One fateful day during my first year at Champlain College, my boyfriend brought me a flyer from one of his classes. He told me that he thought I might be interested in taking this class the following fall. The class was called "Aesthetic Expressions," a class all about the meaning behind Islamic style art and architecture. An artistic class? With a travel aspect of a week in Jordan?! How could I say no?
I quickly set up an interview with the professor, Dr. Gary Scudder, and waited impatiently to find out if I could join the class. He gave me the go ahead to be a part of the class and the trip the day of the interview! Now all I had to do was convince my parents to let their 20 year old daughter be carted off to the Middle East with strangers...
When my mom picked me up from my dorm that weekend I talked at her the whole way home explaining how safe the trip would be, how experienced my professor was, how I would pay for the whole thing, etc. She sat in silence the entire 30 minute ride home until she finally said "I think its a great idea, but how are we going to convince your father?" I was quite surprised by her support, and even more surprised when my father also fairly quickly agreed to let me go. I had never asked for anything like this in my life. I'd never been abroad other than a cruise to the Bahamas at 18, so this was a big step for me.
I spent all summer saving up the money to go, and when the time came I was more than excited to board my first ever international flight. The crew included 3 professors from Champlain; Dr. Gary Scudder, Dr. Cyndi Brandenburg, Professor Erik Esckilsen, 20 students including myself, and a couple Cyndi's family members. The Friday before Thanksgiving 2019 we hopped on a bus to Montreal for the first leg of our journey: Montreal to Paris.
Unfortunately upon arrival at the airport we discovered that all 23 of us had missed our flight. Yup, that's right. 23 people missed a flight during the week of Thanksgiving. Apparently Air France changed our flight time from 9pm to 6pm months in advance. However, they only felt the need to notify Dr. Scudder, of the 23 of us, in an email months before. There was nothing in the subject line or text referring to the change in time. He found the change at the bottom of the email in an attachment with, again, no indication of a change, just a regular looking flight itinerary that happened to say 6pm instead of 9pm.
We watched as Dr. Scudder and Cyndi rushed into action calling the travel agency and Air France (who said "sorry, you're on your own"). Thankfully the travel agency agreed to pay for a replacement flight after Cyndi's impressive negotiations. We spent hours on the floor of Montreal-Trudeau Airport just waiting for news of our next available flight. Not only did the change in flight affect our connecting flight, it also rearranged what we would be able to do once we actually made it to Jordan. Thankfully our tour company there was very flexible and we barely missed anything on the itinerary. It was also pretty miraculous that we were able to find a flight from Montreal to London (and then on to Amman) the very next day with 23 seats available. There would be no stress of different people on different flights.
We made our way to a nearby airport hotel (only to realize we were at the wrong one). And after finally checking in to the correct hotel, we crashed at about 2am. The next morning we had time to kill before our flight. To the whole class, this meant a mandatory visit to Dr. Scudder's favorite Montreal bakery in Chinatown: Patisserie Harmonie. Unfortunately, I was expecting November in Jordan, not November in Canada. So I bundled up with as many layers as I could find in my suitcase. This still wasn't enough layers, so after a dim sum lunch we walked to Eva B., a thrift store near by. This place had everything from free popcorn, to real fur coats, to a goldfish the size of a softball, and I was able to buy a jacket and hat for the right price.
That afternoon we finally were ready to get on with our adventure. After spending hours inside the nearly empty airport, we were very familiar with the layout. We passed security and headed straight for the gate to take a nap.
When we touched down in London 7 hours later, I finally understood why people clap at the end of a flight sometimes. It was a foggy day at Heathrow Airport (shocker), so the pilot was essentially landing blind (if he didn't have modern technology I suppose). I could not see the ground from my window seat until we were so close that, had I jumped, I would have lived. Maybe 20 or 30 feet above the tarmac. It was a landing as smooth as butter too. Impressive pilot. After an 8 hour layover where we watched the same mega-sized Dior ad play above us the entirety of our break, we got on a second plane to Amman, Jordan.
Queen Alia airport was spacey and super clean. Polished and glamorous in a strange way, like finding a bidet in the airport bathroom kind of strange. Although I'd come to find out that this wasn't too uncommon due to the fact that putting toilet paper in Jordanian plumbing is a general no-no. Jordan is actually the 10th most water poor country in the world, so little water is used for things like flushing. Our home for the next few days in Amman would be ACOR, where they preferred we take short showers to save water. Not a soul complained due to the frigid temperature of the water anyway.
