I have been delayed in updating my blog because of the amount of work I have had for school and my friend Oliver is visiting Cairo from OSU. However, two weekends ago I had a field trip. Originally, the field trip was planning to go to an amazing Mamluk complex, however, we weren't allowed to go because the Egyptian President Mubarak hadn't inaugurated the building yet. So, in true Egyptian style our plans changed and we ended up going to the Mosque of Sultan Hassan and a few other buildings in the area. Sultan Hassan was a Mamluk ruler who was [View Full Entry]

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Last weekend I took a class field trip to the southern cemetery in Cairo. In the southern cemetery is a lot of tombs, mosques, and mausoleums throughout this area that were built during the Abbasid and Mamluk era. Many of these places were onces in which we studied in my class and are great examples of some interesting architectural aspects and changes. One of the most interesting parts to me was the area in which many of these mausoleums and tombs are tucked into. It is definitely not a touristy area, or one in which I would go by myself. The [View Full Entry]

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Last weekend I finally made it to the Mosque of Ibn Tulun, which I had learned about extensively in my Architecture class. Derek and I made a trip to this mosque by taxi and walked around the neighborhoods surrounding the mosque before we found the enterence. This was interesting to see everyday life in these villages as we pass by. It was also interesting to see how differently people react to Derek as opposed to me. Derek gets welcomed to every place we go! But walking into the mosque, it is very large and grand! And walking on the walls of [View Full Entry]

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Last weekend I went on a field trip to an old fortified Fatimid city. At first we went to the northern gates of the Fatimid City which are called Bab al-Nasr and Bab al-Futuh. These gates are very large and architecturally very beautiful. They are extremely ornate. However, the most interesting aspect to me was that inside these ancient walls are thriving Cairo neighborhoods. Very modern people living there live inside these walls which were built around 969. Both gates are very different looking from their shape to their decorations. Bab al Nasr is decorated with shields and swords which ma [View Full Entry]

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On Friday I went to Coptic Cairo with several friends from AUC, including Derek. Coptic Cairo is a very beautiful area, it is considered the beginning of the modern city and is also the Christian section of Cairo. We took the metro to this section of old Cairo and started out at the Coptic Museum which has many textiles, columns, artwork which includes many pieces which were formally on some of the oldest church. Much of these artifacts date back to the 6th century, while many go back even further. Much of the artwork and textiles include picture and iconography such [View Full Entry]

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This Valentines Day was a very unique experience to have in Cairo. The holiday of Valentines Day is definitely as big of a holiday in Egypt as it is in America. For the last three weeks I had begun to see more and more store windows and shops with Valentines decoration, stuffed animals, cards and very extravagant Valentines Day gifts. The actual day of Valentines Day the city was abuzz with flower shops overflowing and decorations everywhere in sight. This comes as somewhat of a paradox because traditionally Islam doesn't support holidays such as Valentines Day (especially in Saudi Arabia wher [View Full Entry]

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Classes here in Cairo last from Sunday until Thursday. Thus, my weekends now begin on Thursday and end Saturday night, which is very strange to adjust to. This weekend a few friends and I decided to adventure to Alexandria, the second largest city in Egypt, which has a long history. Alexandria gets its name from Alexander the great who conquered this area and decided to build a capital city. I took a train from Cairo to Alexandria after classes on Thursday. Train tickets to Alexandria only cost about 13 US dollars round trip! So after a two hour train ride I [View Full Entry]

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This weekend I had a good opportunity to further explore Cairo and become immersed in the culture and the people! I have become accustom to the sights, smells, sounds and feel of the city. I have become a master of tackling the insane traffic in downtown Cairo, which is indeed an art form all its own (the concept of street lights and cross walks don't exist here). I experienced some new restaurants and markets this weekend. One night I even went to a belly dancing club in downtown Cairo, which was quite an interesting experience. I think the best part of [View Full Entry]

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After almost a week long orientation at campus, I plan to spend this weekend ( here the weekend is Thursday-Saturday) further exploring downtown Cairo, Zamalek and many surrounding neighborhoods with many of my new friends. However, I decided to post some of my random observations about Cairo and Zamalek thus far: - The sun sets here at 5pm, which is still hard to get used to. However, the streets are very busy here and most people don't eat dinner til about 9pm! - There is an insane amount of security in Cairo. In Zamalek there is at least one soldier or [View Full Entry]

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For the last few days I have been mostly going to school orientation at the American University in Cairo. This has involved many interesting bus rides through Cairo and to an area called New Cairo, which is a developing area of Cairo which is very wealthy, with some of the largest mansions I have ever seen! The University campus itself is very new, having just opened a semester ago after moving from a campus in downtown Cairo. The campus is very interesting, it had unique architecture and some very modern amenities. The orientation itself has been a little frustrating, the scheduling [View Full Entry]

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