Loving every second of this adventure

Hi all!

It's Week 6 of my time here in Jordan, and I've totally been slacking on this whole blog thing. So I figured it was time for an update about what I've been up to in the past few weeks (Weekends are way more fun so I'll talk about those rather than the 12 hours of Arabic I have each week):

September 19-20: Wadi Rum and Petra

For one of our group trips, CIEE took us for an overnight to Wadi Rum, a desert about four hours south of Amman. There, we spent the day hiking in sand and riding camels. Here's a camel pic because those are important:

I named him Honey because he was the smallest camel in the group (aka a baby)

Spending the day in the desert was such a fantastic change of pace. Instead of crazy crowded streets and concrete buildings, all there were were rock formations and ancient Nabatean inscriptions. WE spent the night at a camp ground made complete with a nighttime hike and an attempt to go stargazing (too bad the full moon was seriously bright). 

After staying up much too late and waking up much too early, we were on our way to PETRA! A wonder of the world. And for good reason. We spent the day admiring the Treasury, climbing up all the 800+ stairs to get to the monastery and learning more about the people who built this ancient city tucked away in a bunch of rocks. Not only was it a great place to walk around (might have been nicer if it wasn't so stinkin' hot), but I came out of the day totally mentally charged. I'm so grateful that I get to experience these places, particularly now as the world looks at the Middle East as a land only of conflicts. But since I've been here in Jordan, it's hard to remember that that's what the region is known for. Jordan is so peaceful and welcoming and full of amazing stories. 

Cheeese

September 28: The day we hiked Wadi Mujib

So we decided to go canyoning at Wadi Mujib, which is this fresh water canyon right next to the Dead Sea. Needless to say, the views were fantastic and the hike was a serious adventure. They had us climbing up rocks, sliding down rocks — so many well deserved battle wounds(bruises). At the end, we got to play in a super cool waterfall. So worth it. Why go on actual water slides when you can just slide down a river?? Unfortunately, I don't have a water proof camera, so here's a photo of me by the Dead Sea after! 

It was a seriously fun weekend. Those seem to be a theme. 

Last weekend (October 3-5)

To start off the weekend, we went out for my housemate's birthday. We danced it out and fun was had by all. The next day, we took it easy and got brunch (pancakes oh how I missed you) before going to a music festival featuring local bands. They were actually pretty amazing! We'd made friends with one of the guys in a three-piece electronic band and the music they played was incredible. Trumpets and electro beats go surprisingly well together. 

But the next day we got to go to the Dead Sea for real this time and swim in it! I was lovin' it. It was so warm and fun to float around -- I wish all swimming was like it. The Dead Sea mud was fun to play in and supposedly makes your skin feel better (I got sunburnt anyway so I figure those canceled each other out). A day of relaxing and playing by the pool was definitely a good call. 

Floating woo!!! (Thanks, Erin, for the excellent pic)

To cap it all off, today I spent the time when I was supposed to have history class (it was cancelled for the week) exploring one of Amman's more quiet neighborhoods. I hung out at an art gallery, which ended up being more garden than gallery. It was great to sit in the garden with all the green and write and think. I spent some time thinking about why I'm here, what I'm getting out of this experience, and I realized it's a whole lot. 

Every minute I'm here, every time I interact with the shawerma guy or a cab driver or even just a random student at the University of Jordan who mistakes me for being French, I'm learning more about the language and more about how I fit in here. Amman is a crazy place. It's unlike any city I've ever been to. It's developing, but it's already developed. It's full of Jordanians, but also Palestinians, Iraqis and Syrians. It's a place so different from what we consider "western" and yet there are still familiar things that remind me of home (case and point, the Papa John's down the hill). 

I don't have anything earth-shattering to say about why I'm here, and I'm definitely still trying to figure it out. The easy answer of course is to say "well, I want to learn Arabic." But is that all? I'm in a location with so much history (today at the gallery there were 6th century Byzantine ruins) that it's impossible to be just that. I'm not just here to travel and do cool things — although I'm loving every second of those activities — and I'm not just here to study formal Arabic or even spoken. So why? 

There are pockets of awesome tucked into this country, and I'm loving every second of it. 

What's next you may ask???? Well, Eid al-Adha is next week, so we get the week of from classes so I'm off to... ISTANBUL!!! I'm so excited to go to such an important world capital and see the places I've studied so much in classes (hey, Ottoman Empire).

I'll be sure to send updates once I get back from Istanbul with lots of pictures :) But in the meantime, for more immediate photos, definitely feel free to follow me on Instagram or Twitter (@lydiaramsey125, or just lydiaramsey125 for Instagram)

Ma salemma!!