Other than getting used to brushing your teeth with a pitcher of water rather than a faucet, ACOR was very welcoming. I wish I had had more time to explore the building and its intricacies. Jordanian art, newspapers, plants, etc. were all over the building. They also had a great research library. It felt very homey.
Our tour guide for the week, Mahmoud met us at the airport to welcome us to his country and share some fresh Baklava with us before bringing us to ACOR. Upon arrival we went straight to bed, and the next morning is where the fun really began! Our first stop would be a desert castle called Qasr Al Hranah. A two-level castle built in the 700's. After exploring the inside we headed to a nearby tent where we were served hot tea by a few locals. We chatted as best we could with the language barrier before moving onto our next stop.
Built around the same period as Qasr Hranah, Qasr Amra was a place we learned about more extensively in the class. It is thought to be a bath house or hunting lodge where hunters would stop to rest. It holds some of the oldest Islamic paintings in the world and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The bus then took us back to Amman where our awesome tour guide, Mahmoud, hopped off the bus at a busy intersection and got lunch for us. My first delicious experience with Middle Eastern food was fast food shawarma. It wasn't at all what I was expecting, but man was it delicious!
Lunch gave us enough energy to see the King Abdullah Mosque, a real treat as most Mosques would frown upon outsiders (or obnoxious tourists) interrupting their daily prayers. We visited in-between prayer times, so it was relatively quiet. Women wore abayas as instructed and afterward we explored the museum outside the main mosque. Jordanian artifacts and miniature versions of mosques around the world were some of the items found inside.
As the sun began lowering itself onto the horizon, we trekked to the Amman Citadel. We were greeted with the first call to prayer I had heard since arriving in Jordan. It was one of those magical life changing moments where you think "this is what I'm here for, this is what I'm meant to do." Amman uses a radio station to play the call to prayer throughout the city so that there is generally one communal call instead of hundreds of tiny echos of the song from each mosque. We stood at the top of the Citadel in silence just breathing in the moment.
The Citadel has jaw dropping views of Amman. It sits on one of the 7 (or so) hills that makes up the city. Amman was formerly known as Philadelphia, and ruled by the Nabateans, Romans, and Byzantines. Now it has expanded well beyond the fence that surrounds this historical city center. It also overlooks the amphitheater that we would visit the next day. In the photo below you can see where new sandstone blocks (the lighter colored ones) were placed to hold up the ancient ones. This gives us an idea of what it used to look like altogether.
Next we visited Jafra Cafe where some students tried Shisha and Arabic coffee. I'm not a coffee lover, but I have to say that the sip I tried was better than expected. Maybe it had to do with the presentation of it being made right in front of me. I normally try to eat more local meals when abroad, but I had to cheat a little on this snack. The cafe had chocolate mousse cake, and anyone who knows me knows that I love dark chocolate. This cake was to die for, and it was only $2!
After our snack we were quickly off to our Jordanian cooking class at Beit Sitti! We had a lovely evening learning to make Mansaf (a traditional rice and chicken dish), eggplant tahini, pita bread, vegetable salad, and a coconut cake called haissah. We had a great time making jokes and learning how to properly chop vegetables (a skill many college students do not possess). Afterward we got to sit down and enjoy the meal together on the terrace where we cooked.
We headed back to ACOR with our hearts and stomachs full. I was running low on energy, but couldn't pass up the next opportunity. Through out the class, Dr. Scudder and other students who had joined him in Jordan before had mentioned a seedy-looking shawarma stand down the road from our accommodation multiple times. This was the place to be apparently, so I couldn't pass up the opportunity to walk down a busy highway at night with no sidewalks or street lights and get some shawarma. Us few night-owl students, Dr. Scudder, and Erik had a great time munching on shawarma and fries while talking to the locals.
I have found that Jordanians are not at all afraid to approach you and tell you what they think. And in the time that I was there, I never heard a negative comment escape their mouths. While we ate 3 different groups approached us. The first was a friendly man and his puppy (a rarity as Jordanians do not have pets like Americans do). The second was a young couple who had been to America and recognized our accents and clothing. The last was a young doctor-to-be who lived in Chicago with his wife and son. He told us he was back in Amman to finish his studies. He even video-called his wife to show us his baby. It was a very special hour that I'm glad I didn't miss as I feel like I got the true Jordanian hospitality experience.
