The first decade of the 21st century has witnessed an increase in interest in the Arabic language and culture and studying the Arabic language in the Middle East has become a target for many for personal and professional reasons. In Jordan, universities and language centers have been trying to accommodate the increasing numbers of students in their Arabic language and cultural programs and Amman, the capital, had for long years been a preference for the majority of incoming learners of Arabic. More recently, the preference of Irbid city over Amman for the purpose of Arabic language acquisition has been noticed. CET Chinese Education Travel (CET), who have recently established their program at the Yarmouk University language center, have clearly expressed their preference of the Irbid environment over that of Amman for the purpose of student immersion in Jordanian Arabic and culture. This is an example of a shift in attitude toward the immediate environment chosen for foreign Arabic language students. This study explores the changed attitudes and perspectives as to the most suitable environment for the acquisition of Arabic for US students. The study investigates the local environment of the CET students and its effect both culturally and academically on their language acquisition and immersion. The study sample are a group of students sent by CET to Yarmouk University. Data was collected on site and by means of a questionnaire. The study has found that there are many challenges learners face individually, locally, and culturally being placed in a city in the north of Jordan which is nothing like metropolitan Amman. From this study the authors concluded that the environment of Irbid city has a positive effect on the performance of Arabic learners since students showed a significant increase in levels of achievement.