We woke up in the desert, and we headed to the Red Sea. While there, some of us had the opportunity to go scuba diving. It was an amazing encounter with all the marine life of one of the most diverse communities of life on the planet. Spending 30 minutes at a depth of 6 [...]

We woke up extra early today for the drive to Petra, as well as to beat the heat there. The walking was easy at first, but it got harder as we climbed the 900 steps to reach some of the carvings. Many of us rode mules and horses for the first time to make the [...]

Today was the first day of our 3-day trip. We started by visiting Sleeper’s Cave (al-Kahf), which has historical, as well as religious significance. Shortly after, we took a tour of Karak Castle, and learned how Saladin al-Ayubi used it as a fortress. After a long drive, we arrived at our TaybatZaman, our unique hotel. [...]

Today was our last day of classes for the week, since we were about to start a 3-day trip tomorrow. After classes, we headed to a mazra’a (country house) at the invitation of Dr. Ahmad Daood. We hiked a mountain there, and got to see a beautiful panoramic view of the countryside. Afterwards, we ate [...]

Today, after our lessons, we headed to al-Sweffiyeh, which was a cross between an outlet mall and a marketplace. It seems like shopping has become one of our ideal activities. While we don’t excessively shop, we get a chance to listen to different accents, as well as practice what we’re learning in class. Some of [...]

We’re starting to get used to having classes in the summer. Even though, it’s still fun, and we’re definitely learning a lot. After school and some down time at the hotel, we all headed to al-Madaris al-Mutahhida (the United Schools), a sports club, where the girls cheered on the boys as they competed with the [...]

Today was our first day of classes at the University of Amman. Some of us claimed that we had learned more in this one single day of Arabic than we ever did in our high school experiences. Our teachers are great, even funny, but are sometimes hard to understand, since they only speak in absolute [...]

We had more sightseeing to do on Day 4. We visited the city of Madaba and Mt. Nebo, where we learned a lot about the history of Jordan. We also got to see the remains of some of the oldest maps of the Middle East, created by a Greek artist. Afterwards, we visited a place [...]

We had another exhausting day on our third day in. The first thing in the morning, we got onto a bus and took a tour of Amman. We visited an ancient Roman Theatre and got to climb to the top. There was also a museum there with traditional Jordanian artifacts. Afterwards, we visited a museum [...]

On our second day in Jordan, we went to the University of Amman to take our placement exams. These exams determined whether we would be placed in the lower or higher level for the program. Afterwards, we visited City Mall, another big fancy mall similar to Mecca Mall. We still had a lot of fun. [...]