Hello?

Is anyone still out there?

I'm a gigantic slacker and never got around to making the last few posts about Jordan. Hopefully I will get to that soon.

I'm also going to start using this blog again. Hopefully. Now that I've graduated and moved on from VCU I figure I should probably keep people updated on what I'm doing with my life. Which hasn't been a whole lot at this point, but it's only been a week and a half. Don't judge me.

Fun weekend of fun.

Thursday night 7/29: Jennifer, Nick, and I rented a car to drive around and see the desert castles that are here. More on those later. We'd wanted to leave Thursday night and just spent the night somewhere in the east, but it didn't work because we didn't even decide to go and to rent the car until 1 that afternoon. So we stayed in Amman, but Jennifer and I wanted to go out somewhere because we had a car. So we went with George, Miriam, and Carissa to a restaurant called The Seven Hills and was maybe 20-30 minutes away? Everything here is a pretty decent drive from anywhere else, so I don't really notice length anymore. Dinner was tasty. Pretty much the same food as usual. But still tasty. On the road leading to/from the restaurant there was a small amusement park. One of the best quotes of the night: "Can I ride a horse ON the ferris wheel?" We were joking with George about riding a horse and riding the ferris wheel too. And then had a fun joke for the rest of the night. Of course it's one of those you-had-to-be-there things, but it still amuses me.

I should mention that maps here are fairly useless because the streets aren't marked, or signs are wrong, or things change, or for any number of reasons. Regardless, we set off for Marka, which we can't figure out whether it's a city/town itself or just a section of Amman (all of which have names). We wound up looking for Al-Quds (Jerusalem) street, and from there were supposed to turn onto Al-Houriya (freedom) street. The irony is delicious. After turning onto some random street and driving for a while, and being stuck in traffic for a while, and having no idea what street we were actually on (but being totally okay with that), we magically wound up on the next street we needed. It was a pretty epic moment. We're not sure that we ever found houriya though. (These are probably only funny if you speak Arabic.)

We wandered around Marka for a while, just up and down the main street. And while we were there we ran into Ali and Othman, two of the Iraqi refugees we meet with in Marka every week and teach English to. We went back to their house and sat for a while, then went back out with them and got ice cream. We joked about eating their fish (in their fishtank) for dinner. It was fun. And we watched random Arabic music videos on TV and made fun of them. Woo.

Friday 7/30: Friday I got up bright and early to go see the castles with Jennifer and Nick at 7am. Ugh. We drove. We got mildly lost. We found the right way and still joked about being lost. Honestly, the desert looks the same whether you're going the right way or not. The first of the castles in the loop that we came upon turned out not to be a castle, but we didn't know this until we got back in the car after seeing it. It was really an old bathhouse for the castle/fort nearby. It was super small and when we drove by it at first we were all like, "No. No this cannot be a castle. What is going on?" So we explored a little. Moved on. The next castle (which was actually a fort) wasn't open for visitors yet, because it wasn't yet 9 am and probably because it was Friday. I'm not sure about that part. Either way, we admired it from afar and kept going. Stopped at Azraq Castle, or whatever it was called. It was in Azraq regardless. Wandered around in it for a while. Drove around and around looking for the Wetland Reserve that we'd been told to go to by other people. Finally found it and then were disappointed by the lack of animals and the lack of wet. It used to be an oasis but most of the water is gone. Whoops. There was a lot of water buffalo poop though. And I mean a lot. We saw some tiny frogs and three water buffalo and that was it. Anticlimactic.

After that we went to lunch at a Saudi restaurant in Azraq. Fun experience there. We asked what they had (menus as we know them in the US aren't too popular here). I remember saying "I don't care what we get so long as it's not an organ of some kind." We wound up ordering kubdeh (?), which sounded familiar to me, but I wasn't sure so I didn't say anything. Nick said he didn't know what it was but had had it before and it was good. So when our food comes, Jennifer tries it and looks at him funny. It was liver and he knew it. (Evidenced by how he started laughing.) Turns out it's not so bad. Not on my list of favorites, but I can now cross "eat something weird" from my to-do list. Yay.

After lunch we went to one last castle, which wasn't a castle but was again a fort. And had the remains of a city with it, but we were exhausted and melting so we didn't care too much about seeing the rest of the random things. Judging from the map I don't know how much of the random things was actually left to see; it sounded more like there was just spots where they thought things used to be. As we walk into the castle/whatever building, a huge Saudi family is leaving. And then they come back in.

And they stare at us. And giggle. And blatantly start taking pictures of us on their phones. It was actually pretty hilarious, in a "is this really happening?" kind of way. The kids followed us around and crowded around us in the small rooms of the castle. Finallyl one girl came over and asked if they could take a picture with us, and I swear there were at least a dozen pictures taken. It was cute. We walked back to our car not long after they did, and they kept staring at us, waving, and even taking pictures from their car in the parking lot. It was so. Cute.

We got back to Amman between 3 and 4. I took an amazing nap. And then I did nothing of import until bedtime. Yay.

Saturday 7/31: Saturday was the last organized trip we had as a group. We started at Mt. Nebo, where Moses is supposedly buried. The church there was closed for renovation. Story of my life; everywhere I go something is covered by scaffolding. So there wasn't a lot to see there. There was the big cross thingy and a hazy view into a few different countries. Still a cool experience, but would have been better minus the haze. And minus the heat. I'm pretty sure they told us that day was the hottest day of the summer. Awesome.

After Mt. Nebo we went to a mosiac school in Madaba, where people learn how to recreate old mosaics. It was impressive but the replics don't have the same feel as old ones. Then we went to St. George's Church in Madaba, where there is/was a huge mosaic map of the world at that time. More for pigrams and such, I think, and less geographically accurate, but still awesome. Except half of it was lost in the 13 years after they uncovered it and didn't do anything to preserve it. Then we had lunch, which was tasty but of course I can't name half the food we ate.

From there, it was Dead Sea time. At the Dead Sea it was over 115 degrees. Death indeed. There are one or two public beaches there (which you still pay to get into), and all the hotels around it have private beaches, so you pay the hotel instead. We did the latter. People burnt their feet on the way down to the beach because the sand was so hot. The water was so warm it was like the most disgusting bath ever. And so salty. Floating in it was cool. At least at the beginning. Then it got kind of old. And they tell you only to swim on your back because people have drowned on the surface of the water on their stomachs because it's super hard to flip yourself over.
We all covered ourselves in mud (so SLIMY!), which is really good for your skin and a really good exfoliator and whatnot. There are all kinds of dead sea beauty products here. And then we washed the mud off. I went up to the hotel pool with Brittney and we went down the water slide, which we figured out after the fact was probably only meant for kids because it was made of fail for us. Stayed in the pool a few minutes then got out and changed because the humidity was just gross. Yeah the heat wasn't fun but it's really the humidity that kills you. It's been 100+ here a lot but it's better than being at home with low 90s but high humidity. Found the hotel bar, got a drink, discovered I don't like pina coladas, and did my homework. Yes, I brought homework. But a lot of us did, because we had like 5 hours there and you can only swim for so long. The bar was air conditioned too, which was the best part.

We got back around 7 and I spent from about 8 until 2am working on a paper for VCU; instead of a thesis like some schools have, the Honors College requires a reflective paper if we want to graduate with university honors (different from latin honors, which is automatic if you qualify). So that was done, finally. It was due by midnight EST, so I finished about 5 hours before it was due. Awesome.

Since sometime before that weekend, today was the first day I've had to get a decent amount of sleep, and it was glorious. It's nasty and hot out again as usual, which is a bit of a problem, but eh. I can't wait to go to VCU and have my own room and bathroom. I'm so over the sharing a bathroom thing. And with 3 roommates here it's been pretty impossible to sleep through the night. Wah. It's not as desperate as it sounds, but being able to sleep for 8 straight hours with no interruptions will be so amazing. Yay. 15 days til Richmond. 10 til Boston. Excited kitty is excited.

Other posts about other things to come in the future, but I'm going to lunch with a friend at her Jordanian friend's house soon and I have to get ready. Bye bye!

