Tyler Fischman ’27 began the semester in Amman, Jordan as part of an Arabic-immersion study abroad program led by Middlebury College. When the war in Iran began, there was a program-wide meeting to discuss the students’ options going forward, and they landed on a “wait-and-see” approach. But after tensions heighted, Fischman received an email from the program notifying him and the other students in the program that they needed to evacuate.
Around 24 hours later, they were at the airport boarding a plane to finish the semester in Rabat, Morocco.
Currently, Jordan is one of countries listed on a Brown travel advisory recommending that students, faculty and staff defer all Brown-related travel to the Middle East. The U.S. State Department also lists Jordan as having a Level 3 Travel Advisory status, suggesting that Americans “reconsider travel” to the country.
Fischman — along with the one other Brown student studying abroad through the Middlebury School in Jordan program — spent nearly seven weeks in Amman, living with a host family and taking classes at the University of Jordan.
“It really was the opportunity of a lifetime,” Fischman said in an interview with The Herald. “I really felt immersed in Jordanian culture, and really fell in love with the people, the places, the food, the sights, the smells, the sounds — everything, because it’s such an amazing, special place.”
But once the war in Iran began, things changed quickly in Jordan.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Fischman said. “Every single place you’d go, the news would be on … every taxi you went in, the driver had it on his phone like it was the Super Bowl.”
According to Fischman, once the war began, he would hear “three or four sirens a day,” and would sometimes see missile collisions in the air above him.
Fischman said he found his program’s communication “really, really good.” After the first strikes, they had the initial program-wide meeting to discuss options, including a possible move to Morocco.
He said that as the conflict escalated, the U.S. State Department urged Americans from over a dozen countries in the Middle East — including Jordan — to “DEPART NOW” due to serious safety concerns.
Shortly after, the program was moved to Rabat. Fischman said that he had about 24 hours to completely move out.
“It is not uncommon for study abroad programs to shift locations or change itineraries based on shifting health, safety or security concerns,” wrote Malik Blue, the University’s senior associate dean of the College for study abroad, in an email to The Herald. After the initial outbreak of COVID-19, Brown students across the globe were told to quickly return to the U.S.
The decision to move the program was made by Middlebury College, which updates Brown and other partner schools throughout the process of assessing “the viability of continued operations of programs with changing safety and security conditions,” Blue wrote.
Now, Fischman is living in Rabat and taking two new classes while continuing to take his other two on Zoom with his teachers from Jordan. He is living in apartments — instead of with a host family, which is typical in the program — and is learning the Moroccan dialect of Arabic, which he says is very different from the dialect spoken in Jordan.
“I would say I feel, first and foremost, grateful and privileged to be able to continue my studies here in Morocco and (continue to) speak to a lot of people in Jordan,” Fischman said. “The fact that I don’t have to be under the threat of rocket fire, and I can learn here, is a great privilege.”
“It’s one that my Jordanian friends that I made are not afforded,” he added.
René Nováková ’28 is currently taking Arabic at Brown, and applied to study in Jordan in fall 2026 through the Middlebury program. She said she was drawn to the program for its immersion in Arabic language.
The application process concluded in early February, before the war in Iran began. According to Nováková, after applying to the program, Brown advisors gave her the option to switch to a different country due to the tensions in the Middle East.
But Nováková wants to “stick with the Arabic program, be it Jordan or Morocco,” she said in an interview with The Herald.
“I don’t really want to make the decision right now, just because no one knows what’s going to happen,” Nováková said. “If Jordan feels safe in my opinion and in the opinion of Middlebury, and they’re going to run it, I would probably still hope to do the fall.”
“If not, Morocco seems like a great other option,” she added.
Closer to the fall, Brown’s Global Travel Risk Assessment Committee will evaluate the situation in countries in the region to assess whether students can participate in the program.
“Ultimately, Brown’s GTRAC would need to approve travel to the region, and the program operator must decide to restart operations in order for our students to participate in programs in the region in the fall,” Blue wrote.
Jeremiah Farr is a senior staff writer covering university hall and higher education.
