By allisonray94
!مرحبا
My name is Allison and I'm blogging this semester from Amman, Jordan. Today was my first full day in Amman and the beginning of the Middlebury School's orientation. Orientation Week is particularly crucial for this study abroad program, as it's the only time during the semester that we will be allowed to speak in English. It's all Arabic after this.
Orientation was helpful, but by far the best experience of the day began afterwards, when we met our mentors (مرشدون) and began to explore Amman. We grabbed coffee at a local shop (where smoking indoors is still very cool) and talked for a while. The mentors are all University of Jordan students. It's really calming to talk to someone your own age who understands both Jordanian culture and that of American study abroad students. The mentors also give us some idea of what modern Amman is like. The female mentors all wore hijabs, but one of them cursed continually and talked openly about politics. Lara, my mentor, wears skinny jeans and loves Dan Brown books. None of this is particularly earth-shattering I guess, but every new detail about their lives feels like a small piece to the intricate puzzle of Jordanian identity.
So far, my only other source for extended interactions is my host family, who live in the house above mine and my roommate's basement apartment. We have the most contact with Eman; as the mother, she is in charge of the children (including us). She has four children, one live-in servant, and a husband who I have yet to meet. She's also in charge of feeding us breakfast and dinner, which is great because she's an excellent cook. Tonight's dinner was mansaf. The national dish of Jordan, it's lamb and rice soaked in a yogurt gravy. And it's delicious. 
Overall, my first day has been filled with anxiety. Everything is different here, and that's a concept that my mind is having trouble accepting. Still, my interactions with Jordanians so far have taught me that, however different-minded we may be, at the end of the day people are just people no matter what country you're in. Maybe it'll be different once I start speaking to the mentors and my host family in Arabic, but right now the best cure for anxiety is a long conversation with another person. It makes everything strange or foreign melt away until I'm left with the warm, familiar feeling of getting to know a new friend.
That's all for now.
!مع السلامة