Evacuation

I'm heartbroken to report that my summer abroad program has been cut short - due to the recent unrest and uncertainty about Egypt's future, my group has been ordered to evacuate Egypt. The UC program's insurance kicked in and is flying us to Paris and then straight home to the United States. I won't get to see the Valley of the Kings in Luxor, visit the new library in Alexandria, or snorkel in the Red Sea. I tried to see if I could spend a week and a half in Europe and then take my normal flight home in mid-July, but unfortunately my airline company would charge me too much money so I won't get to use the evacuation as an excuse for more siteseeing. The only bright side to all of this is seeing my family early and spending part of the 4th of July with them (after my plane lands in San Francisco in the early evening).

I'm still partly in shock by everything and not ready to come home, but part of me is exhausted and resigned to our departure, especially after the crazy day it's been. I woke up this morning only to hear the news of our evacuation, ran around Zamalek to buy some last-minute souvenirs, spent hours looking up hostels in Dublin/Paris/Frankfurt/Berlin, packed everything and tried to fit all of my souvenirs/textbooks into my suitcase, and Facebook-chatted with many concerned friends and family members. The day is only going to get longer, considering that we're leaving to head to the airport in less than an hour and I'll be arriving in SFO about 26 hours from now... Hopefully I can get some sleep on the plane!

I have too many regrets about my time here in Cairo. I wish I'd talked to more local people (instead of mostly shop owners and taxi drivers). I wish I'd taken more pictures. I wish I'd bought more gifts at the bazaar. I wish I'd tried more food (and more flavors of ice cream at a local sweet shop I discovered yesterday). I wish I'd blogged more! Right now, all I can do is prepare myself for a long flight and hope that I can turn my shortened abroad experience into a dynamic law school personal statement...

Bazaar and Protest Prep

With the June 30th protests coming up tomorrow, our professor took us to the bazaar today for some shopping before the excitement begins. We visited Khan al-Khalili, which is the largest and most popular bazaar in Cairo. I didn't see any other shoppers there besides our group, which probably meant that tourists are staying away from downtown Cairo right now. Poor shopkeepers... and poor us, since everyone was determined to charge extra for everything!

The bazaar was made up of winding alleys filled with shops, bored-looking shopkeepers sitting out front waiting for customers to come by. As soon as we approached, their eyes lit up and they called out to us about all of the items that we just had to get that were exactly what we were looking for! All I knew was that I wanted some scarves to give as presents, so I wandered in and out of shops aimlessly for a bit, probably disappointing the many store owners that kept trying to give me prices for everything I looked at. Some of the shopkeepers were friendly, others aggressive, and many more aggressively friendly. I actually had one shopkeeper pull me into his store to show me scarves, so I was glad that I'd dragged my friend Rusty into the store as well... the young man started demonstrating all the different ways I could wear his beautiful scarf, and as soon as he "accidentally" groped me I hurried out of the store and told him I didn't want the scarf. I don't want to know what would have happened if I hadn't had another guy with me at the time - thanks, Rusty!

That one incident aside, I had some great conversations with some of the shopkeepers and many of them were thrilled that I made an effort to speak/bargain with them in Arabic. My group had our professor help us negotiate (since she was always able to talk her way into the most reasonable prices using her rapid Egyptian Arabic), but I was able to successfully bargain on my own a couple of times and got a great deal on a few gorgeous scarves.

We stopped shopping a little bit too soon for my liking (although it was probably a good thing, since I hadn't planned well and didn't bring enough Egyptian pounds with me to buy too many items) and went to Al-Fishawy Café for tea and coffee (as well as hookah for some of my classmates). It was nice to sit and relax for a bit, especially since the tea was delicious! A couple of young boys came up to us and tried to get us to buy hairpins, so Angelica and I bought a couple. We probably overpaid, since the youngest boy was so happy that he gave us a handmade bracelet in addition to the hairpins for free. Honestly, I didn't mind overpaying - it was only $3 to me, but it was a few meals for him.

While heading back from the bazaar, our taxis drove through Tahrir Square and I was able to get a glimpse at the protest preparations for tomorrow. Jonny and I joked that it was just like Occupy - and in a way, it was.

 

I'm excited to see what happens tomorrow! We're all staying firmly on Zamalek, where we'll be safe, but I know that we'll all be monitoring the news and waiting to see what takes place in the square. I'm praying everything remains safe and peaceful!

Movie Time

It's Friday - the Egyptian weekend is here! - and I just wanted to quickly update you all to say that I saw Monsters University last night! Super cute movie, and it was definitely an interesting cultural experience to go to a movie theater here.

