Our Day at Orientation

Today was a good day of learning about what we are about to experience over the next two weeks. We started out this morning with a brief lecture about the history of Saudi Aramco. Saudi Aramco was founded 75 years ago by Standard Oil (now Chevron). In the 1980s Saudi Arabia gradually purchased back chunks of the company, and now it is privately owned officially by the Saudi King. The name Aramco comes from “Arabian-American Oil Company” and was shorted to Aramco. Then, when Saudi Arabia fully owned it, it became Saudi Aramco. It produces and refines more oil than any other company in the world. Yet, often it is a company we have never heard of. 60 Minutes recently ran a very good story on this company that you can read about and view here.

Anyway, after learning about the company that is funding our amazing trip, and that is a MAJOR part of Saudi Arabia, we also learned a little about Saudi Arabian culture and society and well as a little Arabic.

We also began to learn about traditional Saudi dress, which you can see me posing beside in this picture. I won't have to wear the traditional men's wear called a thobe (the white robe) and ghutra (the headdress), however I am certainly going to buy one while I am there. The women will have to wear the abaya at most public locations in Saudi Arabia.

After a VERY nice lunch we heard from a few program alumni that told us what we could expect and how excited we should be about this amazing opportunity to see a country that is closed off to most Americans. Now I am back at the hotel for the evening to relax and get ready for our traveling day tomorrow. It is going to be a very long day tomorrow.