Beyond the Steps of the Union

I forgot to share a great shuttle story from yesterday! So first and foremost the beaurocracy at AUC is ridiculous and things take forever to get done. For example my visa: I had to fill out a form in one office and a week later bring my passport to a different office and pay and then pick it up a week later again somewhere else! Just one example! When we applied to AUC we had to send 4 passport photos, however when we got here we had to go get our picture taken in an office that was behind the library-which isn’t on the main campus where all the offices are—to get our school i.d. Then a week later we had to bring our dorm two pictures for the dorm and shuttle i.d. (when we had that great “photo shoot”). They didn’t start asking for our i.d.’s when we get on the shuttle to go back to the dorm until this week. One of the girls in my Arabic class had turned in all her pictures, etc. but had not yet received her dorm/shuttle i.d. She had to hike all over campus to the housing office and i.s.s.o. and they still could not find her i.d. So yesterday when they were checking i.d.’s on the bus she didn’t have hers and they told her to get off. A debate ensued with the R.A. getting involved and finally he ended up taking her in a cab back because she refused to pay for a cab when it’s not her fault that her i.d. wasn’t ready. An older student in the bus had some comical toned but serious comments. First of all, the bus sitting there for 20 extra minutes waiting for her to get off was not any safer than just leaving with a student—who we could all vouch for that lived in the dorm. At this point, the bus was surrounded by like four cars and we couldn’t get out of our parallel parking space for ten extra minutes either—further adding to the ridiculousness that the bus i.d. leads to safety. Also she got on the bus without it; they checked i.d.s before we were to leave. And finally, if the R.A. wouldn’t have offered to ride with her back does AUC really think that sending a white, female alone in a cab is safer than putting a student without her i.d. on the bus?

Today the morning shuttle was an interesting experience as well. I usually have been taking an earlier shuttle to allow myself to study outside in the courtyard before class; however, today I took the noon shuttle because I was studying in my dorm room. Today the later shuttle was not such a good idea! There was a large protest right downtown in Median Tahreer and the bus was stopped for at least half an hour (it’s only a 15 minute bus ride when there is full traffic on a workday)! I didn’t get to class until 12:40 and I took the noon shuttle! My teacher understood though—Cairo traffic is unpredictable.

Also unpredictable (besides water as I found out the other morning!) is electricity! Today sitting in class the lights just flicked out for a minute or two then just flicked back on and we continued as nothing had happened!

Arabic class went fine—didn’t feel too long today—and I did well on the quiz we took yesterday so the mood was right as I headed to political science class. Today was quite calm until there was a discussion of conflicts between “the nation” (either of Arabs or Islam) coming before “the state”. Many students in the class rejected one student’s view that Islam and being Arab comes much before nationalism; however, one student made a great point as he shifted our conversation back to Israel-Palestine that those under oppression put their oppressed identity first. Such as Jews putting their identity of persecution before their religion or the state they reside in, but Palestinians putting their Palestinian “state” identity before their Arab or Muslim identity. It makes sense. Also some interesting discussions of how the U.S. is no longer a “melting pot” but a salad—more on my feelings toward that when I have more time.

We received our tests on Iraq back with a lot of insightful comments. I didn’t get a perfect score—I didn’t expect to when I defended the war to a teacher in Egypt—but I did well. I was relieved that I still received a good grade after the teacher disagreed with me, but after I got back to the dorm and read the comments I realized I was graded down on my opinion. His whole comment section was not about how I wrote the paper or my methodology or reasons, but his comment section was on me not being able to decide what is ethical and the U.S. not being able to decide what is moral but the need for countries to rely on the U.N. for international law and moral decisions. I will get into my rebuttal when I have hours at home on my computer to shout and rant and rave! But at least he didn’t mark me down very much, but still it’s apparent from his comments that because I didn’t support the U.N. decision that I got a lesser grade because I was just “plain wrong!” Oh well. . I’m here to learn other perspectives !

