On Sunday, I began my studies with CIEE at the University of Jordan. First off, classes on Sunday are weird, and I feel very disoriented since our five-day week goes from Sunday to Thursday, rather than Monday to Friday. I awoke at 6 am (the only recent time when I’ve woken up that early was in Honduras this past summer). Nonetheless I got up, showered, had a quick bite to eat and off I went. My host mother, Rania, drove me to school along with my host brother Rami who does not have school on Sunday since he attends a Christian school. We assumed traffic would be terrible (at least that’s what I was told). It took us only 15 minutes and I was there by 7:10 am – class began at 8 am. So I had a Nescafé at a coffee shop and gathered with other CIEE students as we prepared to swipe ourselves through the revolving gates. For the first day, I attended only one Arabic class – Advanced II – and it was more of a review session. Since I chose not to review Arabic this summer, I was partially dreading the beginning days here due to the feeling that I had forgotten everything over the summer. However, I surprised myself and once I started listening to the professor and filling out our review worksheets, my Arabic skills began to resurface (not quick enough though!).
Sunday evening I went to my first Mass in Jordan. Caitlin and I went to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Tla' Al Ali, which is quite close to my house. Mass began at 6 pm and it was decently packed by 5:45. Yet people kept pouring in, even during the Homily! Mass was in Arabic – both formal and dialect, making it practically impossible for me to understand what was being said. Despite the language barrier and the length of the mass, I enjoyed the Mass, especially the music - hopefully I can sing next time (I’m sure they’d love to hear my singing voice, especially in Arabic!). My job now is to find the English speaking Mass, which I’m told exists.
On Monday, the Area Studies courses began and we took our Arabic placement exams. For the placement exam, we had a 2.5 hour written exam, consisting of primarily multiple-choice for the listening comprehension, reading comprehension, vocabulary, and grammar. We also had a short paragraph that we needed to translate to Arabic and then a short essay we had to write in Arabic about ourselves. This exam took me the full 2.5 hours! And I usually never take the whole time for the exam – partially because I finish before the end and also because I worry that I will change all of my answers. Oh well, I'm confident I did well. In the afternoon, I had my oral interview with one of the Arabic professors, which went really well.
From 2 pm to 5 pm, I had my two Area Studies courses, which are in English: Economic Transformation of the Middle East and Political Islam. I am excited for both of these courses because they will not only count towards my major but they will also give me more background in the Middle East – something I have not had much of yet (especially in academic terms).
No comments:
Post a Comment