Last week, we completed the international excursion component of our adventure in Jordan. Our planned excursion to Istanbul was changed to a trip to the United Arab Emirates following bombings in Ankara a few weeks ago. We visited 4 of the 7 Emirates in an attempt to understand modernization and social change in the UAE…
Category: SIT Study Abroad
Dubai, A Gulf Miami
In light of Turkey’s recent turmoil, SIT Jordan switched excursion locations to the United Arab Emirates, a country so starkly different, yet in so many ways congruous with the Middle East. Arriving into Dubai International Airport, one is instantly struck by the grandeur nature… of everything. A brand new Jaguar and Mercedes Benz greet you,…
Fiji, Our Final Excursion
Our very last group excursion has come and gone, and with only one month left in the program, I really don’t know where the time has gone. This last Sunday, we boarded Fiji Airways, ready to take on Fiji with the very few words we knew. “Bula” “Vinaka” “Moce” were as far as my vocabulary…
Let’s Climb
Returning from the badiyya, I was a bit saddened. The relationships I made, the genuine honesty of the people, the respect between children and parents, family members and general communal respect. The weather, the cleanliness of the air, the quietness, the sunsets across the mountains of Petra. The badiyya is with little comparison. It isn’t Orlando, it isn’t New…
A Moment Away From Home
What a month October has been. A whirlwind of excursions, academic inundations, and copious sugar, I have developed significantly as a result of my experiences this month. Beginning with my badiyya homestay. Badiyya, an Arabic term loosely defined as desert, is more appropriately denoted as “rural.” Jordan is divided into three badiyyas: northern, central, and southern, each possessing individual topographic…
The Road to Sarajevo
The road to Sarajevo curls through the mountains. It snakes into tunnels and cuts along the pale rock. I spent most of my journey with my face pressed against the glass of the bus. I was half afraid, half exhilarated, looking at the long drop from the road to the waiting river below. I felt…
Armando Abroad: Elemental Excursions
Can you tell I like alliteration? It’s Exciting to Express Experiences this way. Ok, I’m done…moving on! I thought this should be a more light-hearted post since looking at my experiences the past few weeks through a serious academic lens would be overwhelming, for you and me alike. “Elemental Excursions” is about our trips to…
Conundrum
(Pictured: Sarajevo, the capital city of Bosnia and Herzegovina) This week we lead an excursion to Bosnia and Herzegovina. A land that just a short 20 years ago experienced a war so horrific, and terrors that haven’t been seen on European soil since World War II. While the stay in the two cities of Sarajevo,…
Non-existing existence
(Newborn references the new nation of Kosovo, interesting to note it is written in English) Two weeks ago we went to Kosovo. A territory very contested in terms of sovereignty. At it stands as of current, 111 countries of the 193 United Nations members (A little over 55%). Among the countries that do not recognize…