Pictures

You Know You've Been Abroad Too Long When...

...you make faces like this. This is Morgan, me, and Nick making our "excited faces" when we went to see Eclipse on July 8th. Morgan took it, but I just had to share it. I think it's the most ridiculous picture that's been taken on this program. And one of the more awesome ones.

(Does anyone really want me to come home after seeing this?)

Petra photos

I think I forgot to take a picture of Siggy at the Treasury. Whoops.

Highlights:

The Treasury

Pickles

Tree

The Monastery

Woo old things

Photos

Dana photos

Day 2: Wadi Musa and Little Petra

Petra photos to come tomorrow, since Photobucket still doesn't like me and is begin difficult.

Epic Jordanian Weekend

Thursday: Wadi Dana Nature Reserve

Last Thursday we had our midterm at Qasid (our school thing) and some classes, and then we all bolted back home to pack. We had an hour before we left for our epic weekend.

A 3(?)-hour drive took us south to the Wadi Dana Nature Reserve. At the top of a mountain we wound had the option of walking down to the camp or taking their "shuttle," which is pretty much a large pickup truck with benches around it. Most of us wound up walking down. Our guide had said it was "a few miles" but it definitely didn't seem like that on the way. I didn't think to time it, but it's not like we were walking super quickly or anything. We were taking a lot of photos and enjoying the crazy scenery.

We had time to kill before dinner, so after stashing our stuff in our tents I went with Jennifer, Morgan, Brittney, and Ashley and we hiked a little bit. Then sat and kinda sorta watched the sunset, by which I mean watched the colors in the sky change because the sun was behind a mountain that we thought we wouldn't have had time to climb but it turns out we probably would have. Oh well.

I couldn't tell you what dinner was, because I never usually know what food is here anyway. It was tasty though. After dinner we went and sat under some other tents in a little open area and then sat by a campfire and talked. And there were stars. So many stars. If there's one thing I miss about Morocco, that is definitely it. You couldn't see all of them from AUI, but you could definitely see a lot more than you can from home or Richmond. And then of course there were the zillions of stars I saw in Chaouen and the Sahara. But yeah. We could see lots of stars in Dana too. Not as many as I saw before, I don't think, which is weird. Or I could just fail at figuring out nature. Which is likely. Anyway. Yeah. Went to bed after that.

Friday: Showbak Castle, random fortress, Little Petra, Bedouin dinner?

Friday we got up bright and early for breakfast before heading to Wadi Musa, the city next to Petra. Petra being the old city/current park, Wadi Musa being the actual city. Out hotel was little across from the entrance to the park. On the way there we stopped for an hour at a 12-th century Crusader castle. It was empty and partially destroyed, but pretty cool.

We had a really tasty buffet lunch at our (5-star!) hotel, then I headed out with some friends to another 12-century fortress that was just chilling by the sid eof the road 10-15 minutes from the hotel. Just chilling. There wasn't a whole lot left of it, but it was pretty awesome. Especially scrambling up and down on it. We spent probably two hours out there. It was awesome being in the little mountain area and whatnot. But it was really hot and really windy, especially the higher we got up.

After the fortress and a glorious 40-minute quasi-nap, we headed to Little Petra, which was the commercial part of Petra. (The more famous part was the necropolis.) There's not a hole lot there anymore, obviously. Things carved into the cliff/mountain walls. Big things. I mean, they're pretty impressive and pretty cool, but I think I'm hitting the point where ruins aren't super awesome to me anymore. Olympos was amazing; Volubilis was okay but nothing too impressive; Jerash was kind of awesome; and since then I'm kind of getting tired of ruins. They're all pretty much the same thing. Granted all that I've seen with the exception of Petra has been Roman, which really is all the same thing, but... yeah. I still think they're awesome but I'm not in a hurry to see too many more. Maybe I should have gone to Rome during my semester in France, because now I don't know how cool it would be. =P

Dinner consisted of stopping the bus on the side of the road and walking into the desert/mountains a little ways. It was Bedouin style? But still consisted of the same things we have all the time at restaurants and such here. But sitting outside in the beautiful weather and enjoying the food and the people. Though we were all pretty exhausted already so we weren't entirely into it.

Saturday: PETRA

Up bright and early again. Breakfast buffet at the hotel. 8 hours spent in Petra. Lots of walking, lots of sun, lots of hot. The Treasury was awesome though. Tis the building in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Just being able to see part of it from the Siq (path/road/something between two cliff walls) and knowing the rest was around the corner was kind of crazy. Of course the sun was shining right on it so it didn't come out half as epic in the pictures, but it was awesome. I mean, none of my pictures of anything do things justice here. These are things that you just have to experience yourself to really get it.

From the Treasury (which is really a tomb but is so named because people believe/d that a pharaoh hid a treasure in the urn carved at the top of it) we went down the road (the only one in the city really) and then started an epic climb to the "High Place of Sacrifice." Lolz. Along the way we got separated from the large group that our tour guide was leading, but it wasn't really an issue. I wound up with Michael for most of the time. At the top of the High Place we were talking to two French ladies. And my French failed me, which is seriously disturbing. I mean, maybe not failed so much as when they asked us questions I fully understood them but the first words that popped into my head in terms of answers were definitely Arabic and I stumbled over them trying to force the French out. It was so frustrating. I mean, probably a sign that I'm getting a lot better at Arabic but really not my favorite feeling in the world. Meh.

We wound up taking the back way, ish, from the High Place. I mean, there was a trail but it was even more climbing down the back of the mountain and more dirt path behind everything. A few times I wondered whether we were even going the right way, but there was no other way to go. The map I had was a little deceiving in terms of the distance between things. But we found our way out in the end. Saw more old things. And a giant temple. And then had tasty lunch. Which made some people sick, but luckily not me.

After lunch Michael and I stuck together and headed up the 45-minute hike to the Monastery. It's the building in Transformers 2. Which I haven't seen but probably will even though it's supposed to be awful, if only to watch it and say "Hey I was there!" It was a pain in the butt hike, for real. But we made it. And saw the end of the world, which is just the view from the top of the mountains. But it was pretty epic. I have lots of photos of it, but they will have to wait til the next post because I'm having issues logging into Photobucket right now. But for now you get the text version, at least. I know I didn't write a lot but there's not a lot to write. It's a whole lot of seeing things and taking pictures and not being able to describe things accurately because there aren't words to do them justice.

Bah.

Awesome, so the twitter-posting-thing I've been using seems to have stopped working and the website is down. You can still find my twitter and check it there, though admittedly I've not posted a lot in the past few days. Well I couldn't post anything over the weekend, but yeah.

I swear photos and recaps of the weekend will come soon. But between activities and being super tired the past two days I've not had time to do anything. But they will happen. Soon. Ish. Maybe. Insha'allah.

Daily trivia

• 13:27 entering radio silence for the next two days. epic trip will be epic. wadi dana, beidha, and petra. getting back late saturday. peace out. #

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Daily trivia

• 07:31 i wonder what it would be like to be in paris for bastille day. everything would be closed, of course, but what else? #
• 13:37 ohhhh, epic frustration is epic. EPIC. #
• 16:41 ok so the ants outside decided my feet were tasty. i do not approve. #

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Daily trivia

• 07:29 it definitely hit over 100 yesterday. we had dancing lessons. with no ac. awesome. it needs to stop being. #
• 20:09 talking in english, listening to french music, and doing arabic homework all at once. it's a wonder i can communicate in any language #
• 20:25 my right knee is like one giant bruise. wadi mujib beat me up. #
• 21:27 combing hair with glasses on? fail. #

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Yepp, I'm a Nerd.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. In Arabic. I can't read it, but it looks cool.

