Amman, Jordan
Beginning 3
2011

Agnes Scott College 2013
Biochemistry

Through Lillian Spenle, Study Abroad Advisor at Agnes Scott College.

I hope to work with women’s health in the Middle East and am also planning on attending medical school through the Navy.

I plan to attend medical school on a military scholarship. After my service I hope to work in the Middle East with an NGO such as Doctor’s Without Borders focusing specifically on women’s health in the region.

I used Arabic to get around my host country (Jordan) and communicate with friends back home who speak Arabic.

I hope to use my target language in the future to communicate with patients and colleagues while working in the Middle East.

Before the CLS Program, I hoped to learn enough Arabic to just get by and have a basic understanding of the language. After CLS, and the amazing progress I made, I am more motivated to truly master the language because I now realize it is a possibility.

My favorite part about studying in Jordan was the ability to actually get out and use the target language. As a beginner I generally sounded quite foolish, and I was a great source of entertainment for taxi drivers. Everyone was so welcoming, and these early encounters usually led to amazing conversations with taxi drivers/servers/etc about why I was there and why I was learning Arabic. These conversations occasionally spurred even greater discussions about American/Jordanian relations and religion – in Arabic!

Although I had previously known there was a large population of Palestinian refugees in Jordan I never knew how large a percentage it was and how deeply the country was affected. It was heartbreaking, but a wonderful experience, to hear the stories of these people and gain a better understanding of their struggle.

I have had so many wonderful experiences it is very difficult to choose just one. However, one of the greatest experiences I had was going to tutor Iraqi refugees in Marka. I went with a large group of CLS students but was asked to leave the group with a couple other students to tutor a family in a different house. I was paired with two young boys, a 5th grader and an 8th grader. We spent the time chatting about SpongeBob, learning the colors, and dancing “head, shoulders, knees and toes.” Afterwards we had the opportunity to talk to their parents about the move from Iraq to Jordan. It was heartbreaking to hear about what they had left; their home, their family, and their entire life. However the family was still welcoming, loving, and generally happy. To see the sheer strength of these people, and the love they still had to give, was my greatest experience during the CLS program.

Literally translated this phrase means “in apricots” but is used as a slang term for in your dreams:
Fil mishmash

I spent the majority of my childhood in Huntsville, AL. My father works as a civilian employed by the army so we have lived in Los Angeles, DC, and Alabama. After graduating from high school I moved to Atlanta, GA to attend Agnes Scott College. The summer after my sophomore year in high school I went on a 10 day long backpacking trip with my Aunt and Uncle and have been an avid backpacker ever since.