Less than a week ago, I returned from a work trip to Jordan and Iraqi Kurdistan. In addition to meetings in Amman and Sulaymaniyah (aka Sulaimani aka Slemani), I also visited Petra and had an extra day that I used to visit the Jordanian side of the Dead Sea. Read on for a recap of my trip.
Getting there
Getting to Amman took about 24 hours. I left Tucson on a Friday afternoon, and after stops in Phoenix and London, landed in Amman just before midnight local time.
My route from Tucson to Amman.
I was on the trip with 6 colleagues from the University of Arizona; 3 from the UA Global office, and 3 from the College of Engineering. The purpose of the trip was to visit three universities, one that is already a partner, and two that are potential partners, to discuss the UA’s micro-campus initiative. Since I’m the point person for my department on this initiative, I got to go along! My main role was to help explain how engineering instruction in the model works.
Petra
Before the meetings started, we had a day to adjust to the new time zone, which we spent with a visit to Petra. Our host was the Dean of Business Technology at Princess Sumaya University for Technology (PSUT), the university we are already partners with. So Sunday morning, we met bright and early for the three-hour drive from Amman to Petra.
The long drive was well worth it, and Petra, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is incredible. It’s an ancient city, with many of its buildings and monumental tombs carved right out of the sides of the mountains. You can see what I mean in the photos below.
In the Siq – a kilometer-long gorge that serves as the main entryway to Petra.
The treasury – one of Petra’s crown jewels, located right at the end of the Siq.
Cute donkey.
Some of the Petra ruins – carved straight into the stone.
Camels on guard at Petra.
Selfie with a very curious baby camel.
In addition to the ruins, highlights included camels, a very curious baby camel, and donkeys. What can I say – I’ve always loved animals!
Amman university visits
We spent the next two days visiting two universities in Amman. It’s always interesting to visit other campuses and meet faculty, staff, and students at other universities. This is even more true for international universities.
The more I visit, the more I realize that despite all the superficial differences, at their core universities worldwide are very similar. These two universities were no exception – students milling about between classes until campus turns quiet as they file into their classrooms for the next course, faculty rushing around between research and teaching, and admin working in the background to improve opportunity and outcome for their institution’s stakeholders.
One of the Amman university campuses we visited.
The two universities we visited in Amman were no exception, and we were impressed by both our visits. For me, something that was particularly impactful was learning how many Syrian and other refugees both campuses host.
Iraqi Kurdistan
After meeting with the second university in Amman, we caught a late-afternoon flight from Amman to Sulaymaniyah (also called Slemani or Sulaimani – I’m going to stick with Suli to keep it simple 🙂 ).
Amman to Suli.
We had dinner with the university president and some members of the board before I crashed into my bed for the night. At this point in the trip I was definitely running on fumes – we were squeezing a ton of work into very little time, plus we were all still jet-lagged!
Fortunately, I had a great sleep and was ready to go the next day for our last working day this trip. And what a day it was! It was inspiring to see the faculty, staff, and students at this university working to make sure the next generation has better opportunity than the generation that preceded them. I also learned a lot about Iraq and Iraqi Kurdistan’s histories, admittedly a subject about which I have plenty still to learn.
Also, it’s worth noting that despite all you see and hear in the news about Iraq, I never for a second felt unsafe in Suli. I’m sure that in other parts of Iraq this would not have been the case, but Suli itself is a very metropolitan city. It even has an amusement park, and the enormous ferris wheel can be seen from across the city!
View of Suli from our hotel elevator.
The Iraqi Kurdistan flag flies on campus in Suli.
Dead Sea
Our flight from Suli back to Amman was at 6 the next morning. Ouch. Since I wasn’t going to get back to Tucson in time to teach any of my classes till the following week anyway, I chose to stay in Jordan for an extra day and take in the Dead Sea.
When we landed in Amman at 8 I took a taxi straight to the Dead Sea, where I spent one night at the Holiday Inn Dead Sea. Though this was one of the cheapest of the Jordanian Dead Sea resorts, it was still extravagant. Look at the series of pools leading to the sea’s edge in the photo below!
So many pools! Dead Sea is in the background.
I’m not that into fancy though (hence why I stayed at the cheapest hotel), so the highlight for me was the Dead Sea itself. The surface is about 1400 feet below sea level, Earth’s lowest elevation on land. Also, the sea has about 34% salt content, which makes you VERY buoyant. The sensation is pretty cool, but not one I haven’t felt before – don’t forget I’m an avid diver and wetsuits are also quite buoyant! You have to be more careful when swimming in the Dead Sea though – getting water that salty yin your mouth/nose/eyes is pretty painful.
The Dead Sea. Hard to tell where it stops and the sky begins.
Selfie at the Dead Sea. Can you tell how exhausted I am?
I spent the rest of my time there alternating between the pool, eating, and sleeping. The sleep part was especially nice at the tail end of such a whirlwind trip.
After checking out, I headed for the Amman Airport Hotel, a dingy but well-situated hotel. This was the perfect place to spend my last night of the trip, given the early start of my 24-hour journey home early the next morning.
Summary
What a cool trip! When I plan personal trips, I tend to gravitate toward places with an ocean. So it was nice to have a reason to explore a totally different part of the world than I would have chosen myself.
Between our university visits/meetings, our visit to Petra, and my day off at the Dead Sea, it turned into a pretty productive week of travel. At the same time, I’m glad to be back home, with my cat, my students, and my pillow. I’m still working on catching up on sleep!
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