Daily trivia

• 07:23 i keep forgetting im in asia. wow #
• 18:28 i will never take air conditioning for granted again. high of 101 tomorrow? لا شكرا #
• 20:30 i'm melting. mellllltinnnnng #
• 20:47 there is no water in jordan. how in the name of god is it humid? i do not approve #
• 20:59 i really miss speaking french. if i had lots of money and no obligations, i would go back to france in a heartbeat. #

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Daily trivia

• 16:51 wadi mujib was epic. already really sore, bruised & cut though. rivers and i are not friends. and i just typed half sentence that in french #
• 20:06 various local mosques were not in sync doing the call to prayer just now. i think this is the 1st time it's happened. or first i've noticed. #

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Wadi Mujib, or "Wait, there's water in Jordan?"

Dead Sea, with Israel in the background.

So Wadi Mujib was pretty epic. It was this pretty narrow canyon with a small river running through it. The rocks looked pretty amazing. The sandals I bought yesterday were a pain in the butt because gravel + rushing water + velcro = fail. I wasn't the only one with sandals though, and everyone seemed to be having the same issue. Whatever, it was better than destroying my sneakers.

We walked through the river for a while without issue, and then came to a mini waterfall. There was a rope to hold on to but it was pretty difficult. I obviously need to go to the gym more because I have zero upper body strength. Woot. I am super graceful and pretty much managed to fall/slip/do something stupid at every climbing point. I need to get over my fear of getting hurt. Although there was reason to be a little careful this time, because one of the archeologists living in our building definitely broke her leg at Wadi Mujib. But we all came out of it unharmed, except for random cuts and bruises that come with, you know, being in a rocky river.

The hike ended (for us, anyway) at a big waterfall. Very cool to see. And play around in. And float in. With the exception of the waterfall and some of the mini-waterfalls we had to climb, the water wasn't more than knee-high in the deepest parts, I don't think. After a little while we headed back, and going down the waterfalls we'd climbed was definitely harder than getting up.

Me, Morgan, and Kelly in front of the waterfall. Standing up in that water was not easy.

(Totally stole this pic from Nick's facebook.)

Stole this one from Michelle's Facebook. Yay for waterproof camera bags. Thanks Michelle!

Also stolen from Michelle. More for the view of the walls than the flattering picture of me.

I've pretty much done nothing since we got back at 2. Cleaned up my room a little, applied antibacterial ointment to the scrap on my hand countless times, pretended to start working on the essay I have to write to graduate with honors (graduate? me? insha'allah!)... yeah. Nothing too fancy. And I'm about to go watch Bones with a friend. My life is pretty awesome. Or will be, til I wake up in the morning sore from today's adventures and faced with 4 hours of class. Dun dun dun.

Irbid & Um Qais

Okay, so last Saturday we went to Irbid and Um Qais. In Irbid all we saw was a museum. Well, it was first an Ottoman castle, then was converted to a prison in the 19th or 20th century, then it became a museum in like, the 1980s? It was a pretty small museum, but pretty cool to think, "Hey, this used to be a castle!" Which was a little weird because now it's in the middle of a crowded city with narrow streets and way too many cars and buildings. There were artifacts from all different points in history, but only a few from each point. Bronze or Stone Age tools, Roman things, Ottoman things, other peoples' things. And a view underneath the courtyard of old walls. I assume they pre-date the palace, but I'm not sure. Twas cool anyway. It's funny how I hate history but love seeing old things.

From there we went to Um Qais, which is an old city once named Gadara. And is in the Bible. And is supposedly the place where Jesus drove demons out of a guy and into a herd of pigs who then ran down the hill and drowned in the Sea of Galilee, although according to Wikipedia this location is disputed. (The Sea was pretty far, unless it was super huge back then.) We could also see the Golan Heights and I think Palestine from there? I can't remember. The city also used to be an Ottoman village. The dilemma with excavations there is that the Ottoman stuff is considered ancient and they can't/won't destroy it to access the older stuff, of which there's a whole lot just chilling underground. Oh well.

Sea of Galilee. It's a blue strip that starts about in the middle on the left side.

It was a hazy day so the pictures didn't come out well.

Golan Heights

We wandered a little bit and had lunch at the restaurant that was there. It was tasty. I am so in love with hummus it's ridiculous. I hope VCU's dining hall still has it when I go back. They definitely did before and always looked at it and thought it had to be disgusting. Oh how wrong I was. I mean, I'm sure VCU hummus can't be half as good as actual Middle Eastern hummus, but I'll take what I can get. After lunch we had 45 more minutes to wander. Jennifer and I wandered out to where a temple used to stand, and to where an amphitheatre used to be. Except most of the structure is gone and it's just a huge dirt hill. And we thought it would be awesome to climb up it instead of going all the way back around. That was a fantastic decision, let me tell you. Running up a steep hill made of bone-dry dirt with pretty much nothing to hold on to? It was definitely a workout. And Um Qais was really really hot, too. And a little humid, which was a strange feeling because there is definitely no humidity in Amman. At all.

My shoes got really dusty running up the hill. They were black once.

At some point we were supposed to go to Yarmouk to a battle site from the Crusades (?), but for some reason it got scrapped. Oh well. Not a huge problem. (Because really, what's going to be there? Probably nothing to actually see.) Came home. Did nothing of value. Glorious day.

Photos!

Daily trivia

• 09:07 so it finally happened. the building ran out of water. this is going to make life awkward for the rest of the day. #
• 19:57 when i go home i think i will actually miss the calls to prayer. i hardly notice them now but will likely realize they're missing later #
• 19:58 also a car backfired near us earlier and i jumped a mile thinking it was a gunshot. #
• 21:39 it's going to be really, really weird trying to speak english without random arabic words when i go home. and probably really awkward :( #

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Tilapia, Vampires, and Werewolves, Oh My!

Lame title is lame. Anyway.

Life continues as usual in Amman. Classes, tutoring appointments, the same routine all day. Followed by trying to cram homework and naps into our free time. For my class it's not so bad, but some of the upper levels are just doing homework constantly. I was awesome and didn't get to the gym at all last week, go me. But I will be making up for it tomorrow, for sure. We're going to Wadi Mujib tomorrow (here's another website) and it looks like it's going to be an epic workout. Unfortunately there won't be any epic photos. Swimming and rivers and waterfalls are involved, meaning we can't bring anything that can't get wet. Sadness.

Aaaaanyway, yesterday I went to see Eclipse (the third installment of Twilight) with some of my friends. I wasn't a fan of the first one and loathed the second, but wanted to see this to see how bad it was, basically, since I've read all the books anyway. After our test yesterday afternoon, Nick, Morgan, and I went to one of the malls here, got our tickets, and went to Chili's in said mall. Yes, Chili's. Right next to TGI Friday's. Wow. As far as the movie tickets went, you had to pick your seats before the tickets were even printed. That was a new experience.

Chili's was extremely tasty. I had tilapia with rice and veggies and it was really good, though very spicy. So to balance it, I had a cookie brownie sundae thing for dessert. It was amazing. Gloriously unhealthy, but amazing all the same. We also had the most ridiculous conversations during dinner. And the waiter probably thought we were crazy, but that's totally okay. After dinner we met up with Kelly and Michelle, but they hadn't been with us when we bought tickets so we weren't all sitting in the same place. :(

Once we got inside the theater, we had to wait til 730 (scheduled movie time) before they even let us in the room. And once inside, we had ushers guide us to our seats. Whaaaat. They were cushy seats and there was actually room to walk through the aisle without jumping over people. They didn't recline, though, which was a little disappointing. Going to the movies in the States will never be the same.

The movie itself was kind of meh. I have no reason to like it but for some reason I still do. Really hoping it's just the fact that I was having a great night and even Robert Pattinson couldn't ruin that for me. Yeah, let's go with that explanation. People in the theater talked through the whole thing, though, and answered phones and whatnot. I don't quite understand, but oh well. I got kind of excited during the (two) previews, because they were in English but subtitled in Arabic and French. But then when the movie started the only subtitles were Arabic. Sad face. They went by a little too fast for me to get a lot out of them, but I got some words, so I'm happy.

