February 2013: The busy day began with the sweet air of the night, ease claiming the morning as my roommate and I prepared for the day. It was now 7:30am, breakfast was being served until 9am and our first orientation presentation began at 9am. My roommate and I made it to breakfast at 8:45am, quickly ate and headed to the 13th floor for the beginning of what is now my study abroad in Amman. The student services director began with a survey of the room, asking us to stand if the questions he asked applied to us. “Who is from, …”…, and we all got a feel of our fellows.The presentation took about an hour before we headed to the city tour. Starting at the Roman Theater and ending at the program office in downtown.
The Roman Theater:
We got off the bus and headed towards the theater, the entrance to the theater guided by a long walkway with a large courtyard and pillars to its right and the theater walls to its left. It took a few minutes before we were standing on the stage of the theater. Astonishment ran through my body causing goose bumps from head to toe as I stood a few feet away from the entrance of the theater. My eyes puzzled by the capability of man that sat before my eyes. The theater was large, constructed of stone in a semicircle structure. The semicircle looked like a cone, the lowest seats being closest to the stage and the highest seats farthest from the stage. The tour guide gave us a history of the theater through the ages, it’s purposes and it’s uses in the present day. After the brief history and introduction to the theater, we got 15 minutes to explore and enjoy the theater. I began by standing at the bottom of the theater, looking up at all directions of the semi-circle, I slowly filled each seat with an audience prepared for a show. I could almost hear the loud chattering before a performance, the pin-drop silence during the performance and the ear shattering cheers from the same crowd that didn’t seem to be there a moment earlier. The thought almost moved me to tears, but failed, managing to keep me planted at the base of the theater for a while with a smile on my face before I could control my feet once more and direct them to the top of the theater.
I stood high above the center of the theater where I stood moments earlier, still amazed at the ability of man. Then I saw it. I looked up to a breath-taking, and overpowering sight of Amman. I had a mixture of emotion as I stood there breathless at the sight of the buildings clinging purposefully to the hillside that was once bare and now filled with the dwellings of thousands. I stood there not sure whether I should love, or hate the sight before me. I felt as though I needed to clean it up, remove some buildings to expose the bare back of the hill that once painted the city beige. Leaving some space for the city to breath from the congestion of the buildings. I smiled at the thought and shoved it to the side, letting myself sit at the top of the theater, overlooking the theater, the courtyard and part of the city. I could see a structure that resided at the citadel or rather jabal al-qala’ from that view. I saw 2 pillars that indicated the perished existence of a building, the pillars stood tall and proud far into the distance, the citadel. After the Roman theater, we went to the citadel.
The Citdel:
We took the bus to the citadel, the center of the city, a beauty that lie in ruins. Here I saw the city. I walked to the edge of the citadel and breathed in the city. At this sight, I once again saw the theater in its magnificence, miles away looking like a toy in the distance. Our tour guide gave us a brief history of the citadel before leading us to the different parts of it. We walked by the edge, taking in the breathtaking construction of the city that still felt like a mess that required some cleaning. We walked to a different section of the citadel that had a perfect view of downtown.As he spoke, I overlooked the city, taking in the mess that it was and enjoying the beauty that it held. Then I heard the beginning of the call that glued my feet to the ground, my hands to the low metal bar and lost all meaning to all words, but the words within the call. I heard the call to prayer. I stood there, my eyes closed, taking long deep breaths, as I heard the call that seemed to claim the city, overpowering all noise, all motion, bestowing peace and tranquility to the busy, loud city. When I opened my eyes, I realized that I had a trail of tears down my cheek, which I wiped off before turning to see a girl smiling in the same direction I had been facing, but our group was gone. We greeted each other, and for the next few minutes talked about the beauty that we had just experienced. Then we started searching for our group. We found them at a building that had a faded blue dome atop a cube shaped building, an ancient church. Before heading to the ruins of a mosque right across from it, then heading to the Jordan Archaeological Museum .Everything was breath-taking, but I did not have enough time to experience the characters of the buildings or remember the names, therefore the citadel is still on my list of things to do.
…then off to lunch at Jafar, a famous cafe in downtown. We began with salad, then a plate of roast meats, with a variety of hummus and pita bread, then dessert and the best part, tea!!!.
We then headed to the Princess Summaiya University of Technology where we got acquainted with the university, the buildings we will use the most and some of the campus staff. We then proceeded to our last stop,the program office where we sat for a presentation which I was barely able to pay attention to as I succumbed to exhaustion and jet-lag.
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