Wusuul fil Qahira! ("Arrival in Cairo," in my own personal transliteration)

Hi Everybody!! (Your cue to say, "Hi, Dr. Nick!" Anybody?)

I am officially in Cairo, Egypt, after an incredibly smooth travel experience. To be honest, I expected to encounter problems along the way, especially upon arrival at the International Airport in Cairo. After all, AUC hadn't really done a bang-up job of communicating with Study Abroad students in the U.S.--don't get me started on the Arabic Placement test or the stress of registration. Anyway, our plane landed in Cairo without a hitch, although it was drizzling when we deboarded the plane, much to my surprise. I had expected clear skies and blazing desert sunlight, and what greeted me was grey. The other passengers and I boarded a little tram and zipped over to customs and baggage claim, where I met three other American girls while I waited in line. We chatted excitedly about our dorm (Zamalek) and our classes, then each took at turn submitting our passports to the Egyptian officers, who apparently find my blue eyes very pretty.

In fact, I forgot to mention another the first Egyptian I encounter, the young man I sat next to on the plane from JFK to Cairo. His name is Wael, he is a Coptic Egyptian who has been living in Nashville for 2.5 yrs now, where he's studying for a masters in Computer Science. In addition, he apparently considered himself very lucky to be sitting next to a girl like me, who has such a sweet face and beautiful eyes (my ego certainly won't be suffering this semester! :) He also invited me to his sister's wedding this week, but I won't be attending due to a scheduling conflict, for one thing.

So after the other girls and I maneuvered our bags off the carousels and through the customs checkpoint, we exited the terminal to see a crowd of staring Egyptians. This included a very cheerful Abdul, the AUC representative sent to meet us and put us on our mini-bus to the dorms. Enjoying his rather toothless grin and goofy jokes, we waited until the entire group of 7 students had gathered, then we went on our merry way.

The ride from the airport proved long, thanks especially to the outrageous traffic, which is even more chaotic than up in NYC. I didn't mind the journey, because it gave us students a chance to talk and to enjoy a tour of the city. I certainly have not developed a sense of direction yet, so I couldn't tell you which neighborhoods we passed through. I did enjoy the ride, though. At the dorm, we got checked in, meaning that our bags were searched, we signed some paper work, and we received a welcome bag including chicken-flavoured potato chips--I kid you not. I know, wtf? The other girls and I are planning to open a bag together and to try the chips together. I'll keep you posted on the results.

Considering how long this blog entry is getting, I might skimp on details about the rest of the day. Basically, the dorm is very nice, albeit a little uptight about security. Men and women live in completely separate "wards," but we can mingle in the cafeteria, computer lab, gym, lobby, and garden courtyard. So far, living with all girls reminds me of high school at Nerinx, and I'm definitely enjoying it so far. There's a feeling of community and camaraderie, as well as a sense of privacy and security.

My roommate arrived a little later in the day, after I had grabbed dinner with some of the other American girls and attended a mini orientation meeting. Her name is Hind (which literally means "India" in Arabic), and her home is in Upper Egypt. As counterintuitive as it may seem, Upper Egypt actually refers to the southern half of the country, in accordance with northward flow of the Nile. Hind comes from a large, seemingly conservative Muslim family, although I haven't figured out how many siblings she has. She wears hijab, meaning that she keeps her hair covered except in the privacy of our room and sometimes in other parts of the women's wing. She prays regularly, facing towards Mecca and kneeling on her beautiful prayer rug. A first-year student at AUC, Hind is studying Mass Communications, although she taking other courses like Classical Arabic Literature. She says that she really enjoys teaching Arabic--she volunteered over the summer as a children's teacher--and she would like to study Arabic and English together. I'm really excited for that! Through Hind, I've met a number of other Arab girls, all of them Egyptian except one girl from Libya. On the whole, they are a very kind and welcoming group, and I hope I have the opportunity to spend more time with them.

I think that captures the vast majority of my experiences on my first day in Cairo, other than the fact that food here can be really cheap! For instance, this morning I grabbed a small sandwich and a bottle of water before settling in to write to you, and those two items cost only 4.25 LE (Egyptian pounds), which is less than $1!! I'm sure I'll find plenty of ways to spend money, have no fear, but it's nice to know that I can get away cheap if I try.

Until next time, masalaama!

Angela