Our professor was only planning to go with her son, but a few other people in our group (including me) really wanted to see the movie so we all ended up tagging along after class. We took a taxi (yet again) to the next island over, Rawdah, which had a theater showing the latest American movies. We bought tickets and 3D glasses, since the movie was 3D and they actually charge you extra for the glasses, and then took our seats. The seats were assigned and we had an actual usher show us where the row was, which was I've never had happen while seeing a movie. There was also an intermission halfway through the movie (it literally stopped mid-sentence, which confused me for a bit) so that people could go out and buy more popcorn or use the restroom. It made sense economically, but I still found an intermission a bit amusing considering the movie was only an hour and a half long.

The movie was very cute, like I said, and it was a lot of fun to read along with the Arabic subtitles on the bottom of the screen. Reminds me of when I used to watch all of my movies with Spanish subtitles during third and fourth year Spanish in high school! The actual dialogue was in English, of course. I loved having another excuse to practice my Arabic, although I guess I could have also eavesdropped on the conversations next to me... considering that a lot of the other patrons talked throughout the movie (and texted, kicked my seat, etc.). Either I was sitting by a rowdy family or theater etiquette is different in Cairo. Oh well - overall I had a lot of fun and it was nice to have a little taste of home again (even if was only an English-language movie)!

Egyptian Museum

Before class this morning, Caity and I headed to the Egyptian Museum. I had been sick when the rest of our group went and I was dying to go (plus Caity wanted to see everything again and was nice enough to go with me), so we headed to downtown Cairo to get to the museum just as it was opening.

The ancient Egyptian architecture, jewelry, and artifacts were absolutely stunning. We couldn't take pictures inside, although I snuck one of this adorable kitten sleeping on a coffin.

 

My first stop of the morning was the mummy room. It was creepy but kind of cool - there were a lot of mummified pharaohs in there in various stages of "decay." Technically they weren't decaying because of how carefully they were embalmed, but it's still hard to look at a graying skeleton and think, "Wow, he's holding up well!" I lingered for a few minutes to read the descriptions of each pharaoh before leaving the room for safer, less haunted areas.

The actual museum had artifacts everywhere. If Hogwarts was a poorly organized and poorly labeled museum, it would look pretty similar to what I saw this morning. The displays (if you could call them displays) were laid out haphazardly, sometimes by era, sometimes by artifact type, and sometimes by ruler. Most of the time there were descriptions in broken English (I suspect the Arabic descriptions weren't much better, unfortunately), but many sad pieces were left to stand on their own. However, the actual artifacts were incredible enough that I stopped minding the lack of historical context after a while.

Some of my favorites: Nefertiti's jewelry (enormous collection in a room that was actually air-conditioned!). An area I nicknamed "Valley of the Kings" (sorry, Luxor) that had enormous statues spread out in a large area surrounded by stairs. A section with artifacts from Ramses II, including a reference to the Israelites (amazing Biblical history right there). A whole aisle devoted to Greco-Roman influences that made me feel like I was on the wrong continent. Coffin Cat, of course (see above)!

I'd love to go back with a guide and spend hours going through the museum again, this time with the historical framework to understand each piece I saw. Oh well - I'm sure I'll be back in Cairo someday soon!

Less Tourism, More Politics

I want to talk a bit about the political situation in Egypt right now. I'm certainly not a native Egyptian and not as updated about current events as I would like, but I'm still watching and anticipating the June 30th protests that are coming up on Sunday. The other summer abroad participants and I have been instructed to stay on the island (where we'll be away from any protests in Tahrir if things get a bit ugly) and I'm just praying that there won't be a bloodbath across the bridge.

Again, I'm not a native Egyptian. I won't bother to give you my perspective on President Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood, or what I think will happen on Sunday. But here's what I've noticed so far:

People are talking. Whether it's our professor, tour guide, or random foreigners that we meet at bars and conferences, everyone is talking about the upcoming protests, the government, the military, and what's going on right now.

Traffic is horrible because of the gas crisis - people are leaving their cars parked everyone and blocking the roads since they can't drive. (Someone in my study abroad group suggested that people are stockpiling up on gas and food for the protests, which might have exacerbated the gas crisis.)

My professor is nervous. Not for our safety, since Zamalek is one of the safest places in Cairo, but nervous that the university is going to overreact and send us home. As much as I miss California, I'm definitely not ready to go home - I haven't seen Luxor yet! I haven't seen Alexandria! I haven't snorkeled in the Red Sea! I've only been in Egypt for a week and there's so much left to see, so I'm hoping (for myself and for Egypt) that things stay peaceful on Sunday.