After the movie I just came back here, watched an episode of Bones, and went to bed. Because I'm that awesome. But it was a pretty good day. Very fun. Even if I did go see Twilight. Today I've pretty much done nothing. Homework, went out with Morgan shopping for shoes to wear tomorrow rather than destroy my sneakers, went to some other stores, came back. And I couldn't tell you what I've done for the past few hours. Whoops.

I know I still have to write about Irbid and Um Qais last Saturday. That's on the way, eventually. And there will be a post about tomorrow, eventually. Probably not too long, but there will be one. Til then, good night!

Daily trivia

• 15:10 test today. then going to chili's and to see the new twilight movie with friends. win. #
• 22:26 that was a fun night. i think i kinda liked eclipse, but hoping it's just misappropriation since i liked the people i was with /psych minor #

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Daily trivia

• 07:25 getting adequate sleep is such a foreign concept to me here. it's sad #

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Daily trivia

• 14:56 had american style breakfast today. nom nom nom. pancakes. no bacon though. :( #
• 16:34 i almost bought twilight in arabic today but decided against it. then i almost bought harry potter, but decided to wait. /nerd #
• 21:08 mmmm. cheeseburgers and hot dogs and soda and american food for dinner. nom nom nom. #

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Ancient Ruins: Jordanian Style!

Friday morning I left Amman bright and early at 7am with Nick and Jennifer. We found a taxi who, after some arguing from Nick, was willing to take us to Jerash for 15 JD ($20 ish for a 45-minute ride). We bypassed the ticket office somehow and went right in through Hadrian's Gate and the hippodrome. Once we got to the main part of the city there was a gate where they wanted to check our tickets. Whoops. Clearly we're not the only ones to have that problem, since there are two entrance to the complex(?) itself and the ticket office is a 5-10 minute walk from the actual entrance to the city. So we doubled back, bought tickets, walked back again, and finally got in. There was a sign by the ticket office that reminded everyone,

"Be sure that you got your tickets."

We wandered into the amphitheatre, where the acoustics were amazing. Which they're supposed to be, but it was still cool to experience. I just realized Jerash was my third set of Roman ruins but the first two amphitheatres I'd been in. Cool. Anyway. At one point I was at the top of the theatre and Nick was on stage. He started reciting Shakespeare and I could make out every word perfectly. It's so crazy that they figured how to do that so long ago. Here's the video. It's a little hard to hear on my camera, but you can kinda make it out.

And here's me in the amphtheatre.

We wandered more after that and saw more old things. As we were walking Jennifer realized she was hearing Amazing Grace on bagpipes from somewhere. Way off in the distance we saw people in the hippodrome and we're pretty sure that's where it was coming from. I tried recording it and if you listen closely about halfway through the video, you can kind of hear it. It's not Amazing Grace at this point, but some song I've heard a lot. On bagpipes. Maybe at parades? Not sure.

From there we went to the Sanctuary of Artemis. Nick jumped down a hole that maybe used to be a well? And came out the side via a tunnel. Apparently if you climb back up the hole you get a free ring or something. (The Bedouin guy who jumps in the hole first was selling souvenirs and water and stuff. "Authentic" jewelry, I'm sure. Also in the video you can hear Jennifer talking to the two tourist police guys who were sitting there drinking water or tea or something.)

One of the columns of the temple moves with the wind. It's freaky. Watch the spoon.

After that we made our way to the second amphitheatre. Except we took the hard way. As in, we climbed down hills of loose dirt and walked across old stone and I think we were actually walking across the top of the walls of the stage. At one point the stones were barely wide enough for a foot and there was nothing to grab onto and I completely froze. It was scary. I didn't even think I was going to be able to backtrack, but I did. I definitely thought at one point that I would wind up just standing there forever. It didn't help that all the stuff in my backpack was moving around and throwing me off balance. Woo, I'm crazy. But we found a better way around and chilled in the shade of the theatre for a time. As we were going out the door carved in the hill (told you we took the hard way), we passed a group of Americans. I said hi. One guy asked if I was from Boston and I just stared at him. I knew I didn't say anything with an accent so I had no idea how he knew. And then it dawned on my I was wearing my Sox hat. I am so awesome.

We made our way out from there, down the colonnade and past a whole bunch of tourists who were just entering the city. It was pretty awesome; we'd gotten there around 8 am and were done by 10:15 ish. We started to walk to the bus station to take a microbus to Ajloun when this random guy stopped his pickup and was like "Ajloun?" And he said he'd take us there for 4 JD. So we agreed. And it wound up being him and two other Jordanian guys in the front seat and one plus Nick, me, and Jennifer in the back. It reminded me so much of grand taxis in Morocco. It was riduclous and awesome though. We just kept sitting there like "Is this really happening? Are we really doing this right now?" And yes, yes we were. The other three guys eventually got out and Nick moved up to the front seat. Ajloun wound up being farther than we expected.

The ticket office of the castle is at the base of the really steep hill, so we bought our tickets and got back in Mohammad's truck and he drove us up. And he waited for us so he could take us back to Amman for 15 JD (cheaper than a taxi and less hassle than finding a bus!). It took us under a half hour to make our way through the entire castle. Though Mohammad came in looking for us.

Looking like a goof in the castle.

We left the castle just after noon, and we were hungry. We asked Mohammad where the best food in Ajloun was that we could get to go. And in typical Middle Eastern fashion, we wound up at his cousin's restaurant. And got shawarma. And it wasn't to go. But whatever, it was tasty. Then we stopped at a pastry shop across the street and got knafeh (sp?). I have no idea what it was but it was so good. The finally we were on our way back to Amman. On the way he took it upon himself to be our tour guide, pointing out different kinds of trees on the side of the road, pointing out a huge Palestinian refugee camp, making us take pictures of a lake/river/something. It was a special experience. We got back to ACOR sometime between 2 and 230. It was a great day because we got so much done and in such a short time.

After taking a nap I went downstairs to hang out. Jennifer and I kept saying we wanted to go out to a cafe somewhere but never wound up actually going, and then it was too late to go. So we just stayed there and talked to people. It was a pretty great day and I was pleased. Except that I was really tired but was still dumb and didn't go to bed until around midnight that night even though I had to get up at 6 the next morning. Whoops.

Here's Mohammad's truck. Parked on the side of the road when he wanted us to get out and take pictures of the landscape.

Jerash & Ajloun!

Daily trivia

• 16:51 so we didn't go to yarmouk today. but that's okay. i think somehow yesterday's adventure was much more fun than today's. #
• 22:07 just had a great time at a syrian restaurant. 6 people ate tons of food for 10 JD? win. #

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Daily trivia

• 07:01 went to bed before anyone at home thought about it, and got up before most actually went to bed. time zones are weird. #
• 18:29 went to bed late-ish, got up super early, explored super quickly, took a 2.5 hour nap, and now my sense of time is completely screwed up #
• 21:28 whyyyyy won't my photos upload to the interwebs? #
• 21:58 facebook just ate my video. aaaack. what is the problem here? #

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Whoops

I'd planned on writing about Jerash and Ajloun almost immediately after we got back, but I took a nap and then fought with Facebook to upload my photos. And now it's 11:13 at night and we're leaving at 7:45 tomorrow morning to go to Um Qais, Yarmouk, and Irbid, so I really don't have time to go into detail about it. I will post soon. ("Soon" is relative, but it will come.)

Daily trivia

• 06:53 well that's unfortunate. my toothbrush cover thing just launched itself into the toilet. #
• 07:13 no classes on july 4!! epic win. i am sleeping ALL DAY. #
• 14:56 it's so weird to look out and see nothing but buildings on the horizon. all kinds of hills and just white limestone buildings... #
• 22:43 jerash in the morning. woooo. #

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Daily trivia

• 15:50 going to jerash on friday. woot! #
• 22:37 it's such a beautiful night. i miss seeing the stars though. morocco was good for something. #

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Daily trivia

• 09:05 these classes make me so happy i dont have anything at 8 am this fall. #
• 14:28 mmm, tutoring appointment. ask me how -not- excited i am. why did i sign up for this? #
• 16:19 49 days til i'm home. who's excited? #
• 19:44 spiders in my buildingggg. no me gusta. #
• 21:19 my american phone is falling apart. woooooot. #

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Daily trivia

• 16:19 had mandatory blood tests today in order to extend our visas. that was a fun experience. #
• 16:20 in other news, i hate wearing skirts. #
• 18:47 "okay who leaves the empty toilet paper rolls in the bathroom?" "this is how wars are started!" #

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Daily trivia

• 07:19 creepy spider on the stairs. eek. #
• 16:00 i really wish i hadnt left my arabic book at home. i had most of the exercises already done. :( #
• 20:09 multi-tasking like a pro. meaning i'm updating my blog while i upload photos. lolz. #

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Jordanian things

It rained yesterday. And by rained I mean it barely sprinkled. But water fell from the sky and I felt it. Ergo it rained in Jordan and I am inexplicably excited by this.

