The Pre-Departure

Tomorrow night begins my approximately 7-month journey abroad to the Middle East. Specifically, and if all goes according to plan, this means Jordan for 2 months and Lebanon for 5 months.

For those that don't know, I was supposed to have studied abroad in Beirut, Lebanon, this past semester from February - June, but when Lebanon's government more or less collapsed in mid-January and civil unrest looked like a possibility, I reconsidered and postponed my studies for the fall. Somewhat unexpectedly, Lebanon was one of the few Arab States this year that experienced almost no unrest and has been relatively stable. However, while that's easy to say in retrospect, things did look bad for a decisive week in January.

But to get back to Jordan, I'll be living in the capital, Amman, and will be studying Arabic at the University of Jordan until mid-late August. During this time, I'll also be interning for an organization called "IDEAL for Developing Cultural & Tourism Routes." This is part of an exchange sponsored by the Jordanian shipping company Aramex where students receive grants to cover tuition, housing, and any other living expenses in exchange for volunteering where they study.

From what I've learned so far, IDEAL for Developing Cultural & Tourism Routes assists small businesses in Jordan so that they better cater to tourists while developing their communities, and especially focuses on helping underprivileged areas and women. The project I'm going to be working on involves a more rural area in Northern Jordan called Ajloun, which contains a nature reserve with a hiking trail connecting several small villages.

Currently, I'm booked to leave at 10:30 PM tomorrow night on a Royal Jordanian Airlines direct flight from New York to Amman, Jordan. This is supposed to take 11-12 hours. As far as housing, that's still to be determined, so I'll likely be spending my first couple nights in a budget hotel while finding an apartment. Fortunately, there seems to be no shortage of furnished apartments in the University area of Amman.

As far as Jordan in general, I've visited the country before in April 2009 when I was on Spring Break during my semester in Cairo. I was in a small town called Wadi Musa (by Petra) for two nights, and Amman for another two. You can read my old blog post about that here:
http://darrenincairo.blogspot.com/2009/04/spring-break-jordan.html

Since I'll be living in Amman for two months, here are some things I remember about the city:

• The parts we saw, all in West Amman, were very westernized and modern. They had every American fast food chain you can think of, and I recall thinking "where am I?" many times in Amman.
• Despite being very modern, there are two major historical sites in Amman: The Byzantine/Umayyad ruins and the Roman Amphitheater. I've visited both before, and will likely re-visit them.
  
• Amman is somewhat centrally located, and it's a fairly short ride to most major tourist destinations, making many day trips possible. This does not include the east of the country, although this area is mostly desert.
• Amman is extremely hilly, and you'll frequently see staircases to help you get around easier.
  
• The currency, the Jordanian Dinar, is stronger than the US Dollar. 1 Jordanian Dinar is 1.4 USD, but fortunately things are not priced like the dollar in Jordan. For example, a good meal out costs 4-10 dinars (abbreviated JD), and most street food costs 1 JD or less.
  
• Cabs actually use their meters in Amman, which was not the common practice in Cairo or Beirut.
  
• Pictures of King Abdullah II can be seen everywhere in Jordan. Jordan has fortunately managed to escape much of the instability in the region by passing reforms immediately at the outset of protests, and the King passed new reforms to limit his power last week.
  

I'll hopefully have more to add soon about my flight, arriving, and getting settled.