PBPL 85 spends the day in Amman, Jordan

Thursday, December 10th was a busy day filled with meetings, learning, and dancing. After breakfast at the hotel, we went to the U.S. Embassy in Amman. The embassy was a gigantic compound and the security was extremely tight. At the Embassy, we met with Alex Taylor, a Foreign Service Officer. Taylor helped explain to us the relationship between Jordan and the U.S., as well as Jordan’s peace efforts in the Middle East.

After departing the Embassy, we headed to King’s Academy, a private Jordanian school that is modeled after Deerfield Academy in the United States (the King of Jordan attended Deerfield). We were able to tour King’s Academy and have lunch with students. Many of us wished we could go back to high school and attend school at this magnificent campus. After lunch in the school cafeteria, we rushed back to the hotel for a meeting with Mouin Rabbani, a Middle East Analyst and Senior Fellow for the Institute for Palestine Studies. Rabbani provided an in depth look at Palestinian politics; a perspective we had not yet heard.

Following our meeting, the class traveled to a Jordanian Dartmouth student’s home for dinner. Hamza Alsarhan ’17, home visiting his family during interim, kindly welcomed the class into his home. We dined on a fantastic meal (with bread the size of our faces) at Hamza’s house and then the real fun began. We went outside to gather around two bonfires and were treated to singing as well as smores, tea, coffee, and dessert. Led by Hamza’s family, the whole class spent the evening dancing to Jordanian music. We also joined the younger children playing soccer. Everyone had lots of fun! After saying our goodbyes, we headed back to the hotel to rest.