By Madison Hunt | Staff Writer
As dawn washed Jordan in darkness, Norah Ramsey looked at her window as a silver streak stitched the sky — what looked like a shooting star to most was a missile knifing across the horizon. The street below seemed to hold its breath as a siren rang. In that moment of wonder, she realized the constellations above her head were actually missiles headed toward Iran.
Ramsey is a sophomore from Waco studying economics and international studies in Arabic. For the summer, she went to Amman, Jordan, with Qasid, an Arabic Institute Program running from June through August. But she didn’t suspect the challenges and conflicts that would occur in the coming days.
About 1,000 miles away from Jordan stands Iran, which endured 12 days (June 13 through June 24) of armed conflict and surprise attacks from Israel amid the Israel-Hamas war.
“I got there a day earlier than the rest of my peers. I went to sleep and when I woke up, I had received a bunch of unread texts and missed phone calls,” Ramsey said. “During the night I arrived in Jordan, Iran bombed Israel. I was in the middle of those two countries as the missiles were flying over my head. For the next two weeks, it continued on.”
According to CNN, a month before the attacks, “Jordan leadership has been walking a tightrope trying to balance mounting public anger with its close alliance with the U.S. and relationship with Israel.” Jordan’s main priority had been protecting its own national sovereignty and stability amid rising regional tensions.
Ramsey said every time a missile entered Jordanian airspace, the sirens rang to signal it. Then, officials would shoot the missile down if necessary.
“It happened mostly at night but sometimes in the daytime too,” Ramsey said. “It would occur almost every hour that the siren would ring. When I would walk outside at night, I’d see missiles that looked like shooting stars but a lot longer.”
Ramsey said despite the ongoing conflict between Iran and Israel, she felt safe as the Qasid program was organized and kept her up to date through assignments and paperwork.
“I was registered with the U.S. Embassy, so if I needed to get out of Jordan, the embassy would’ve told me to get out,” Ramsey said. “Although it did make things difficult for the start of the program. With all the turmoil happening, we didn’t know what was going on or if the program was going to continue. But it all ended up working out.”
Despite the chaos, Ramsey said the trip was beneficial for her. She decided to participate in the study abroad trip to become better at Arabic and to get a taste of the culture connected to the language.
“There’s a formula to it. Each word in their language boils down to three root letters, then from those three root letters, you can make hundreds of different words through these 10 forms,” Ramsey said. “It’s an insanely beautiful formula.”
Department of Modern Languages and Cultures Senior Lecturer in Arabic Dr. Lynn Whitcomb said spending time in another culture, like Ramsey did in Jordan, is the best way to experience that language in connection with the culture. Whitcomb said studying abroad experiences are important, especially for anyone who’s serious about learning a different language.
“All languages are very important in terms of our being in a more connected world,” Whitcomb said. “I know that people are increasingly asking Google Translate or ChatGPT, but from my perspective that limits how much we can connect with each other. Language involves a lot of nuance.”
Dedicating two months out of the summer to living in a random country with people she had never met is exactly what Ramsey endured during her time abroad. But Ramsey said the locals were very kind and welcoming. Though the experience was tough at first for Ramsey, she was never alone.
“The locals want to help you understand what the Jordanian and Middle Eastern culture is about and why we should care about it,” Ramsey said. “Being from the U.S., it can be daunting but showing [the locals] I cared about their language was a great start to some awesome friendships and relationships.”
