No Internet at Home Right Now :(

So, I don't have internet at my home right now, and I don't have much time at the university right now for a post, but I think I'll try to give the highlights of the last few days.

1.) Went to a Greek Orthodox wedding in Madaba, about 30 minutes away. The couple cut the cake with a Sultan's Sword, entered to super dramatic Pirates of the Caribbean-esque music and all of the guests wore prom-dress-esque clothing. I was by far one of the most conservative there, since our program told us to bring clothing that could cover our elbows and knees at all times.

Whoops, never mind, I need to get off the Internet, but I'll update soon!

Scavenger Hunt!

Today was tiring, but definitely well worth it. We started off at 8 am with a surprise scavenger hunt in the city with groups of three. We had to find a difficult-to-spot bus station, take three forms of transportation, find a postcard with a camel on it and sent it to the CIEE CEO, buy three dictionaries, and make it back to CIEE headquarters by noon. All in Arabic. Without help.

It was a little scary (and we actually had the Jordanian student volunteer with us help us out a little bit) talking with people on the street to find directions, but everyone was super friendly. It was nice to get to know the city a little bit, but I still feel like I have so much work to do.

Afterward, we found out how we did on the placement test. I still get to be the program, yay! However, I didn't qualify for a class I really really need back at NU, so hopefully, since my score was borderline, I can convince the program to let me take the history course. I'm also taking Arab Media Communication, which should be interesting.

Today, however, was the first day I went the whole day fasting, simply because we were never really in a place where we could eat or drink. Honestly, I didn't really notice it as much as I thought I would... but once I got back to the hotel, it was difficult. It was VERY difficult later at dinner when I had to wait 30 minutes with food in front of me for the sun to go down. But dinner was incredible, at a really really fancy restaurant with our professors. I stuffed myself, and they kept bringing more food out! Everything was great.

Tomorrow afternoon, I meet and move-in with my host family. So excited!

Orientation :-)

It's been a busy few days in Jordan, but I finally have a little free time to write.

I moved into Al-Manar Hotel on Sunday, and we spent most of the day hanging out. Since it's Ramadan, we can't eat or drink during the day, and the tap water isn't drinkable, so we were definitely ready for dinner by 7:30. My roommate is from Columbia, and our room's been fun.

I met up with everyone for dinner in the lobby, and we had an awkward Al-Iftar (breaking of the fast) dinner. Then, after dinner, one of the guys in our group had already spent the summer in Jordan, so we went with him out to an American-ish diner where everyone had some hookah. It's kind of a tobacco smoking device... but it's not tobacco, it's like a fruit-type, water thing... Hard to explain. Our table got one with watermelon and one with lemon and mint, as we listened to a very loud, very bad Arab soap opera playing on the TV outside.

Then yesterday started bright and early at 8:30 a.m. We were picked up in a bus, and the tour guide babbled in Arabic while they took us around the city, showing us the important parts. We had lunch in a fantastic, eco-friendly restaurant where we had our first orientation session. It's really difficult when the instructors are only speaking in Arabic, most of us are only getting every 5 words, but it's helping. We played a few get-to-know you games in Arabic, which helped too.

We then toured a few of the major sites of Jordan, including an ancient Roman temple to Hercules and an Umayyad temple. We saw incredible sites of the city the whole day. We had dinner and stayed in at night in order to prepare for today's test.

That was pointless. The test was awful awful awful awful. At least everyone agreed... but I felt like all of my squiggle-knowledge just wasn't there... But oh well. Then, we spent the afternoon touring University of Jordan, which was one nice green spot in the city.

And then, we were exhausted. Really exhausted. We just had dinner a little bit ago, feel like we should go out... but it's just too tiring. Especially because we had to hide anytime we ate or drank during the day today. Time for bed... But excited for tomorrow's surprise field trip.

Finally here! عمان

Just to confirm, I'm here in Amman safe and sound. After a nice, sleep-filled plane ride and some great salmon ravioli (I highly recommend Air France, great food), I arrived early at the Amman airport. It was so strange flying into the desert: the sand was all golden, with the bright orange sunset making it shimmer. Of course, being classy and on top of their game, Air France cues the romantic "You're in a whole new world"-ish music as we land. After being mildly confused in customs, I was picked up by the family I'm staying with for the first night.

Today was the first day of Ramadan, so everyone here has been fasting from sun up until sundown. My arrival at sunset was perfect timing for the evening festivities, largely revolving around food. The Attieh family was incredibly kind and welcoming, offering me all kinds of foods. I'm not entirely sure everything I had, but it was all great. Egg drop-like onion soup, a cucumber-tomato salad, some kind of beef dish and another rice and lamb dish... Then, later, a great cream filled pancake dessert. (I almost spelled that desert... I really am in the Middle East).

