Catching Up

I cannot believe that it is already two weeks into March!  February seemed to take so long, that this month is just flying by!  For the most part, the weather is starting to get nicer.  Though, this past Thursday there was actually some snow!  Granted it was only for a half-hour or so, and it started just as my class began.  If it was only thirty minutes earlier, then I would have had a three day weekend.  Since it rarely snows here, the entire city seems to shut down with the tiniest bit--it is quite a change from NY and all the snow they have been getting this semester.

I took a trip to the Jerash Ruins and Ajlun Castle the other weekend--the weather was absolutely beautiful.  Jerash is one of the largest Roman ruins, outside of Rome, that remain today.  It is interesting, because all around the ruins are current houses.  It’s interesting to see the contrast between the two.  The stone work at the ruins is incredible--it is hard to believe that all of that was created without modern technology, and is still standing today.  While in Jerash, we saw a Roman reenactment of the army and the gladiators--it was quite interesting to say the least.  There were also these little kindergartners that were there as well, and they were picking the weeds and giving them to us in bunches--it was adorable.



Roman Reenactment







The work has started to pick up, since there is apparently a study component to study abroad--who would have thought?!  It has been quite a shock to my system to have to actually do a significant amount of work, since the last time I did that was right before finals in December, last year!  Though, after working hard for the next couple of weeks, I am going to Greece for spring break!!  I will have an entire week on a Greek Island, without anything to worry about! 



Flowers from the little Girls



I am starting to learn some of the little differences that take place between here and the states.  Nescafe is a big thing here, it is like instant coffee and there are little stands all over the place.  One of the things here is that if you ask for black coffee, you have to specify that you do not want any sugar in it. In the states, black coffee is without milk or sugar, though technically the coffee is still black even if there is sugar.  It took me a little while to realize this, and since people here really like their sugar, I had quite a few cups of extremely sweet coffee!  They also make mint tea with a plain tea bag and a bunch of mint leaves floating in the water.  It tastes really good, and makes it so that you only have to buy regular tea, and then you can add different herbs to it to get different flavors.

I cannot believe how fast the time is flying by.  I went to plan out what I want to do on my remaining weekends, and I realized just how few are left.  Before I know it, it will be summer and I will be heading into my senior year!  But, until then, I am just going to enjoy living in another country, and attempting to pick up the language!