I've Made It This Far

So I have arrived in Cairo! The plane ride alone was pretty epic, clocking in at around 10.5 hours straight from New York City to Cairo International. Unfortunately, because of a mixture of nerves, homesickness, and excitement, I did not sleep for much of the ride. If you would have seen me after we arrived in Cairo, I would've appeared to be half-dead by the way my head would dip if I wasn't doing something.

After making it through customs, the group that I traveled with to Cairo was picked up by members of the AUC staff and driven to the Zamalek neighborhood campus of the university. Situated almost immediately outside of downtown Cairo, Zamalek was the AUC's main campus until this year when all academic classes will be moved out to its new campus in New Cairo, about 15 minutes outside of the city. There seems to be a general mood of joy at the prospect of moving to a cleaner, less-noisy area to encourage the growth of the university. The university is amongst the most prestigious in Egypt and enrolls the upper classes of Egyptian society, reminiscent of Ursinus back home.

As for the people I've met thus far, they're a lot like myself. The vast majority of my peers are from the coasts, both east and west, and studying some form of Middle Eastern history, politics, or other social science. Likewise, many of us have no clear-cut career path in mind, hoping this semester abroad will help us with that issue. Speaking of which, I met a young man on the plane that had recently graduated college and was AUC alumni, who decided to return to Cairo for a year to teach.

This week will be my orientation for the university, so it's all about getting situated and acclimated to the culture.

Bye for now,

Andrew