We had a scavenger hunt around Amman yesterday. They split us into 4 groups and we had to go to different places according to clues they gave us. It was fun, but we spent a lot of money on taxis which was kind of lame. I'm sure they factored it in when they gave us our stipends, but oh well. We went to a cafe in downtown, the national art museum, the citadel (ROMAN RUINS FTW), and finally to a cool-looking mosque. It rained while we were at the mosque. After that we all regrouped at a restaurant off Rainbow Street called The Bakehouse. It was an American-style pancake house. It was awesome. Except they lacked bacon and it made me sad. But I ate an omelette for the first time in years. It was stuffed with veggies so I probably couldn't taste the egg so much. I hate eggs, but all three of the meals we could choose from (they'd already arranged it since 40+ people would be there) came with either an omelette or stuffed scrambled eggs, so I chanced it. I won't jump at the chance to get an omelette again, but it wasn't awful. The citadel was pretty epic. We didn't spend a lot of time there because we wanted to win the scavenger hunt (come to find out there were no winners) but now I know how to get there and it only costs 2 JD to get in, so it can easily be done later. I definitely need to go back though because there's all kinds of fun stuff. I am a nerd. Although I really think that nothing can beat Olympos at this point. Except maybe if I go see a show of some kind in the amphitheatre. That would be epic.

So as far as Amman itself goes, I really like it. It's definitely not walking-friendly and you pretty much need to take taxis to get anywhere (or probably buses if we could figure out the system, but they start to fail after sundown anyway so it's sometimes not worth it). But it's a huge city with a lot of history and a lot of people. And crazy drivers. Somehow I can see myself living here in the future. Not that I particularly want to, but I could do it. (As opposed to Ifrane or Chambéry, for example.) It would be a lot easier in the future too because I could dress better too. The problem right now is that Qasid, where we have class, is a very conservative environment, so we have to be pretty covered (eg sleeves past the elbows and skirts/pants past the knees). Elsewhere in the city it's acceptable to wear less. I've seen some Jordanian women wearing less than some of us. And of course I feel like a tool wearing long skirts that I hate wearing anyway and in huge airy tunic tops. Oh well, whatever. Needless to say most of the girls are a little annoyed that we can wear pretty much what they told us is not acceptable and that some of us all left at home. Meh.

I'm also annoyed with myself for having left my metal water bottle at home. I didn't bring it because you can't drink the tap water here. Except you can buy two liter bottles of water really cheaply AND there's boiled/filtered water here in our building. So a ton of people brought their water bottles with them and are refilling from there. I bought one right before I came but left it at home and thinking I couldn't use it. :( Except I went to a supermarket here last week and got a water bottle that was attached to a 6-pack of flavored milk in a box. Don't ask. So I have a water bottle now. Doesn't hurt to have two, I guess. But hey, only 7 weeks til I go home so I can be reunited with my other one soon enough. =P

(So I was in the middle of typing this and then got distracted. I forgot where else I was going, so now you just get this and I will maybe continue later.)

Photos! Finally!

Daily trivia

• 16:56 i ate an omelette today for the first time since i was a little kid. not so bad. still not a fan of eggs though. #
• 17:25 not a fan of the way my new computer organizes my photos. :( old computer was much better at it. #
• 18:05 awww, i think my face got sunburned today. sad face. #
• 21:46 definitely got sunburned. not a happy kitty. my nose is definitely bright red. #

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Daily trivia

• 22:22 mmm, mcdonald's. that was fun. #
• 22:26 oh hay. the reason i couldn't get in touch with vcu yesterday? i was calling their fax number. hurr durr. #

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Week 1 Recap. Ish.

So we've been here a little over a week now and it feels like we've been here forever. Quick recap:

Friday we went to lunch at a Yemeni restaurant and spoke Arabic. Fun stuff. I had no idea what I actually ordered, but it was tasty. And authentic, because there were definitely no utensils. You had to use bread and/or your hands. Nom nom nom. (It's hard when you're eating rice.) More orientating. Friday night we went to Souk Jara, a flea market-type-thing run by the residents' association. Not a lot of traditional stuff, but fun to look at. And they have tasty food. Watermelon juice, cookies, pancakes covered in chocolate and strawberries... mmm. After that I went with Morgan and Emily to a restaurant on Rainbow Street where we got hummus (yum!) and some other stuff I don't know the names of. And while we were there a wedding party came in. It was pretty cool. They were playing instruments and singing loudly and the women were making this yodelly noise that women do here. Fun to watch.

Saturday was orientation at Qasid, the place where we're taking our classes. After Qasid I went and joined a gym. Woo. Super expensive and pretty small, but all of this is by American standards of course, and I think it's actually one of the cheaper ones around? Sounds like it anyway. But they gave us money for the summer so I don't feel too bad about it. If nothing else the price is assurance that I will go, if only to justify it. Went to a cheap, tasty restaurant across the street from Qasid. Large falafel sandwich and 1.5 liter bottle of water for 1 JD? Yes please!

Classes started on Sunday. Our Sunday-Thursday schedule looks like this:
8am - 12:30 pm = class. 5-7pm = Various required activities. 7-8(ish)pm = dinner. From 8am-3pm we can only speak Arabic, as well as during activities and dinner. And when we go on weekend trips those are all-Arabic too. From 3:20-3:40 I have an appointment with my speaking partner as well. Sunday and Monday we work on amiyya (Jordanian dialect) and Tuesday and Wednesday we work on MSA. This time is horribly in convenient in terms of my getting to the gym, but we didn't get to pick so yeah. Thursday from 4-5 we have weekly quizzes. Yesterday's didn't go as well as I'd expected. Not horribly, but I wasn't expecting it to be in the format it was in and we had an essay question that came out of left field that we all struggled with. Stuff happens.

Last night I went with a few people to get ice cream downtown. It was a little expensive, but tasty. Nutella ice cream ftw. Then we joined just about everyone at a movie that was part of the week-long Franco-Arab Film Festival. It was pretty good. After that a group of us wound up walking like 45 minutes from downtown to Rainbow Street. Up and down hills, up epic staircases of death, through a random restaurant... it was so special. And kind of awesome. Amman is really pretty at night. And in the distance we could see some of the Roman ruins. I have to get there eventually. Our group ran into some other CLS people who'd wisely taken taxis to Rainbow Street and we all splintered. My group wound up on the roof of a restaurant where we got pizza and shisha/hookah/argileh/whatever you want to call it. It was cold, but fun. On the taxi ride back, a car jumped the median and we saw it driving in the left lane, going the wrong way on our side of the street, only on its two left wheels. It was ridiculous. Luckily there were no cars driving in that lane or there would have been a horrific accident. As we drove by there was a cloud of dust/smoke and small debris. But the driver got control of the car not long after and I'm pretty sure he got out of the car and walked around. (Our taxi driver had pulled over and was watching to see what happened. As crazy as they drive around here, if there's an accident pretty much everyone just stops their cars in the middle of the street and runs over to help.)