Tomorrow, I'll be arriving at the hotel Al-Manar, where orientation is held. It's almost 1:15, and the household is still up: people stay up late during Ramadan. But I'm a little tired from my travel day, as well as staying up late packing last night. I'm more than ready to turn in and get ready for tomorrow.

Darn you, Charles De Gaulle...

Airports really aren't that fun... They can be, but not alone... We got at the airport around 9, maybe a little before, because Andrew's family's flight was heading out for JFK around 11. But my flight doesn't leave until 1:40... and for some reason, I felt a strong desire to be the first to arrive at my gate. Correction: my gate was packed when I arrived here, however, it was for the flight before mine to Malabo. Yes, Malabo. I had to look that up to even know where that is (Equatorial Guinea in the Western nook of Africa if anyone was wondering).

But, I should be in Amman at 7:10 tonight, about 11:10 Central Time. Sooooo soon! And still so much to do... So, here's one of my favorite pictures from Buddha Bar night as an up :)

Drink Me, I'm Famous

So, this was from Monday, but it was wonderful, so I'm going to recap.

Monday, while Andrew's family went to Normandy, I met up with my friend Deanna from Northwestern for the day. We met up near the apartment at Rue du Bac Metro stop, and then we strolled down Saint-Germain, looking for a morning crepe/wine place. It was lovely, and then we went to Le Montebello for lunch with Deanna's family. It's this amazing little place with great crème brûlée and mini raviolis. Andrew, his family and I actually went there last night again because it was that good. Then, Deanna and I spent a few hours enjoying walking down the Seine, being Parisian wannabes. We had way too much fun with our digital cameras, running into mimes, cute fruit stands and great views.

Finally, I was worn out, and I headed back to the apartment for a break. Later that night, Andrew and I enjoyed a cute little bistro down Saint-Germain. Then, we prepared for our first real night out in Paris to Buddha Bar, with me and Andrew meeting Deanna there. Buddha Bar is a chain all over, but amazing. My favorite drink list was "Drink Me, I'm Famous", from which both me and Deanna picked lovely champagne/orange vodka cocktails. Hippie, South Asian techno music blasted throughout the dim bar, it was great. Later, the bartender made us lovely "electric" cocktails.

Just wanted to put that

Sortie? Oh yes, Sortie...

The last few days have been a little crazy with how busy it's been... So, I'm going to try to post some of the more significant things that have gone on in the last few days..

Today, Andrew and I headed over to the 14th district (Paris is divided up into various districts that are used as popular reference points) in order to visit the Paris Catacombes, where millions of bodies were placed after the Black Death under neath the city in miles of underground tunnels. In the 19th century, all of these were arranged into disturbing works of art made of bones, and a few years ago, these were opened up to the public. It was a lot of walking, pretty creepy, but well worth it.

Then, we headed over to the Louvre to do the obligatory viewing of the Mona Lisa. It was more entertaining to watch the crowds than the painting, in our opinion, but still, all of the more than 30,000 works, as well as the beauty of the architecture of the structure itself, were phenomenal. All of the Egyptian sarcophagi, the Roman statues... it was ridiculous.

Well, I meant to post more, but tomorrow's another early day. We had a great Italian dinner, and finished off with a few drinks at a juice bar in the Bastille neighborhood. Hopefully, we catch up on a little sleep to make it through the week.

Croissants in the morning, wine for dinner...

Paris is beautiful and after a rough transition and lack of sleep on the airplane, I'm ready to go for the day. Went to the Eiffel Tower yesterday, heading to the Notre Dame and Sainte Chappelle today. My freshman year Medieval Architecture course actually is going to have a purpose in life! Everything is just gorgeous... and our apartment is incredible. Everyone speaks English, so no real problems there... but hopefully, we avoid the tourist trap of not having a real cultural immersion. Definitely had a lovely niche Italian dinner last night :)

Here we go...

So, I thought it'd be a good idea to start up my lovely chronicle of my next year of chaos abroad. Just as an update, I'm flying out of O'Hare this Thursday for Paris, where I'll be spending a week. Then, I'll be flying on the 22nd for Amman, and my program starts the 23rd.

Right now, I'm just trying to figure out how I fit my life into one 40 pound bag and a small carry-on... We'll see how that works out. The room is a mess, and there is way too much to organize.

'll be starting Skype up in a few weeks, but I'm working one step at a time. I'm just so so so ready to go after this ridiculously long and tedious summer, but I'm sure I'll miss horseshoes, Sonic and all the fun of Northwestern.

As of right now, I'm tenatively planning on flying back into the States on December 19th, but it really depends on money, travel options and a few other X-factors. If I do, hopefully, I'll be spending a couple weeks in Springfield as well as a couple weeks at NU.