While most seventeen year olds’ biggest concern entering senior year is opening the Common App and starting the college process, Junior Hannah Ellis will be packing her bags in late August and flying to the Kings Academy in Madaba, Jordan to study abroad for a year.

Leaving  the comfort of a town that you have lived in since kindergarten is a challenge, especially senior year, however it is not the first time Ellis has taken on the challenge of moving to a different country.  Freshman year she lived in Saudi Arabia with her family in an  American compound, and it was there that she experienced a culture outside of typical Scituate suburbia.

Although Saudi Arabia and Jordan seem to be similar culturally, Saudi Arabia is much more conservative than Jordan, woman can’t drive and must wear an abaya. In Jordan it is much more liberal, and Ellis is looking forward to experiencing a different culture. The tension that is occurring in bordering countries like Syria does not phase Ellis. “Jordan is stable and it’s really interesting being in an area where history is being made,” she said. “Also I will have classmates from these countries like Syria and talking to them will be fascinating.”

One motive for going to the Kings Academy is to improve Arabic. Ellis picked it up in Saudi Arabia, but wants to take the language to another level by practicing it abroad. Ellis said, “I started studying arabic in Saudi Arabia and I really enjoyed it. I tried to continue when I got back to the states with weekend lessons, but it was so much more difficult to practice Arabic in an English speaking area.” To focus on Arabic, Ellis is enrolled in a program called Arabic Year which is an intensive language program that teaches the language by experiencing it first hand. Students learn by embarking on field trips and interacting with people who speak the language fluently.

Ellis hopes to extend her passion for different cultures and languages by studying political science with a concentration on international affairs after high school. Someday she wants to work  in an international organization such as the United Nations or a government organization. Even though she is studying abroad, coming back to the states for college is in her plans, and because Kings Academy is modeled after Deerfield Academy in Deerfield, MA, the college process will be very similar to the process of a senior here in the U.S.

Overall, Ellis is excited for the experience. She is nervous to move away from her family and friends for a full year, but she comes home for Christmas break and relates the experience to just starting college a year early.  “I am a little apprehensive about jumping into an already established senior class,” Ellis said, “but ultimately I am really really excited for the experience!”