Trip to New Campus

Today was an alright day. In the morning i hopped on the 1030 shuttle to the Cairo campus and attended a couple of orientation lectures-- one on egypt's relevance to us today, and the other on basic, boring, albeit important u.s. embassy info. the afternoon arabic lesson was ok-- nothing special. covering alot of practical things, of which, despite my year of studying the language, i am virtually clueless of. huh.

that got out at 4:30, and almost immediately after all the int'l students caught a ride on buses to the new campus, which is in a new suburb, "New Cairo", on the outskirts of the suburb limits, i think. driving out was crazy. mile after mile was filled with construction projects of new apartment blocks, often constructed very simply-- looking like massive towers of brick and concrete, with little to distinguish them. what struck me was the sand everywhere-- i guess i should have known, given that the city is surrounded by a desert. still, it's crazy to me. when we got to the campus, there was nothing manmade visible-- only sand.

the new student party was kind of lame. for the hundreds of students there, the university only organized three food carts. the lines were unbearable. i was able to sit with some of the people i've met with so far, which was fun. our movement around the campus, which supposedly is very large, was restricted-- i think largely for liability purposes, considering it is still somewhat under construction. basically, we were confined to the entrance plaza and a little ampitheater they built connection to it. it was pretty, but kind of boring. basically, the thing went on for too long. while there was some dancing, it was fairly half-hearted, with most people staying out of it. i have to admit that i never got in on it, so i have no right to complain. but i won't let that stop me.

i just went for a walk, exploring a new street i haven't seen yet. even though it was about 1:30am, the streets are still pretty lively-- vendors, grocery stores, restaurants all open for business. i stopped and grabbed a snickers, which for some reason i have become reliant on these last couple days. i guess its because there delicious, and you can find them on virtually any block.

one woman tried speaking to me while i was wandering around, and this very short-lived 'conversation' proved to me just how little i know. i believe she thought i was lost, and after thinking about it for a second, i realized that i had no way to convey to her that i was only walking. that's a pretty simple thing to say. oh well.

i'll try to upload some pictures from the night.

love