Conferences, Palaces, and Papers - Oh My!

I took it easy the past few days while recovering from that bout of food poisoning (not fun), but today I was feeling much better and was ready to get back into the excitement of city life.

Our professor canceled class for the day so we could go to a conference by Mosireen, a non-profit organization in Cairo that helped citizens to report on events during the 2011 revolutions.  The conference discussed the relationship between activism and media in Egypt, focusing on alternative media initiatives. I dragged myself out of bed early in the morning and hailed a cab with my classmates, heading to downtown Cairo. After wandering around for half an hour, we finally found the building where the conference was being held. The elevator was broken (just my luck) so we climbed up to the seventh floor of the building, where we found a tiny little apartment full of young, ambitious Egyptians (and a few foreigners thrown in!). I quickly grabbed some breakfast (ice cold water, yummy coffee, and chocolate croissants) and a translator headset, and sat down just in time for the conference to begin.

Although the speakers were interesting and insightful, most of our group ended up leaving at the lunch break to head home and work on our writing assignments. We stopped in a fancy looking teahouse and bakery to grab food before braving the traffic home. My cab got stuck for nearly half an hour once we got back to Zamalek, but we finally made it home.


I worked on my writing assignment for a bit but, lacking inspiration, headed out to the Cairo Marriott with Caity and Jonathan. We got lost on the way over and walked all over Zamalek until we finally made it to the hotel. The architecture was absolutely stunning – it was built by Khedive Ismail as a palace to house foreign dignitaries for the Suez Canal’s inauguration. The original “palace” is incorporated into the hotel and looks exactly like it would have during the 1800s, but with the unfortunate addition of the two hotel towers on the sides and a pretty but inauthentic garden and pool.

 

 

 

 

The three of us watched the sun set as we sat by the gardens and drank milkshakes (more guava juice for me), and then we finally headed back to work on our papers. The little field trip worked - I now have more material for my paper (on palimpsest effects in Cairo's architecture) and it's going well. Time to get back to work!

The Traveler's Curse

Some of you may be excited to see the post title - maybe I spoke too soon and one of my classmates did actually get possessed on the summer solstice? Again, no such luck.

Friday night after I blogged, a few people in my group headed out to a Thai restaurant for an early dinner. Biggest mistake so far for me. The vegetarian options on the menu all had oyster sauce and the restaurant employees assured me that they could make the dishes with soy sauce instead, so I decided to give the food a try. The dish I was served, however, had a distinctly non-vegetarian gravy and I've spent the past day and a half with horrible food poisoning. And it wasn't even from the infamous Egyptian water... sigh. Oh well - I learned my lesson and will be even more paranoid about what I order from now on.

I'm sticking to juice and easy foods for now - my appetite is completely gone but luckily my roommate Caity was nice enough to get me some juice boxes while I was in bed yesterday, and I'm hooked on guava juice now! Yummy.

Solstice Fun: Visiting the Pyramids

My summer abroad group woke up far too early this morning for our pyramid visit. We were all excited to be visiting the pyramids on the summer solstice and I think some of us were half-hoping that one of us would get possessed while climbing inside Khufu's Pyramid. No such luck. We met our amazing guide, Hany, and boarded a van to Giza. On the way, Hany quizzed us about the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and gave us some quick facts about the pyramids. He also warned us about the people we would find on our trip. As Hany said, "Every city has both good people and bad people. Egypt is very smart, much smarter than America - we rounded up all of the bad people and put them all in one place! They're all at the pyramids."

We got a couple of quick glimpses of the pyramids themselves in the van on the drive over, but when we first got out of the car the view was absolutely stunning. The pyramids are huge - I had no idea how big they would be! Each block is almost as tall as I am.

Tall Pyramid blocks!

We took a couple of photos and then got in line to head inside the Pyramid of Khufu (the Great Pyramid). They only allow 100 visitors per day to climb inside and our group made up 10% of the total for that day, so I felt better about being dragged out of bed at the crack of dawn. On our way to the entrance, we met a few of the vendors/harassers Hany had warned us about - at every step someone tried to sell us overpriced souvenirs and knickknacks, or offered to take our picture for money.

