Not too often you can get all this neatness in one location July 06, 2022

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

On-site administration of your program

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

My host family (Nariman and Essam) was the best part of an otherwise excellent program

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

I didn’t fully realize this at the time, but Middlebury does insulate from the local community to a decent extent. Even outside of the American bubble, so many of our social experiences are curated or vetted by midd (mentors, host families, cultural events or trips etc.) This is not wholly a bad thing, but the Jordanians we interacted with, for the most part, were well accustomed to living or interacting with Americans which smooths a lot of the cultural frictions that can arise out. I’m living in Aqaba now for the summer doing a divemaster internship here and I’ve had far more “critical incidents”, to use Kerstin’s nomenclature, in a month here than I had on the entire program in Amman. I will say, I also felt a lot more supported and generally more comfortable on the program than I do now so I think where the programs at is a reasonable compromise.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

I thought COVID was reasonably handled on the program though I wish that there was testing provided for and through the program as we receive on our home campuses.

Amman felt incredibly safe to me, though I am also a man and I think that makes a huge a difference. If you are a dude here, look out for the women on the program- not in a paternalistic sense, just being the last one to get dropped off in a taxi, waiting outside with them for Ubers, walking with them places if they’d like that sort of thing

Well it’s this or Morocco and frankly I think I would’ve been happy with either. I think the Jordanian dialects easier though

(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost)

0 = No encouragement, 5 = frequent encouragement to use the language

Select all that apply

• Host Family

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• Host Family

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• Americans
• International Students

• Host family
• Camaraderie with other students
• Mentors and professors

• Nadia’s job seemed impossibly large and led to some things not being communicated clearly or getting arranged
• The workload got much better over course of semester but it could have started that way I suppose
• This relates to the first point, but starting language partners sooner

The Avid Adventurer