A long-awaited beginning.

I meant to do this over a month ago - last day living the dorm, last day living in Richmond, an important moment that I could write about. And I didn't. Then I decided I would start this blog on Christmas Eve - exactly a month before my departure. But I didn't do it then, either. So with less than two weeks left before I leave for Jordan, I'm finally starting up my blog. I promised this to family and friends over two months ago, as a way of keeping in touch while I'm gone and letting you read all about the fantastic and exciting life I'm about to live. At least, I hope it will rise up to all those high expectations.

For those who haven't heard me repeat this over and over for the past few months, these are the basics. I'll be leaving on the 24th of January to go to Amman, arriving there on the 25th. Yes, an entire day later. Yes, that involves an eleven-and-a-half hour flight. I'll be studying for four months at the University of Jordan, taking classes with other students from my program. There are just over 100 of us, and I don't know a single one of them. It's nerve-wracking. (Making friends on the playground was never my strong suit.) I will learn things, and I will eat things and breathe things and see things, and I will go places and meet people and come back with dusty shoes and tiny trinkets to give to everyone back home. Or something like that. I return to the USA on May 21st, and because the time change means that I'll be getting in around 7 AM Amman time, I will promptly collapse.

For now, I'm still in Raleigh, safely sitting in my suburban home. I'm writing this from my kitchen table, but it won't be as easy over there. The university has computer labs, and there are internet cafes. But there's almost no chance of having internet in my home, whether it's an apartment or a host family's house. I don't know when I'll have the chance to update this, or where, or... anything, really. Things I do not know: where I'll be living, with whom I'll be living, what my schedule will be like, what other students I'll be taking classes with, how much English my host family will know, how much Arabic I'll be able to remember, and much, much more. There's a three-day orientation program upon arrival, before any of us moves into our apartments or homestays, and all I can assume is that we'll learn everything there. I'll update accordingly. For now, though, all I can really do is cram: clothes into a suitcase, Arabic into my head, and four months' worth of the USA into twelve days. Eleven and a half.