The next day was all about Jerash; an ancient Jordanian city with some of the best preserved Roman ruins in the world. By this point we had seen old places with columns and buildings, but Jerash was next level. You could feel that there was a city there once, alive and beating like a heart. There were amphitheaters, courtyards, a church, roads, aquaducts, buildings of every size, temples, and shrines. It was truly spectacular. Jerash had been one of the parts of the trip that I was least excited about. The words "Roman ruins" didn't really spark much interest when I saw it on the flyer. However, I would say that Jerash is one of my favorite places I saw in Jordan.
Our tour guide sat us down in one of the amphitheaters and demonstrated how smart the Romans really were. When Jerash was built, as with many other amphitheaters, there was a perfect place in the middle of the lower stage where sound echoed into the audience perfectly. If the speaker leaves this sweet-spot, their voice fades and becomes less clear. It is truly amazing that they were able to create something that high-tech with just stone. My classmate gave us a fabulous rendition of "Come On Eileen" from this spot before we left.
After spending most of the day in Jerash, we headed to Amman for a late lunch at Hashem; Amman's oldest restaurant. This time it was a traditional Jordanian breakfast/lunch of falafel, pita bread, veggies, fuul, tahini, and hummus. YUM! We ate off a plastic mat and used our piece of pita bread as a plate of sorts. Then it was off to Amman's amphitheater for more stair climbing. Let's just say I would not have wanted the nosebleed seats at this theater.
We went through the interesting museum (full of slightly creepy mannequins) which featured a display of how the Bedouin people serve their guests and outfits worn by the people of Jordan dating back centuries.
Another interesting stop for this day was the Books@cafe, known for its interesting combo of books and food as well as its reputation as a popular LGBT spot. The atmosphere surrounding LGBT people in Jordan isn't great unfortunately, as being 95% Muslim makes for very different beliefs and traditions than our western, christian society. However, a lot of great strides have been made on this front in the past few decades such as the legalization of same-sex sexual activity in 1951 and the right to change one's legal gender in 2014. We spent our time there enjoying the cool ambiance and trying to read Arabic books which go from right to left.
We wrapped up our night at rooftop bar where we chatted with Dr. Scudder's colleague and her students (also on a class trip) from Australia. I can't say I remember much of the conversation, other than that the students were friendly, due to the fact that this bar was a real menagerie. There were birds in cages downstairs, a turtle, hamsters, chickens, and I think some sort of rodent all just hanging out in the hall by the bathroom. It was wild for sure.
The next day we said goodbye to ACOR and Amman for the time being and started our journey south. We started our day with a short hike up Mount Nebo. This is where Moses is said to have seen the promise land from. On a clear day you can see all the way to Jerusalem and the Dead Sea. Unfortunately it was pretty hazy, as usual, so we could only see a short way into the valley below.
Mount Nebo is a very sacred place to all of the Abrahamic religions, so it is a place of religious significance for many. This is where Moses is said to have died. Although no remains have ever been recovered, there are many shrines and memorials dedicated to him at the site. There is also a church on built on top of Mount Nebo which we explored. It is full of the remains of ancient Byzantine mosaics that filled the original church from 500 AD.
Although I don’t consider myself a relgious person, I would say that I am spiritual. I have my own set of rules, which most religions consider important anyway, such as doing for others as you would do for yourself. So while in the church above Mount Nebo I thought it important to light a candle and say a prayer as others did. It was very peaceful and quiet inside except a few murmurs.
Our next stop would be the church of St. George in Madaba. This church may not look like much from the outside, but the inside holds the worlds oldest map of the promise land! It dates back to the 6th century. The map is a giant mosaic laid into the floor of the church. We also got to observe the mosaic art on the walls of the church which were framed and donated by locals. Overall it was an interesting stop as we had mostly seen Islamic culture playing the biggest role in Jordan.
Moving on to the most delicious part of the day; lunch. We went to a local restaurant called Haret Jdoudna. A beautiful, old, stone building with open windows and climbing vines of gorgeous flowers and greenery. We enjoyed another classic Jordanian meal there, like the one at Hashem.
The rest of the afternoon was spent on the road to the Wadi Rum! Jordan’s most famous and beautiful desert. We stopped on the way for snacks including foreign flavored Kit-kat bars, Digestives, and “Abu Walad” cookies. This spot was also full of souvenirs like pashmina scarves, chairs encrusted with abalone mosaics, and aventurine jewelry. Our journey to the Wadi Rum was anything but smooth as the road was the bumpiest I’ve ever been on. We were surrounded by giant shipping trucks bringing goods around the country and endless flat desert. There were few road lines, signs, or lights out there. It was an interesting place to watch the sun set from though.
