I'm Here!

Greetings from Amman!

So Stephanie and I thought we had a 6 hour layover in Vienna...apparently it was 2. Good thing we stayed in the terminal anyway!

I've decided that language #5 will be German...it sounds cool and I've wanted to learn it for a while, anyway.

When we were getting ready to board the plane, the airline workers told us to wait to the side. I figured maybe we needed to go through extra security measures. Apparently, they wanted to upgrade us to Business Class!!!!

It was so awesome! We were treated like princesses! We were offered a newspaper, a beverage, an aperitif, and then a fancy meal!

I had the shrimp curry and it was DELICIOUS! 

So anyway, the flight to Vienna was loooooooooooooong. We were supposed to take off around 5:30, but we didn't until about 6:10. The flight lasted 8 hours and 20 minutes...the longest I've ever been on. Fortunately, the cabin temperature was decent, so I wasn't marinating in my own sweat. Unfortunately, I couldn't sleep AT ALL. I tried and maybe dozed off a bit for about 30 min, but some family of about 8 decided that it would be fun to play musical airplane chairs and were constantly up and about. The flight attendants almost killed them. I wish they did. Why was it so obnoxious? They were loud. And I was attempting to sleep. And the father wanted to sit in the empty seat between me and some Austrian man. I was not happy. He sat there for maybe 20 minutes, got up and moved to another seat. Thank God the Austrian man was nice and did all the moving, because I would've strangled him.

So anyway, we get to the Austrian airport, and we're sitting, and it's fun.

Okay, back to the flight to Amman. I slept for about an hour, Alhamdullah. Then we landed and went through customs (which was surprisingly fast), got our luggage, and met up with our cab driver. The director of the language program, Fadi, came with him. Both of the men were very nice. 

We got to our hostel, Barakat Hostel, around 5pm. We each have our own separate rooms, but we're on the same floor and pretty much right next to each other. Our rooms are very nice! They came equipped with drawers, a bed, a desk, a TV, a bathroom, and best of all...AIR CONDITIONING!!!!

Hooray for western plumbing! However, as you can see, the shower is right next to the toilet, with no curtain. That's fine, but I just have to leave the toilet paper and trashcan outside of the bathroom. And the shower doesn't have much water pressure, and we all know how thick my hair is, so it took me about 10-15 minutes to shower last night, whereas I normally can take a shower in under 5 minutes. (I also had to wash espresso out of the shirt I wore that day, so I just took it into the shower with me haha).

After we got slightly settled into our rooms, Stephanie and I went to get some groceries (aka, mainly toilet paper). We went to an internet cafe to tell our families that we're here and safe, and then we had shawarma for dinner.

We then came back to the hostel to shower and go to bed. We were in zombie mode--I had about an hour of sleep total and I was ready for bed. So yeah, I went to bed at 9pm on a Friday night! (2pm EST). I woke up at about 3am and was wide awake, but I managed to get back to sleep about an hour later. I woke up for real at 10:30, and then Stephanie and I went exploring! We went to Rainbow Street and got juice and just walked around. Not many people were out, so we'll have to go back at night sometime.

A few things that I've noticed thus far:

1. Jordan seems to be more modern than Morocco, whereas I originally thought it was the other way around.

2. Amman is a huge city. I could walk around everywhere in Rabat, maybe take a taxi to some places. Here, we have to take a taxi to get to the other end of the city.

3. Although the Jordanian Dinar (JD) has a higher value than the US dollar, things around here are still pretty cheap!

Wilkommen from Vienna International Airport!

At around 3:00am Eastern Standard Time, Stephanie and I arrived in Vienna. We are really freaking tired. It is currently 9:52 here in Austria, so 3:52 in the US. Unfortunately, neither of us got much sleep on the plane. I dozed off from time to time, but I never got real sleep.

Oh, apparently we're boarding now for Amman. I thought we had a 6 hour layover. Whoops. More later!

Today I Launch

Today is the day!!!

I have my suitcase packed and I am ready to go! I did an amateur weighing of my suitcase and it only weighs 41.8 lbs. My backpack is pretty much empty, and I have a purse/bag thing that's sitting in my suitcase. That being said, I have plenty of room to bring back gifts!