Today Morgan and Rebecca got their hair done at a salon and Morgen and I went along for the ride. Afterward I went with Morgan and Morgen to a souk, then to lunch, then downtown where we were looking for another souk in Morgen's guidebook (which she'd forgotten to bring. Which is usually what happens with guidebooks). Wandered around a lot in the same area we walked through last night. It was pretty uncomfortable because we were surrounded by men. The streets were super super crowded. And it was different from being in crowded areas like Moroccan medinas because at least there there are lots of tourists and there are other women. Here we were obviously out of our element. Sexual harassment is so much fun. So much. Anyway, Morgen eventually called Emily (our sort-of RA who is our go-to for questions about where to go and what to see) to find out where this thing was, and it turns out it's on Rainbow Street right next to Souk Jara. Whoops. We wandered in there for a little bit and came home. I took a nap unintentionally; I'd gone into my room to get my phone and somehow wound up sleeping for three hours even though my bed was covered in stuff. I am awesome. Woke up, went downstairs, went to McDonald's with people. It wasn't bad. It wasn't stellar, but not bad. The fries were good. And now I don't have to worry about getting there again to fulfill my... tradition? I don't know. But I've been to a McDonald's in every country I've been to since Spring 09. It wasn't intentional when it started, but now I'm continuing it, I guess. I'm weird, I know.

I'd planned on writing a lot more about what Amman is actually like and whatever, but it's midnight now and I have to go to bed. We're all operating on a chronic lack of sleep right now, I think. Between jet lag and crazy schedules and now 8am classes with lots of homework, it's really hard to catch up. You have to go to bed between 9 and 10 at night to get a full night's sleep, and there's just no time for that. And during the week there's not time to do much of anything. But we have a scavenger hunt in the morning, so it's bedtime for kitty so she isn't super grumpy. If I have time tomorrow I'll try to write more. And post photos. I've not taken many yet but I'll try to get them up soon.

Daily trivia

• 07:29 blogging fail. oh well. one of these days maybe. #
• 10:11 sleeeeepy. but it actually feels chilly today. and not unbearably hot. now if only i weren't in class. #
• 20:00 mmmm food. food is tasty. i am eloquent. #
• 22:57 quiz tomorrow! oh dear. i should probably study. but who does that? #

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Daily trivia

• 14:11 tasty tasty tasty falafel sammich. sammich + mountain dew = less than a dollar? WIN. #
• 14:39 it is REALLY. WINDY. right now. helps with the heat, not so much with the dust everywhere. #
• 15:46 going to try to get a legit blog post up tonight. not making any promises though. #
• 18:40 tore the sleeve on my favorite (new!) shirt today. the first time i wore it. i am so awesome. :( #
• 20:17 DUDE. there is an ancient ruin OUTSIDE MY WINDOW. NEXT TO MY BUILDING. from the hellenistic period. omg this is unreal. #

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Daily trivia

• 07:01 oh boo. i forgot true blood was on last night. not that i would be able ro watch it. i know what im doing when i get home then. #
• 10:17 speaking arabic all day is not as hard as i thought but limited vocabulary makes it a little iffy #
• 22:52 went to the gym today. it was pretty awesome, even if it is a pain to get to. #

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Daily trivia

• 07:30 classes start in half an hour. we have ten minutes left to speak english. eeeek! #
• 14:55 made it through the first day of classes. didn't go to the gym like i'd planned. whoops. #
• 15:45 oh wow. just had my first session with my jordanian speaking partner and bombed fantastically. not that i've been exposed to 'amiyya before. #
• 21:50 arabic overload. whaaaaaaaaaa. #

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Daily trivia

• 16:25 mmm, falafel and hummus. i love this place. #

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Ahlan wa Sahlan!

I'm in Jordan!

I left home on Sunday morning. It took us forever to find the right check-in counter for my flight; my itinerary said United, but it was actually a codeshare flight they run with US Airways, so we had to go to an entirely different terminal. Then to the second or third US Airways counter because apparently they have them in different places for different destinations? Awesome. And then something happened that's never happened to me before. My bag still had room in it for a bunch of stuff! But it was still overweight. Wut? Luckily I'd brought a duffel bag in case my bag was overweight (it felt like it when I dragged it down the stairs in the morning, but I was hoping I was just weak). My plan was to have Mom and Dad just bring random things home with them in that bag, but my suitcase was overeight by six pounds and I really couldn't take that much out. It's likely because of the extra sunscreen and aloe and everything else I brought. So since I only had one carry-on at that point I tossed random clothes and shoes and things into the duffel bag and took that as a carry-on as well. Huzzah.

It was in the 60s (maybe) and raining/yucky outside when I left Boston. When I got to DC it was 90 and humid beyond belief. I'd forgotten what humidity was like. Went to the hotel where orientation was. My taxi driver was Lebanese. We talked in Arabic. Very little. Hung out in my room for a while. Went down and talked to people in our meeting room thing before orientation actually started. Orientated. Then just about everyone in the group wound up going to an Ethiopian restaurant. It was pretty good. No idea what we ate. (Yeah we ordered it, but that doesn't mean we knew what it meant!) Came back, watched the premiere of True Blood on HBO, and passed out at like 1030. It was good.

The next day was entirely orientation. As a group we went out to Maggiano's for dinner. That was amazing. The food was SO. GOOD. And then it decided to pour when we left. Fun times.

Tuesday we had all to ourselves until 5:15 pm. I went with Brittney, Jennifer, and Kelly on a hop-on hop-off bus tour of DC. Or parts of it. We saw the White House, the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial, and drove into Arlington. Got lunch at a cool place with delicious salads and bread. Nom nom nom. Kelly had watermelon habanero lemondae, which was really interesting. Tasty, but bizarre. We made it back to the hotel just in time, basically, because the bus that was supposed to run like every ten or twenty minutes didn't come around for at least half an hour when we were waiting. But we made it, which it what counts.

We took buses to Dulles from DC. It's not as close as I thought it was. When we were on the highway I kept seeing signs for Richmond and it made me homesick for VCU. Aww. I suppose this is to be expected when I've not been there in a year and a half? (Two days last summer to pick up my junk from storage and to get paperwork signed does not count.) Sat in the airport for hours. I slept most of the flight to London, but when I woke up I didn't feel like I'd slept at all. And of course we were all tired having gotten up early for orientation and whatnot, and then wandering around DC for the day. Spent 3-4 hours in Heathrow waiting. Got the flight to Amman. Can I just say I hate United? And all American flag-carriers? They're awful compared to all the European airlines I've flown. And EgyptAir. And even Royal Air Maroc. Their counter service leaves a lot to be desired, but the flight we took to Cairo was actually pretty good. But anyway.

Our flight from London was delayed over an hour, I think, so we finally got to Amman at like 10-something at night? Then there was a long drive to ACOR. Then a meeting. Then we came up to our rooms and I wound up unpacking most of my stuff. Before I gave up and just tossed all the little things that didn't have a home into a pile on my floor. Classy. I'm in an apartment with three other people (Morgan, Morgen, and Rebecca). We have a kitchen but no cooking utensils and really it's almost not worth it to cook here. Two meals a day are provided for us and we got a stipend of 708 JD ($1000) when we got here to cover like travel expenses and the odd meal of the day and whatnot. A lot of people are trying not to eat out often and to save the money but I'm not going to. Not that I plan on going out and blowing all my money, and yes it is a lot of money, but I'm not going to live like a pauper either. Aaaand whatever we bring home is probably going to be lost in translation/conversion at the airport. Oh well. We'll see what happens at the end of the summer.

So far we've spent all our time being orientated again. And having super intensive dialect classes. It's crazy. And exhausting. And fun. Last night I went out with Morgan and Michael to a a street called Shari'a Rainbow. It's a cool place and stuff happens there. We got shwarma at a place called Shwarmama and it was highly amusing. Then we went next door to it to a small ice cream place called Lucky Licious. Apparently it's Brangelina's favorite ice cream place in either Amman or all of Jordan, I can't remember. I doubt it, but this is what we heard. Whatever.

And that is what we've done so far. Wahoo.

