Written by Agneetta Moisio, (Vanderbilt University), Student Correspondent for CET Jordan, Fall 2021
7:00 am – wake up and make breakfast. The apartments have fully equipped kitchens so making an omelet or an avocado toast is fast and easy. Grocery stores are nearby, less than 5 minutes by walking, so it is not difficult to get fresh produce and groceries.
Traditional local breakfast includes hummus, falafel, bread, tea with mint and other delicious foodstuffs
8:00 or 9:00 am – Office Hours or Arabic classes. Most days I go to either class or office hours around 8 am, and the days that class starts at 9, I find myself in Starbucks sipping a very cliché–but oh so delicious–pumpkin spice latte. In my defense, the café is the only conveniently located coffee shop on the way from home to school. The walk from the program apartments to school is less than 15 minutes, and I enjoy the little morning walk and cool breeze that accompanies me on most mornings.
Beautiful Amman
12 or 1 pm – classes end. Most days are filled by Arabic classes only, but I also have a class on the history of the U.S. involvement in the Arab World, and a class for my internship.
During the class on the history of U.S. involvement in the Middle East, we explored and discussed the relationship between the U.S. and Iran during the 20th century.
12 or 1 pm – lunch. Most days I grab a chicken shawarma from a nearby restaurant, usually costs me about $2. Other days, I grab food from a bakery that’s on my way to work. The bakeries here are wonderful, everything is extremely fresh and very affordable.
Fresh made local baked goods for great value
12:30 to 4pm – Internship work hours. I work at a non-profit organization, assisting in researching opportunities and relevant partners, as well as translate documents and do other administrative tasks. The organization focuses on promoting democracy and civic development, and I find working in a Jordanian work environment very interesting.
4:30 pm – back home. When returning home, I usually take some time to debrief and grab a snack before starting my homework and other tasks.
6 pm – dinner and catch up with my roommate on the events of the day. Most days during the week I try to cook at home, but occasionally during the week and especially during the weekend I go out with my friends to try different local restaurants around the city. Eating out is generally cheaper than in the U.S. and the food is incredibly tasty.
8pm – homework and other tasks. Evenings are usually the best time to catch up on reading news and completing other remaining tasks such as preparing for upcoming job interviews as I’m in my last year of undergraduate studies. Homework for Arabic class is usually writing short texts and recording myself speaking about a specific topic or interviewing other people. For my English content course, the homework is most of the time academic readings.
11:30pm – sleep. I aim to go to sleep around 11pm, but most days I’m not very successful. I try to catch up on sleep during the weekends, because the weekdays can get fairly busy.
The weekends are much more relaxed in terms of the schedule. I use that time to explore Amman with my language partner, wander around the city with friends and eat in new restaurants as I mentioned.
Trying out local restaurants during the weekend with other students.