My flight leaves from Dulles at 5:30 today, but Stephanie and her husband, Rob are coming to get me at 1:30 so that Rob can avoid traffic on the way home. So, Stephanie and I will have about 3 hours to kill until takeoff. Luckily Dulles has some fun shops to check out and keep us busy! :)

I can't believe I'll be touching a 4th continent already...I only left the United States for the first time last year!

If you haven't done so already, make sure to send me your address via Facebook messaging if you'd like a postcard!

Well, here I go! See you on the other side...

9 Days and the Livin' Ain't Easy

My life is going to be action-packed from now until I leave for Jordan in ONLY 9 DAYS!!!!

My social calendar is as follows:

Wednesday:
Hanging with Chloe for a bit

Thursday:
Lunch with Saskia
Dinner with Laurie and Uncle James

Friday-Sunday:
Visiting Uncle Dan at the Lake House

Sunday-Tuesday afternoon:
Visiting my brother in Connecticut

Wednesday:
Dinner with Kate

Somewhere in there:
My grandparents are coming up from Georgia

Thursday:
I LAUNCH!

As such, I decided to pack my suitcase today. And it didn't happen. Tomorrow should be good, though. I am still deciding on clothes to bring. Unfortunately, my favorite pink skirt that I brought to Morocco has seen it's final days :-( I shouldn't complain since I've had it since high school, but it was awesome for travel and it was pretty.

Sporting the pink skirt in Rabat, 2011.

Bummer. Oh well. I will be wearing a lot of the same things that I brought to Morocco/bought in Morocco. They were comfortable and Middle East-appropriate. Things I learned about clothing and travel from the last time:

1. Bring more skirts. They're more comfortable and a lot cooler.

2. Jeans are a terrible idea. Terrible. Horrendous. Unless you're cool with peeling them off your body at the end of the day and every time you go to the bathroom. Maybe I'll bring a loose pair? Maybe not. Still haven't decided. Regardless, it will be less peeling.

3. Don't bring white clothes. They will be gray by the end of the trip from the minerals in the water.

4. Bring old sneakers. I brought new sneakers to Morocco thinking I'd wear them a lot and that I'd need the support. I wore supportive flip flops the entire time...I maybe wore my sneakers 4 or 5 times, if that. So now, I'm bringing old sneakers and leaving them there. I will be welcomed to new sneakers when I get home :-)

Other things on the list:

1. Medicines- prescriptions, advil, cold medicine, immodium, pepto bismol, etc.

2. SUNSCREEN!!!!

3. Towel and swimsuit

4. Toiletries- toothpaste, toothbrush, hair brush, hair ties, perfume, shampoo, conditioner, lotion, band-aids, Q-tips, etc.

5. My Arabic textbook and notebook!

6. Shoes

7. Sunglasses- but those are always on my face or my head, so I doubt I'll forget them...

8. Passport and credit card

And of course, there's maybe a million other things, but looking at all of this is stressing me out a little haha. I just moved back home from Pittsburgh, so I've barely had any time to let the dust settle, so the thought of packing while I'm still unpacking makes me want to barf.

So Stephanie has a cousin who has spent a considerable amount of time in the Middle East. He has connections all over the place. One of his friends is getting married while we'll be there, so Stephanie and I are going to a wedding! I am stoked beyond words- I LOVE weddings and I'm really excited to be going to ANOTHER foreign wedding!

This is what I wore to a Moroccan wedding:

Not your typical American dress. Unfortunately, I will not be wearing this to the Jordanian wedding, as this was Mama Khadija's kaftan that I borrowed from her. Nonetheless, I still intend to look pretty! (And as Arab as possible.)

As of now, I plan to wear this. This is my Moroccan gandora. And the two girls with me are my lovely sisters Aya and Zineb. I miss them so much!

So, unless I buy Jordanian clothes (which I probably will), I'm going to look like a Moroccan at this wedding.

