One of the best ways to get to know a place is to walk around in it–to get your own shoes dirty and get lost in a new city. While you may not be able to visit Amman yourself, today I thought I’d let you walk in my shoes for 24 hours and see a typical day in Jordan.
On the weekdays, I start my days around 7:30am. Most days, I’m awake before my host family, which offers me a quiet morning with my three host cats as I make my way out the door. Breakfast isn’t typically a large meal here in Jordan, but I always grab a cup of mint tea as I get ready and a slice of arabic bread.
I am lucky to live in an apartment building with two other girls in my program, so we grab an Uber or Taxi to school in the mornings together. Depending on traffic in the city, it takes us about 20-40 minutes to get to our office building every morning. My apartment is in the shopping mall district of Amman called Khalda and the SIT office is in the touristy district known as Jabal Amman.
At 10am, I am in my seat and ready for class! The SIT office in Jordan is modern and beautiful, with lots of great lighting and places to study. Below is a picture of our main classroom where we complete our classes.
From 10am – 12pm I have my first lecture titled ‘Refugees and Displaced Populations in the Context of Jordan.’ It’s a wonderful class that combines politics, international affairs, religion, and culture to the understanding of the refugee crisis in Northern Jordan. Sometimes we have guest lecturers but often it is taught by our program director.
Come noon we have a one and a half hour break for lunch! Lunch in Jordan is usually sandwiches and dips, but we love to order food as a group. You can get lunch in the city for anywhere from 1 – 5 JD’s for an entire meal. That’s between $1.50 – $8 USD. Every once in a while we walk, but most days we use our trusty Careem delivery service to have shawerma, falafel, and burgers brought straight to us!
After lunch is our second lecture of the day from 1:30pm – 3:30pm titled ‘Refugee Health and Humanitarian Action.’ This class is my favorite, and is primarily taught through guest lecturers from local NGO’s and field visits around Jordan.
After class I like to make my way to a cafe with friends. Mindhub cafe is just ten minutes from my house and is by far one of my favorite places to hunker down and get some work done.
Dinnertime is around 6pm in the evenings, although Jordanian time always allows for 1-2 hour buffer for any event or gathering. Even when I go out to cafe’s with friends, I always have to make sure not to eat too much, as I can count on getting stuffed full with food every time I go home, courtesy of my sweet host Mom.
My apartment building has a stunning view over the city, so I always try to make it to the rooftop at sunset. When I first arrived in Jordan the sun was setting around 8pm, but now it goes down by 4:30pm.
After a long day of school, cafe’s, and food, I wait up until 11pm when my host sister gets home from work. We chat, and then I head to bed to get ready for the next day!
8 hours later and it’s 7:30am, and we do it all over again. Thanks for coming along on my day in the life!