Jordan is not a melting pot

Today was my first day of class at the University of Jordan. I had in my head all these images of what a traditional college campus looks like. I realized very quickly when I arrived that you can never make presumptions about Jordanian culture. I thought, "hey, these kids are my age, they're gonna be excited to meet international students and help us if we get lost." Problem number one: No one seems to know where everything is on campus, even if they're a full time student. The few girls that I did ask did seem like they wanted to help but, unfortunately, barely spoke English. Problem number two: the separation of gender and religion. Almost everyone was split into groups of two or three very social gatherings, but were only between people of the same sex and level of religious conservatism. There seemed to be an invisible wall between men and women that shocked me in an unpleasant way. This was the first time I really noticed I was in a completely different world from my own. I understand why the men here look at us American women differently, but to blatantly ignore people from your own country seemed so bizarre to me. Despite the difficulty of not being able to speak to anyone on campus, I eventually found my own way to the classroom 10 minutes late. On the bright side, I think I will survive my language course and I have a really great teacher.

My roommates and I went exploring after we got back from the University. We finally got our phones working, which is great considering how easy it is to get lost in a place with no maps. We also found some amazing bakeries (with baklava yummm) that we definitely be visiting very often.