Recap: Morocco

So as the past few posts have demonstrated, I was really not a fan of being in Morocco by the end of the semester. The problem wasn't with Morocco itself so much as the stupid school. If it were in a city somewhere it would have been much more bearable, because there would have been things to do. Ifrane was really quiet, really small, and really far away from everything, to the point that you had to take a 1-hour taxi ride just to get to a train station. And AUI was also so small and closed in and nothing happened. Having been at VCU and Savoie, where everything is wide open, I found AUI really suffocating at the end.

The food in Morocco was pretty good, the sights I saw were great. I could/should have done more travelling but that's a moot point right now I guess. I would like to go back some day, if only to take a week or two and see everything I didn't see. It's harder when you only have a weekend and everything is so far apart and you have to get back to your home in the middle of nowhere. At best you have maybe a day to see things, and you have to spend most of the weekend travelling and you wind up spending a lot of money on food and hotels and whatever. If I could just go back and plan on seeing it all and spending that money I've be perfectly happy. And I could speak French, fusha, and darija and get lower prices. =P And know where to look for the cheaper stores, restaurants, etc.

I know I complained a lot about it but I think it was more out of pent up frustration than anything. Even getting out of Ifrane for a few hours to go to Fes or something was a good time, which leads me to think that really it was just Ifrane and being stuck at AUI. I don't think I'd want to live in Morocco for an extended period of time. I could do it, but nowhere did I ever look around and think "Yeah, I could live here." I've felt that way about France and right now I kinda think that about Amman. Morocco just never hit me that way and I couldn't tell you why.

It's strange. When I left France I wished I'd decided to spend a year there instead (not at Chambéry, of course, but had I spent a year there I'd likely have spent it at a different school); when I left Morocco I wished I'd only done a semester. But then again, some of the people who left AUI at Christmas said they wished they were staying. First semester was a lot of fun so who could've known I'd get so tired of it? Ah well.

I know I could have travelled more. A lot more. But I also don't like doing tourist things, so that cuts out a lot of what there was to do. I'd rather find things off the beaten path, so to speak. Like hiking in Chefchaouen. That was infinitely more fun than just going to Chaouen and hanging out for a day/weekend. I actually didn't even like the town for the few hours we were there. So yeah, if I had the time to spend there on my own I'd probably like it more.

Okay at this point I'm just rambling it seems. Cutting this off here before I start repeating myself even more. Yalla bye bye!

Ancient Ruins! Moroccan Edition

So this post is a long time coming, especially considering how short it's going to be. But sometime in April (?) Patti and I went to Volubilis, an ancient Roman city outside of Meknes. It was a pretty cool place. Getting there was kind of anti-climactic though. I'd been wanting to go since the beginning of the semester, so there was a huge buildup of excitement and anticipation. Once I finally got there it wasn't as awesome as I'd expected. :( It was still cool, but I think I build it up in my head. Having gone to the ruins in Turkey didn't help very much, because they were so much more epic.

That said, Volubilis is pretty much just the foundations of a bunch of houses, plus two big gates and some random walls. Not very well preserved. Some of the buildings had mosaics as floors and those were roped off but were still easily accessible so they're a little worn down. I'm glad I went, but it's not something I'd jump at the chance to go back to. Ah, well.

Photos

I. Hate. Morocco.

So my plan was to be in Madrid right now, working on posts about the second half of the semester during my 11-hour layover. Where am I actually? In the airport in Casablanca. Still. Why? Because people who work for Royal Air Maroc are idiots. There are better words to use for them, but this is a family-friendly environment.

I got here at like 1 this afternoon after sharing a van with another girl. Her flight isn't til tomorrow but we had to be out of the dorms today so she was going to spend the night here anyway. So we pretty much sat around waiting for check-in for my 6:15 flight to open. By 6 it hadn't actually opened. There was nothing on the departure boards or anything at all. I asked at the information desk if it was late and the woman told me yes, it was leaving at 7:15 now. So I wait. And I call Natalie by accident because somehow her number was saved in my phone as "Mom." Okay. And then I got really confused, and then I really called Mom. And while I'm talking to her, the check-in desk gets posted so I hang up on her and grab my stuff and run. And wait. And once it's my turn to check in, the woman tells me that my ticket is not in the system because I booked with Iberia. It was a codeshare flight run by Royal Air Maroc. Okay, whatever. So I have to go talk to the manager guy, who fixes it in no time. I go back to check in and not only the lady whom I talked to first but also three other agents all get up and leave their desks. Apparently their shifts were over?

At this point it's like 6:25. I stand there looking exasperated in a line with no agent, and another passenger comes over and starts asking me where I'm going and when and whatever. And he takes my passport and receipt and hands it to the nearest attendant (they were playing musical desks, too; the two who were left kept running around from one desk to another) and tells him I need to be checked in because my flight is leaving soon. The guy comes over, freaks out over my bags (two of them, which I am actually allowed but he was apparently unaware) because they're too heavy (which they're not), runs around and says he needs a supervisor or something. Then when he finally figures out what's going on, he tells me he can't check me in because the system already closed it and the plane is boarding and it's too late. And I should wait 5 minutes til the supervisor comes back. The supervisor comes back twenty minutes later, during which time I've been standing at the check-in desk crying and therefore being stared at by RAM employees and passengers alike. And in the meantime there's a woman loudly berating another attendant in darija and a little French because something similar happened to her and she missed her flight as well. That was fun.

Attendant man takes me into the supervisor's office, supervisor looks at the flight on his computer and tells me there's nothing they can do because the plane has already left. It's 6:50 at this point. I told him two different people told me it was leaving at 7:15 so why has it already left, and he shrugs at me. Attendant man tells me the next RAM flight to Madrid leaves at 9 am. Which is great, considering my Madrid-London flight was scheduled to leave at 7. Then he says I can fly to Heathrow with them instead, except I'd be landing at the exact time my flight to Boston should leave. And then he says it's okay, I should just call British Airways and tell them to hold the plane for me til I get there. Uh... yeah. I'm sure they'll be happy to. I'll get right on that.

So I go to the RAM ticket agency, while on the phone crying to Mom. She calls Iberia while I'm in there. The guy is a complete tool and is incredibly patronizing. He tells me- tells me- "Oh you missed it because you were late." This after I've explained to him that I was watching the boards for two hours and ran to the counter as soon as it was posted. And the entire story. And he still tells me it must be my fault. I can buy a flight to Boston through JFK on RAM if I want, but I have to pay for it. Or I can go to the Iberia desk and work it out, but they're closed til tomorrow. Or, okay, he can try to call Iberia for me and arrange something, but first I have to call and make sure I can change my British Airways tickets. And I just stared at him and asked if he were serious. And repeated that this is not my fault. And he still doesn't care. It's not their fault either and they're not going to pay for it. So I was like, fine I'll go call British Airways. And he tells me that first I need to "settle down" because I'm "too emotional." Gee, ya think? After I've been sitting there crying and telling him I've been here since August and I just want to go home and I have no money with which to buy a new ticket. (Exaggeration? Maybe. But it probably would have helped were I dealing with someone who had a soul.) This guy was an enormous jerk and no help whatsoever.

So I call Expedia and they tell me I need to deal directly with BA. I don't think they really understood my problem either; they kept telling me I hadn't missed my flight (from Madrid) because it wasn't leaving til tomorrow morning. I called BA, got a 5-minute spiel about how disappointed they are that the union is striking and here's what to do, and then the call ends. I have no idea what happened. Mom called me right then anyway, and said the women at the Iberia call center could see, on her computer, that I had gone to the right place and tried to check in. Are you kidding me?? Lots of crying and angering later, and after finding out it would cost $2k to change my BA flights, I have a ticket home through Paris tomorrow because Mommy and Daddy love me. I'm supposed to leave here at 7:50 am, have a 2-hour layover in Charles de Gaulle, and get home at 3:05pm, which is only 1.5 hours after I was initially supposed to be there.

I have another ticket home leaving here on Thursday at like 1:45 am and I was ready just to stay here til then. Which is a really depressing thought. Ugh. But I should be home in 19 hours now. Insha'allah. British airports are now closed from 1am to 7am because of ash. Hopefully Paris won't close at least until I get there. If I get stuck in Paris, so be it. At least it won't be Morocco.

