Transportation
Since the program switched from homestays to apartment style living, the transportation has become a lot easier. All of our apartments are a short walk to campus, so my roommates and I all walk over together every morning. Our Arabic classes go from 9:00am – 1:00pm with a 10 minute break every 50 minutes and a change in professors after the first two hours. We then meet with our language partners from 2:00pm – 3:30pm every Monday and Wednesday to practice speaking Arabic. Language partners are very informal and are solely to help us further develop our language skills and answer and questions we may have.
Mukhtar Mall is right down the street from the University and has all of the basics, including a grocery store. We go here every couple of days to stock up on supplies and food so that we aren’t eating out for every meal. The only downside here (which isn’t even really a downside) is that we have to climb a very steep hill in order to get back home. This is made slightly difficult when we are carrying heavy groceries, but otherwise is very good exercise.
Also, because I’m a female and because getting a gym membership is too expensive for the short time that I am here, I have started running outside with Kevin, one of the male TAs, or some of the other guys in the program. Everyone is very health conscious, which has made it very easy to find someone willing to go out with me each day. The area we are living in, though, it very very hilly, so I am wiped out after each run. Also, we have to go either early in the morning or later in the evening because we are in the desert and it is too hot to go during the day. Running in our area is very safe when you go with a partner, though!
When we are trying to commute somewhere that is not within walking distance, the best way is to use a taxi. As long as you are travelling around Amman, all rides will be less than 3 JD ($4), which is super affordable! We were advised to only use the yellow taxis and make sure that the meter is on before getting into the car. This form of transportation is quite helpful because speaking to the taxi drivers is one of the best ways to practice our Arabic! Additionally, while there are buses in the city, they do not run on a specific schedule and using them is not recommended if you do not know the area well and cannot speak Arabic fluently. For any excursions, the program has a private coach bus that transports us from Qasid to our destination and back.
