Lebanon and Sharm el Sheikh...Amazing Spring Break

Sooo it's been quite some time since my last post, partially due to laziness, partially end of semester shenanigans such as papers, presentations, and the like. I have a lot to write about and might not get it all done in one post, but I'll try to catch up on the past couple of weeks festivities in the next couple of days or so and still the events that are going on now.

So April 7th, Me, Mae, Kayla, Deb, Kaitlin, Alex, and Jackie all left to go to Lebanon for spring break. Somehow we were all on the same plane, even though we all booked our tickets on different days and did not do it intentionally at all. Good luck on our part I guess. The first night, Kayla, Deb, and Kaitlin stayed at the Embassy Hotel in Hamra which was about 10 mins drive or so from where Jackie, Alex, Mae and I stayed. Jackie found a great deal on this hostel which was only $9 per night that we stayed, and the other girls who stayed at the Embassy ended up joining us after their first night there which was really nice because then we all got to be together, especially since we couldn't really use our phones to call each other because the rates were 4 LE p/minute to call and 2 LE p/text which is really expensive.

So the first night we got there, we were excited and it was still pretty early since our flight was only about 45 mins or so (less time that it takes for me to get to school in the morning!). We decided to walk around a bit and the guy who ran our hotel, Talel's, gave us a map and some directions and told us a few places that we might like to check out. So we set off on an adventure, first mission: exchange money. The exchange rate was the craziest thing I'd ever heard of.... 1500 Lebanese Lira per $1 US dollar! I felt so rich when I went to the ATM and it gave me 50,000 bills. So we were using the ATM at this gas station and the first thing that we notice about our surroundings is that half of the store is filled with liquor which was pretty shocking because in Egypt hard liquor is barely sold, only in one shop that I know of.

So after leaving the gas station, we decided to walk along this street Gemmayzeh which is supposed to be famous for its nightlife. Walking to get to this street, and even once we get there, we notice how rich people in Beirut must be. I've never seen so many Mercedes-Benz, BMWs, Corvettes, Porches, and even Masartis and Bentleys in my LIFE! and especially not so frequently. All of the clubs and bars that were on the street were so nice and upscale. So we walked around for a bit and ended up at this one place 55 where we hung out for a little bit taking in our surroundings.

The next morning, we wake up to the sound of Kaitlins voice which made all of us happy because since we split up at the airport for us to go to Talel's and them to go to the Embassy, we had no clue of their whereabouts and what they were up to. After they got settled, and got themselves a room at Talel's as well, Jackie and her wonderful Lonely Planet found tons of things for us to do over the next couple of days.

I can't exactly remember every single thing that we did or on what day but for the most part the breakdown went like this:

April 8th: We went to the Jeita grotto which was probably one of the most amazing experiences of my life. They're actually trying to make the Jeita grottos one of the new 7 wonders of the world, so if you ever get the chance to go to Lebanon, you KNOW you have to visit it! The guy at our hotel called a driver to take us to 3 different sites for about $10 each, or 15,000 LL which was better than taking the public buses but it was definitely more uncomfortable. Being the shortest, everyone decided that it would be best for me to lay across 5 peoples lap in the backseat of a normal sized car for the entire time we drove around...thanks guys if I haven't said so already :-p. So in total, there was 8 people squashed in this regular 4-door but somehow we managed.

The weather was pretty sucky this day... it rained which was amazing because we haven't seen or smelled or felt the freshness of it in so long, but on the other hand, Mae and I had just gotten our hair done about 2 days before, so you know I wasn't happy getting my hair wet (luckily I managed to salvage it for a few more days). Back to the grotto! So we paid for our admission and decided to take one of those air rides, like at Six Flags, to the upper grotto. We weren't supposed to take any pictures so they tried to make us leave our cameras in lockers, but most of us took them with us anyway. The inside of the grotto was a cave with lots of stalactites and stalagmites everywhere. It looked half like the movie The Descent, and half like the Mario Brothers movie because some of the rocks were covered in the same looking slime. It was still amazing, and even the way it was excavated and set up is really impressive. I don't know how people can do things like that without destroying the valuable history inside. Once we finished the path and got a few pictures (which we did get in trouble for taking, even though we tried to be discreet), we went down to the lower grotto which was almost the same thing but instead of walking, it was a body of water and we got into boats which took us around and we got to observe the walls and ceiling of the grotto while in the water. It rained the entire time we were there which gave the place an almost chilling effect but it was definitely the perfect day for it to rain.

After the grotto, our next site to visit was to this place where we took the gondola lift, the Téléférique into the mountains of Lebanon. It was also like the car at Six Flags which you take from one side of the park to another, except this car took us straight up into the mountains which was an AMAZING view of the entire landscape. At the top there was the Lady of Lebanon statue on top of this long, winding staircase that you could take to get to the top. There was also a church there which me and Deb went into for a little while. It's amazing how peaceful and quiet it was and it felt really nice to be in a church again after so long.

We never made it to our 3rd site, I forget exactly why, but pretty much everyone wasn't really in the mood because of the rain so we decided to go to Spinney's instead (a large hypermarket...almost like a Wal-Mart, but more food selections) to get some food to make for dinner and possibly breakfast the next day. We were trying to be conservative since we knew we'd be spending a lot of money going to see different sites. While there we stocked up on meat, cheese, tortillas, tomatoes, and peppers, so you can guess what we had for dinner.... Yep, fajitas!!! They were amazingly good, probably more so since we were starving by the time we got back to the hotel. We also got some pancake mix, eggs, and syrup for the morning so that we could make some breakfast. Oh and yes, we did have an open kitchen while we stayed there which was pretty cool so we didn't have to keep eating out all of the time.

Perhaps I should elaborate a bit more on our living situation, since I know you are all probably confused by the concept of a hotel having an open kitchen for its guests. Our "hotel" was more of a big house, and the entrance was down a little alley, and our rooms for some reason were always damp. We also had no windows in our room (which the 4 of us shared) so we would wake up in the mornings....damp, cold, and sunless only to go outside where it was hot and dry with lots of sunshine. It was very deceiving. When we got there one of the first things that we were informed of was the 15-minute showering policy which we got in trouble for once in a while for not adhering to. The bathrooms consisted of a toilet space as well as the shower in there, just connected in the wall. So just imagine going to your local public bathroom (it was almost the same size as one) and there being a showerhead on the wall as well. Of the two bathrooms on our floor, only one of them had a mirror, so for the most part we all had to share one bathroom, 7 girls...imagine. So that is Talel's New Hotel in a nutshell, but it was also very fair for the price that we paid and the people who ran the hotel were really nice and even more accommodating.

After we ate, we went back out to Gemmayzeh, back to 55 where we hung out for a little and then we all went out for shisha at this sports club a little while away.

April 9th: Today we went to what was supposed to be Byblos, but apparently we all slept on the bus ride PLUS our driver didn't stop so we ended up in a completely different city, Tripoli. Byblos is famous for the crusaders' castle there and while there we also visited the crusader church of St. John the Baptist. The drive there was a little long, it was supposed to take around 45 mins or so but ended up taking double that because we ended up in Tripoli, but it was another adventure nonetheless. We didn't stay at the palace for too long because Alex had to take a midterm online that her professor wouldn't budge on (and then didn't even post her questions on time!) but we got to see pretty much everything in the time that we did spend there. While at the castle though, surprisingly I bumped into a few girls from my class at AUC which was so funny because we weren't even in Beirut which is where we were all staying...but in some random location at this palace!

We went to eat after that at this little restaurant which had really good food (I got a cheeseburger, yum!) and then we went to walk around a little bit more. We needed to find out what time the last bus ran, so everyone besides me and Kaitlin went to figure that out, and us two stayed in the little shops looking at jewelry and such. We had to leave soon after that so we just stopped at this little sweets store on our way to the buses and I got these little cookies, some filled with chocolate and others filled with this sweet, orange stuff (but they were really good!) and the others got ice cream. The ice cream was so fresh though and sooo delicious. I've never had ice cream fresher and that actually tasted like it came from the fruit it's supposed to.

Getting home was quite an adventure, and probably our most daring the entire time we were in Lebanon. So we go to what we were told was the bus station to get our tickets to go back to the hotel only to find that there is no bus that takes you back to Beirut. So the guy who was there instructed us that we pretty much had to hail a cab off of the highway and hop in to get back. Sooo instead of taking the long way around the parking lot, we decided to take the shortcut which meant trailing down through the grass and then jumping off of the ledge onto the freeway. Really safe, I know. On top of that, I was wearing flip flops which made for an even better time. Once everyone was down a minibus pulled up almost immediately and imitated for us to get in, but not knowing exactly what we were supposed to do we waved him off. The next bus that stopped, Mae asked him if he was going to Beirut and he said yes, so we all piled in and was finally on our way back!

After we finally made our way back to our hotel, everyone was a little tired, so most took naps but Kaitlin, Jackie and myself headed out to find the beach and relax a little. We headed out and of course didn't know where we were really going and ended up wandering onto what we thought was a resort but I guess must have been some type of military place because the guard wouldn't let us through. Then we tried wandering off into the desert and got yelled at by another guard so we gave up and just kept walking. We passed some cool architecture and saw some stores that we could never imagine going into, like Versace and Rolex but perhaps one day...

We went back after a little while and ate dinner with the rest of the girls once they woke up from their nap. We ended up having breakfast for dinner which was still yummy all the same.

We went out to this club called Chocolate that night which was a lot of fun. The place was set up really original with mini stages and open areas where people could dance. They played a lot of techno and house music which I didn't really like, but all in all everyone seemed to have a good time for the most part which I was happy about.

April 10th: This morning we went up to the mountains of Lebanon, which were still covered with snow. Surprisingly it wasn't really that cold even though there was snow on the ground and again, I went in my flip flops because I didn't bring any other type of footwear with me to Lebanon. It ended up being alright though since it wasn't freezing and we had a little snowfight, beating each other up and having a nationality driven snowball fight. Colombia vs. Egypt vs. America vs. St. Martin. Apparently there is no peace in the ME and the UN "makes no treaties" LOL. After we left the mountain we stopped at this fountain which produced fresh water which came directly from the mountain and there was a beautiful view of a waterfall. We hung out at this place around there for a little while but then Mae of course got in trouble for debka-ing and we had to leave.

We all went back to the hotel and rested after this since we were all sleep deprived, but then went out again at night to explore the nightlife once again. We walked around for what seemed like hourssss looking for this one place Crystal which we couldn't find for the life of us. We did pass by a Facebook Pub though which was pretty interesting. Also while walking we came into contact with a really weird individual which we literally ran from, 7 girls, most of them in heels. Fun times. We couldn't find any good places to go to within walking distance so we ended up going to this club B018 which was the craziest place I might have ever been to. At one point in the night the roof of the club opened up and we were dancing under what was about to be the morning sky. The place was underground which was really cool, and of course they played techno music as well all night.

April 11th: On our agenda for today was Baalbeck, in the Beqaa Valley, which was Roman and Byzantine influenced. We visited the temple ruins during the Roman period which was amazing to see and take in. Deb and I got our ticket for the Egyptian price because we used the little Arabic that we know...everyone else (except Mae) paid the full amount for their tickets. Thanks mom and dad for my ethnically ambiguous looks ;). The ride here also took quite some time and we only stayed for a few hours because Jackie and Alex were leaving that night for Cyprus and she had to be back in time for her flight. Kayla, Kaitlin, and Deb were also leaving this night but a little later for their flight to Jordan. So we spent a few hours there, climbing different rocks and taking lots of pics. Kayla even got a battle scar from her date with the rock lol. The rest of us managed to leave unharmed. After leaving, we collected a few souvenirs from some women including Hezbollah shirts and K got a Palestinian scarf. And Mae got watermelon ice cream....

The rest of our trip is TO BE CONTINUED for a time when my fingers aren't about to fall off from typing...so until later tonight or tomorrow!

Midterms

Midterms officially suck. I had 3 in a row today, back to back to back and was going off of no sleep and still had to go to an 8:30 AM class. I was physically so tired I couldn't keep my eyes open and the most embarrassing part is that I sometimes talk in my sleep and caught myself doing that in class today! But I got through them...barely. My first midterm was for my International Finance class which wasn't so bad, plus it was all multiple choice and he allowed us a 2 page cheat sheet, so I think I did fairly well on that one LOL. The second midterm was probably the worst. It was for my Anthropology class People and Cultures of the Middle East and North Africa, yea I know it's even tiring to say! His class in itself is boring and I really haven't done much of the work that we've supposed to be continually doing sooo we'll see how that one comes out. My last midterm was for my Ancient Egypt class which was actually very simple but she made it seem as if it were going to be so complicated so I studied all of the hard things and not really any of the easy ones. Plus there was a map where we had to label different sections of Egypt and I don't think that I did too well on that part either.

On to bigger and better things, I'm officially going to Lebanon for spring break! A bunch of us are flying out there together and then kind of breaking up and doing our own things. Mae, Deb, Kayla, Kaitlin, Me and I think Alex are all flying out on the 7th for Lebanon and Mae and I are staying until the 14th where we're going to come back and go to Sharm el-sheikh for the remainder of the break. Kaitlin and Kayla are going to go to Syria and Palestine and I think Deb is going to go to Syria with them and then on to Greece. So we'll all be having a great time, and Mae and I will have awesome tans by the time we come back! I'm so excited to get away for a little while and just RELAXXX, something I haven't really been able to do with school and all of the assignments creeping up my back.

As for goings-on since my last post I can't really remember exactly everything that we did, but we did go to City Stars last week and did a little shopping. I got a nice pair of white linen pants and a black top with some flip flops and everybody else got a little something too. Kerry got this pair of pants which fit her really nicely :) We might be going back again this weekend because Mae wasn't able to go with us since she was spending some time with her mother who's come to Egypt for the past 2 1/2 weeks, but sadly is leaving on Friday. Mae's mom, by the way, is AMAAZZING! I love this woman so much. She's so nice and just.... a mom, she's so loving and kind and you can tell that she loves Mae a LOT. I'm really glad that most of the friends that I've met here don't live too far from me at home and I'll be able to visit them as they will able to visit me as well.

Let's see, what else has been happening? Oh I braided my friend Alysia's hair for her in cornrows which came out looking very nice actually. I didn't take any pics of the aftermath but they looked really nice on her which is crazy because I don't find that many girls look good with just straight cornrows. And I've also opened up my own miniture salon over here. I do eyebrows, hair, mustaches, and that's the breadth of my skills right now but I may be adding more in the future. I've done Kerry's, Deb's, Kaitlin's, and Kayla's eyebrows, cut Kayla's and Jackie's bangs and Alysia's hair. It's fun and I like doing it so I don't mind at all.

On Sunday I actually went to the Egyptian Museum with two kids from my class, Andrew and Kaitlen. We missed out on the field trip the first time around, all for various reasons and so our teacher was nice enough to let us re-do the trip. It was nice to go and not just to look at artifacts like, "Oh, wow, that's really nice". Instead our teacher, who actually works at the museum, told us the history and story behind the statues and explained the gods who were being portrayed. It was very interesting and I'm glad that I went. The tickets to get in for students were 30 LE, and for all other guests was 60 LE. Egyptian tickets were only like 1 or 2 LE and Andrew is Egyptian so he got his ticket for much cheaper than us. We actually tried to get me an Egyptian ticket since everyone tells me that I look it, and I actually did get it but when we had to go through the gates the guards tried talking to me in Arabic, and I couldn't exactly say much back in return, so they knew I wasn't Egyptian and therefore had to go back and get a student ticket. Hey, it was worth a try!

Other than that I don't think that much of anything really has been going on. Everyone has been so busy studying for midterms that we haven't really done too much and plus Mae's mom is here so she hasn't really been in the dorms too much. This weekend we were all going to go away to Dahab but a lot of us have either make-up classes, presentations next week, or field trips (comme moi!).

More to come soon. My class was cancelled for tomorrow so I have no school at all and a 3 day weekend! Yess.....it'll be so nice to sleep in tomorrow :)

Mae's this weekend!!

So Mae's mom has come to town and we're going to go spend the night with her in her villa! I'm so excited and can't wait. It'll be nice to get out of Zamalek, even if only for a little bit. This weekend would also have been nice to travel since we don't have any classes tomorrow, but I have a presentation on Sunday so I would have only really had 3 days to travel. I'm still excited to meet Mae's mom, and have some of her home-made cooking. Yum!

On a heavier note, I got back a paper I did for my anthropology class and also a midterm annnnnnd the results weren't that great. Not terrible, but not great. So I'm going to need to step it up a notch in the classroom. I do admit that I've been slacking but...ahhh I'm in Egypt! How can I think about work when there's so much to do and so many beautiful things around me?

What a hectic day!

Today was a pretty challenging day physically because I choose to make bad decisions sometimes...and fully am aware of it! Last night I went out to see the movie Watchmen with one of my friends from class and then hung out for a bit after so didn't get back to my dorms until really late even though I had a midterm at 8:30 today. So of course I get back and like a good student, begin studying for this midterm for my Professional Selling class which was going very well...I was pumped and ready, had just made a PB&J pita sandwich and everything. And then I start talking to my cousin Jessica who recommends that I take a little nap so that I'm not too exhausted in the morning. I blow off this idea and say "Naw, I can handle it" but as the minutes pass, her idea begins to sound a little better each time so I go into my room and set two alarms to wake me up. Apparently they didn't work too well, at least not for me, because the next thing I knew it was 7:11 and I was supposed to catch the bus at 7:00 in order to get to class on time! I think I remember my roommate waking me up actually since I wasn't waking up to my alarm but I guess I must have just went right back to bed. So I jump out of bed still wearing the jeans and tank top I passed out in, grabbed the necessities for school and headed to the bus stop (no, I didn't brush me teeth, but I did grab my toothbrush and toothpaste) to see if maybe by some miracle it would still be there. After a hasty walk, I arrive at the buses to find out that they are there...but they're not leaving until 8:00. :( At this point I just kept cursing myself over and over in my head and didn't think that I would be able to finish my midterm in time, since it takes about an hour to get to school meaning I would be a half hour late. To my surprise my teacher let me take it with no problem and I still ended up finishing before a majority of the class, but we'll see how that grade turns out. My professor doesn't even make up his own tests, he takes the questions from a teacher's manual and some of the material wasn't even covered in class...but...as Mae Hassanien would say... Welcome to Egypt.

As far as this past weekend goes, I had a ton of fun. Thursday night a bunch of us went to this club called Chopsticks in Mohandissen which is pretty much a Hip-Hop/R&B club. The people in Egypt don't go out until really late and although we got there at 12, people didn't start really appearing until about 1:30 or so. But I still had a great time dancing and meeting a bunch of new people. Everyone I was with seemed to be enjoying themselves as well and it was nice to just let loose and dance for a few hours. Friday night we were invited to this house party and Shelby, DJ, Mae and I went first because the others all had work to do or had other plans, but eventually Kaitlin, Deb, and Kerry showed up (which I was elated about). Unfortunately the night ended a bit abrubtly due to my retardedness once again, but while we were there we had a lot of fun. By the way....I'm so glad to have friends like you guys :)

Saturday was a day of rest, and I woke up around 12 and ate breakfast with Kerry, Shelby, and Deb which was AMAZING I must say. I can't wait until this weekend to have some more of the caf's french toast and pancakes. Yummmmm :) We were supposed to be doing work which didn't really work out too well for us, but I did get some work on a presentation done which was fantastic and pretty much finished it yesterday.

So that's my whole weekend in a nutshell and we'll see what this week brings!

It's been a while, folks

Ok so I admit to becoming lazy and not keeping up to date with my blog which is terrible I know. :( I'll try to sum up everything pretty succinctly since I probably don't remember the details accurately anyway.

I can't remember what happened on which day or at what time, but in the past two weeks I went to see Akon in concert which was a lot of fun once he showed up...5 hours late. I also went to Dahab this past weekend which is around a 9 hour bus ride from Cairo. Dahab is this sleepy little town by the Red Sea where it's really a bedouin community and there isn't a ton of people or tourists, so it's nice to just relax. We had Monday off from school which was nice since I have 4 classes that day and since I only have 1 class on Sunday I just skipped and had a 5 day weekend. I laid out on the beach with Deb getting some sun while Kerry scuba-dived, got offered a snake, and did lots of other cool things. It was Kerry's birthday this past weekend as well so we took her out to dinner at this restaurant called Jasmin and they made her this AMAZING cake by hand just for her, and they didn't even charge us for it which was really nice of them. Everyone was really accommodating and was happy to have us as their guests, except for this one time when we walked out from our room to find a dead sheep in the hall with pools of blood all over the place....weird.

Tonight we're going to go to this place called Chopsticks in Mohandissen which is a Chinese/Malaysian food spot which turns into a club at night that plays hip-hop and R&B music. I've heard that it's a lot of fun by several people and am looking forward to it. Who knows what the rest of the weekend has in store? I still need to work on a presentation for one of my classes and do a little researching for some papers that I have to turn in later in the semester. So that might get done. Might.

Other than that, a holiday was just announced so we will be having no classes on the 19th which falls on a Thursday. Since I again only have 1 class on Sunday I may just miss it again and take another long weekend depending on what people want to do. So we shall see.

An Interesting Set of Events

So the past couple of days have been a little intriguing. Sorry I haven't gotten to write sooner, I've really been slacking off when it comes to blogging. This past weekend was really fun. It started with us girls minus Deb (partly because she was sick, partly because we she's our Karen) going to Cafe Vivant, one of our absolute favorite places to go, for dinner/dessert/cards. Kayla taught us this really intense game that they call "Nubbins" in Michigan. You don't even have to wonder... of course we changed the name. Our version was called Radio-shecck. It's pretty simple to learn but gets really intense the more people that you get to play. So it goes like this.

First off, every teams needs their own deck of cards to play, preferably ones that can be easily differentiated from each other. You play in teams of two and one person is in control of the 10 deck and the other in control of the 3 deck. There are a set of 4 cards laid out between the two set up in a type of solitare setting. The whole point of the game is to be released of your 10 deck and at that point one person on the team (usually the person who has the 10 deck) will call out NUBBINS! (Or Radio-shecck in this case, which was shortened to Shecck). So the game begins and out of the 4 cards laid out, you can lay one card on top of the other, colors must be alternating, to make space for another card from the 10 deck. The person with the 3 deck is constanting flipping over 3 cards at a time trying to find cards to raise the decks in the center of all of the teams. The piles start with the Ace card and everyone contributes to them trying to get as many cards in as possible to win. Everytime someone comes across an Ace they can put it in the middle and everyone has to compete to get their cards in before the next. The cards must be stacked in numerical order until it reaches the King card which is the highest in this game. You can use cards from the 3 deck to put on one of the cards in the pile of 4 to get rid of some. The team to get rid of all 10 cards in the 10 card deck "wins". I put this in parentheses because the team that gets out first isn't necessarily the winning team. So the teams left at the table have to count the cards left in their 10 deck and for every card that they have left, they have -2 points. After totaling this up, the winning team pools together all of the cards piled up in the center and put them in their own stacks according to deck. Each team gets back their cards and count them. They get 1 point for each card. You then total the number of positive points you have with the negative amount from your 10 deck and that is your total score.

It sounds quite complicated but once you get the hang of it, it can get pretty intense. Kerry and I played on a team together, Shelby and Mae, Kaitlin and Cate, and then since we had an odd number Kayla played by herself. We stayed there for HOOOUURS playing this game it was so intense. Kayla and Cate left early because they had things to do in the morning but the rest of us stayed until about 2:30 am playing until we finally left.

Friday, Kaitlin, Kayla, Shelby and some other girls wanted to go around coptic Cairo to see the different mosques and sites. I wanted to go but was tired and didn't really feel like doing anything so Deb, Kerry and I watched Pineapple Express which was pretty hilarious. By the time we were done watching that it was around 2 pm and Kerry had left for a supper party she was invited to. Mae was with her aunt and uncle spending the day, and we were at a loss of ideas on what to do. Deb and I ended up going to Khan el-Khalili and although crowded and harrassing, we had a great time. Turns out Deb is actually good for something and managed to get us amazing prices on everything, even though it was pretty cheap as it was. I finally got my water boiler so I can make tea in the morning, a scarf, and a handmade dress like the Egyptians wear. Deb got some beautiful handmade earrings, a shirt similar to the dress I got but in pink, and a scarf as well. We spent hours there perusing all of the little shops and stands in the market. When we first got there however, we were approached by this man who apparantly remembered me from about two weeks previous (and by my toe nail color, no less). He wanted to show us his shop, promising that between he and his family we would see some of the greatest things ever made.

We were a little skeptical at first but ended up following him down these little streets where Deb got swatted at by an old woman on the ground and cats running all over the place. He was talking to us all the while, asking us about where we were from and telling us how he had just returned from Tailand or someplace where he was learning how to give massages. Apparantly he was a linguist as well, because he spoke to us in French and Spanish as well. So we get to his shop and he tells us that we have to follow him upstairs. The building looked seedy and run down. He (his name is Mohamed by the way) lead us up flights of stairs that seemed to be neverending with Deb telling me the whole way about how we were about to die.

But we got to the top where his shop is and oh my goodness, you wanna talk about beauty? The walls of the place were covered in paintings done on papyrus and the images that were portrayed were so gorgeous. He said that he wasn't going to try to sell us anything but of course tried to anyway but I must admit he was a very good salesman. I didn't end up buying anything but I might actually go back sometime to do just that. He was very polite and offered us some tea, and he made a point to tell us that is was not the Lipton kind but authentic Egyptian. It was good and we drank while we looked and he told us some of the stories on the papyrus, but in the end we still didn't buy anything from him.

He took us back downstairs after giving us some of his cards, and he told us that if we wanted he would take us to see more of Cairo if we could get together a group of friends that wanted to go or he would just take us. Shady sounding, I know. He even offered to take us to Alexandria and to an Egyptian wedding to see what it's like and how they celebrate. So who knows if he was being genuine or not. He also showed us another shop that his family owns where they handmake those jewelry boxes that you see which were also beautiful. They came in all different shapes and sizes and they were covered in shiny materials that shined when you held them up to the light. Turns out that they use real camel bone in them. Go figure.

So Deb and I decided to leave after hours of shopping and had no problem getting back to Zamalek. We were very proud of ourselves and didn't even get lost on the way back! By the time we came back, everyone who went to coptic Cairo was there and we shared all of our stories with them and showed them what we had bought. We were trying to figure out what we were going to do for the night and ultimately we ended up at this kid Tim's apartment in Zamalek where he was having a little house party. It was pretty fun, we met a lot of different people but a lot we already knew as well. We met this guy Mohamed, Omar, and a few others who were talking to and some of them were practicing Arabic with them and helping them with their English. Omar I believe was from Saudi so we were asking him about that. The apartment that they have is really nice and spacious with two balconies and lots of room. Almost makes me wish I had thought about getting one instead of living in the dorms, but then I thought.... housekeeping...more room...caf underneath me...balcony? And then I remembered that I like the dorm life :)

We didn't back until really late...or early depending on how you look at the time so the next day I didn't wake up until 2 in the afternoon. We usually play volleyball at 3 on Saturdays so I kinda just hung out for that hour not doing much. Deb didn't come because she was still feeling sick so Mae, Callie, my roommate Cate and I went downtown to play and had a great time. The two girls who intensified the game last week weren't there so it was even better because we just got to play a normal intramural game. Towards the end one of them showed up and then it became a two person team and at that time we decided to leave. I picked up some apples at one of the little street vendors for during the week and then we headed back to Zamalek.

Sunday's I have class so that we pretty much the extent of my weekend, and I woke up feeling sore as ever from volleyball. I did make a trip to Metro where I got this package box of chocolate covered "digestive" cookies. I had them once and they were really good so I decided to pick some up....bad, bad idea. I went through the box like nothing and really regretted it the next day. :( So today is a much better day for me, but unfortunately for Shelby she did the same thing I did so today's not such a good day for her either.

I witnessed my first rain in Egypt yesterday too! It was a crummy day from the beginning and in the afternoon it rained for a few minutes but didn't last too long. I suppose it's good for things down here especially since it rains less than 1 cm per year. Of course the architect who built our school that that it was a fabbbbulous idea to put tile inlaid in the ground so the entire campus had slippery blocks on it and on my way to the bus I almost busted my head open. While most would find this embarrassing I started laughing, just imagining it happening to someone else. But still...not safe!

Two days ago, a bomb went off in Khan el-Khalili and a French tourist died and several others were hurt. Thankfully, no one I knew was there and as far as I know, no students from AUC was there at that time, so I hope no one is worrying about us. My sincerest regrets goes out to the family of the tourist and I will definitely be keeping her in my prayers; I hope everyone else does the same. I hope that people don't start to see Egypt as this dangerous place now, because it really isn't and anyone who was thinking of visiting, please still do. You cannot live with terror, for then you'll never know what you're missing out on.

On that note...I hope everyone is safe and do not forget to send your prayers out to the family of the tourist who was killed.

Fiesta Fiesta

So our dorm decided to throw us a party with an "Aloha" theme but served Mexican food which was really all good because the food was amazingly delicious. It was pretty much my first "home-cooked" meal since I've been in Zamalek and it was most welcome. They decorated our lobby and pretty much the entire downstairs with beautiful bright colors, I wish I had taken more pictures of the decorations. There were cloths draped from the ceiling all in bright colors, and tiki branches covering all of the windows and walls. They also had barrels as decorations with fruits on their sides. The tables all had bowls on the with a flower bed underneath them and there were live goldfish in the bowls on the table. It really was amazing. A lot of people attended which was surprising because all of the other events were half attended by the kids in the dorm. After our little fiesta we just pretty much went to bed since we all had classes the next day.

Susie, The best Receptionist EVER!!!

The next day our RA put this event together for the girls to get to know each other better since there are still a lot of us that don't know each other in the dorms. This is especially true for the Egyptians vs. Americans. I've noticed that we don't really mingle that much and I know it's partly our fault but it seems as though everyone here from previous years have already formed their cliques and don't really welcome outsiders. It's actually the same way on our campus I've noticed which kind of bothers me because I thought that I would be able to mingle with lots of different people here and while I have made a lot of Egyptian friends, I feel as though a lot of people at our school look at us as outsiders and aren't very welcoming. My experiences with people in the streets and in the stores though have been more than what I expected. Everywhere I go, the people who are there are more than willing to accomodate us and are even helpful and patient when we try to speak Arabic with them.

So my whole point in really telling you about the get together that we had for the females in our dorm is that there was free food and you know where there is free food I'm there! They had Euro Deli delivered for us, which as implies in the name is a deli nearby. They have amazing sandwiches and food there though so I was definitely happy to have been fed two days in a row. I didn't really meet anyone new there, the RA mostly talked about the rules of the dorm to us again and it was so cold out that everyone pounced on the food and left really. They had sandwiches, salads, french fries, potatoes, and different drinks.

That was last night and then today I just had class. Mondays and Wednesdays are the days I dislike the most. My days are so long and I usually am so worn out by the end of the day that my bed looks like a little slice of heaven. I wake up at 6:30 to take a 7:00 bus to campus for a class I have at 8:30. Then after that class I don't have class again until 12:30 so I have about 3 hours to do homework or whatever else is on my agenda. I usually just end up falling asleep in the library :). We're not doing anything tonight because everyone is saving up some money so that we can take a trip next weekend or even go out this weekend. We're still not exactly sure what we're going to do though.

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY =)

So Happy Valentine's Day first and foremost to all you lovebirds out there. Unfortunately I'm missing it in the US but luckily Chris brought it to me, having a dozen red roses and a teddy bear delivered to my dorm. :) So that's how my day started, not too shabby I must say LOL. That was around 11 AM for me and then I kind of just bummed around my dorm not really doing much. This afternoon Deb, Mae, and I went to the old campus to play intramural volleyball which turned out to be amazing but a little harassing. It was a lot of fun to run around and actually get some exercise after so long but some of the girls who were playing were beasts. They were really good and knew it therefore trying to dominate the court. Next week will be a different story though. The team is just intramural so it's not too rough on requirements thankfully. Guys and girls both play, but today we just played against girls. We stayed for about 2 hours more or less and then came back to Zamalek.

Tonight to celebrate Valentine's Day we're all going to go out to eat at a restaurant and we also did Secret Valentine (Think Secret Santa just a different holiday) but we can't exchange gifts because some of the girls aren't here due to a desert trip, so we'll probably exchange them tomorrow or Monday.

Sooooo I finally got some roommates! I'm happy about this and sad at the same time. Happy because I finally have some people to talk to (and both are really nice and CLEAN, not like the first time around), but at the same time it's a loss of privacy too. But one of the girls who came the day before yesterday is from Tunisia. Her name is Wafa and her dad works as an ambassador for Tunisia (cool, huh?). The other girl I actually met already when I first came to Egypt. We came in on the same day at the airport and I briefly met her that day but we were on different campuses so we never really spoke. Her name is Kaitlen (dunno if that's the right spelling though) and she's really nice as well. She's going to come with us to dinner tonight so that she can meet some of the other girls and get to see a little bit of who we are.

I still don't know where we're going tonight for dinner, but the food here is so delicious that it doesn't even really matter where we go. We frequent this one place called Cafe Vivant where they absolutely LOVE us. They tell us that we light up the place and the other day we went there when it was packed and the guys took seats from a bunch of tables and gave us a nice spot right by the window. They're always really nice with us and Kaitlin (not my new roommate but a.k.a Shakira) taught them a new handshake that we always do with them now.

Yesterday we all went to City Stars, the hugest mall in the country and has just about every store you could possibly imagine, even some of the same ones in America too. They even have a supermarket/Wal-Mart type store at the bottom of the mall! They have a Cinnabon, Chilis, H & M, and various other stores there. It's very popular and packed every single time we go so we don't really shop there that much, plus it's a little on the pricey side. We went yesterday to go to Chilis which was AMAZING by the way and it was so nice to not eat falafel or kushery for one day. Afterwards we just came back and was going to watch a movie but apparantly there's something wrong with the DVD player in our lobby so we just watched TV instead which was very entertaining. There was a show on almost like "America's Funniest Home Videos" and we saw the funnnniest skits! It was definitely a good way to end out night.

The day before yesterday a couple of us went to eat at Vivant and then Kerry, Deb, Mae and I went to go play some pool which was SOOOOO much fun. We won every single game by default which was really retarded of us. Mae and I were on teams and Deb and Kerry played together. They were terrible and knew it so they stooped down to the lowest level ever by taunting us into making bad choices. We still had a great time together and hopefully will go again soon so that we can beat them and show them how REAL pool players win. The place that we went to is right down the block from our dorms and was filled with guys so I'm guessing that pool isn't really too popular among women down here. No one really paid us any attention which was highly welcomed and a great change from the normal catcalling from men on the street.

I know this post is a little backwards and incoherent but I hope everyone can understand the events that happened. Class starts again tomorrow but thankfully I only have one class. And I found a place on campus that serves Euro Deli sandwiches which I'm really excited about because I don't want to have to eat refried beans for lunch every day!

A Whole Lot of Nothing

So the last few days I haven't posted anything and that's because nothing much has really been happening besides school. During the week we don't really go out since all of us have different schedules and have to get up early for classes. Monday night our dorm had a movie night where they showed Eagle Eye with Shia LeBouf. It was actually surprisingly good, except the ending. I think if they would have left out the last "romantic" scene it would have been a little better. They made popcorn for us and bought some soda which was nice of them. We made friends with our receptionist Susie, so she was hanging out with us for a little while, mostly helping Kerry with her Arabic homework (yes, it's true)...

Other than that I haven't really been up to much. I am trying to find out about playing volleyball here though. Another girl here, Callie, who is interested in playing got word from the coach that they first practice is this Saturday at the old campus so we'll see how that goes. I don't really want to play for the school is was just looking for some intramural play time, but I'll take what I can get. I don't even know how good the players are here but supposedly they compete at the national level.

I also made friends with an Egyptian student in my morning class today, Professional Selling. He came into the classroom speaking Arabic to me, which I of course didn't understand at all. I told him I didn't speak Arabic and he didn't believe me at first and he told me that I look very Egyptian. I'll take that as a compliment LOL. His name is Kareem and since this is the class where I have the professor randomly ranting in Arabic, he was translating some of his mini speeches for me which was nice of him. Soooo this is the first Egyptian friend I've made by myself! Mae introduced us to a girl Dalia who is really nice as well and she seems like she'll be a cool addition to our group of friends.

BTW I finally uploaded the pics from the soccer game but since I'm not on my computer, I can't upload them now so I'll do this either later today or tomorrow.

Pyramids and Football!!

So yesterday was a very interesting day. We started off by heading to the pyramids, Me, Shelby, Deb, Kerry, Kayla, Kaitlin, Alex, and another girl in our dorm. We'd never been there before and so we weren't exactly sure about how to get there. Shelby had looked on the internet and gotten directions on which bus to take to get there but they were still a little confusing. We had to catch a cab to Tahrir Square where all the buses go and apparently we were supposed to catch one of the Cairo Transportation Authority buses and we had the number for it but we couldn't find it. The directions said that we might have to hail one down but none of us were trying to do that. After being confused for a few minutes, Kaitlin went over to ask one of the bus drivers what we were supposed to do. The driver was really nice and took us over to the booth to ask for us and not only did he find our bus but he even flagged it down for us since it was flying down the street! We ran to get on and finally we were on our way to the pyramids. I thought that the ride would be about 2 hours or so to get there and since I hadn't slept much the night before I decided to take a nap. Much to my surprise though we got there in about 25 minutes so I didn't get much rest at all :(. The upside was that the bus ride was only 2 LE which is about 40 cents for us....amazing.

We had to walk a little bit up the road to get to the actual pyramids and were haggled the entire time by men who were asking if we wanted to ride a camel or horse. After refusing time and time again while quickly walking away the men finally got the point to leave us alone. At the admission gate to the pyramids we found out that the entry ticket for students was 30 LE and that was just to walk around the area. The ticket to go inside the Great Pyramid was another 50 LE. After paying the 80 LE, which was a scheme to make money, we finally got through and saw what we'd been waiting 2 weeks for....one of the ancient wonders of the world...PYRAMIDS!! We took a few pics before heading to go inside of the pyramid and everything was so beautiful. We were there really early...about 9 am so thankfully it wasn't too crowded. We climbed up the great pyramid to get inside and couldn't take our cameras in so I couldn't get any pictures of the actual inside. It was lit up by flourescent lights on the sides to easily see and VERY cramped. Most of the time we had to duck down in order to climb to the top and the shafts reminded me of a mine. The entire climb was eleveated upwards with slats of wood in a perpendicular position to climb up. It was a bit hard to get up with a lot of people trying to come down but we finally made it up there and got to the final room. It was so amazing to be inside the actual Great Pyramid of Giza. The room was very muggy and felt like Jersey on a hot summer day. We walked around for a few minutes, felt the granite walls and peered into the tomblike structure on the far side of the room. I don't think it was an actual tomb since they're supposed to be at the bottom of the pyramids but it was still interesting to see.

We climbed back down to the entry of the pyramids telling the tourists how amazing it was up there. Some of them didn't look amused at what we were saying but they just had no sense of humor. We took more pictures on the pyramid, goofing off and then got down just to be harrassed by another man trying to get us to ride a camel. He wanted to charge us 50 LE, but after walking another 5 minutes we found a guy who was only going to charge 20 LE for a short ride. Kayla and I, Deb and Kerry, and Shelby and the other girl from our dorm rode camels together. It was the craziest thing ever. The ride itself wasn't scary, just getting on the camel and it lifting itself up and then also getting down. We had a pretty good ride and I forget our camels name but the other girls had Michael Jackson. The guy who was leading us stopped when we saw a family of tourists so that he could take pictures with them. Afterwards when they wanted to give him a tip he tried to rip them off taking a 10 euro tip and still asking for more. Since he upset them so much they took all of their money back and we went on with our camel ride. After leading us for about 5 more minutes, our trip was up and we got off of the camel and gave him the fee he had asked for in the beginning of the trip, 20 LE. He tried to ask us for more obviously trying to scam us but we refused and left him there with his camel. A few seconds later a police officer told us to take him picture on his camel and then tried to ask us for a tip! People in these tourist areas are a bunch of hustlers.





After the camel rides we made our way down to the Sphinx which was almost better than seeing the pyramids and we took more pictures down there. On our way down we passed groups of kids who were screaming out to us, smiling and waving. I don't know if it was because we were American or what but we definitely felt like we had celebrity status. At the Sphinx we met up with Shelby and her camel mate. We left after a few minutes to go back to Zamalek because we were all weary and hungry and ready to go. Trying to get a taxi was almost impossible. Either the driver didn't know where Zamalek was or was going to try to charge too much. Thankfully the girls all speak a little Arabic, so with all of there skills we finally got a cab back for 45 LE, breaking down to about $1.25 per person.



The cabbie was good and dropped us off about a block away from our dorms. We got back fine and were all beat so we just took showers, went to grab some lunch and then took naps because some of us were going to a football match later that night and some were going to go out to celebrate with Jackie, another girl in our dorms, since it was her birthday. I uploaded my pics on my facebook page, talked to my cousin for a little, and then went to sleep. The football match started at 7:30 so we were planning to leave the dorms around 5:30 but then around 5 pm Mae calls me telling me that I had 5 mins to get ready because the gates were supposed to be closing for the match at 5:30. I had just woken up from my nap and so had to rush to get ready, met up with the girls and then we took a cab to the stadium. We had a little trouble finding the place where our other friend Binita wanted us to meet her at but finally found her and the people that she was with. There was 6 of us girls and 2 guys who we came to be very happy to have with us. It was so crowded it was almost like a mosh pit, football is very popular over here! The guys were able to get us through most of the crowd after talking to the cops and we speedily got through the crowd instead of waiting in line with everyone else. We still got pushed and shoved but thankfully everyone was alright. The security was like nothing I've ever seen before. There must have been about 250 cops keeping the line in check and even more when we got into the stadium. We sat far up and had a clear view of the field. The match hadn't begun yet so we were just talking for a little while, taking in our surroundings. There was a guy next to us that wouldn't sit down, getting up to dance every few minutes. It was entertaining but a little annoying at the same time and then Deb and I had a girl in front of us who would turn around every time we made noise. So during the match while we were yelling and screaming we got a lot of looks from her. The match itself was crazy, the stadium was almsot filled to capacity with the opposing team's side near empty. Everyone was cheering for EL AHLY, Egypt's football team, singing chants and yelling to show their support. We ended up winning and afterwards everyone left the stadium yelling and people on the streets were endlessly beeping their horns in victory.

One of the guys that we were with, Mustafa, supposedly had a restaurant he wanted to take us to that he "owned" and since it was still early (the game ended about 9:30) he wanted to take us there so that we could eat and then he was going to drop us off where Jackie was celebrating her birthday. So after squishing into one car (imagine 8 people in a small Hyundai) we left to go to this restaurant. After a long, cramped and fast car ride we were all happy to be on our feet again and in one piece. The restaurant was beautiful on the outside and inside. I had a chicken mozzarella sandwich which Deb thought was disgusting but I thought was amazing and an Oreo cheesecake for dessert. The dinner was supposed to be free but of course nothing in Egypt ever is so we had to cough up money for dinner we weren't even planning on going to but only did because we thought it would be on this kid who supposedly owned the restaurant. Not a big deal. What really got us mad was that Mustafa's friend had to go somewhere and didn't get back for 3 hoursssss. Not 1, not 2, but 3 hours he was gone so by the time he finally got back it was 1:30 am and we still had to go celebrate with Jackie. We left as soon as this kid came back and made him drive us to where the rest of friends were. After many stops and asking for directions, we made it and left him for good for the night.

We didn't stay too long with Jackie because there was a 17 LE minimum to stay at the place they were going so we hung out for about 20 minutes and then Mae, Deb, Kaitlin, Kerry and I left to come back to the dorms. We got here and all had to sign in since it was past 10 pm and the guard gave Deb a hard time about if she lived here, wanted to see her id, keys and even went to look up to see if she really lived here. Out of 5 girls she was the only one who had trouble getting into the dorms and I told her it's because she's colombian LOL. So all in all we had a long day and even LONGER night but we still managed to have a lot of fun together. I haven't uploaded the pics from the soccer game but when I do I'll post some on here and my facebook.

Classes have Begun!

So I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand I am excited to have started classes and meeting even more people than I met before (especially a LOT more egyptians) but on the other hand I was having so much fun just hanging out with the girls and going out every night that I guess I got spoiled.

I wrote in the last blog how I had missed my first class, and the rest of them went alright. My next class was International Finance which seems like it's going to be tough but the professor is very intelligent. I don't like pompous people and he seems to talk about himself A LOT especially how intelligent he is and how he finished college at 19 and went straight to Wall Street. Whoop dee doo. Anyhows it's going to be challenging but I'm always up for a good tussle with the books so bring it on. My next class was People and Culture of the Middle East & North Africa which is completely not what I expected. I don't really know what I expected but I feel as if what we talk about has nothing to do with the title of the class. Maybe it's too early to tell and I will save my judgements for another post but for now this is how I feel about it. On top of the class being dry I already found that one person who's going to be the "Miss Know IT All" during the semester and always has to object the class to her opinion even if it's on the syllabus. After that course I had Ancient Egypt which seems like it will be pretty easy for the most part and the coolest thing is that we'll be going on field trips for the class to the pyramids and also to the Egyptian Museum.

Mondays and Wednesdays are going to be my longest days because I have 4 classes, the 3 I mentioned above and the one that I missed, Professional Selling. I went to this class today and was so shockeddddd. My teacher is a tiny man with a HUGE mustache that grows over his lip and he must have the loudest personality of any teacher I've ever had in my LIFE. Taking this as an 8:30 AM class prooooobably wasn't the best idea on my part since it's comparable to sitting in front of the loudest amp in the loudest club in NYC. The professor practically yells at the top of his lungs and then randomly explains things in Arabic (which I of course don't speak). The class itself seems extrememly easy for a 400 level course and the teacher explains everything from the powerpoint which of course comes straight from the book.

My other class which I have on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday is Ancient Egyptian Religion & Ethics. This class I think I'm really going to like, even though the professor speaks very sloooowly. I don't know if it's because I'm from the East Coast of the US and we tend to speak faster but I always just want to finish her sentence and have her move on to the next instead of spending 5 minutes on one thought. Regardless, I've heard that she's a great teacher and I'm looking forward to the class.

The past couple days have been good so far. The other night was Shelby's birthday so we went to Cafe Vivant to celebrate it with her which was amazing. The staff there LOOVE us and we always joke with them and practice our Arabic with them. They have the most amazing food and dessert one could every dream of and it's so quick. I'll have to take a picture of my favorite dessert there next time I go, the chocolate crepe. It's to die for...

Today I met a really nice girl in a couple of my classes. I've been trying to make friends with the Egyptians here but a lot of them are cliquish and don't seem to want to talk. Regardless her name is Imane, and I actually saw her in my first and second class but didn't really pay her any mind until I heard her speaking in French. After class I caught up to her and asked her if she was French and she told me that she was Moroccan which is even more astonishing! So we chatted for a few minutes and exchanged numbers and she told me to call her if I needed anything so I might practice a little french with her while I'm here which is really cool.

So tomorrow I just have my one class, Ancient Egyptian Religion and Ethics, and then I think I'm just going to stay in the library for a while to do some homework since I have nothing else to really do for the rest of the day. I also need to reflect on what's important in my life and come to realize what's best for me instead of putting everyone else's needs first.

What was supposed to be my 1st day of classes

So yesterday was supposed to be my "official" first day at AUC but I wanted to switch out of the course I had for the day since it conflicts with the volleyball schedule here and I really want to play volleyball. I opted to go for Ancient Egypt Religion & Ethics instead of taking Cultural Anthropology because the time fit better and also it sounds more interesting. Mae and I got to campus earlier than expected so we went to finally get our ID cards and then we went to the CORE building to try to switch some classes. Why I thought this would be a simple process is something I still try to figure out. So we get to this place where two women are trying to handle about 20 kids trying to change their schedules around and it's so unorganized it's pretty ridiculous. We got there around 11 and Mae's class started at 11:30 and so did the one that I was trying to switch into, so I'm thinking, "Hey, maybe I can get this switched and still be able to get to class for the intro and all that jazz"... Boy was I wrong. Not only did I have the most horrible experience with this woman ever, I was there for over an hour and a half trying to do the most simple thing.

So it's my turn in line and I'm sitting there with my paper all ready to tell her the class that I'd like to switch into and she goes to me "CLOSED!" I try another class and she goes "CLOSED!", after attempting 4 other classes and getting the same response, she asked me if I could move to the side to let some other people go while I looked for another class to get into. I was amazed at how she could tell me this without even lifting a finger to her computer. By this time I was so frustrated that I just left to meet the girls for some lunch and then I figured I'd attempt to go back afterwards.

I met Mae and one of her friends outside and we chatted for a while, then started walking to this bagel place on campus. On the way there we bumped into Kerry, Kayla and Deb (who wasn't feeling too well). Kerry and Deb were heading back to Zamalek and Kayla walked with Mae and I to the bagel place. After sitting down to eat, we went back to the dreaded Add/Drop room where I waited in line for the other woman sitting there helping people. After waiting for about a half hour for her, I sat in the chair and told her which class I wanted to take...and guess what? I got WITH NO PROBLEM! Feeling relief yet angered at the same time, I was so excited to have finally gotten my class that I just thanked her and walked away, letting everyone in my path know not to go to the other lady but to wait for Rhonda.

By this time it was around 1:45 pm and I had been on campus since 10:30ish and the next bus didn't depart until 2:45 so I stuck around with Kayla for a bit since Mae had to go to class and we went to the library for a few. I had to leave around 20 mins after we got there because the bus was coming but Kayla apparantly made a new friend (LOL).

I got back to Zamalek around 4 and didn't have much to do at all so I cleaned my portion of the room, walked around a bit and finally settled down to re-read The Secret Life of Bees which I remember being a really good novel in high school. I also met my roommates sister who had come in to begin packing all of her sister's things to move out and she was really nice to me, apologizing for the mess and saying how she knew I must have been pissed (she didn't know the half of it) but since she was moving out there was no need for me to release any anger out on her especially since she was being mature about the whole situation. So I started to watch Pink Panther on my computer which is HILARIOUS for anyone who hasn't seen it, and then Mae Skype'd me letting me know she was back so I headed up to her floor so we could watch it together and by that time Kayla was back from class so we just headed to meet her instead to grab something to eat. Kerry joined us to go to this really good falafel place near our dorms where they both got falafel and I got this other patty like thing filled with meat which was so delicious and Mae had already eaten so she didn't get anything.

After that we just walked back to school where we ate in the caf and then went up to see how Deb was doing. She was still not feeling well so we cheered her up a little with our loveliness and then we left because we all had class in the morning. We went down to check out the ping pong room and the basketball court which isn't really all that but better than nothing. Then I went to bed, or tried to at least because I needed to catch the 7:00 bus for my 8:30 class.

Another story all in itself. My alarm didn't wake me up in time for the bus so I ended up missing that class today and luckily I had a break between that class and my next one which is at 12:30 and that is why I'm sitting here typing this all out now in the library waiting for my next class while having a little heart-to-heart with Jamila.

My posts probably are going to get fewer in between since the "newness" of Cairo has pretty much worn out, but I will definitely write about how my classes are once I finally get to all of them and if I do anything important. Also just to say how everything is going, but I don't want to get redundant or make you readers weary of long posts, so until next time!

Khan el Khalili

So today we didn't have class or anything really to do so Kayla, Costa and I went down to Khan el Khalili which is this marketplace in Cairo similar to Chinatown or Englishtown in the respect that it's a huge marketplace, but imagine either one of those times 60 million more people. It's ridiculous how huge it is. Deb decided to stay in because she wasn't feeling too well and Mae was hanging out with her family today so she didn't come either. The 3 of us braved it and took a black and white taxi instead of the yellow metered one because we would have had to wait for about 3 1/2 hours for it, so we just walked out to grab a regular taxi. After flagging one down, we traveled for about 15-20 mins and was there! The traffic wasn't really too bad and we didn't almost kill anyone or thing thankfully.

We got there and was immediately harrassed by multiple people trying to sell us things or trying to get our green cards (LOL) but we made our way through the crowds and picked up a few things. I found a really nice leather belt that I got for 15 LE thanks to Costa's great haggling skills (go Kerry!) which is only about $3 US dollars, and I picked up some q-tips since I forgot mine at home. Kayla finally got her blow dryer she's been wanting and even got a great box to go with it and it actually works really well. So yay for all of us! The market was very amusing with men screaming out "Shakira!" every 5 seconds... apparantly we resemble her in some manner. One man was very honest with us and told us, "I already have a wife, I just want your money". Kerry's gonna make a book of all the hilarious things we've heard so far and publish it and make tons of money.

We had a little trouble finding a cab that knew his way back to Zamalek, but when we did he was really nice about everything and even tried to show and point to us different streets and landmarks on our way back to the dorms. We got back fairly quickly and decided to get some school supplies seeing as though classes are starting tomorrow. We went to Alfa to grab some things and then decided to get something to eat because we were all starving and hadn't even had breakfast. Kerry and I went to get some falafels which were fantastic and 2 of them were only 3 LE which is about .60 cents. Afterwards we just hung out with Kayla and Deb in their room for a little while chatting. After parting for a little while, we ordered some pizza with the girls next door Shelby, Kaitlin, and Alex which was more like cheesy bread but still really good.

I came back to my dorm room after dinner and Skype'd it up with my cousin Aida and my aunt back home which was cool and even got to talk to my dad and grandmother in St. Martin. Everyone is doing well which is really good to hear and it was especially good speaking to my dad after like a week of not talking to him at all! So tomorrow is the start of our classes and I'm supposed to be having one tomorrow but I'm trying to switch out of it because it conflicts with the volleyball schedule here which I really want to participate in. So technically I won't have any class tomorrow but I'll still need to switch that and get my AUC ID card.

Marhaba!

So today was pretty interesting... I planned on waking up early to go to New Cairo so that I could finally get my student ID but of course that didn't happen. I've usually been waking up around 7ish every morning just by myself so I didn't set my alarm clock even though I was supposed to meet up with some people for the bus ride to New Cairo. Soooo I woke up at 12 pm and had to rush to get ready because the bus supposedly only comes once an hour on the 40 minute mark, so I had about 35 mins to get ready and still had to walk to the bus stop. I got ready and left the dorm, rushed to the bus stop where I saw some other kids waiting as well....and I waited....and waited....and waited. When the bus didn't come by 1 we had all figured something was wrong which was most likely this bus schedule which according to my RA is apparantely all made up in the bus drivers mind anyway. When a bus finally came around 1:10ish he told us that he was not leaving until 1:40 so one of the other AUC students and I decided to go and get something to eat. We went to this spot near my dorm where the sold kusheri which is made of pasta noodles with lentil beans and chickpeas. Might not be what I would throw together for dinner at home but it is surprisingly delicious and filling. They also have this tomato sauce that goes on it and hot sauce too!

After eating we rushed back to the bus stop since we only had about 9 minutes to get there and luckily we made it with a few minutes to spare before the bus took off. While eating with this kid, we realized that I know one of the guys he went to high school with who goes to college at Fordham with me only going to show how small the world really is.

So I get to school and my friend Mae was also on the bus so we walk to get our IDs together only to find that the place where you are supposed to get your ID from was closing early for some reason or other and they would not allow us to get our IDs today. Perfecttt. We ran into some other friends of ours who were getting their IDs so we all just walked to the McDonalds on our campus (yes, I know we copped out) to get some ice cream.

There was an event going on tonight which was going to be a type of party with dancing, music, and food so we headed over there even though it was early since there was really nothing else to do. Walking there, we didn't even realize that where it was was even really there! My campus is so huge here it's like 4 times that of Fordham Rose Hill. The event was being held in a sort of ampitheater with a stage and a place on the side which was set up for food.

The SOLs (Student Orientation Leaders) gave us Egyptian scarves and/or thin scarves with small coins on them that jingled every time you move sort of like the ones you see on belly dancers. They were pretty cool to dance with and the music that they were playing was a mixture of American and Egyptian. There was one guy who was dancing the ENTIRE time even when no one was there. He was by far the most energetic person I saw tonight and he looked like he was having a great time. Gradually a bunch of us joined him and more and more people started to come.

