Residence Halls and What to Bring

New York

At Columbia students will live in either Hartley, Carman, John Jay, or Wien Hall, all of which are within a few minutes walk of most classroom buildings, the dining hall, the libraries, the students activities center, and the gym. Suites in Hartley and Carman and floors on John Jay and Wien are single-sex. Experienced residence advisers live with and supervise the students in the dorms and travel to and from Jordan with them.

Every bedroom is provided with a bed, pillow, blanket, desk, chair, chest of drawers, closet, and either a window air conditioning unit or central air conditioning. Rooms are illuminated by fluorescent light. A loaner package of linen is provided to each residential student at the start of his or her stay. Included are two sheets, a pillowcase, two towels, and a washcloth.

Each room has a telephone with voicemail, which will receive incoming calls and can be used to make internal campus calls. Students may use cell phones, calling cards, or pay phones found in the dormitory lobbies for non-campus outgoing calls.

Free Internet access is provided to all rooms for students with computers equipped with Ethernet cards; students will need to bring or purchase their own Ethernet cords (please note that some rooms will require particularly long cords). Wireless access is available throughout most of the campus and in the main lounges on the ground floors of the dormitories but not throughout the dorms.

Coin-operated washers and dryers are available in the basement of each of the residence halls.

Security personnel are stationed at entrances to the residence halls 24 hours a day. No individual without a University identification card or special clearance for dormitory access is allowed to enter a dormitory. Parents/guardians are allowed into the dorms only on check-in day, to help students move in.

Housing assignments are made randomly; students cannot request housing in a particular building, on a particular floor, or in a particular suite or room.

Jordan

The site director and experienced resident advisers who have worked in our New York program will live in the King’s Academy dormitories with the students. They will be there to supervise and assist and to organize extracurricular activities.

Each dorm room is equipped with a bed, bed linens, towel, lamp, chair, and dresser. There are laundry facilities on each floor of the residence halls. Rooms are not air conditioned but are equipped with ceiling fans and have large, screened windows to let in the breeze. Daytime classrooms are air-conditioned.

The program staff will have international cell phones, which students can use to call home. International calling cards can be purchased upon arrival. International cell phone service is available in Jordan, although it can be expensive to make and receive calls from the United States, depending on the service provider. Phones need to be able to operate on frequencies of 900 or 1800 MHz to work in the country. Students must adhere to King’s Academy rules for cell phone use while on campus, which restricts usage to dorm rooms and the Student Union.

The mailing address of King’s Academy is P.O. Box 9, Manja, Madaba, 16188, Jordan. The phone number from the US is 011 962 6 430 0230; the fax is 011 962 6 430 0259. The switchboard is open 24 hours. Be sure to leave this contact information with your parents.

Wireless internet is available to students in the dorms, library, and Student Union building. Students are encouraged to bring their own laptops if they have them. There are a few computers in the library which students can potentially use for homework assignments.

King’s Academy has a store on campus that carries basic supplies. For other shopping, trips will be scheduled to take groups of students by private van to stores in Amman and the nearby town of Madaba.

Because the schedule for field trips, camping, and classroom instruction is quite full, students should not expect that they will be able to arrange time away from the program while in Jordan. In the event that an opportunity arises for a personal trip, for example to see family who live near Amman, students will be given permission to leave campus only if they are picked up and dropped off at King's Academy. Students will need to have a Permission to Leave Campus form signed by a parent well ahead of the proposed excursion so that program staff will have an opportunity to confirm its details with parents and to alert King's Academy security that the student will be leaving campus. Students will not be given permission to leave the program from other points of travel in Jordan, such as Wadi Rum, Amman, and Petra.

When preparing for the program, it is recommended that you strongly consider the Packing Checklist below as well as the Student Handbook. These are important resources and will be very helpful in helping you to decide what to bring .

Packing Checklist

Required:

• Valid passport with visa
• Notebook for keeping a journal (can be purchased in New York)
• Small backpack for camping trips and hikes
• Comfortable clothing for warm weather
• At least  two “nice” outfits suitable for visiting religious institutions and organizations: long pants and a shirt with a collar for boys; a nice skirt, dress, or slacks for girls
• Girls need to bring one lightweight scarf capable of covering all of their hair for visits to mosques
• One or two sweaters or sweatshirts for cool nights in the desert
• Bathing suits for swimming at the gym and trips to the beach and to a Turkish bath. In Jordan, bathing suits for both boys and girls need to be modest: girls should wear one-piece suits; boys should not wear Speedo-type briefs.
• Hat with a large brim or sun protection
• Flashlight
• Portable toiletries
• Tissue packs – needed at most restrooms in the country
• Hand sanitizer
• High SPF sunscreen
• Travel towel for camping
• See the Dress in Jordan page for further information on proper attire.

 Recommended:

• Laptops (highly recommended). Be advised that you will probably need to bring an AC adapter. Most newer model laptops have a voltage converter that will automatically switch from 110 to 220 volts, so most likely all you will need is the adapter and not a separate converter. If you are bringing an older laptop, it is worth checking that it can handle the increased voltage.
• We recommend that students have access to at least $900 in spending money for the entire program. ATM machines are widely available on the Columbia campus and in Jordan. Students should be sure to notify their banks or credit card companies that they will be using their cards in Jordan. Because of increased concern over bank and credit card fraud, many banks will freeze credit lines or deny access to bank accounts when they see unexpected charges made on their cards in foreign countries.
• Sleeping bag liner
• Power adapter – U.K. version at King's Academy
• Sturdy camera and camera case
• Cell phone with Jordan capability
  • Students may buy SIM cards in Jordan
  • Phones need to operate on 900 or 1800 MHz to work in Jordan
  • We highly recommend contacting your cell phone carrier to make sure your phone will work in Jordan and checking the rates which, without the SIM cards, will be high.