When we arrived at the mouth of the Wadi Rum, we unloaded the bus and immediately hopped into a few old pickup trucks with seats in the bed for us to sit. It was pitch black outside by this point, so we trusted our professor when he told us to let these "Bedouin dudes" take us off into the pitch black desert. I have no idea how they drove through the sand with such speed. Sand is slippery stuff, even with a 4 wheel drive truck. About 30 minutes later we arrived at our home for the next two nights: Rainbow Camp Wadi Rum.
We were greeted by a few other guests at the camp and the local Bedouin men who hosted the camp. They made us black tea with cardamom while we awaited dinner; another traditional Jordanian meal with pita bread and all the fixings. The music at dinner was also fantastic. You can take a listen in the video below. Notice Suleyman on the left using his smart phone. This was the only area in the camp with an outlet (so naturally there were about 40 cell phones there at all times). Another amenity was a brand new tiled bathroom building with running water (the nicest bathroom I found in Jordan ironically).
Someone also brought materials for s'mores so we enjoyed those around the campfire just outside the main tent. Here you can see us all gathering around before our tour guide Mahmoud decided to give us a tour of the stars. We all decided (in the pitch black) to climb up the cliff above the camp and star gaze. We had never seen the rock outcrop during the day time so this was an adventurous moment for many. Mahmoud told us about the constellations as the whole camp sat around enjoying the dreamy moment. It was one of those moments that only seems to happen in movies.
After star gazing I decided to take my camera out and take star photographs. With the camp lights turned off for the night I was able to see more stars than I ever had in my life. I saw a shooting star every few seconds. My roommate for the night, Lily and I explored around the camp in the dark until we got a little spooked by something lurking in the dark and decided to head for bed.
The next morning Lily and I woke up at sunrise hoping to catch the sun coming up, unfortunately our technology had failed to tell us the actual time of the sun meeting the horizon, but we did get the most jaw dropping first look at the Wadi Rum in the sun. We opened the door to our tent to find deep orange sand, gorgeously carved rock cliffs, and an ever expansive desert in front of us. We had no idea that there were mountains of rock surrounding our camp the night before. Lily and I went hiking in our pajamas before breakfast and found some amazing nooks and crannies around the camp.
After breakfast we stumbled upon our companions for the day; our caravan of camels! We would soon be spending 6 hours on the backs of these goofy beauties. When I told people that I was going on a camel ride before I left, the response was always "they spit" or "they're stubborn and mean." After spending a whole day with these sweeties I could not disagree more. They of course were stubborn, but in an endearing way. My camel was tied to my classmate Jack’s camel, as mine was younger and not quite done learning the path. Jack’s camel enjoyed trying to chew on my camel so we decided to name him “Chompy.” Naturally mine needed a matching name so we named him “Chauncey” after our college’s school mascot.
The local men who led us on the ride were awesome too. Some of them could stand on their camels backwards while it was walking. They could even get on the camels while they were walking and stood up. (Keep in mind that adult one-hump camels are 6 feet tall.) We had to have the camels lay down to mount them, and then have the Bedouins coerce the camels to stand up (always back legs first, which made for a wild start to every ride). The boy leading our two camels was maybe 10 years old, and even he could jump on the camel behind me while it was walking. Although He didn’t speak any English beside “picture?” and “madam” we definitely bonded over Jack’s suffering. The kid and I wanted the camels to run and trot, but Jack had no interest as he wanted the "future possibility of reproducing." We had a good laugh as there wasn't really a way to keep the camels from running to catch up with the caravan. There’s nothing like sitting on the back of a camel as it races through the desert though.
We stopped at a few places to explore the rock formations and have lunch during the day. Then before we knew it we were back at camp. The day of our camel ride was Thanksgiving Day, so the Bedouins prepared a traditional American Thanksgiving meal to the best of their ability. Don’t ask me where they got the turkey from, as they are only native to North America, but that meal was amazing! They cooked everything under the sand in a pit near the main tent. A fire sat in the bottom of the sand and then a tiered metal rack was lowered into the pit to cook in the hot sun all day. We spent some time exploring the rocks around camp again before settling in and watching them lift our dinner out of the earth. There was turkey, chicken, veggies, pita bread, hummus... an entire feast!
