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.
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!
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