Ana amrekiah!

I barely have had any time to update this since I've gotten here on Sunday afternoon (early Sunday morning for all you east coasters!). The plane rides were long and exhausting. I had a flight from BWI to JFK, JFK to Amsterdam, Amsterdam to Cairo. Lots of little layovers. Lots of little periods of time to freak out and mooch off free wifi to chat to home. On the flight from BWI to JFK, the plane was really small, and it only took about half an hour. I sat across the aisle from a man from Egypt himself (small world!) and a woman who is an anthropologist and got her doctorate from Cairo! Very, very small world! They were very nice and very helpful!

Flight from JFK to Amsterdam was long! I slept through almost all of the three in-flight movies, restlessly, however. Thankfully I had my own pillow from home, which came in handy for not only storing my fedora and teddy bear (because yes!), but for leaning up against the plane window! I arrived at the Amsterdam airport at 5:20 in the morning their time, and was completely exhausted. I wandered around, and almost panicked because BWI had told me I would need to pick up my baggage before going through customs, and then check in again. And when my baggage didn't show up, I had to find my way around a huge deserted airport (hardly anyone works at 5:20 in the morning!) and make my way to the Delta/KLM desk to find out that my luggage was already put through to Cairo without me needing to do anything. At least the Dutch are super dooper nice with confused and jet-lagged Americans. So I went through customs, got a coke, looked at all the Amsterdam-y things, and accidentally found a bunch of AUC-er's in the Amsterdam airport!

The flight from Amsterdam to Cairo was less of a hassle than the previous one. I sat next to an Egyptian couple, who were absolutely adorable and talked to me near the end of the flight about Cairo and what I was doing and how the man had worked as a tour guide for a little while! As we landed, I got to see the pyramids (barely) and the desert from my plane seat.

Desert from plane seat!

We arrived at Zamalek shortly after, and I found myself thinking that I was just on vacation in another state, in all honesty. I don't think it still has kicked in that I'm thousands of miles away from home, in another country, experiencing another culture! It'll take awhile, I think. Zamalek is gorgeous. It's like a hostel/hotel dorm building and completely amazing! It's across from a church and next to an ambassador's house, near embassies, and is actually named Zamalek because of the area that it's in is called Zamalek, Cairo. It's about a forty minute drive from campus in an A/C, wifi equipped bus!

Sunday night we took a felucca ride down the Nile.

Cairo skyline from the Nile

Monday was the first day of orientation. It was SUPER long. We got lots of freebies, I have an egyptian phone now for emergencies and group meet ups, and I signed up for a couple of days trip to Luxor and Aswan next week during Eid, and a trip on Friday to the Pyramids. Our weekends here because of the faiths are Friday and Saturday. Tuesday we have off classes for campus activity purposes. But yeah. I'm super excited!

We also went to, as part of orientation, Old Cairo to explore, as well as to the Mohamed Ali Mosque, which is GORGEOUS and has his tomb inside (!!!!) and the Citadel. After the visit there, we had dinner and broke fasting for Ramadan with our International Peer Leaders who were fasting with a fantastic sky view of Cairo at night! We also watched some very awesome entertainment!

AUC Campus

Old Cairo Mosque

Mohamed Ali's Tomb

Mohamed Ali Mosque and Citadel

Today was a bunch of orientation things, and we also started our Survival Arabic course! 20 intensive hours of cramming as much arabic to survive in Cairo as possible. I can catch on quickly speaking wise, but understanding what other people say is a problem. At the end of the week, I should be able to be far more proficient! I used some arabic today when we went on the Yacht cruise on the Nile, which was super fun!

I love it here, every aspect of it. Traffic is CRAZY. There are literally no rules. White lines, as the President of AUC said in her speech today, are to be straddled, not go between. The thing is, with everyone driving wherever they want, there isn't any road rage (that I've seen). If a bus gets stuck, or something else happens, like it often does, people will get out of their cars and help. I'll admit we could use a couple of stop signs and more traffic lights (and more active traffic police!), but honestly? When people beep, it's to let other people know that they are coming behind them, or need more room on the side and if they could move over, or something. It's not aggressive! People's cars are dented to hell and back, but they really don't seem to care!

Everyone is so very friendly, that I've met. I'll admit I miss home. And trees. And Gettysburg. And crazy squirrels. But here is just fine for now!

Coming up, FRIDAY - a trip to the Pyramids!

And next week! A few days Eid vacation in Luxor and Aswan (VALLEY OF THE KINGSSS YAAAY!)

P.S. My blog post title this time around is "ana amrekiah" which means, I'm American in arabic!