We finally reached Khufu's Pyramid and scrambled up several meters of pyramid blocks to the entrance. The climb to the inner chamber seemed like it would never end. The passage was narrow and steep, and I was worried I was going to tumble down to the bottom as I climbed up the makeshift ladder/stairs for a good 10 minutes. For part of the climb, the ceiling dropped drastically and we all had to bend over as we continued to climb up (or in my case, pull myself to the next step using the handrail). At last we reached the inner chamber. Honestly, the room was kind of a letdown after the long climb - it was just a small, dark, and empty room where Khufu's body used to be before everything was moved to the Egyptian Museum. Our group waited inside for a bit as we caught our breath and then made our way back down to the bottom. Unfortunately, like I said earlier, no one got possessed along the way...

After we emerged into the daylight, we got back into the van to make our way up to the highest point of the sand dunes, where we could ride camels back down to the base of the pyramids. I was able to see the other pyramids along the way - there are actually 9 remaining pyramids, 3 large (Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure) and 6 small (for the king's wives and family). We stopped for souvenirs at a couple of vendors that Hany recommended who would give us honest prices, then made our way over to the camels.

Our souvenir stop

 

Khafre's Pyramid - the only one with the original granite covering remaining

 

Alice (the camel) and me

 

 

The camel ride was my favorite part of the day! Getting on the camel was a bit tricky, even with all the camels laying down to wait for us. You had to put your foot in the makeshift stirrup, swing your leg over the camel's massive back, and then lean your body backwards as your guide had the camel stand up. Once I was on the camel and she was standing, getting down was out of the question - I was too far off the ground!

 

When everyone in our group was on their camel (with a bit of screaming on a couple of people's parts), we set off on our trek down through the dunes to the pyramids. The view along the way was incredible - we could see all three of the greater pyramids and most of the lesser pyramids as we made our way down to the pyramid base. I spent most of the ride bouncing up and down on the camel and trying to focus my camera as I took as many photos as possible. I think I only got a few centered photos from how much I was bouncing all over the place, but the pictures look great regardless. Our guides (who were leading the camels and even let us trot for a bit) stopped us halfway through the journey and took some pictures of us on our camels. I got a couple of really great photos, but my roommate's guide was about 8 years old and cut off her head in every photo since he was too short. (Luckily the rest of our group had enough pictures of her to sort of make up for it.)

 

We made our way to the base of the pyramids far too soon and the camel ride ended - it lasted more than an hour but it felt like no more than 20 minutes to me. (I didn't realize how long it had been until the next day, when I was so sore from the ride and the climb inside the pyramid that I couldn't walk at all.) We regretfully headed back to the van and drove over to the Sphinx for the last part of our visit.

 

The Sphinx was huge and incredible, although I still preferred the pyramids. Hany told us a bit about the Sphinx's history and how various leaders had used the mystical powers and superstition surrounding the Sphinx to their advantage. Hany had a great anecdote about President Obama's visit to Egypt (Hany had actually been Obama's guide!) and how Obama asked for a private moment with the Sphinx to convene with her. According to Hany, Obama came back a changed man and the two of them (Obama and the Sphinx) had had a really powerful moment. Maybe that will be me during my next visit? :)

 

My future BFF?



We headed back to Cairo a little before noon, none of us believing that our trip had only lasted several hours. Hany talked to us a bit about our long weekend getaway options (Luxor/Aswan, which is a bit unstable right now versus snorkeling at the Red Sea with a day trip to Luxor) and about safety in general, since some of the girls in our group had gotten a bit too close for his liking to one of the boys at the pyramid. We got back right after the Friday noon prayers, when the city was still quiet and traffic wasn't too bad.

 

Now I'm spending the quiet afternoon uploading photos before we head out for dinner - I can't believe I've taken so many pictures this far. 360 and counting!

 

Good Night, Cairo

My past two days have been incredible and I really wish I had time to do my adventures justice through a long blog post! Unfortunately I have to be up in about six hours to go to the Pyramids, so this will have to be a bit shorter than I would like.
 Today was an absolute whirlwind. My classmates and I got up early to go out to breakfast before class. We wandered around the neighborhood for a bit before finding a cute little café called Kafficho Coffee. It was essentially faux American breakfast with Egyptian coffee - good coffee but the food was cold when they brought it out to us, which we suspected was because we ordered in English. Still, the coffee was good enough that I might go back sometime in the next few weeks.
 
Afterwards we had our second class meeting and started to present sections from the book (we're each presenting a chapter on Cairo history/architecture - I did Ottoman rule from 1517 to 1799). We finished early so our professor decided to take us on an impromptu field trip to Sultan Hasan Mosque. The girls all dashed upstairs to get changed and I tried to figure out which of the few conservative outfits that I'd packed would be most appropriate - I finally decided on a long dress. We had to stop along the way to buy a scarf, since another girl and I hadn't had a chance to purchase one yet. Our little group of 11 took three separate taxis to the mosque, which reminded me of an LSAT logic game to be honest - we needed one Arabic speaker, one person with a phone, and one guy per car. The drive over was fun but scary, which probably describes all of my driving experiences in Cairo so far given how crazy the traffic is and how reckless all the drivers are. But we passed through Tahrir on the way over - seeing the graffiti was really interesting but it reminded me that, after all, Tahrir Square is just a traffic circle. We also got to see a different side of Cairo than we see in Zamalek - a more crowded and low-income Cairo.
 
When we finally arrived at the mosque, we were all in awe. Sultan Hasan is the largest mosque in Cairo and possibly one of the most impressive (although as our professor reminded us, there are over 800 mosques in Cairo so I can't ever compare them with certainty). We dropped off our shoes, covered our heads, and began exploring. The courtyard area was beautiful and we ended up sitting out there for a while during the midafternoon prayers.
 

 
We got back to the residence right before we had to leave for our sailboat trip down the Nile. The boat left just as the sun was starting to set, which made for some amazing pictures.

 

The boat trip overall was incredible and it was fun to see a bit more of the city skyline, as well as a bigger taste of what's beyond Zamalek.

 

Stay tuned for an exciting update about the Pyramids tomorrow!

One Day In!

I blogged a little about my first impressions of Cairo, but here's a bit more of the highlights! We had our first section of class today - right now we're studying Cairo: Histories of a City and focusing on Cairo's different eras/rulers/architectures. It's fun having a class with only ten students, since it's very discussion-oriented and we have a lot of opportunities to ask questions (ranging from the split between the Copts and the Catholics to speculations about Shagarat al-Durr's time as Cairo's only female ruler). We had a brief "survival Arabic" course afterwards, where even Rusty and I (the two students who had finished second year Arabic) were able to learn a few Egyptian greetings and phrases.

After class we briefly walked to the Nile and explored the neighborhood. A few observations:
*There are stray cats everywhere, although they're all so skinny and I just want to adopt them all to feed them!
*Also, no one uses the sidewalks that much (probably because of how uneven they are - also they have occasional puddles and garbage piles) and people generally walk in the street...
*This is problematic because drivers in Cairo are the scariest things ever. No one, and I mean NO ONE, follows any traffic laws. Driving in Cairo is one giant game of chicken with the other cars, bikers, and pedestrians.

We had a walking tour of Zamalek next, although I couldn't figure out where we were going so the "tour" aspect wasn't as helpful as I'd hoped. Still, there are cafes everywhere along with shops, pharmacies, flower stands, soda stands, etc. I'm starting to learn my way around based on landmarks (flower shop on the corner, coffee shop where we had breakfast on another street, etc.). We walked down to the 26th of July Street, which has the craziest drivers of all, and headed onto the bridge to watch the sun set over the Nile. Absolutely beautiful! Afterwards we headed to an exchange place to get some Egyptian pounds (1 dollar = 7 pounds currently).

Next was dinner at Abu El Sid. Picture everything you've ever seen in books and movies about the Middle East. Picture the movie Casablanca. Do you have a stereotypically oriental image in your mind? Excellent. That was Abu El Sid - more of a caricature of Egypt rather than an actual Egyptian restaurant, but the décor was still fantastic and the food was great. We ordered a bunch of Egyptian appetizers (hummus, fuul - fava beans, various dips and veggies) and then some main dishes for the table. As the token vegetarian of the study abroad students, I ordered kushari, which is a noodle/bean/rice dish that's a staple in an Egyptian's diet. It was really good! Other class members tried rabbit, quail, pigeon, and lots of soup/rice dishes. We were absolutely stuffed at the end! We stopped in a bookstore after dinner to digest - it had a huge English book section so if I ever find time to read for pleasure here (unlikely) I have a place to go if I run out of books!

When we finally made it back to the residence area, we were tired... yet somehow some of us had the energy to go out to a little café. Several people tried watermelon-flavored shisha and I had a rather expensive brownie a la mode. It seems like a lot of the Egyptian youths head out for a smoke after a long day of work or play, and shisha is definitely very popular here. Either way, I was quite satisfied with my brownie! We sat and relaxed for a while, enjoying the surprisingly American music (a few Avril Lavigne songs and a bunch of covers of American songs) before heading home and going to bed (and in my case, blogging).

