Whew! It has it been an interesting three months, to say the least. We had our final farewell dinner yesterday night, and many of the students took pictures with their respective professor. One more amazing dinner the CET Program bought for us! We loaded up into the iconic yellow Jordan busses and headed for the restaurant. While mournfully eating my last piece of kanafeh, a very thoughtful fellow student named Lucas asked me a question that really made me think: “Did you grow as a person on this trip?” It was simple, but it stopped me in my tracks, and I realized I had to reflect on everything I had experienced in Jordan and how I had changed.
When I first heard about the study-abroad program from Dr. Katriene Vanpee the head of the Arabic department at the University of Minnesota, I was excited but also nervous. As a non-traditional student, I had already switched schools a few times and had earned an associate degree, which meant I didn’t qualify for much financial aid. The program seemed expensive with all the costs like airfare, health insurance and living expenses. But I was determined to make it happen.
