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Final Post: Regarder en Arrière

Before writing my final post, I looked back to my very first day in Tours. After flying into Paris, going through customs, and taking a two hour train ride to Tours, I left the train station bleary-eyed, jetlagged, and overwhelmed, trying to find my host mom. She picked me up from the airport with the family’s two (slightly crazy) dogs, and drove me to where I would be living for the next five weeks. The car ride was a bit of a struggle, as her English was broken, and my French was not great either. When I arrived at the house, she offered to make me lunch. The first big cultural disconnect I experienced occurred when she dropped a tray of food off at my door. There was a sandwich, a glass of milk, a glass of water, a container of yogurt, and…a bowl of brown sugar. Despite concluding that the sugar probably had something to do with the plain yogurt, I wasn’t exactly sure what to do. After a quick google search, I learned that the French mostly eat plain yogurt, and add sugar or jam to flavor it. Though small, this was the first of many cultural differences I would discover and learning experiences I would have during my time in France. It also is the first of many memories that I fondly look back on.

visiting the Château de Chambord

I really enjoyed my French lessons at the Institut de Touraine, which helped me to improve my French and gave me the opportunity to meet other students learning French. I loved the adventures I had exploring the Loire Valley and France with a couple other Notre Dame students who were also staying in Tours. This gave me the chance to learn about French culture and practice language skills with locals. Despite all this, living with my host family was probably the most significant part of my trip, and the part that left the biggest lasting impact. Our nightly dinners helped me practice my spoken language skills (which I struggled with the most in the classroom). This gave me the chance to ask questions, and experience French life. Looking back to my first post, one of the things I really wanted to do was learn about day-to-day life in France. Through our conversations, I was able to learn about their opinions on current events and politics happening in France, and about their lives. At the same time, my host mom had lots of questions about my life in the US, and we shared photos and stories, in addition to helping each other with learning French (for me) or English (for my host mom). I found it interesting how I was not the only one interested in learning about another culture.

visiting the Château de Chenonceau

I had a great experience in Tours, and it will definitely be one of the highlights of my time at Notre Dame. It helped me broaden my understanding of the world, through being immersed in a culture different than my own, in addition to improving my language skills and forming relationships I hope to maintain into the future. I hope I get the opportunity to return at some point in the future!

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Reminiscing

Before writing this final blog post, I took a moment to read all my past entries. I think it is clear that one overwhelming emotion shines through my writing: excitement. Every day in Buenos Aires was different and special. Every museum I visited or stroll through the city I took was an adventure. My trips to Patagonia, Delta Tigre, Colonia, and Iguazu were all wonderful but even the days I went to class and played cards deep into the night were equally as memorable and exciting.

I left Buenos Aires just over two weeks ago now, and it has been on my mind ever since. I am still communicating with my friends, which is a great way to keep my Spanish skills sharp. I have almost every photo on my camera roll from the trip memorized, and I can’t wait to get my photos developed from the disposable camera I brought along.

My time in Buenos Aires was truly unforgettable. I know I summed it up pretty well in my last blog post, but I want to add a few things here. I am so thankful I was in a place where I was forced to use my Spanish speaking and listening skills. I learned a completely new vocabulary that will serve me well in the future. My biggest fear was forming friendships in Spanish with my roommates and classmates, and while some of my friends had English as their first or second language, many of my friends were not able to speak English. In some cases, we communicated through a language we were both still learning. This was a great experience and allowed both of us to practice! With my native Spanish-speaking friends, I got even more practice. Every time I would crack a joke in Spanish and receive laughs from my classmates and friends, I was so proud of myself. This was my biggest accomplishment, letting my personality shine through in Spanish.

Keeping this blog was a great tool to mark my expectations and gauge my thoughts and experiences throughout my time in Buenos Aires. I hope I can look back at my writing and remember some of the best times of my life, when I took a chance and entered an unfamiliar culture, challenging myself for the better.

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Final Post

I’ve been back in South Bend for three days now, and this post is a little overdue, but I will close my blog out with some final reflections on my experience this summer. I am truly grateful for the opportunities that the SLA grant has provided me. This experience was absolutely incredible and I highly encourage anyone who is considering this to apply. Not only did my language skills improve by leaps and bounds, but I was able to gain a far greater understanding of Middle Eastern culture and heritage.

