So another summer is quickly approaching and luckily enough, I have the opportunity to travel overseas once again. This time I will be spending two and a half weeks looking at soil in Jordan. The past semester I have been taking a class called Soils and Civilizations, which looks at how the natural resources of an area affect a civilization and consequently how that civilization impacts the natural resources. We analyze cultures from every continent but spend a good deal of time looking at the culture of the Near East. As a conclusion to the class, some of the students will be traveling to Jordan to look at the soil and culture of the country. It's getting difficult to study for my machine design final on friday when I know I will be leaving the country soon. The group will be leaving from JFK on May 11th and arriving back in the US May 28th. If you would like to track the trip to see what I'm up to, I will be periodically updating personal entries on this blog. The trip will also be posting information from the trip on another blog site: www.jordansoils.blogspot.com

This will be a slightly different trip than last summer because it will involve people I know and traveling around for the most part with a tour group. The tour is tailored however, consisting only of my class, and we'll have the chance to visit some neat places like a desert irrigation systems and even a Mennonite Central Committee site. It will be a change to fly on a plane with people I know though.

Below is a video which outlines most of the places we'll get to travel to. I'm excited to dive into another culture and see new places. To see new art and new ways of looking at nature. One thing that always amazes me is how much nature impacts a culture, I guess that is one concept that my soils class has repeatedly stressed over the past few months. To get a full understanding of a different culture, it's almost necessary to step back and look around at where you are. If you want an idea of the nature of Jordan, check out the video below.

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