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Wadi Rum, Aqaba and ISP

By amberherrle

After visiting Petra, my program took us to the desert. Wadi Rum more closely resembles Mars than it does Earth. It is no wonder that the film, Martian was filmed here. The Sahara offers expansive views of dunes upon dunes upon dunes. But Wadi Rum offers something different. I had heard from so many Jordanian friends that Wadi Rum is their favorite spot in Jordan but I didn’t quite understand. Now I do. Pictures certainly do not do this place justice.

We spent the afternoon driving through the desert, stopping only to race up the sand hills. The pick-up truck beds had been converted into benches that bounced with the dunes. Rolling across the desert, you feel like you are in space. The large mounts above you remind me of drip castles. I would go as far to say that Wadi Rum reminds me of the earth’s day out at the beach. I know, it sounds crazy but everyone in my truck agreed!

Aqaba

Aqaba is the only port in Jordan. This bustling multicultural beach town is a perfect spot for travelers coming to Jordan from Egypt or Israel. In fact, you can see both Egypt and Israel from most points in Aqaba. Our program took us out on a large yacht for the first afternoon we were in Aqaba.

Aqaba sits on the red sea, after driving the boat out about 30 minutes we arrived on the most beautiful reef I have had the pleasure of seeing. The area that we snorkeled in is nick-named the Japanese Garden and it is no wonder why. The beautiful reef is covered in green and blue choral of all shapes. The water was the most beautiful shade of turquoise making visibility ideal.

Few things in the Middle East happen without some level of political activism. Which is why it was not a huge surprise to find a gigantic Palestinian flag facing the Israeli coast on the Jordanian side. And as one might imagine, this didn’t go over very well with Israel. So Israel set up a gigantic wall on the coast with a large mural of an Israel flag waving on it. As a traveler, this set up was too funny.

Beginning my ISP

In the spirit of keeping an authentic blog, I wanted to talk about my ISP in Jordan. As I’ve mentioned previously, ISP is a really large part of my program (SIT). The ISP aspect of this program was what I was most looking forward to and I’ve put a lot of effort preparing for my research. Despite all of my hard work preparing my ISP proposal, my initial proposal was denied and needed revisions. This is a huge disappointment. I was told two days before I was supposed to start my research that the proposal was denied. Since then I have submitted my revisions and am still waiting for feedback. I am hopeful that the board will accept my new proposal. If not, I will need to propose an entirely new topic and redo all of the work I’ve already put in. I’m hopeful that it all will work out!