Being an International Student

So far, probably my favorite part about being an International Student at Yarmouk is Ayhem's office. It's the meeting point for us International Students. When I first got here, I didn't really think about how other Arab students also experience sodoma thokofia (culture shock), homesickness, and problems with Visas, transportation etc.

All of my non-church/non-Hammouri friends I met through the International Student Office. Adam - American friend from Tallahassee
Falata - Nigerian friend who lived in Saudi for many years before coming to Jordan
Malik - Syrian friend, probably my closest guy friend here besides Tamr. He's extremely smart, loves politics, and is comfortable to be around
The Moroccan grad student in charge of the Internional Student Club. We speak French together. She's majoring in International Relations.
And apart from them, there is always a host of people coming in and out of this office - the Egyptian girl who smokes (the only young Arab female that I have seen here who smokes; it's normal amongst older Arab women but not normal for a young Arab girl), the guy from the Bahrain who is always sleepy, the Jordanian-Jordanian-goh (pure) faculty members that come in this office just to say hi and drink some coffee or tea...

Right now I am typing this from Ayhem's computer. He is the only person in the entire University who has any kind of responsibility towards International Students. I think of BYU and it's just incomparable. How to describe this place...think, crappy administration, FIVE STAR WORLD CLASS hospitality.

Actually, this is a fairly accurate model of the differences between West and Middle East, in almost all sectors.