Alright, so now that my blog is back up... here's the scoop on today's events!
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| Our dorm room! |
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| Me trying to eat a mango...it was super messy. |
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| our view from the bus |
We woke up and got muffins and mochas again, and then bussed over to the actual American University in Cairo campus, which is about an hour away (yet still in Cairo). The campus is gorgeous and looks like an extension of the sand that surrounds it. Apparently it was about $440 million dollars (it's only three years old) and a lot of the money to build it was US-funded. It's a very open-air campus and there are lots of courtyards and a great workout facility with an Olympic sized swimming pool! We all were very jealous and wished we were staying at this campus instead of the Zamalek dorms. After getting the tour we ate some lunch. I've been getting sick of eating restaurant food all the time so I took a trip to the grocery store and now have provisions for PB&Js for a good 2 weeks...YES! I think I was the only one to pack my own lunch today, but that's fine. I'm saving my per diem money for some cool souvenirs... watch out family and friends, you might be the recipients of some! teehee. After lunch we had our very first class. It was almost a relief and my mind was itching to start learning something, especially about the very country we were in--which definitely has some things worth learning about at this point in time. History is being made in Egypt this week, and I'm a part of it! A little scary but also a great learning opportunity, and don't worry, I will not be anywhere near the protests and the demonstrations this week. Our professor's name is John Swanson and he seems like an affable guy-he started out by explaining what it means to be Arab and talked about Egypt's economy and Arab population. After the two-hour lecture, in which I got extremely antsy, we bussed back to the Zamalek dorms. I felt a little carsick from the ride, so I stayed in with a couple of girls and skyped some friends with them. We ordered omelettes and bagels from a deli down the street that does free delivery and it was nice to have some simple food. Tonight was pretty uneventful because my stomach still felt a little strange and I was tired, so I hung out with people in the dorms and started on our first round of homework for Professor Legler's class. It was strange to wrap my mind around having to THINK deeply for our discussion questions. I need to get back in the school mode, and fast!
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| getting mocha frappes! |
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| The Olympic-sized pool |
We woke up and got muffins and mochas again, and then bussed over to the actual American University in Cairo campus, which is about an hour away (yet still in Cairo). The campus is gorgeous and looks like an extension of the sand that surrounds it. Apparently it was about $440 million dollars (it's only three years old) and a lot of the money to build it was US-funded. It's a very open-air campus and there are lots of courtyards and a great workout facility with an Olympic sized swimming pool! We all were very jealous and wished we were staying at this campus instead of the Zamalek dorms. After getting the tour we ate some lunch. I've been getting sick of eating restaurant food all the time so I took a trip to the grocery store and now have provisions for PB&Js for a good 2 weeks...YES! I think I was the only one to pack my own lunch today, but that's fine. I'm saving my per diem money for some cool souvenirs... watch out family and friends, you might be the recipients of some! teehee. After lunch we had our very first class. It was almost a relief and my mind was itching to start learning something, especially about the very country we were in--which definitely has some things worth learning about at this point in time. History is being made in Egypt this week, and I'm a part of it! A little scary but also a great learning opportunity, and don't worry, I will not be anywhere near the protests and the demonstrations this week. Our professor's name is John Swanson and he seems like an affable guy-he started out by explaining what it means to be Arab and talked about Egypt's economy and Arab population. After the two-hour lecture, in which I got extremely antsy, we bussed back to the Zamalek dorms. I felt a little carsick from the ride, so I stayed in with a couple of girls and skyped some friends with them. We ordered omelettes and bagels from a deli down the street that does free delivery and it was nice to have some simple food. Tonight was pretty uneventful because my stomach still felt a little strange and I was tired, so I hung out with people in the dorms and started on our first round of homework for Professor Legler's class. It was strange to wrap my mind around having to THINK deeply for our discussion questions. I need to get back in the school mode, and fast! 
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