Bah.

I hate this school. I can't wait to get out of here. It's Friday of the week before finals and the internet is down across campus. Wireless and wired. I have a paper due Monday and one due a week from tomorrow and surprise, I can't get anything done because I can't do research. Granted I have some books from the library but those only go so far because they only mention my topic in passing. I can't even make productive use of my time right now and pack or clean my room or something because it's after 1pm and my roommate is asleep. All she ever does is sleep and it's ridiculous. She'll disappear late in the afternoon or evening and not come back til 3 am (or later), make as much noise as she possibly can, and then sleep until well into the afternoon. She complains that she's doing badly in her classes and can't afford to repeat any of them, but she never goes to class. It's ridiculous. I'm so sick of this place and all of the idiot people who populate it. I'd like to say this wasn't an awful choice but now that I'm at the tail end of it, I don't know if I can honestly say that.

The hilarious part is that AUI is supposed to be the best university in Morocco. If that's the case, no wonder the country can't figure out up from down. AUI students are supposed to be the best and brightest but it's all a joke. They're more worried about the clothes they're wearing (if you can call them clothes) and having the newest (fake) designer purse or about going out to the (seriously awful) clubs in Ifrane and picking up guys/girls.

I'm not going to feel guilty anymore about not liking it here. I think we all feel that way. Morocco is great, but you know what? My day-to-day routine does not involve Morocco, it involves the stupidity of this school. When you tell people you're studying in Morocco they're all like, “You're going to have a great time! It's so exotic! You're going to learn so much about the culture and the people and it's going to be great and you're going to remember it for the rest of your life!” and all kinds of other things that make you feel like you have to like it. And you know what? I don't. I HATE this school. And this school makes up most of my Moroccan experience. So no, I'm not enjoying it here. And if I remember it it will largely be because it's so horrible. The internet is entirely unreliable and doing any kind of work is a challenge because you never know if it's going to cut out on you. Skype is a joke; what kind of phone call is it when you have to reconnect every three minutes? The library has the most ridiculous hours; it doesn't open til noon on Saturday (then closes at 6) and 2pm on Sunday. When they say it closes at 6, they mean they start kicking people out at 5:40 so they can leave at 6 if not before. Books are never where they should be. And even though finals don't end til next Saturday? All books are due back on Tuesday and can't be checked out after that date. And yes, they're serious. Not to mention that no one seems to understand the concept of being quiet in a library. Talking on the phone is not ever a quiet thing. Even the staff aren't quiet. There's almost no point in going, except since we can only check out SIX books at once, it's generally all but required to sit there and collect a pile of books if you want to get anything done. And then you have to hide them or recollect them the next day if you don't finish with them. It's awesome.

The food is barely worth talking about. It goes without saying that college food is low quality, but this place is sub-par. None of the food has any nutritional value (the vegetables are mush) and a good bit of it is fried. On the weekends they close two of the restaurant options, leaving us to choices of fried things or more fried things. There's no variety at all and when there's fruit, it looks rotten. What's the point?

The health center is anything but. They don't listen when you tell them what symptoms you have, insist that you have some other ailment, and if they give you medication at all they pull it out of a drawer full of medicines, give you a sheet of pills without telling you what it is or why you're supposed to take it, and tell you to come back only after you've finished the medicine if you've not gotten better. I'm pretty sure I'm anemic right now, and when I went to the health center after spring break they gave me a steroid “to fight fatigue”and told me to come back in ten days. And by steroid I mean when I Googled the name of it it was actually being sold on websites that cater to bodybuilders and is used to be able to prolong your workouts and get better results. I went back and told them I wasn't taking it, and they put it right back in the magic drawer. Are. You. Serious? And the best part is I won't even know whether or not I am anemic or if it's something else til I go home because they can't even do the simple blood test here! I'd have to go to Fes early in the morning someday to get it done. And it may not be the best life choice not do get it done, but you know what? I'm not going to a hospital anywhere in Morocco. I avoid AUI's health center as much as a possibly can; there's no way I'm going anywhere near any other supposed medical institution. Not a chance.

And then there's the fact that it's so repressive. I understand that parents don't want their kids going crazy, but you know what? If they're going to be delinquents once they leave the house, the problem lies in how they were raised. Having the school act like a babysitter because your adult children don't know how to behave themselves? Not solving the problem. Especially not when there're two liquor stores, two night clubs, and bars in town that all sell alcohol to anyone (except during Ramadan and Muslim holidays, because legal trouble would ensue). So really, what's the point of barring alcohol on campus? Especially when people bring it in anyway. And this segregated dorms business is absolutely ridiculous. There are very few places on campus where you can actually hang out with friends of the opposite sex: restaurants, outside, the lobby of my building, the joke of a student center, or in the hallways of the few class buildings that happen to have chairs or couches. What people want to do behind closed doors is their business; we're all adults here. I just want to be able to go somewhere to watch a movie or something without having to drown out the noise of a dozen other people doing the same thing in the same place or worrying that we could actually be expelled because people are stuck in the middle ages. (Do I really worry about it? No. But they will actually expel you should you get caught.) And really, it should say something to the parents that when AUI started filtering the internet, the main complaint of the Facebook group against said filter was that they could no longer download or watch porn.

It's not like I thought coming to a third-world country was going to be made of rainbows and butterflies and unicorns. Of course I knew there would be restrictions to what we could do and where we could go. And I knew sexual harassment would be a problem. But when it gets to the point that we go out expecting it, that cars slowing down and driving along side us with guys yelling out the window is more an annoyance now than a cause for concern, and that a bunch of kids who couldn't have been more than 14 years old found it perfectly acceptable to badger us at a soccer game, that's when it gets absolutely ridiculous. And I know Jordan will be the same if not worse. But Morocco is supposed to be one of the most liberal countries in the MENA region. There's no reason for this other than sheer stupidity. I'm so tired of everything here.

It's 2pm now. My roommate is still asleep. And still manages to be obnoxious while sleeping. The internet still doesn't work and I'm getting sick of playing this stupid game of “will it or won't it?” The best part is that it says I'm actually connected to the network, that the speed of the connection is very good, but that there's limited connectivity. Someone explain to me how this works? I went down to the IT people thinking maybe it was just my dinosaur of a computer being temperamental. Three other girls were down there and one finally explained to me that the guy was telling them in darija that yes, the internet is down all across campus but they've identified the problem and it should be fixed by this afternoon. This was an hour and a half ago? They probably went to lunch and decided they'd fix it later. Thanks so much.

It's not helping my mood knowing that right now I should be 15 days away from graduating. I know this is my choice and that obviously there's good reason for it, because studying abroad three semesters can't really hurt my resume or whatever, but I am so. Over. School. I want to get out of here. I want to be done and move on with my life. Knowing that most of my friends at VCU are graduating in two weeks doesn't help. Nor does knowing that I could have graduated last spring. Again, this was my choice and it's for the best, but it doesn't make it any better. I'm to the point where I don't care what I get in my classes, so long as I can pass and get credit for them at VCU so I don't have to repeat them and stay a full year. Sure it bothers me that I have this attitude now, because I've always made real attempts at school and tried to do my best. Before I went to France (the grades from there are an entirely different story because VCU's system is stupid), I had two B's in chemistry and a C in calculus that I learned on my own. Everything else was an A and I was proud of it. The fact that all I care about is getting C's in my classes now is not a good thing at all. And I can't bring myself to care. I just want out of this stupid school. I have two papers and two exams standing between me and freedom and they can't get over fast enough.

I wish I could write papers as fast as I've written this 2.5-page Word document. But I've got half a page of one of my papers written so far, and I have a few books I can try to mine for information before the internet comes back, if at all. If it doesn't I swear I will destroy something. And considering it's 2:20 now, I'm also done being the conscientious roommate. My stuff needs to get packed, and if AUI won't let me use the internet to work on my papers, then I'm going to pack all my stuff and not care how loud I happen to be. I'm not planning my day around other people who do nothing but waste oxygen.