First I need to say that my major, International Relations, requires a semester abroad. So a logical question might be, why Jordan? Well, to make a long story short, I took many classes in the past few years that have sparked my interest in the area of the world. Some of these classes include Judaism, Christianity and Islam, Comparative Politics of Iran as well as my Arabic language classes. In these class I have learned about the ACTUAL practices and beliefs of Islam and not just what the media portrays. My Arabic professor is a Palestinian Muslim who grew up in Jerusalem so she has a very interesting prospective on the climate in the Middle East.
I kind of had the idea in my head that when I go to decide where I want to do my study abroad I could basically sit down with a map in front of me and pick anywhere I wanted to go. I wanted to use this opportunity to get out of a comfort zone and to learn something new and kinda go somewhere that not many people I knew could say they have been. Well, Jewell has only a few countries/programs to choose from for study abroad. I, for about a year, thought I would be in Morocco but when I started the application process I discovered that Jewell was trying to get an Arabic minor going which would require a semester in Jordan. After what seemed like a never ending battle with the school to expedited the approval process for Jordan, I and the program were approved for the fall semester.
This is the first time Jewell has sent students to Jordan for study abroad and the first time they have used this program, CIEE, for study abroad. (http://www.ciee.org/study-abroad/jordan/amman/language-culture/#1rightForYou) I will be traveling with another girl from Jewell. She is a year older and two semesters further than me in Arabic. We are scheduled to arrive in Jordan September 2 and will have about a week of orientation including a language placement test which will help the program to know where to put us for language classes as well as for our home stay assignments (yes, I will be living with a family during my stay abroad).
I dont know what else to say in this post without making it too long so I will cut it off here. I kind of have an idea of a few things that I want to write about in my next few posts but if there are questions feel free to post them in the comment box on any of my posts and I will try to answer them as best I can..
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Life Begins
Some people have been asking details regarding my semester abroad in the fall. I have tried to share as much as I can but until now there hasnt been much to talk about. I dont consider myself a writer so I am going to attempt to use this to capture ideas or thoughts or simply just updates regarding my time abroad. I apologize if some of the thoughts seem rather random but fortunately that is just how my mind works.
To start, I will address a few things regarding the blog. Part of the requirements that Jewell has for studying abroad is taking an intense class dealing with all kinds of things like what to pack or how culture shock works...last night was my third and final one of these classes. Part of the presentation, however, was about communication. This included setting some ground rules with parents and family members on how often contact should be made. I thought this was funny because well if you ask my mom I maintain pretty regular contact with the folks but if you ask my dad, he might tell a different story. Anyway, when I have been on trips in the past my mom's attitude has always been "no news is good news" so I have felt quite a bit of freedom regarding the communication aspect when away from home. One of the suggestions out teacher gave for maintaining communication was a blog. She said blogs were good so posts can be made and there doesnt HAVE to be a scheduled time to sit down and chat. So I decided to make this blog for anyone who wants to read it.
Now as for the title of the blog. I choose to title it "the end of my comfort zone" because one time when I was on the ever so popular Pintrest I came across a picture that I felt hit home with me and this journey:
Obviously I dont think that all this time I have not been alive but this experience will be the beginning of a whole new part of my life. I will be challenged in more ways than I can imagine. Things that I have never been forced to address will smack me in the face the minute I touch down in Amman such as my eating habits, my clothing choices, my personality, the distance from home...and the list goes on. Yesterday I put my arrival date on my calendar and it hit how real this is becoming. It was easy to say "yeah! Sign me up for Jordan! Ill go anywhere you send me!", but now that it is only about 130 days away I cant explain what I am feeling in regards to the trip. I find myself saying the little line in the picture above to change that feeling of dreadful anxiety to one of anxious excitement and it helps.
My next post I think I will discuss my reasoning for going to Jordan as well as some information regarding the country and paperwork I have done/am in the process of doing. I would discuss it now but I dont want a GIANT first post and this one is already getting too long.
To start, I will address a few things regarding the blog. Part of the requirements that Jewell has for studying abroad is taking an intense class dealing with all kinds of things like what to pack or how culture shock works...last night was my third and final one of these classes. Part of the presentation, however, was about communication. This included setting some ground rules with parents and family members on how often contact should be made. I thought this was funny because well if you ask my mom I maintain pretty regular contact with the folks but if you ask my dad, he might tell a different story. Anyway, when I have been on trips in the past my mom's attitude has always been "no news is good news" so I have felt quite a bit of freedom regarding the communication aspect when away from home. One of the suggestions out teacher gave for maintaining communication was a blog. She said blogs were good so posts can be made and there doesnt HAVE to be a scheduled time to sit down and chat. So I decided to make this blog for anyone who wants to read it.
Now as for the title of the blog. I choose to title it "the end of my comfort zone" because one time when I was on the ever so popular Pintrest I came across a picture that I felt hit home with me and this journey:
Obviously I dont think that all this time I have not been alive but this experience will be the beginning of a whole new part of my life. I will be challenged in more ways than I can imagine. Things that I have never been forced to address will smack me in the face the minute I touch down in Amman such as my eating habits, my clothing choices, my personality, the distance from home...and the list goes on. Yesterday I put my arrival date on my calendar and it hit how real this is becoming. It was easy to say "yeah! Sign me up for Jordan! Ill go anywhere you send me!", but now that it is only about 130 days away I cant explain what I am feeling in regards to the trip. I find myself saying the little line in the picture above to change that feeling of dreadful anxiety to one of anxious excitement and it helps.
My next post I think I will discuss my reasoning for going to Jordan as well as some information regarding the country and paperwork I have done/am in the process of doing. I would discuss it now but I dont want a GIANT first post and this one is already getting too long.
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