I'm here! Sitting in my father's old bedroom in my Grandmother's house in Amman! To get those of you up to speed, who don't already know, this semester I am studying in Amman, Jordan with the CIEE study abroad program. My homestay is my Grandma in Amman =) and I will be taking classes (in English, except for my Arabic classes) at the CIEE office which is right across the street from the University of Jordan.
The flight's all went well, except for a little rescheduling after our flight out of Seattle was cancelled since there was snow, rain, freezing rain, and more snow all the day before I left. It's been great having my Dad along for the traveling; he has some business in Jordan for the next couple of weeks. We had some fun checking into our rescheduled flight out of Sea-Tac when the British Airways ticket-agent took away our free upgrade to business class since we were switched from American Airlines which was cancelled due to weather--we tried our hardest to persuade them to honor out American Airlines upgrade, but they didn't, we flew coach. I also had a little excitement on the flight from London to Amman as I attempted to dodge some flight attendant's as I made my way to the bathroom while the fasten-seat-belt-sign was on. The flight attendants felt so adamant about NOT letting me empty my bowls, that one of them unfastened their seat belt to physically stand in front of the door to the bathroom with their hand out, palm facing me, making it explicitly clear that there was no way I would get in. Just as soon as I got back to my seat, the light ding-ed off. Go figure... Luckily I picked up a copy of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo before I left Seattle. What a gripping book!
Arriving at the baggage claim in Queen Alia International Airport felt way different than any of the other dozen or so times I've flown in. That's when it hit me, I AM NOT GOING TO BE IN AMERICA FOR FOUR MONTHS. I've stood at the baggage claim in Amman's airport dozens of times before, but this time it felt foreign. I knew I was going to be living in Amman, it would be home for the next 4 months, not just a 2 week vacation spot. Luckily there was an immediate sign that there were some similarities between Amman and back home:
I saw this sign on a cigarette carton at the duty free in Amman. I hope the author didn't create that warning because of a traumatic childhood experience..
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