I am a 27 year old American female, public health grad student. For the summer, I am looking at doing a 12 week research project with syrian refugees that wouldbe based out of Hashemite University in Amman. My classical Arabic is sort of at an elementary/intermediate level, but my dialect knowledge is pretty elementary. While I'm excited for the project I'll be working on, between security concerns, and everything i've heard about Amman being a very quiet and conservative city, I'm a little concerned about having a social life/opportunities to go out and explore the city outside of work. Ideally, if I'm traveling this far, I'd rather not just shuttle between an apartment and an office for three months! Can anyone give me a realistic sense of what opportunities would be available for a single woman who will be there alone, to explore the city, and ideally, meet people and make friends? I'm not looking for parties...just opportunities to do things outside of work!
welcome to Jordan
You wnt be alone there are hundreds of foreign students,NGOs,internes,and expats.These guys congregate,frequent the touristic part/old heritage part of Amman mainly in cafes and restaurants in downtown and Rainbow street area.There are also mix of locals including interesting cultured characters you have chance to meet at these cafes..
My advice is to stay when you first arrive for couple of days at a budget hotel in downtown so you can explore the area..After that you can move to your apartment next to the university.There is good frequent bus service to downtown very cheap.
if you have any other question please dnt hesitate to ask
cheers
Raymond
As Raymond says..it may be a 'quiet and conservative city' but you will find plenty of foreigners around in the streets,and most local people are friendly and happy to talk to you (even more so if you speak Arabic I guess...I don't,but lots of people spoke to me in English).
Amman is a pretty boring city but it's flooded with Western expatriates. If you like going out to (relatively) fancy restaurants, hiking, going to the spa, getting lazy by the dead Sea... you will make tons of friends and find a lot of things to do.
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