Later of course I took more star photos and talked with one of the camp leaders Suleyman. He told me at twilight to look above the main camp; “do you see my dog?” he asked. The outline of the rock formation made a perfect dog as though it were howling at the moon. There were so many magical moments like this in the Wadi Rum. Discovering the mysteries of just that small part of the desert was amazing. Every moment seemed to have its own new excitement. There was always more to discover, so I could have spent a long time there exploring.
The next morning we were all sad to see the Wadi Rum go. We said our goodbyes and set off in the trucks to the edge of the desert again. We were weary and sad to go, but our next stop that day would be Petra! The ancient Nabatean city hidden by rock for centuries. Petra is also one of the 7 modern wonders of the world. You may recognize it’s most famous landmark, the Treasury, from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. We studied the stone buildings of Petra extensively in class, so this day was made even more special by the knowledge we held about what we were seeing. I actually wrote my final class paper on my favorite monument in Petra, the Monastery.
We arrived in the town that houses Petra, Wadi Musa, around mid morning and stopped at an overlook point above the town. After a few photos we descended into the valley and entered the grounds of Petra. First we wound our way through the “Siq” which was a topless tunnel carved by an ancient river into the middle of the city. We discovered beautiful carvings on the walls of the Siq in the colorful stone. There were also many donkeys pulling carts through the siq for those who didn’t want to walk. We were told to avoid the donkeys as 1.) they don’t care who they run over and 2.) their hooves chip away at the ancient stone over time which ruins Petra for future generations. We were constantly listening to the “clip clop” that came from their feet all the way to the mouth of the siq.
The Treasury sat at the end of the siq where hundreds of people gazed up at it in awe. We spent a while there examining the beauty of the hand-carved building made around the first century BC. No tools or ladders were used. They carved foot and hand holds into the side of the rock and climbed over the building to create it (see photo below). Inside the building, which was closed to the public, is not as exciting though. Just a simple square room with no carvings or details. They are not entirely sure what these massive buildings were for, but many believe them to be tombs of important Nabatean people.
After another lesson on the history of Petra and the Treasury by Mahmoud, we made our way through the city to the only manmade building inside: a restaurant. A buffet was laid out with chicken wings, salads, and the works. We took our meals out to the patio to eat and soon realized that we had company: hungry stray cats and dogs. One cat was so bold she decided to hop up on the table and eat my classmate's chicken wings! She ran away with it, but not before inviting her friends who batted their little eyes and begged for more.
We finished our meal and then decided to split into smaller groups based on what we wanted to see most. Some went to explore the King's Tombs further back, others climbed to the high ground above the Treasury. My group wanted to see the Monastery, the highest point in Petra and the biggest monument made there. The Monastery was unfortunately up an 850 step staircase carved into stone. We passed less physically adventurous travelers on donkeys (who, again, didn't care who they ran over) on the way up, as well as some souvenir sales people. Imagine setting up shop on a mountain in the desert? We were impressed. I made it to the top with little breath to spare, and whatever I had left was gone when I saw the view at the top. The Monastery was jaw dropping. I knew from the moment we saw it in class that I wanted to see it in person, but this was spectacular. Worth the climb ten times over.
We stopped at the gift shop patio at the top to enjoy the view, then explored the surrounding area until we had to leave. We got to see all of Wadi Musa and Petra from the top, which was utterly gorgeous. The sun was just starting to set and gave everything an orange glow. We had to race back down the mountain due to our time constraint. I wish that we had had more time there as I would have loved to see the rest of the city too. Next time...
Once we passed the Siq on the way out, I could not help myself. I saw an Arabian horse in Arabia and I had to ride it. I made sure to heed Mahmoud's advice that we not ride a horse in the city as they would destroy the history. These horses were well outside the Siq and city, and thankfully did not travel anywhere near those parts. I hopped on and a man led me down the path to the end of the sand... Until my horse decided to run with a passing carriage. She took off after it leaving the man behind. Thankfully I'm no stranger to riding horses so I was able to get her to stop (despite the fact that Arabic horses don't know what "whoa!" means.) The poor man leading us came running up behind out of breath. I think he'd had a long enough day already.
I left Petra feeling no regrets. In travel, this is the most important feeling to me. If I leave a place thinking "I wish I had ridden that horse" or "I wish I had climbed that mountain" I would regret it for the rest of my life. Theres always more things I want to do when I leave a place naturally, but if I miss out on something that looked interesting just because I hesitated or gave in to peer pressure, that would be an awful feeling. I try to tell myself to "just do it" before I overthink it.
