan will be quite structured, this fact will change drastically during my last month in the country.  Over this final period of time, my program has its students engage in an independent study project (ISP) that is then presented about a week before the students' departure.  The ISP will have me and my fellow classmates each examine a certain aspect of Jordanian society through research, polling, interviews, etc. and then provide a detailed report on our findings.  Currently, I think I will engage in a case study on globalization in Jordan by examining the prevalence of American fast food restaraunts to similar style restaraunts that serve Middle Eastern foods.  While, I am sure that this period will be quite stressful, I do not know if it will match the stress of this and next week.

I have certainly been running around a lot this week in preparations for my departure.  Even though I am leaving for Jordan in two weeks, I will be staying in Richmond from Aug 22nd-26th (I leave for Jordan on the 27th), so I more or less need to be already packed when I get back from my short trip of goodbyes.  Before I leave, I am tying up a lot of little loose ends, such as picking out a gift for my family and setting up the webcams on mine and my girlfriend's computers.  I also have some big tasks, such as packing haha, that need to be done. 

As each day goes by, the fact that I am going to Jordan becomes more and more of a reality.  This week though has not been emotionally hard, since I have not had to deal with good byes.  Instead, this week is one more of anticipation and excitement!

Looking forward to an amazing Fall,

Joe