Tonight I was feeling a little homesick—which is funny because I’ve never been homesick before. But I think I was more “clean air and America sick”. However, after dinner I signed online and ended up having four hour and a half conversations regarding some unresolved MFCR issues. I suddenly recalled these conversations in the midst of my MSA campaign, cheerleading season, and my big decision time for Egypt. I remembered I picked Egypt (once my parent’s finally conceded) to get away from all these politics for a little while—those conversations reminded me of that time period and got rid of my homesickness ASAP! I’m happy to be in Egypt and experiencing and seeing things most people will never be able to experience, see, or learn!

I won’t be writing until Sunday night as we are headed on a trip to the Sinai! I’ll give you full updates and answer all your emails next week!!

Oh Rob Scott also asked me to give some of my opinions on Bush’s speech. Since I missed it because it was on at 3am Cairo time, I’ll post it here for anyone else who might have!

My BRIEF Comments as I have to study soon!:

1) Bush talks about the strategy of hunting down terrorists. The problem is too much time is being spent trying to get the base and they keep multiplying and not enough time/resources are spent just protecting the Iraqi citizens. It’s good to go for the base, but not while forfeiting the citizen’s safety in the process. Protect them and stop the terrorists in action—not just by trying to track down their cells because we inevitable miss some and they reach the citizens.
2) Glad he honestly admits our difficulty and suffering and the high price in deaths. The American public is able to grasp the worst truth.
3) There really does exist sweeping reforms in the Middle East!! (See Condi’s speech in Egypt the other day outlining all the countries and what is taking place in each one!) Contrary to what my professor say, I truly believe that the U.S is standing up for democratic values and reform to each country and not being selective.
4) Bush outlined all the great success—sovereign, free Iraq—but without enough U.S. troops or resources and an increase in terrorism due to those problems the Iraqi people aren’t really free if they live in such danger.
5) Important that the January elections too place on time because they helped restore U.S. legitimacy.
6) Dangerous to not have a general outline of withdrawal. Agree that there can be no exact date because then the terrorists will have won by persevering to that time, and I agree with the President that the Iraqis will feel abandoned by the unknown. However, we must set a general timetable for withdrawal so we are not viewed as colonialists.
7) Great that international support is finally coming! While it really sucks (no better way of explaining it!) that the U.S. paid the price in troops and deaths while other countries benefited by increased security from the disposal of Saddam at our expense, it’s nice that they are finally helping to rebuild the country and our credibility.
8) Bush admitted much more needed to secure the country—admire his honesty!
9) Coalition Iraqi plans are great to hand the responsibility over to Iraqis themselves so quickly after elections!
10) And lastly Bush says they should not send more troops because they should not undermine the Iraqis training and building up their forces; however, we should admit that we did not send enough in in the first place and that we need to send more troops to have enough security to even train the Iraqi Army.