More to come! Stay tuned for more preparations! :-)

Final thoughts on Morocco before I jump into Jordan

At this time last year, I was just getting acquainted with Morocco and peparing to meet my host family. I have been thinking a lot about my study abroad experience lately because for one, I can't believe a whole year has passed already, and two, I can't believe that I am about to go on a similar journey in 19 days!!! This whole thing is still just so surreal... I was looking at my Morocco blog and realized that I never really made a closing statement...I went straight to France right afterward and never really took the time to reflect on my experience. That being said, I will do so now: Going to Morocco completely changed me as a person, for the better of course. Since I was out of my element, I was faced with so many uncomfortable situations from which I learned so much. I never realized how lucky I am to live in a country where school is mandatory and the illiteracy rate is fairly low, a country whose currency is relatively strong, where electricity and running water are easy to come by, and jobs pay well. I know the economy isn't that great right now, but regardless, we as Americans still have so much more than a lot of other people. How many people in our country nowadays have to get their water from a community well? How many people dump water over their heads on a regular basis as a means of showering? I am also so incredibly thankful for the group I was with. With just 12 of us, we bonded and formed a really great friendship that is bound to last a lifetime. I will never forget what each person brought to the group! Lastly, I must reflect on my host family, the Chiadmis. I never really got close to my brother, Mohammed. In fact, the first time we had a real conversation was my last night in my home stay. He was very kind, and he is getting married this summer! My father, Baba Abdelilah always took such great care of me. Mama Khadija was a smart, hard-working woman, and my little sister Aya was fun to play with. She was so shy when we first met, but after about a day, she was constantly chatting my ear off! She loved to brush my hair and she was a huge fan of Dora the Explorer. And of course, Zineb, my sister that was my age. She and I still keep in touch regularly. I miss her so much- she was so helpful and easy to talk to when I first moved in, even though I was so nervous, as well as throughout my home stay. She is studying Law at Mohammed V University, and she is bound to be very successful! I was blessed to have such a wonderful family to live with and I can't wait to see them again! Anywho, those are my final words/reflection on Morocco that I never got to. More to come on Jordan very soon since, well, this blog is about my trip to Jordan!

I'm Back!!!

Hello again!

As many of you may have heard, I didn't spend nearly enough time in the Middle East last summer, so I'm going again this summer, but this time, I'm going to Jordan! I will be leaving on June 28th and returning on July 27th. Why am I going? Well that's a fun story...

So there's this gym I go to called InFitness. One of the owners/personal trainers, Stephanie, was reading an Arabic textbook on the elliptical one day that I had previously studied from. I decided to ask her about it. Good thing, because we've been friends ever since! When I was in Morocco, she sent me a Facebook message with a crazy idea--to go to Jordan to study Arabic in December! I thought the idea was brilliant, but December was an awkward month with finals and family coming for Christmas. On top of that, Pitt only has a 2 week winter break. So we chatted, and eventually, we determined that July would be the most convenient, especially since I'd be finished with school and moved out of my apartment. It took some time to convince my dad, but since learning Arabic will only help me with my career, he and my mom gave me the okay to go.

This whole thing is so surreal- I'm leaving in 24 days! I am so incredibly excited to be going back to the Middle East again... Just a few things I'm excited for:

1. Jordanians eat hummus and baba ganouj. (Moroccans don't...I mean, they would, but it's not on the Moroccan menu.)
2. I'm probably going to be eating falafels and shawarma for every meal.
3. The sound of the Azan (call to prayer) 5 times a day.
4. Experiencing the Middle East during Ramadan. (Our last week there will be the 1st week of the holy month of Ramadan.)
5. Swimming in the Dead Sea!
6. The only language spoken natively in Jordan is Arabic...so I can't cheat with French this time, like I did in Morocco :-p So I'm sure I'll improve even more!
7. Bargaining. If you remember from Morocco, I am a beast at bargaining.


Some things I learned from Morocco to apply to my trip to Jordan:

1. NEVER DRINK THE TAP WATER, EVEN IF DOCTORS SAY IT'S OKAY.
2. Don't tell people where you are from. Once they find out you're American, they'll try to practice their English with you. Cool, but come to America and do it...I'm in your country to practice YOUR language!
3. Take more pictures! 600/800 or however many I took in Morocco was NOT ENOUGH!!!


Stay tuned for more!


Want to read or re-cap from my adventures in Morocco? Click here!