First trip to campus

Hola All!

Today was our first trip to the UJ campus (University of Jordan). Compared to St. Thomas, this place is HUGE! Lots of palm trees, streets weaving through campus (no cars allowed though), limestone brick buildings, and theres a huge clock tower in the center of campus. We took a tour of a campus archeological museum that has artifacts from areas all over Jordan from every era! We also signed up for our excursions. I couldn't sign up for both Petra AND Wadi Rum, so I took Wadi Rum but am planning on seeing Petra on my own! I will also be exploring some biblical sites around the region.
Took our language placement test today for Arabic. I feel like I did pretty well. I am hoping to get into the Advaced 1 Level and based on how much I knew, I think I got it. I was especially happy about the 10 min private oral interview I had. I have gotten so comfortable speaking Arabic and I didn't stumble at all during my interview! It was actually really fun! All this hard work is starting to pay off! Im sure when Im speaking nothing BUT arabic, I will improve exponentially!
Tomorrow we'll be moving in with our host families, I am nervous but excited! I still dont know anything about them, but I have a meeting with a faculty advisor tomorrow who will be briefing my on them! :) We'll be checking out tomorrow morning and will be meeting out host families in the evening! You'll get plenty of details when they come! (Hope they have internet)
Got a huge safety briefing today. Used to it, but its always really important, although a friend of mine put it very well today: All the kids who are too good to do anything stupid were freaked out and those who are stupid are still going to ignore the advice. But at least they have no excuse not to be stupid. We'll see how it goes! We were also told basic Jordanian security tips like what to do when approached by the Muhabarat (Intelligence Agents, plain clothed officers). i.e., ask for identification, comply. If they fail to show identification (which they are legally required to do), run like hell because they're lying! Mom, don't freak out either. Our program director had a good quote about Jordan today. "Jordan is a fundamentally safe and stable country, its just located in a rough neighborhood." Security wise, everything here seems to be VERY well though out. Text messaging emergency warning systems, evacuations plans, sub plans incase of different scenarios, etc. Our program director is even a Warden for the embassy, so you know she knows what shes talking about.
We register for classes Sunday so over the weekend I'll try to keep you guys updated on whats going on here. Hopefully Ill have more time soon to post photos and type more.

Fun Fact: Traffic Accidents are the 2nd leading cause of death in Jordan next to heart disease. (i.e. why we're not allowed to operate anything motorized) Our bus actually got into an accident today, slowly backing up into another car, so hopefully that was the 1:1000 odds at work!