We continued on to our hotel for the night: The Old Village Resort. Which sat on the hill above Wadi Musa. From here we saw the most spectacular sunset I think I have ever seen. Of course photos never do sunsets justice, but this one had the most unique and spectacular colors I've ever seen. Having such a perfect day certainly added to the magic too.
Not only did this hotel have amazing views, it also had gorgeous stone accommodations, pools, spas, gardens, feral kittens, and the biggest buffet I've ever seen in my life. At one dinner setting there was easily one hundred dishes and desserts. I attempted to try everything that looked good, but had to save room for the endless dessert table.
In the morning we made a quick stop at the Spring of Moses where it is believed that Moses struck a rock with his staff and water flowed from it. Some drank from the water as legend has it that those who drink from the spring will return to Jordan one day. Most of those who drank more than a sip of the water got sick later though...
From there we drove to Shobak Castle, a crusader castle built near Petra in the year 1115 by the first King of Jerusalem. We explored the grounds as Mahmoud gave us a history lesson on how they conducted battle there as well as the differences between Arabian and European swords. Arabian swords were curved to give more impact space and cause more damage than straight European-type swords. The original Christian inhabitants of the castle also survived a 2 year siege by trading their wives and children for food among other things. It was finally won by the Egyptian and Syrian Dynasty in 1189.
We continued our final day in Jordan by descending to the lowest point on Earth; the Dead Sea. The temperature gained about 15F due to the elevation change. It went from a warm fall day to summer beach weather quickly. We arrived at the hotel where we would spend the day after a short and accidental detour to the wrong hotel. After a lovely lunch, we ran to the beach and covered ourselves in the therapeutic mud that comes from the Dead Sea. The resort had barrels of it sitting on the beach so we could cover ourselves and then soak in the sea. The fun thing about the Dead Sea, if you don't know, is that we float! Due to the high levels of salt in the water humans float in the water, which feels very oily. There are no living organisms in the water as well.
After a dip in the pool to rinse away the salt, we hopped back on the bus for Amman. Stopping at a baklava store (my new favorite) to pick up treat to bring home for our families. We also did some impromptu singing on the bus, which started with our cushy security guard Marwan who sang us a song in Arabic. The bus driver, Nayef also joined in by singing "I love you! I love you! I love you!" Which I think were the extent of his well-intended English skills. I sang Arabian Nights from Aladdin, as it was a great Arabian Night and I couldn't pass up the opportunity. Then Mahmoud ended the concert with his own Arabic love song.
We ended up arriving at the restaurant for our last meal early, meaning we had plenty of time to kill before our late flight. We ate at Tawaheen Al-Hawa, which had food served in a Korean barbecue style around ad large table. When we entered the restaurant we had to take an elevator to an upper floor to eat, where I was almost trampled by a very tall waiter. On the way we were given freshly made pita bread by a woman in the hall. It was a delicious appetizer made right in front of us using a hot metal surface.
They brought out more food than we could possible eat including the best chicken wings I've ever had in my life. Some sort of pomegranate molasses was used to flavor them. We also ran into Mahmoud's cousin by chance. All of us joined him at his table where we chit chatted until it was time to go. On the ride back to the airport there was a very content feeling amongst the group. We had all been waiting months for this trip, and going home meant that we did it. It happened. There was no cancellation or crazy injuries. We would go home having finished what we started. I was deep in thought on the way home. Excited about my first ever trip abroad, it was beyond my life's expectations thus far.
When we arrived at the airport there were many tears, something that Dr. Scudder says does not happen on his trips anywhere other than Jordan. There is something magical about that country. The people, the food, the scenery, and so much more all come together to make you feel like anything is possible when you're there. Places that are foreign to me always have this feeling, but Jordan in particular makes you feel like Indiana Jones. As we squeezed the life out of Mahmoud in a big group hug, we said our goodbyes and headed back into Queen Alia Airport.
When I got home all I wanted to do was share my experience with others in the hopes that they would want to experience the magic too. Although it took me a little more than a year to write this, I wanted it to encompass every aspect of the trip; the exhilarating, the hilarious, and the scary. I hope you find yourself on a trip like this one day and remember not to hold back from any opportunity you come across.
and remember to bring compassion wherever you go,
Kayla
P.S. Below is my scrapbook entry from Jordan if you're interested in seeing artifacts from the trip!
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