My new adventure in Amman, Jordan

Right now, I am sitting in an apartment that I am renting across from the main gate of the University of Jordan in Amman. I am renting it with my good friend Gwen from the University of Kentucky. It is a surreal feeling because I have yet to venture out in the city and for all I know I could walk out and be in Lexington. The only thing telling me I’m not is the 24 + hours of travelling. I keep thinking, how did I get here? I am a 21 year old recent college grad and somehow I ended up spending two months in Amman, Jordan with no study abroad program or structure really. And I think it’s a great idea. Luckily, Gwenny spent 7 months in Amman last summer and fall. She is also how this whole idea came about.

So how did I land a research assistant position and am now living in an apartment in Amman?

This whole idea started at a trivia night at the Mellow Mushroom in Lexington, Ky. We were sitting there talking about our summer plans, I had none and she was planning on going to Jordan for a summer internship. I, obviously super jealous, made an offhand comment that I wish I could go. After a few minutes Gwen came up with an idea, What if I came to Jordan and worked with a professor she had worked for the previous semester while she was in Amman. I of course thought this was the best idea ever, and from there plans started getting put in place. First she emailed the professor to see if there was still a position available and luckily there was! After that came the hard part of convincing my parents it was a good idea…

To their credit, I haven’t chosen the most traditional places to travel abroad, so I knew they would be open to the idea. I also knew that safety is always their number one concern, and with the recent movements around the area I was hoping they would have an open mind. I tried my best to convince them that Jordan is a very safe country. It was hard at times because in my mind I am thinking of all the less safe places I could choose to go, and not completely understanding their concerns. But as my sister finally broke it to me, “Mackenzie, you keep acting like you’re going to Florida, YOU ARE NOT GOING TO FLORIDA, you are going to a whole other country in the Middle East.” So after that I took a different approach and in the end somehow my parents agreed to the idea. And within a week I had a ticket for June 11^th to Amman Jordan.