Allison's Adventures in Wonderland: A Trip To Amman

"We should go to Amman tomorrow." "Tomorrow?" I asked, the concern evident in my voice.

I'm assuming if you're reading this blog you probably know me at least somewhat and you know that I like to be prepared and organized (and maybe get a discount too!) before I head off on an adventure. I would venture to say going to Amman this past weekend was the most adventurous thing I've ever done in my life.

My friend Amanda and I headed to the bus stop after our class on Thursday and hopped a small bus for the 1.5 hour trip to Amman. When we got there our first task was to find somewhere to spend the night, and after a cab ride where the driver asked us if we were married, if we had boyfriends at home and other questions of the like, we found ourselves in the city center of Amman near the Roman Theater, supposedly near the hostel we planned to stay in. After about two hours of asking person after person which street to take, walking up hill after hill, and getting lost multiple times, we found a small door in the middle of a crazy, narrow shop-lined alley that read "Cliff Hotel" and we took up our residence for the night. This was my first hosteling experience, and considering a bed is a bed, 5 JD for the night was a pretty nice bargain.

After dropping off some baggage, we realized dinner time had come and gone long ago. Luckily here in Jordan on the weekend dinner starts at about 9 PM so we were right on time to find a great rooftop cafe with live music and shisha and large tables of Jordanians dancing to the music and having a grand time. After some pizza and drinks, we decided to call it a night and went back to our little cots in the hostel.

The next morning we got up early and began a trek up to the Citadel, where there are ruins left from so many different groups have controlled the area at one time or another. Our tour guide was wonderful and helped us with our Arabic, showed us the best picture spots, and picked us some fresh figs from one of the two trees growing among the ruins. He also offered to connect us with a friend he has here in Irbid who is married to an American woman and lives very close to the university, so hopefully that will work out in the future!

After our tourist adventure we met up with friends from our respective universities and had a lovely afternoon wandering around Rainbow St. enjoying treats and visiting the market and speaking English (shhhhhhh!).

All around it was an exciting experience and much different from the experience in the sometimes sleepy town of Irbid! Here are some photos from the weekend: