Half Way Through...Where has the time gone?

Africa » Egypt » Lower Egypt » Cairo
October 20th 2008

Published: October 20th 2008

Hi everyone!

Sorry its been so long since I've posted...things have been a little crazy. I am going to apologize in advance, because this post may be boring and slightly philosophical...you have been warned! Also, I don't have pictures uploaded yet, but I will get some up soon, promise!

Where to start? Well, I guess the best way to characterize the last 2 weeks is crazy. Sheer, utter madness! Normally at this point in people's study abroad adventures, they will say they are starting to feel comfortable, getting used to their city, ect. And some of my friends here have been saying that. Not the case for me! If anything, I feel like the last two weeks have been more unsettling than the first couple of weeks I was here!

The biggest issue is housing. As some of you have heard me complain already, I will keep it short. AUCs on-campus housing is not done, and will not be done by the end of the semester. The temporary housing they have us in sucks (to put it mildly) and they have basically told us that nothing will change. Not only will nothing change, for 3 days at the end of the month the hotels they have us in are booked, so we have to move all of our stuff out. The plan for these three days is to take us on a trip. Unfortunately these days are school days, and most of us--myself included--have exams, and things we cannot miss. Basically, AUC has failed miserably on the housing front. So my roommate, our friend Sarah and myself are moving out. Actually, a good amount of the international students in the hotels are, though it took some time to figure out money (I still have no clue if I will get any of my housing money back from GW...).

Moving out is awesome, but that means you need a place to live. Which meant apartment hunting. Talk about an adventure!!! The three of us went apartment hunting, in Cairo! I have never been apartment hunting in the U.S., where not only do I speak the language, I kind of understand how it works. In Cairo though? Basically it meant using a broker to have him show us apartments, negotiating prices, figuring out what the prices included, negotiating some more, looking at more apartments, ect, ect, ect. The place we finally settled on is a really nice 2 bedroom apartment in Zamalek, about a block away from the AUC residence hall (yes, AUC does have some functioning housing. The people living there are not having nearly the same issues that students in temporary housing are having! If only it were large enough to accommodate all the students AUC promised housing to...)

Thankfully, we had a couple of awesome friends help us out...Nick, who gave introduced us to the broker he used and went with us the first night we were looking and Bido, our Egyptian friend who basically did all of the talking for us, and negotiated like mad to get us a good price. (We paid a broker fee of 500 Egyptian pounds, which is fair. I spoke to someone else who moved and used a broker, and they ended up paying close to 2000 Egyptian pounds! Seriously, Bido saved our lives!!) It is going to be awesome!! Words cannot describe how excited I am that I am moving out!!! Living in the hotels has just felt so unsettled and uncomfortable, on so many levels! There is not really a way to function while living here (at least for me) so I am happy that I am moving out, even if we do only have about 2 months left (these last to months are going to be even more awesome than the first 2!!!). Plus, maybe I'll actually manage to pass this semester now that I will have internet and a place to study!! (Its funny how hard it can be to find somewhere to study and actually get stuff done!). We can officially move in the 26th, so now I just have to patiently wait...one thing I have learned about myself here in Egypt, I am not a patient person!! Oh well, I guess I have no choice but to learn, right?

One of the down sides of all this is that I was apartment hunting this weekend, instead of going to Alexandria with my friends. Not only that, but now I am officially broke (yup, my parents are thrilled about that one!) and so I'm not sure how much more I will be able to travel this semester. There is still a ton to do here in Cairo, and I will go to Alexandria at some point, but there is no way I can do some of the bigger trips I wanted. (Sorry Bethany, you'll just have to go back to Vienna at some point and take me with you!)

Last week my friend Shaina had a friend visiting from home (which for her is Canada) and we went out on the town. It was a blast! First we went to this really yummy restaurant in Zamalek, that took FOREVER to serve us, but had good, decent priced food. There was supposed to be a big group of us, but it ended up just being 4 of us and instead of our original plans we ended up on a felucca. The captain played music for us, and the four of us danced ridiculously on the Nile! It was hilarious and awesome all at the same time! I literally danced to Akon, Shaggy and other American music on the Nile!! We definitely got some strange looks, but it was so much fun that we didn't care. Afterward we went to this place called Crave for dessert, and shared some of the best chocolate lava cake ever! Think warm gooey chocolate filled cake, with vanilla ice cream...YUM!

Hmm, what else has happened? I've been getting involved in some of the clubs on campus. One is called Al Quds club, which is basically a Palestinian awareness club. There is also a dabka team that practices afterward...I've learned from that that I am really uncoordinated! I also went to the AUC women's soccer team practice. I was the only girl there who had never really played soccer, so needless to say I will not be making the team, but I am going to try and continue going to practice. Finally, tomorrow I am meeting with some people tomorrow about the international student newsletter, LovEgypt, which I will hopefully help editing.

What else? Well, the other day I accidentally got a hair cut. Okay, it wasn't quite an accident...I did want a hair cut, its just that I wanted it trimmed and I ended up getting it chopped! I have literally never had hair this short in my life!! It looks fine, thankfully, so it worked out well, it was just a bit of a shock. I don't think words can describe the feeling when the guy cutting my hair made that first chop...shock doesn't seem strong enough!! Talk about things lost in translation!

Basically the last two weeks have been a mixture of trying to find housing and trying to have a normal life. On both accounts I have been marginally successful, and I am so looking forward to the next 2 months with our own apartment! Hopefully this post didn't bore you too much (I know, no crazy climbing adventures this time!) and I hope that wherever you are reading this from you are safe and happy and well. Be sure to keep in touch!!

Half Way Through...Where has the time gone?

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