Gettin' Orientated

I have officially been in Jordan for over 48 hours.  The past couple of days have been mostly filled with orientation seminars, crash dialect courses, and campus tours (aka not very exciting) and Amman has been getting some much needed rain since we got here.  However, we did get to take a break to see a couple of epic landmarks in the old city of Amman--the Citadel and the Roman Amphitheater--and eat our first non-hotel Middle Eastern lunch (mmm, hummus and baba ghanoush).  For whatever reason, I already feel more comfortable here than I did in Egypt.

Me at the Roman Amphitheater!

One of my goals while I'm here is to take at least one photograph every day.  I have tons of pictures of pyramids and mosques from my trip to Alexandria last summer, but I really wish that I had done a better job recording bits of daily life as well.  So here are my first few photos:

Sunday, January 30th--beautiful, snowy Brooklyn before I left

Monday, January 31st--rainy view from my hotel window

Tuesday, February 1st--The Citadel

Wednesday, February 2--bested for 20JD of phone credit by
the only person I know in this country

Tomorrow afternoon I'm meeting and moving in with my homestay family and then classes begin on Sunday.  Moving in with a strange family that presumably speaks only a little English is a bit nerve-wracking, but, lucky for me, my current roommate in the hotel is living right downstairs with my host mother's sister and I somehow managed to get placed in a house where I will have my own bedroom and bathroom, a maid, and some semblance of internet access.  In any case, it will be an adventure!  For now, yahla bye (my new favorite Arab-gleezy expression)!