Blogs from Mediterranean, Egypt, Africa - page 14

Since I last wrote many things have occured. So many it is difficult to keep tabs on. I think if I just relate the basic things, small little details will make their way in. So I started classes about a month ago. The first 2 weeks we four Americans were shuffled around everywhere so that the teachers could gage our levels and so we could choice what teaching style we enjoy. I finally ended taking colloquiol (Amaya) at The Alexandria Center for Languages (the center) and classical arabic (fusa) at the University of Alexandria TAFL (TAFL). About a 25 minute walk is between both places and most of the time I have only 30 minutes to get there, but usually all of my classes start late because this is Egypt and everything happens late in Egypt. ... read more

Plane trip bare facts: Chicago - NY approx. 4hrs - I said goodbye to my sister, dad, mom, Alex and Maceon. Then I was searched with a hand held metal detector Layover was approx. 4hrs - It was fine. I met 2 women going to africa somewhere on missionary work. The airport also switched my gate, but it wasn't so bad because I only had to move down 3 or 4 gates. NY- Dubai was approx. 12hrs - It was ok. There were lots of crying babies and it was very uncomfortable sleeping. I met a nice chap from pakistan going home to vist family. Layover was approx. 12 hrs - And it was terrible. At first all i saw were arabs which isn't a bad thing, but was like a culture shock because i'm used ... read more

I was delighted to discover that we had the option of doing a day trip to the second largest city in Egypt, Alexandria, which I really wanted to visit. The city is named after its founder, Alexander the Great, and it lies by the delta of the Nile on the Mediterranean Coast. What a difference from Cairo... subsitute your camels for horses, the dusty horizon for the blue Mediterranean sea and the meal of choice from shawarma to seafood! Qaitbay's Citadel...aka big sandcastle First up we visited Qaitbay's citadel, built in 1477 for the eighteenth sultan of Egypt. This fort was amazing with beautiful views of the entire city and its coastline. Blazing sun, bright blue skies and wind travelling at 543672 miles an hour...it was at this point where I realised Egypt isn't hot all ... read more

Just got back from Alexandria on the Mediterranean...and I definitely think I'll go back. We went with a school subsidized trip for two days and one night (though of course we could have done it for cheaper on our own...minus the conveniences) and got back last night. It's only about a 2 1/2 hour bus right from Cairo...perfect for a weekend getaway. On the way we got to see a lot of the farm land of the delta, though I'm not sure exactly what they were growing. As we approached the city it was interesting to note that to the right was a vast marsh with wooden shacks smaller than my room at Penn that were literally tilted about 15 degrees (thought I was in a cartoon for a second), while directly across the road was ... read more

With the Nile tour completed I had arranged to spend another couple of days visiting the coastal city of Alexandria which is only a short trip from El Alamein, the scene of a major WWII battle that my grandfather had fought in. Anyway first some background on Alexandria and why its worth a look. The city was founded by its namesake Alexander the Great after he had conquered Egypt and had himself proclaimed Pharoah. Despite being Macedonian Greeks, Alexander and his successors decided that they would embrace the Egyptian culture by adopting their gods and customs and they ruled Egypt as the Ptomely dynasty of Pharoahs with Alexandria as their capital. Anyway the reason I am bothering to explain all this is that despite the Ptomely's originally being Greeks, the most famous (and last) of their ... read more