A question almost everyone has asked me … What was the best thing about Jordan?

Without a doubt, the views. Although I was in class most of the week, I was able to travel around the country on the weekends and visited both Mount Nebo and Umm Qais. At Mount Nebo, spread out before my eyes was the exact same landscape of the Promised Land that Moses viewed before his death. In Umm Qais, I was able to look out over the Golan Heights and the Sea of Galilee as well as parts of Israel, Palestine, and Lebanon. I can’t get over the feeling of standing on these mountains and being able to see ancient, Holy Land that has so much history behind it. What really fascinated me is that I knew I was looking past Jordan into parts of Israel and Palestine, but I was unable to tell the difference based on the landscape, yet borders are probably the most contentious topic in the region at this time. Similarly, I found it really interesting how the geography of the area was presented on various maps and by different people. The same town in the distance would have two different names – one Israeli and one Palestinian. I was looking out at these beautiful cohesive landscapes that are some of the oldest historical and religious landmarks, and it is impossible not to be aware of the fact that there is so much tension currently surrounding them. It seems incongruous with the natural beauty, yet cannot be separated from it. Maybe it is strange to say this was the best thing about Jordan, but for me, it was the most powerfully moving experience of my time there.

Coming back to America was in some ways a great relief. I’ve never really never been in a situation where I am a visible minority. Every time I would walk down the street and move my gaze to look at something or someone, they were already looking at me. I was very aware of eyes on me at all times and that is something I never got used to and am glad to leave behind.

Wearing shorts upon return felt very strange at first. It’s been two months since I have worn anything that goes above the ankle. I’m not really sure what I think about that.

Also, I no longer need to be continuously conscious of my water intake. Something I never mentioned before was the water situation in Amman. Jordan is obviously a very water-scarce country. I was aware of this before traveling, but I wasn’t really sure what that would mean. Basically, in my building and it seems to be the case for all residential buildings in Amman, each apartment has a designated water tank (1-2 m³) that sits on the roof and gets refilled once a week. This is our water allotment for the week. We were advised not to drink the tap water, and so we, along with many Jordanian residents, had a jug of filtered water that we used for drinking and cooking. The water allotment was honestly not a huge issue, but I definitely showered less frequently and whenever I used the water, I was very cognizant of what that would mean for the rest of the week. It is so nice to be able to drink straight from a tap instead of a plastic jug.

Trash and Plastic:

Unfortunately, Jordan has very very few recycling initiatives and trash cans are also not easy to find, which means that there is a significant amount of trash that accumulates on the streets and sidewalks. Even when we would drive far outside the city, the highways are still lined with trash. It’s honestly very sad.

Things I will miss:

Coffee:

I don’t really ever drink coffee in America. However, the coffee in Jordan is amazing. I think because they put cardamom in it, and maybe this has something to do with lack of sleep due to work, but I found that I really enjoyed the black coffee, and I will definitely not be able to find anything similar in South Bend.

Knafeh.

Good and cheap produce:

In Jordan, I could buy all the fruit and vegetables I needed for the week for under 10 USD. It’s amazing, and especially coming back to South Bend, where fruit is not abundant at all, this will be a challenge.

Almost every time I walked anywhere, someone would honk from their car and yell “Welcome to Jordan” out the window. This slightly alarmed me at first, but after the first couple instances, I thought it was really funny and an example of how genuinely welcoming and friendly most of the Jordanians were.

Language:

I’ve still been thinking in Arabic, and sometimes in conversations, I will find myself about to answer that way instead of in English especially with certain phrases and expressions. Some of the phrases I just cant seem to shake from my vocabulary, nor do I want to, because they are expressions we don’t really have in English and perfect for certain moments. My roommate has now started to say them as well to the point that I slightly regret teaching them. Inshallah she will stop using them with time.

For future SLA recipients:

I came into this experience armed with as much information as I could find, which is to say, not very much. I tried to read the previous Jordan SLA blogs to get a sense of what I could do there, and especially as a woman how traveling would be, but I just wasn’t able to find very much information. Everything else in the remainder of this post is for those who travel to Jordan in the future and will hopefully give you ideas for where to go, what to do, and how to get there.

