Days 1 and 2 - Getting There

 From Seattle

 to Chicago (with dinosaur)

 to Frankfurt (with a failed attempt to buy train tickets)

but then we ran into the rest of the group in the Frankfurt airport
(we had a lot of time to kill, can you tell?)

and finally, after more than 27 hours of traveling, to Irbid.

In case you haven't figured this out from the photos, I am in Jordan! Yes, it's safe. Don't worry, I will be just fine. For the next month, I am spending my time (mostly) in Irbid, more specifically at the Jordan University of Science and Technology, studying water engineering through a civil engineering class offered at the University of Washington. The class will focus on engineering challenges that come with managing and treating water in arid landscapes. And there are many challenges, but you should ask me that in a month because I can already tell there's going to be a huge learning curve. For starters, I'm not an engineering student. The literature we read has a lot of unfamiliar jargon and concepts, but I knew this going into the program. Probably one of the most exciting aspects of this program is that we are studying and living side-by-side seven Jordanian students. Two are undergrad, five are grad, and all are civil engineering students with their own special areas of focus. This was something that was missing from my Peru study abroad program, so I am looking forward to getting to know Jordan not only from the course material, but also from the people who know it best.