Back From Outer Space...

So, the internet is now in a state of mostly working most of the time, so I'm back posting. I've done a lot of cool stuff in the past week and a half, which, unfortunately, I don't quite have the energy to describe in detail this far after the fact. Here's the highlights:

I went on an "Old Cairo" tour with the other international students. We saw some cool churches and stuff like that (including the area where, supposedly, the holy family stayed for a month after their flight to Egypt). We also saw the oldest mosque in Egypt. It was all really cool and at some point in the near future I'll post pictures in my Flickr account.

I also started classes. In addition to the classes listed in a previous post, I'm auditing choir. It's a tiny choir, which I'm pretty used to because by the time I graduated IMSA our choir was tiny, and the director's clearly very very competent, and the other singers are nice. As for my other classes, they're good, except that Arabic is really really tough. My favorite class right now is Intro to Sufism.

Last night, Egypt won the Africa Cup, and that was quite an experience just because of the amazing outpouring of joy from the fans. People were yelling in Tahrir Square so that I could hear them in my apartment, and everyone was dancing and singing. It was cool.

To wind up the entry, I want to tell you about something I saw walking back from class today that made me happy. So you know how in the US people wear t-shirts that say things like "naughty slut" on them? Okay, maybe not quite that bad, but you get my point. So I was walking down Qasr al-Einy today and I saw a hijabi wearing a top that said "Nice, Sweet Girl" on it. I think that's a cultural difference I can pretty much get behind (please disregard the fact that for like 2 years, one of my favorite shirts said "I don't care if I'm late for class, he's wearing Abercrombie." I bought it 'cause the picture on it had this cool Roy Lichtenstein thing going on. Anyway, I still thought the thing with the girl was sweet).

Orientation

I had my first day of orientation today (for those of you confused, I had been mistaken about the date on which it began, so I may have told you otherwise). It wasn't very comprehensive, just a bunch of booths in a room that told you what to do. I received my medical insurance card and my student ID, and was registered for my student e-mail address. I am in the process of applying for my residency visa, which is required for foreign students beyond just the tourist visa. I also registered for classes. I am taking:

Arabic
After Empire: Nationalism and Social Change in the Middle East 1914-Present
Intro to Sufism
Political and Social Thought in the Modern Arab World

I'm very pleased with this, especially After Empire, which caters directly to my strongest academic interests, and Intro to Sufism, which is taught by a professer, Huda Lutfi, who wrote an article which I found very interesting, which I read for Formation of Islamic Societies at AU.

There isn't much interesting stuff going on tomorrow - basically the same thing as today, which is fairly useless since I've done it. I may just hang out in the apartment and go back on Wednesday, when they start having lectures and things. I still have to finish my visa stuff and buy notebooks and things, but I can do that on Wednesday, because there's really only one interesting session that day.

The weather today was lovely, a little cool, but it's supposed to get even chillier the next few days. Apparently this is the coldest winter Egypt has seen in awhile. Still, highs are a bit higher than in the states, and lows aren't near as low. Temperatures are supposed to be back up again on Friday.

Oh, I forgot to mention something: cats everywhere here, in the streets but especially roaming campus, and even inside some buildings. I took some pictures... here's my favorite:


Aww!

Packing, Registration, Etc.

I'm in a flurry of packing right now, and I'm very excited about Cairo (although not looking forward to a 7-hour layover in London). I'm mildly nervous about class registration, because I'm having a bit of trouble, but I am rapidly learning that AUC is kinda flighty re: administrative matters of any kind.

I've sent out a bunch of e-mails letting people know about this blog, so... ahlan wa sahlan, possible new readers! Also, if you have a skype account and want to chat with me while I'm in Egypt, my username is vegan4vampires, and Cairo is 8 hours ahead of CST.