Jordan Adventures:

– Ajloun Castle (6/14) – Organized by Qasid

– Amman Citadel (6/15) – we walked up the hill which was horrible but memorable

– Wadi Mujib (6/23) – We were driven by a local man that some friends met in the mall

– Aqaba (6/27-30) – Jett Bus

– Snorkeling in Red Sea

– Mamluk Castle

– Sharif Hussein bin Ali Mosque

– Jordan Museum (7/1) – BRT (Amman Bus)

– Umm Qais, Golan Heights, Sea of Galilee (kind of) (7/7) – Qasid

– Alf Leyla wa Leyla Turkish/Moroccan Baths (7/14)

– souq jumaa (7/14) – in Amman, just take a taxi or walk

– Souq jarra again (7/14) – Rainbow Street

– Palestinian Embroidery Workshop (7/20) – Deewan Institute

– Wadi Rum (7/21) – Qasid

– Petra (7/22) – Qasid

– Barqash Forest (7/28) – Qasid

– Al-Salt (7/29) – Uber there and Back is easy and affordable

– King Abdullah Mosque (7/30) – in Amman

– Madaba, Mount Nebo, Dead Sea, Baptism Site (8/4) – We got a driver for the day because we were going from place to place – the price ended up being 30 JD each, including tip

– Amman Amphitheater for a concert (8/11) – tickets are cheap, many concerts happen there

Churches:

English Mass – Amman Jesuit Center

Arabic Mass – St. Joseph’s Church in Jabal Amman

Best Cafes to study outside of the apartment:

– Rumi Cafe – Weibdeh

– Manara – Weibdeh 

– Books@Cafe – Jabal Amman – student discount, go in the evenings

– Wild Jordan – Jabal Amman

– Marouf Cafe – the Sports City one is terrible but the others are good

– Almond Coffee House

Good Food:

– Shams al-Balad – Rainbow St.

– Bab al-Yemen 

– Hashem –  Wast al-Balad

– Al-Quds – wast al balad

– chapter 9 cafe – Abdoun

– Habiba – Wast-al-Balad

– Maestro -Weibdeh – American night with live music on Monday night

– Islamic Chinese – by University of Jordan

– Gerard – best ice cream

– Hamada

– Cantaloupe – Rainbow St.

– Dali House – Weibdeh

– Blackstacks (burgers) – Abdali Boulevard

– Mijana – Rainbow Street

– Bekdash – Wast al-Balad

– Pizza n’Pie – Sports City – nutella calzone

– Taipei Chinese

– Noodasia – sushi deal on Saturday and Tuesday

– Biryani Restaurant – Wast-al-balad

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Tiempo y horarios

I have now been in Spain for about 5 weeks. This past week I was able to visit Zamora and Valladolid, the capital of the Castilla y León province. These experiences, as well as classes, have been incredible!

Even with all the time I have spent here, I still can’t say I’m completely adjusted to Spanish cultural norms. During the first two weeks, I found the eating, sleeping, and working schedule extremely difficult to grasp and adapt to. Specifically, dinners are at 9 pm and we usually finish eating at around 10 pm. This was really late for me, but it is pretty normal in Spain. Furthermore, most stores are closed between 2 pm-4/5 pm and the streets are pretty dead. This allows workers to return home to eat with family and in some cases a quick siesta (which I’ve heard is supposed to be 30 minutes max). I sometimes joke that Spaniards are like vampires because it seems as though they never want to come out during prime daytime hours. In all seriousness, Spaniards work and go outside just as much as other people, but on a completely different schedule. Work days are still about 8 hours but they are divided the day into 2 shifts, 9/10 am-2pm then 4-8pm (of course with restaurants and bars opening and closing later). I’ve also noticed that many more people leave their houses during the evening 6pm-10pm rather than in the middle of the afternoon. This is to avoid the heat.

In addition to struggling a bit with a new schedule, I also realized people in Spain have a more relaxed definition of “on time.” Activities with the school always start at the stated time. However, the timing for casual activities varies. For example, I’ve been playing volleyball at the park for the past three weeks and the game always starts 30 minutes passed the agreed-upon time. This is because the boys (they live in Salamanca) who bring the ball generally arrive 20-25 minutes “late.” At first, I thought this was a bit rude, but soon realized it’s pretty normal to give a 15-30 minute grace period for casual plans. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this norm, it’s just a stark contrast to the importance Americans place on punctuality even in our private lives.