In six days, I’ll be on a plane to Amman, Jordan where I’ll be living and studying for the next four months.
I am a combination of extremely excited and incredibly nervous.
I haven’t always been interested in the Middle East. When I started college, I had no idea what I wanted to do. I was pretty sure that I wanted to study political science, but that was mostly because everything else sounded boring. Then, for fall semester of my sophomore year, I signed up to take Politics of the Middle East and I walked into the class with essentially no knowledge of the Middle East. During the first few weeks of class I was unbelievably confused. I had no idea what was going on and I was starting to think that I had decided on the wrong major. But after a few weeks, I started to get it and I really liked it. I was also studying Arabic at the same time and I decided that I wanted to study abroad in the Middle East.
This is going to be an adventure and I’m ready to embrace it as one. For the past few months I’ve been trying to prepare myself for the countless mistakes that I’m sure I’m going to make, the frustration, and the confusion that I’ve heard accompanies study abroad. But I’m also so excited to see a brand new part of the world. Exactly one year ago, I was living in a small village in Kenya and my time spent there was both eye-opening and wonderful. Obviously Kenya and Jordan are two completely different places, but I’m hoping that I’ll have a similar experience in Amman. In any case, I’m really grateful that I have this opportunity and ready or not, in six days, my adventure begins!
I’m hoping that this blog will serve as a way to keep everyone updated about what (and how) I’m doing and I’m also hoping to post pictures so that you can see what I see! In addition, I love getting emails and if you’d like to keep in touch with me through email, feel free! My address is ejs007@mcdaniel.edu
-Emily
اميلي تسافر إلى عمان 