We headed over to get some food after a while and at the stands they were serving gyro styled meals with either chicken or beef, a pizza like dish with very thin crustlike covering, fried dough saturated in honey (almost like zeppolis minus the powered sugar and with honey), and kusheri. Sorry I don't know the official names for these dishes I'll have to find them out for you. Everything was so delicious, especially the fried dough dessert but since I had just eaten not too long ago, I didn't eat as much as I usually would have.

After eating, that's when the real party began! We were all just dancing for a while to the music playing but there were official dancers who came out and like the guy from the Nile Cruise began to dance with the skirt that turned into one of those pins that you turn on the floor. But tonight there were 2 kids at first who were doing it and then an older kid and an adult came out to finish up the act. They were very good, even the kids for what the act called for. After they left we danced a bit more and then a group of men came out to dance and it was sooo fun to watch them! The were dressed in white robes and they looked so at ease with their dance moves and very happy to be there with us. We were all called to join them in dance which we did, and we formed a conga line a few times around the dance floor which was fun. So we continued to dance and dance and dance for a while more, and they played some Spanish music and even a Soca song (which really excited me)!

After Marhaba was done (the name of the event) the girls and I decided to take the bus back to Zamalek where I completely knocked out after discussing music tastes with Deb and Mae. I was so exhausted from the night and the nap was a refreshing. So we just got back to Zamalek about an hour ago and now I'm gonna go freshen up and find something to do with the rest of my night. Until tomorrow...

*BTW sorry I forgot my camera in my dorm room today so I'm gonna steal some pics from Deb's page when she puts them up and then post them on here.

Nile Cruise and New Cairo

So yesterday was my first day of orientation at AUC which was held on the new campus in New Cairo, about an hour and a half from my dorm in Zamalek. The bus over there was crazy, the bus squeezed through the littlest spots that I didn't think even NY cabs could. Even though the bus belongs to AUC (I'm guessing) the sides of them say "Family Transport" which is a little weird but nonetheless I got to campus safe and sound and realized that it truly is in the middle of the desert. I feel so bad for the kids who are dorming on the new campus because although it is GORGEOUS, there doesn't seem to be anything around to do and the campus itself is actually still not completed. You'll still see workers all around campus sanding and cementing structures... you'll see them in my pictures from today.

So yesterday upon getting to campus I was immediately awed at the architecture and colors that were used in the construction of the buildings. The colors are eye popping bright and the architecture is very modern. The campus itself is HUGE, it probably takes around a half hour to walk from one side of the campus fully to the opposite. The pictures truly don't do the campus justice and I wish everyone who reads this could experience for themselves how great it is. On campus they gave us breakfast which consisted of local food... some fuul, falafel, and I don't know the exact word for the last one but it was pretty much a small omelette with shredded lettuce and white sauce in a type of pita bread. Fuul is beans in the same bread and falafel looks like a patty almost a burger but it is made of fried chickpeas along with some other ingredients I was told. All of it was delicious and then there was also rice pudding, some fruit (which had seen better days) and tea or water.



After breakfast we had orientation where the staff told us more about themselves as well as the school and then they proceeded to show us a slide show of different images of Egypt and some sites within it. We did a roll call of nations which consisted of a country being called out and everyone from that country standing up to represent it. I found out that some of the international students here came from Norway, UK, and India. A lot more were called out but I'm guessing that those students either just haven't arrived yet or didn't want to stand up. Of course when the US was called out, 98% of the room stood up, which was no surprise to me.

After being talked to for what seemed like forever, lunch was served which was even BETTER than breakfast! We had pasta covered in a creamy white sauce I've never had before (no, it wasn't alfredo), parm chicken, vegetables, and the most delicious chocolate cake and cheesecake I've ever had. MMMMMMMMMMMM so good!

So after lunch the school had a few booths up where you could talk to some reps about the sports, residential life trips, health care center, etc. They also made us get cell phones in case of emergency they needed a way to contact us, but honestly I think it was pointless and I put it off anyways because I came here to get awayyy from those types of things. The sports seemed really interesting and I think that I'm going to sign up to play volleyball, which I've been dying to do ever since I got out of high school and since I'm finally not working, going to school and doing a million other things at once I'll actually have time to do this.

Lunch passed and then a group of us went to find out how and where to get our AUC ID's as well as some other things the school wanted us to do and when we finally did the lines were so long for everything that we just ended up doing nothing really and decided to do it today instead. Two girls that I've met here who are really cool, Kayla and Deb, and I decided to take the bus back to Zamalek to get ready for the cruise on the Nile that we had signed up for. So we got back to the dorms and I decided to unpack my suitcases (yes they had finally arrived!) and tidy up my room a bit. By the time I was finished with that and Skyping and IMing my friends and fam it was time to get ready for the outing.

The Nile Cruise was the most amazing cultural experience that I've had here yet. The boat was huge and the music, dancing and food was soooo great! There was a woman belly dancer, a guy who danced in a skirt which then turned into a spindle, and a live band. Everyone was so full of energy and enthusiasm the whole night. The girls and I sat at our table and enjoyed a great view of everything but what wasn't so great was that the performers then targeted us out to dance with them. After the show and dinner a group of us decided to go to the top deck of the boat for the view and to take some pictures. It was quite chilly but so beautiful that it definitely made up for it. The whole experience was about 2 hours or so, but I wish it had lasted a little longer. When we docked, we took some pics of the boat and the structures around it and then boarded the bus to go back to Zamalek.





When we got back to Zamalek it was still quite early so Kerry, Alex and I decided to explore the streets a bit and to try to find some cheap cells to keep in contact with each other. We did find some good stuff and after we got back to the dorms we went to Kayle and Deb's room to hang out and chat for a bit which went on for hoursss but seems like minutes. Most of the girls here that I've met are really cool people and I'm glad to have met them.

Today we had to go back to school for more orientation and had the same thing for breakfast and pretty much for lunch as well but the topics of discussion were a little bit different. There was a professor who was speaking on Egyptians and why AUC had moved to New Cairo (which from my understanding was mainly due to the pollution in Cairo as well as more space for expansion). It was interesting but what I really wanted to hear about was the sports which I had apparantly missed but hopefully they'll have some things around campus to learn more about them here.





So the girls and I attempted to get our IDs again today but to no avail because apparantly it takes about 15 mins p/person and there's always a million and ten people waiting for IDs so maybe tomorrow will be a better day. :) After that we just boarded the bus back to Zamalek and Mae and I shopped around for some things. She for a voltage converter and me for a cell and some flats (which I still haven't found). The sand around here really isn't that bad but most people wear closed toes shoes and so I feel as if I should as well. I didn't carry any but one pair of sneakers because they would have taken up way too much space and weight in my suitcase.

Tonight is up for grabs as to what we are going to do, but we might head out to a local restaurant or go to play pool at a local place. There are many things to do here and slowly we're going to try and do a little of everything. The nights here come very quickly and since we don't really have school for a couple days we're going to try to explore as much as possible now before we get bogged down with homework and schedules.

My First Whole Day in Egypt

Soooo... I finally made it to Egypt! After a 13 hour flight it felt so good to stretch my legs and see the country that I would be staying in for the next 5 months. Of course the airport lost my luggage but I decided not to freak out right away and save it for today. Supposedly my luggage is on a flight for today but we shall see how this works out.

Egypt is surprisingly not too different from home. The streets are crowded, the driving is terrible, yet the people are very friendly and accommodating. Of course there is this language barrier between us that I am determined to break down, but other than that things aren't so different. I can't wait to explore more of this city and its culture. Going to the bank this morning to exchange currency, I learned from one of the guys at my dorm that guys are not supposed to cross their legs in a way that people can see their feet or skin because it is taken as a rude gesture and since I seem to be the ONLY person here who hasn't studied Arabic in some form they taught me a couple words today too.

When I came back to the dorms I met up with some girls that I met last night at dinner and a whole group of us went to walk around a bit and grab a bite to eat where I met a couple more people coming from all around the globe. As big as this world is, it never ceases to amaze me how small it is at the same time. I met a guy last night who not only comes from Jersey but lives in the same city and on the same street as my boyfriend!!! Talk about weird...

So all in all, although missing my friends and family, I'm starting to like it here and slowly getting to meet people. I haven't been on campus actually yet but will be tomorrow so I'm sure I'll have even more to write about! Pics coming soon...