Arabic Class, the US Embassy, and AUC

After our unbelievable day in Giza, we had an incredibly busy day in Egypt.  Wednesday, May 12th, I had my first Arabic class which teaches us Egyptian colloquial, which varies greatly from formal, written Arabic.  Our class is awesome though.  The people in my class are great and I love my teacher, Hasnaa.  She is a bit crazy, but a wonderful teacher who makes the four hours of class bearable and enjoyable.  Most of the things we have learned this week are very new to all of us.  They are very useful things too, as I have used what I have learned to speak to regular people in Cairo.  I love just talking to people, as Egyptians are extremely amiable people.  They are also pleasantly surprised when a foreigner attempts to talk to them in Arabic.  Anyway, I love the language and I hope to learn so much more while I am here.

That Wednesday, our group went on a visit to the US Embassy.  I was a bit disappointed by the experience, as we just listened to a diplomat telling us the same rhetoric about free markets and democracy, while ignoring key subjects like political and human rights.  Anyway, it was still really intriguing to go to the embassy, and go through their rather tight security.

On Thursday of last week, we went to the American University of Cairo.  The campus is about an hour out of the center of Cairo.  Before arriving there you see miles of villas and mansions being built.  The university itself is walled off and in the middle of the desert.  It is beautiful and massive, but it is also a perfect example of what is wrong in Egypt and across the globe.  Egypt is a country of water shortages and extreme poverty (I saw this first hand in the Zabbaleen trash village and in the slums surrounding Cairo).  Yet AUC has perfectly groomed gardens, water fountains, and simply too much extravagance.  We talked to the students, and what you can sense is that it is a school for the upper class and foreigners.  Middle and lower class youth have little to no possibilities of attending AUC.  The university and the area leading up to it shows the significant income disparity that exists in Egypt.  That being said, it is once again very impressive both aesthetically and academically, but some crucial issues are extremely visible.

Welcome to Cairo and the Pyramids

Hey everyone!  This will be my first post even though I have already been in Cairo for over a week.  I did not have access to continuous internet until two days ago, so now I will hopefully write on a more consistent basis.

So far Egypt has been absolutely amazing!  My experience thus far has been unbelievable, and it has lived up to the high expectations I had for this trip.  Our group arrived in Egypt after the most ridiculous journey ever.  After traveling for over 24 hours and having had multiple delays, we finally reached Cairo at about 12 AM on Monday, May 10th.  We were all so tired from the trip and the seemingly eternal time spent in Frankfurt airport, but nevertheless we were finally in Cairo and we were so incredibly excited.  Our first full day was very relaxed in which we simply took a stroll through the neighborhood we are located in, Zamalek, and later took an Arabic placement test for our Arabic classes.

On Tuesday, May 11th, we went to Giza to see the pyramids and the Sphinx.  Me and my roommate Curtis had a bit of trouble waking up that morning, as my alarm clock was not sufficient in waking our sleep deprived bodies.  However, we miraculously did make the bus to Giza (thanks to our friends Mary and Christine knocking on our door).  I am so thankful that we did wake up in time, because last Tuesday was by far one of the best days of my life.  We arrived to Giza, and immediately as we get out of the bus, we are greeted by tens of camels ready for us.  I jumped on the first camel I saw, realizing one of my goals for this trip.  I rode the camel with the rest of my group to a bit of an elevated part of the desert where you had an amazing view of the pyramids.  As I got off my beautiful camel, who I named Sultan, I simply stared at the pyramids.  It was one of the most incredible things I have ever seen.  The view was stunning, and there it hit me that I was in fact in Egypt.  I had always thought that riding a camel and seeing the pyramids would be awesome, but when you actually see it, it is unbelievable.  It was truly sublime.

We took a multitude of pictures there and then we got back on our camels and rode down to see the Sphinx, which was pretty cool as well.  Seeing the Sphinx with the pyramids behind it was another splendid view that I had the good fortune to enjoy under the hot Egyptian sun.  Overall it was a perfect day, and I know that I will one day return to Giza.