Middle East Semester: The Fertile Crescent, Sample Itinerary

This is a sample itinerary. No two Dragons courses are the same. Every itinerary considers the unique strengths of the instructor team and interests of the student group.
Week 1: Wadi Rum, Jordan. Orientation! Your Instructor Team will meet you at King Hussein International Airport in Aqaba on the evening of September 7th. An hour long van ride takes the group to Wadi Rum for our program orientation. Wadi Rum, deep in the heart of Bedouin territory, is a stunning, protected desert area in southern Jordan where we will encounter the traditions and value systems that lie at the roots of Arab society and culture. It is here we begin our first Arabic language lessons and receive tools to settle into a new culture and community with ease and respect. In addition to developing a basis in the Jordanian dialect of Arabic and orienting ourselves to risk management and culture, we’ll get to know the members of our Dragons tribe, keeping in mind some aspects of the separation of gender that we’ll experience during various parts of the course and particularly how our group interactions will differ in public and private spaces. We’ll cook most of our meals together, sleep under the stars and explore the mountains and valleys of the beautiful desert that we’ll call home for the next month.
Week 2 – 3: Wadi Rum, Jordan. Trek and nomadic homestay Following program orientation, we’ll pack our bags and head off into the desert for a week long trek. While trekking through Wadi Rum, we’ll spend two nights with a nomadic family whose traditions and lifestyle have changed little in the past seven thousand years. Our trek, which takes us on the same route that Lawrence of Arabia used to defeat the Ottoman forces in World War I, will end in the Jordanian port city of Aqaba where we’ll have the chance to engage with city life, get some exposure to Jordan’s rich history and have some fun shopping before we head back to the village for our rural homestays.
Week 3 – 5: Disi and Tweisi Villages, Wadi Rum, Jordan. Rural village homestay, village ISP, language study As we complete our nomadic journey, we’ll be welcomed by homestay families, in Disi and Tweisi, to a settled village lifestyle. Our days in the village will be spent sharing in family life in this traditional community experiencing the on-going transition from nomadic to settled life. In the villages, we’ll move into our gender split, with boys and girls meeting separately for course instruction and other activities, which will allow us to engage more fully with these traditional communities. We’ll engage in the everyday tasks of our home-stay families: waking up early, going to school – where we’ll continue our Arabic language and culture studies, engaging with guest speakers on a variety of topics, working in the fields, herding animals, spending hours in the kitchen preparing meals, drinking tea, playing with our host brothers and sisters and sleeping outside while the weather stays warm. In addition, students will have the opportunity to spend time exploring some aspect of village life in an in-depth way through their village Independent Study Projects. Participating in village life also allows us a rich first-hand perspective for discussing issues of development, identity, and spirituality.
Week 5 – 6: Petra to Mount Nebo. Comparative religion, language study As our first month in the region comes to a close, we’ll make our way to the ancient Nabatean city of Petra. After exploring the site, we’ll retreat to the mountains around Petra for an exploration of the three Abrahamic faiths and our own journeys of spirit. Our retreat will prepare us for our pilgrimage from Mount Aaron, the final resting place of the prophet Aaron, to Mount Nebo where Moses had his first and only glance of the promised land.
Week 7 – 11: Aqaba, Jordan. Urban homestays, language study, urban ISP As we end our time of spiritual inquiry in Madaba, we’ll return south to Aqaba, where we will settle into daily Aqabawi life. Each student is paired up with a home-stay family, whom you will get to know very well! Our month in Aqaba allows us to examine contemporary Arab life in an urban setting and to consider the influences of development, spirituality and environment on contemporary Aqaba society. As in Disi & Tweisi, our time in Aqaba will be structured very similarly to that of a local Jordanian student (some may be your home-stay siblings!). Starting your days early, you will come Sunday through Thursday to the Dragons Program House for daily language classes, instructor lessons, guest lectures, and discussion. Returning to your homestays after lunch and in time for nap-time, your afternoons will be given to the pursuit of urban Independent Study Projects (ISP’s), and we’ll help you find a mentor and resources according to your interests and passions. We are off from classes on weekends, so they’re a great time to spend with your home-stay families exploring the city and indulging in other cultural experiences separate from the group. We will wrap-up our urban home-stay experience with a family party where students will share their ISP experiences and thank our Aqaba community for welcoming us into their lives. Following a structured and rigorous academic as well as experiential curriculum, this portion of the course requires a healthy balance between time with your group, your mualimeen (teachers/instructors), fellow students, your home-stay families, and your own personal space. Students in past programs have wished they had known the following things about the urban time in Aqaba: jeans and cotton clothing are appropriate for the urban home-stay; mornings are structured until lunch; students will use public transportation to move around the city on their own; students will have the opportunity to buy traditional clothes; language is a major component of the course! You’ll also need to spend time preparing for the final phase of the course…
Week 11 – 12: Amman and Central Jordan. Expedition phase! As a tribe, by the end of week 11, we’ll have come a long way from where we started. During the second to last week on course, with instructor support and guidance, we’ll be ready, inshallah, to embark on a student-driven expedition phase. During the expedition phase of the course, students will be responsible for creating, executing and evaluating their own itinerary in Amman and central Jordan. By the time that we reach this phase of the course, students should have developed the skills to drive their own learning and to travel as a group with instructors supporting the course in the areas of risk and health management. We will expect each student to step up and lead the group through our daily activities. Your leadership skills, along with maintaining a positive group culture and teamwork will prove to be essential in order to succeed in your expedition phase. Be prepared for exuberant high-fives, and celebratory cheers at the end of this challenging chapter.
Week 13: Wadi Rum, Jordan. De-orientation. Culminating our expedition phase and moving into our final week in Jordan, we return to our beginnings in Wadi Rum and our de-orientation, a time when we reflect back on our semester in Jordan and start dialogues around returning home. We will reflect on the lessons gifted to us over the course of our journey, and also share our fears and expectations around returning to the culture, which before this trip (for some of us) was the only culture we knew so well.