Arriving in Jordan

I arrived safely in Amman, Jordan, after a very smooth airplane ride, yesterday afternoon (June 10).  I met up with my friend Alex in the airport, he got there earlier because he flew in from Cairo, Eygpt and we talked while we waited for everyone else to arrive.  This summer there will be eleven of us here from Ole Miss studying Arabic. Five people, including me, from my Arabic class, and six people, one other girl, from the class just below mine.  During our wait in the airport, I read a little bit and watched the people around me.  A lot of families with kids were there, so I watched all of their cute kids running and jumping around their parents while they waited.  The fire alarm went off at one point, but no one stood up to leave the building or seemed concerned, instead everyone continued sitting and waiting for people, so Alex and I stayed in our seats as well.  The alarm didn't stay on for very long, which was good!

Once everyone arrived, the man who takes care of us here, Ayhem, picked us up from the airport.  We got onto the big Yarmouk University charter bus and decided to find food in Amman before we drove to Irbid.  By this time it was 10pm, but there were still many food choices.  Ayhem took us to this really great restaurant where they served us delicious tea, hummus, ful (fava beans with olive oil and spices), chicken shwarama, falafel, and Egyption flat bread, that was fire baked.  It was the PERFECT first meal back.  We reached Irbid at about 1:30am and were dropped off at our respective living apartments.  We are living on campus this summer in their dorms, but each dorm is a miniture apartment.  There is a big living room that you walk into, with a small couch, coffee tabel, tv, and a small dining table with four chairs.  The bathroom is directly straight once you leave the living room, there is a kitchen to the left and the bedroom with two madeup beds in there and dressers to the right.  We also have a washing machine in our bathroom.  Two of our neighbors helped us (roommate and I) carry our bags up the three flights of stairs to our room.  We spoke with them for a little bit, Sarah and Maria.  They are both graduate students and very nice.  They said that our Arabic was good, but I was embarrassed because I was so tired and had difficulty remembering simple words!  Once we were speaking for five minutes or so most things I know came back to me.  Falling asleep was the easiest thing that I had done since my arrival, other than eating the amazing food, of course! 

Today we had to go to the language center, which is just a block away, for a short orientation with breakfast and juice; there were also some students there from Turkey.  Ayhem took them and half of our group (those that are here for the first time) around Iribid with the small Yarmouk University bus/van.  Those of us that were here last summer went grocery shopping, since we already know the city.  Now that I am getting settled in and am half way unpacked, I'm ready to take on the summer!