Umm Qais and Jerash, Jordan

Our class with the Sea of Galilee in the background.

     On Friday, we had a day long excursion to Roman ruins in Jordan, namely Umm Qais and Jerash. Umm Qais, the ruined Hellenistic-Roman city of Ghadara. Ghadara was pretty deserted, which was nice since we had the run of it. It is located at the Israel, Syria, Jordan border, so that was really interesting. Israel occupied Syria, Golan Heights, was really pretty and has so much historical significance. Golan Heights has been under Israeli control since the six-day war in 1967. These ruins also overlook the Sea of Galilee or Tiberias Lake, depending on who you're talking to. It is the lowest freshwater lake in the world. After many photo ops and walking around, we headed to the Yarmouk River. This river forms the border between Syria and Jordan upstream, and Israel and Jordan downstream. We headed upstream, where there was just a river between us and Syria. In 636, the Muslim Arabs overtook the Byzantine Empire at the Battle of Yarmouk, which is significant because the Arabs were a small power until this time. The Byzantine Empire was the most powerful, but this battle started the string of Islamic Conquests following Muhammad's death This led to the swift advance of Islam in the Levant, (Eastern Mediterranean/ West Asia).

     Security checkpoints are really common here and have become slightly annoying. We have to stop at every checkpoint, sometimes we have to get out of the bus/car, and there is often a frenzy of loud Arabic between our professors and the guards. They all carry rifles and were very intimidating at first. Now, stopping at checkpoints has become routine, and I often sleep through them. There was more extensive security as we traveled upstream to the Jordanian/Syrian border, but that seemed more justified. Americans cannot travel to Syria without first obtaining a visa in the United States. After the many checkpoints and beautiful view, we went on our way to Jerash.

Hadrian's Arch in the remains of Ancient Jerash.

     The ancient ruins of the Greco-Roman city of Gerasa were in Jerash, Jordan. These ruins were a large city, and were really cool to walk through. This city is the most well preserved and most important Roman city in the Near East. This city was in the Decapolis, and has many well preserved monuments. These monuments include the Corinthium Column, Hadrian's Arch, a hippodrome, two immense temples, a forum, two theatres, and a large portion of the circuit of city walls. We wandered around the city, and stopped to take a plethora of pictures. We jumped off of some rocks and sat in a giant bowl amidst laughter from Gabe and Mike. Alot of us get along really well, and we have a lot of fun snapping pictures of each other. There's always one person that delights in making others miserable, and this group is not exception. Fortunately, the daughter of the professor will not spoil my learning or travels, but she will end up ruining her own. I feel quite sorry for her, but have so much going on that she's nothing but an annoying pinprick. However, it would have been nice if we were a cohesive group. After the day of wandering through ancient ruins, we headed back to Irbid.

     Another student on our trip, Mike, studied in Yemen two years prior to this trip. He made it a goal to find a Yemenian restaurant, and we went to it after our exhausting day. Sitting around in a circle, we were given delicious bread and then the choice of a spicy chicken, beans, lamb, beef or en egg and tomato dish. We scooped up our meals with large pieces of bread. It was a nice change from the Jordanian food we've been eating, and I found that I love Yemen food. Mike became my new favorite person that night. Onto week four of class and a trip to the Dead Sea at the end of the week! It's hard to believe that we're through semester one of Arabic!