Amazing experience in Jordan

Going to Jordan with SIT was an absolutely amazing experience. The four main highlights of the trip for me were the host family experience, the excursions, the ISP, and the staff. I was really nervous about staying with a host family, especially because students don’t have any information about their families before arriving in the country. Despite this I ended up loving my host family experience. I became close with the family that I stayed with and am still in contact with them after returning to the US. Living with a host family was great for getting a better understanding of day to day life in Jordan and practicing Arabic.

I felt like I was really able to become part of the family. I went to family birthday parties and helped my host sister tutor her cousin. One thing that I took away from the host family experience was the importance of making an effort. Even if there is a language barrier you can still make deep and meaningful connections. My host family really appreciated it when I offered to help out around the house with cooking or cleaning, and inviting my host sister to hang out with me and my friends from the program helped us bond a lot. While staying with a host family can be really scary, I think it is worth it to get a better understanding of the new culture you are living in and make lasting connections abroad. My host family experience was particularly amazing, but for people on the program who did not get along as seamlessly SIT was able to work with them to reach an understanding with their families or find new families for them.

The excursions were an important part of the SIT experience. SIT took us on several tours in Jordan which both provided a small break from classroom learning, and made it so that students didn’t have to organize and plan their own trips to those places of interest. If students want to go to other places that SIT does not have an excursion to, they can organize their own trips, but you are only allowed to go on one overnight trip that is not with SIT and no international travel is allowed outside of the planned trip to Turkey.

SIT requires students to either complete an internship or an ISP (independent study project). I chose to do an ISP. The ISP pushed me to work on my time management skills because there is a month after classes end that is dedicated to the ISP. There are no hard deadlines during this period, and because it seemed so long, it was easy to underestimate the time needed to do the research. The ISP was difficult, but I am so glad I did it. I learned a lot, and it was the first time I have been able to do in depth human subject research.

Finally, the SIT staff are absolutely amazing. All the teachers and staff really cared about our well being and were available at any time to help with any concerns. They were very supportive and were invested in our learning and experience.