Advertisement
Published: August 26th 2008
Edit Blog Post
Nile
Yes, I got to see the sunset while on a felluca on the Nile...amazing! Hello again!
Sorry its taken me so long to update/post pictures...the internet hasn't been working in our rooms, though its fixed (for now) so I should be able to update more often!
Where to begin? Egypt is amazing! Amazing actually isn't a strong enough word...I can't believe I'm actually here! The last couple of days have felt like way more than just 3 days! We've had to do some orientation stuff, and my survival Arabic course started today, though regular classes don't start until the 7th. Other than that, the AUC staff have put on various events. On Saturday they took us to a mall, and then we went on felluca (basically a sail boat) rides on the Nile. Sunday night we went to a really famous and old bazaar, Khan el Khalily, where I managed to bargain with a shop owner in Spanish for a scarf. I never thought I'd use my Spanish here! After we were done shopping when went to what is one of the oldest cafes in the world and I had really good Turkish coffee. I am getting spoiled with the coffee here...I'm not sure how I'm going to handle drinking the stuff they
Vicki and Steve
My roomie Vicki and fellow San Diegan, Steve. sell back home when I finally come back!
Today there was a dinner and then we went horseback riding next to the pyramids. I actually got to ride a horse! Next to the pyramids! When we first got to the stables where we were starting our ride, they asked us if we'd ridden before and about 5 of us who had made up the first guide. We had to ride through some houses and stuff and then we got to the open desert, and our guide was like "You want to run? Go run!" At first I don't think any of us believed that he was actually letting us just go gallop through the desert on our own, but he was serious, so we all took off at a gallop. We literally galloped through the desert, at night, in the shadow of the pyramids...it was incredible! All I could hear was the pounding of my horse's hooves and his breathing...its probably the first time I haven't heard the non-stop honking of horns. We went to this plateau where you could see the whole city all around, and the pyramids off to the side. I feel like my description doesn't
Old Building
And when I say 'old' I mean really really old! do it justice! It was most definitely a once in a lifetime experience! I didn't take any pictures-- I was on a horse--but I will go back to the pyramids and take a ton of pictures.
Cairo itself is a crowded, noisy and awesome place. I am totally in love! The traffic is crazy...people just drive wherever, with absolutely no regards to signals or lanes or any sort of rules, but it seems to work out just fine. Thats probably the best way to describe Cairo in general. To me coming in from the outside it seems like there is just mayhem and no order, and yet everything seems to end up functioning just fine in the end. The part of Cairo we are staying in is where most of the foreign people stay. Its an area called Zamalek, and its basically an island in surrounded by the Nile. I've started to get used to the heat, though I've been drinking a ton of water! AUC's campus, well the old campus, is right in the middle of downtown, in a place called Tahrir Square. This is also where the Cairo Museum is, which I haven't gone to yet, but
Bazaar
Scarves in the bazaar. will soon! Its an old Palace building, and the gardens are gorgous. This semester the campus is moving out to "New Cairo" which basically means out into the edge of the city, in the desert. I haven't gotten to go out there yet, though I think we are going on Thursday for the opening of the campus. Its supposed to be state of the art, and really nice, so I'm excited. This move is apparently 10 years in the making, so its cool to be here for the first semester at the new campus. I am supposed to be living in the on-campus dorms, but since this is Egypt they aren't ready yet, so they are putting us in a hotel in another nice area of town called Heliopolis. We move into the hotels at the end of the week, and then have another week before classes actually start.
I feel like I could talk forever, and still not do Cairo justice! The people I've meet are all really nice, and Egyptians seem to be the most patient group of people with stupid foreigners that I've yet to meet. They don't mind waiting for you to struggle to find
the Arabic word for something, and everyone has been really helpful. The security guards/receptionists on campus and in AUC buildings all work to learn your name (I am amazed at how many have actually gotten my name right, after only hearing it once!). Don't buy into all the stereotypes that if you are female and walk around unveiled you will get harassed everywhere you go. I have only had someone say something once, and there are actually a good amount of Egyptian women who don't veil. People do tend to stare, but I don't think that’s because I'm an unveiled woman, but rather a foreigner.
Overall, I am in love with Cairo. No joke, its probably the most amazing place I will ever get to be! I still can't believe I'm actually here!
I hope you are all well, and I promise to be better about updating more often (and I promise my posts won't be quite as sporadic and all over the place like this one is, I'm just still sooooo excited to be here, and really tired!) and I will keep posting the trillions of pictures I've been taking!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.125s; Tpl: 0.054s; cc: 7; qc: 48; dbt: 0.0532s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
mom
non-member comment
Hello Vicky, What type of horse did you ride? I am soooo jealous!!