First Impressions

I'm here! I landed in Cairo last night (after over 24 hours of traveling) and I'm just beginning to explore the city.

The dorm I'm staying in is definitely a lot homier than Davis housing was, but there are still things that take getting used to - complete gender segregation, much more communal bathrooms, new rules, etc. There are plenty of nice places to sit and a beautiful courtyard in the middle of the building, even if people are always out there smoking. I think the biggest adjustment for me in Cairo will just be the air and the scents. The air is much more polluted here and everyone smokes, which will definitely take some getting used to. But at least the floor I'm staying on doesn't smell like smoke and neither does my bedroom.

As far as the city itself, it's beautiful and such a unique mix of different eras/architecture. You'll find a fancy hotel or shop next to a couple of decaying buildings. Things are probably a bit more extreme since I'm living in Zamalek, which is an upscale island in the middle of the Nile where a lot of the embassies are - there are definitely a lot of really nice areas but at the same time, you can find plenty of areas that are rundown and dirty. However, even the rundown areas are beautiful to me and completely different from anything I've seen in America. And of course the Islamic architecture, pyramids, and murals I've seen so far have been absolutely breathtaking. My plane actually flew over the Pyramids while landing, which was the coolest thing ever. I had my nose practically glued to the airplane window to look at the city, probably to the annoyance of the man sitting next to me since I could tell he wanted to watch the landing as well.

Everyone I've met so far has been extremely friendly and has responded warmly to my small attempts to use Arabic (so far limited to "thank you" and greetings). I'm excited to meet more Egyptians outside of the dormitory and the few shops I've been to so far. It will be great to practice my Arabic more and get to know what people here are like.

Tonight my group is doing a brief walking tour of the neighborhood, so I'll have some pictures to put up later. So far I have a few pictures from the airplane and a brief visit to the Nile, but I'll try to take and upload more soon, inshallah!

Travel Preparations

Only three more days until I leave for Cairo! The last month has flown by in a blur of school, LSAT prep, and preparing for my summer abroad program.

I've gone shopping to buy myself a couple of longer skirts/dresses for days that I need to cover up a bit more. This was surprisingly difficult considering that maxi dresses are in right now. Somehow everywhere I looked, the dresses and skirts were too sheer to cover my legs properly. I finally lucked out at Target, although this means I still need to return some of the not-so-appropriate dresses and skirts that I picked up at other stores. I also figure that anything I don't buy here, I can just buy while I'm in Cairo (and it will probably be more lightweight and weather-appropriate).

I'm nearly done with the administrative aspects of getting ready to go. I got a health clearance back in January but I talked to a doctor last month to make sure I'm safe to travel (big shocker: I'm healthy). Awkwardly, I now have two prescriptions for ciprofloxacin - in case of traveler's diarrhea, fun - and I haven't actually picked up the medication. Plus I missed my window to go to Kaiser today while at work and finishing up a paper. Getting sick will at least make my abroad experience more authentic, I guess? (Why am I trying to put a positive spin on diarrhea?) Other than health stuff, I had to get an international student ID card and figure out communication logistics, such as how to get in touch with family (Face Time, email, and Facebook) and how to get a local phone (I'm using an old phone with a local SIM card, FYI).

Figuring out what to bring has been hard. How many outfits do I actually need? How many pairs of shoes? Which Arabic textbooks/dictionaries should I bring? How many books can I feasibly get through on the 23-hour trip there? I've finally narrowed down my packing list... I think.
Preparations aside, I have yet to actually start packing. Oops.

The Countdown Begins

Hello, new followers! As you can see, I'm starting a blog for my upcoming summer abroad in Cairo, Egypt. My program officially begins on June 18th and I fly out in less than a month - I couldn't be more excited! For those of you who don't know, I'm majoring in International Relations and Psychology at UC Davis with a minor in Middle East and South Asia Studies. I hope to attend law school and go on to practice international law and diplomacy in the Middle East. That being said, this will be the first time I've actually been to the Middle East (and actually my first time outside of the U.S./Canada/Mexico) so I'm hoping that the experience will allow me to learn a lot about Egyptian and Arab culture.

I'll continue to update this blog as I prepare to go to Egypt, and once I arrive I'm hoping to blog every couple of days about my studies and adventures in Cairo.

P.S. For anyone who doesn't speak Arabic (most of my viewers, I'm assuming), Misr or مصر is the name for Egypt in Arabic.