First Day- June 19, 2008

Hey all! Hope all is well with you. I've only been here for 24 hours, but I've already had some great experiences. My flights were pretty long, and I slept and/or studied throughout most of the time. I'm very happy to say that I had no delays or any other kind of problems. I'm rooming with my friend Mary and so far things are good. Our apartment isn't perfect, but it's very livable. I have included pictures so you can see for yourself. There is a very nic man who works in the lobby that speaks English pretty well, which is obviously helpful. Once we got moved into our apartments Saleh (my teacher) took us down the street to show us some places where we could eat and some store. We're very close to pretty much everywhere we need to go. The university is down the street and through a short tunnel and there's a Gloria Jean Coffee place that has wireless internet and some employees who speak a little English nearby. We also have a Burger King, McDonald's, and Subway (apparently they also deliver here) down the street but I haven't been to any of them yet so I don't know how similar they are to the ones in America. I had to get a passport picture taken for my University I.D. at a little store here, which was interesting because the people there didn't speak very much English, but I got some pictures (which they even retouched) for 3.50 J.D. (Jordan Dinars). (I think it cost around $15 in America to get my passport picture taken, and it wasn't retouched) When Mary and I got home I finished unpacking and struggled to take a shower (which was cold) and then went to bed. We were worried we wouldn't wake up in time to meet our group in the lobby because we didn't have an alarm clock or phone that we could use, but we actually managed to wake up early enough to round up people to go to breakfast before we left for the University. The Call for Prayer started at 4:30, and since our window was open, woke both of us up. It was very long, but we managed to fall back asleep for a while aferwards. At the school we turned in our registration forms and pictures, then attended an orientation and got a campus tour. The campus is beautiful! they have all kinds of pretty flowers and trees (from palm trees to pine), fountains [although very beautiful, it struck me as odd that they would have fountains when water is so scarce in the region, but a friend and I were discussing it and it occurred to us that water is historically very important in Arabic architecture, and therefore fountains are probably very important here culturally], and beautiful buildings. This entire country is amazingly beautiful as well. Most of the buildings are stone, which makes even the run-down ones look pretty. After our tour, the four of us that came in last night had to complete registration by paying our tuition. At first we were not able to take out money from ATMs because we had paid our rent the night before and we had limits on how much we could withdraw within a certain amount of time (EVERYTHING in this country is paid for in cash), but one other girl and I were able to at the last minute. First we had to exchange J.D.s for $20 for fees (for some reason they had to be paid in American money) and pay them in one building, and then we had to pay 500 J.D.s in another building. The line in the second building wasn't too bad, but the wait in the first line was forever. Then we had to go back to the first office where we turned our forms in this morning and get our I.D.s and we were finally done registering. Then my friend and I got lunch in the school cafeteria, which was very good (and filling) and cost less than 1.50 J.D!

It's been a very hard transition, because of both culture and language (it was especially hard last night) but overall I like it very much here so far and I'm very optimistic about the experience I will have. Thank you, everyone who helped me and made it possible for me to come here.

Lauren