WASHINGTON — The full text of President Bush's June 28, 2005, remarks on the war in Iraq:
Thank you and good evening. I am pleased to visit Fort Bragg — "Home of the Airborne and Special Operations Forces." It is an honor to speak before you tonight. My greatest responsibility as president is to protect the American people, and that is your calling as well. I thank you for your service, your courage and your sacrifice. I thank your families, who support you in your vital work. The soldiers and families of Fort Bragg have contributed mightily to our efforts to secure our country and promote peace. Americais grateful — and so is your commander-in-chief.
The troops here and across the world are fighting a global war on terror. This war reached our shores on September 11, 2001. The terrorists who attacked us — and the terrorists we face — murder in the name of a totalitarian ideology that hates freedom, rejects tolerance, and despises all dissent. Their aim is to remake the Middle East in their own grim image of tyranny and oppression — by toppling governments, driving us out of the region, and exporting terror.
To achieve these aims, they have continued to kill — in Madrid, Istanbul, Jakarta, Casablanca, Riyadh, Bali, and elsewhere. The terrorists believe that free societies are essentially corrupt and decadent, and with a few hard blows they can force us to retreat. They are mistaken. After September 11, I made a commitment to the American people: This Nation will not wait to be attacked again. We will take the fight to the enemy. We will defend our freedom.
Iraq is the latest battlefield in this war. Many terrorists who kill innocent men, women, and children on the streets of Baghdad are followers of the same murderous ideology that took the lives of our citizens in New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania. There is only one course of action against them: to defeat them abroad before they attack us at home. The commander in charge of Coalition operations in Iraq — who is also senior commander at this base — General John Vines, put it well the other day. He said: "We either deal with terrorism and this extremism abroad, or we deal with it when it comes to us."
Our mission in Iraq is clear. We are hunting down the terrorists. We are helping Iraqis build a free nation that is an ally in the war on terror. We are advancing freedom in the broader Middle East. We are removing a source of violence and instability — and laying the foundation of peace for our children and our grandchildren.
The work in Iraq is difficult and dangerous. Like most Americans, I see the images of violence and bloodshed. Every picture is horrifying — and the suffering is real. Amid all this violence, I know Americans ask the question: Is the sacrifice worth it? It is worth it, and it is vital to the future security of our country. And tonight I will explain the reasons why.
Some of the violence you see in Iraq is being carried out by ruthless killers who are converging on Iraq to fight the advance of peace and freedom. Our military reports that we have killed or captured hundreds of foreign fighters in Iraq who have come from Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iran, Egypt, Sudan, Yemen, Libya and other nations. They are making common cause with criminal elements, Iraqi insurgents, and remnants of Saddam Hussein's regime who want to restore the old order. They fight because they know that the survival of their hateful ideology is at stake. They know that as freedom takes root in Iraq, it will inspire millions across the Middle East to claim their liberty as well. And when the Middle East grows in democracy, prosperity, and hope, the terrorists will lose their sponsors, lose their recruits, and lose their hopes for turning that region into a base for attacks on America and our allies around the world.
Some wonder whether Iraq is a central front in the war on terror. Among the terrorists, there is no debate. Hear the words of Usama bin Laden: "This Third World War … is raging" in Iraq. "The whole world is watching this war." He says it will end in "victory and glory or misery and humiliation."
The terrorists know that the outcome will leave them emboldened, or defeated. So, they are waging a campaign of murder and destruction. And there is no limit to the innocent lives they are willing to take.
We see the nature of the enemy in terrorists who exploded car bombs along a busy shopping street in Baghdad — including one outside a mosque. We see the nature of the enemy in terrorists who sent a suicide bomber to a teaching hospital in Mosul. And we see the nature of the enemy in terrorists who behead civilian hostages and broadcast their atrocities for the world to see.
These are savage acts of violence — but they have not brought the terrorists any closer to achieving their strategic objectives. The terrorists — both foreign and Iraqi — failed to stop the transfer of sovereignty. They failed to break our Coalition and force a mass withdrawal by our allies. They failed to incite an Iraqi civil war. They failed to prevent free elections. They failed to stop the formation of a democratic Iraqi government that represents all of Iraq's diverse population. And they failed to stop Iraqis from signing up in large numbers with the police forces and the army to defend their new democracy.
The lesson of this experience is clear: The terrorists can kill the innocent — but they cannot stop the advance of freedom. The only way our enemies can succeed is if we forget the lessons of September 11 … if we abandon the Iraqi people to men like Zarqawi … and if we yield the future of the Middle East to men like bin Laden. For the sake of our Nation's security, this will not happen on my watch.
A little over a year ago, I spoke to the Nation and described our Coalition's goal in Iraq. I said that America's mission in Iraq is to defeat an enemy and give strength to a friend — a free, representative government that is an ally in the war on terror, and a beacon of hope in a part of the world that is desperate for reform. I outlined the steps we would take to achieve this goal: We would hand authority over to a sovereign Iraqi government … we would help Iraqis hold free elections by January 2005 … we would continue helping Iraqis rebuild their nation's infrastructure and economy … we would encourage more international support for Iraq's democratic transition … and we would enable Iraqis to take increasing responsibility for their own security and stability.
In the past year, we have made significant progress:
One year ago today, we restored sovereignty to the Iraqi people.
In January 2005, more than eight million Iraqi men and women voted in elections that were free and fair — and took place on time.
We continued our efforts to help them rebuild their country. Rebuilding a country after three decades of tyranny is hard — and rebuilding while at war is even harder. Our progress has been uneven — but progress is being made. We are improving roads, and schools, and health clinics … and working to improve basic services like sanitation, electricity, and water. And together with our allies, we will help the new Iraqi government deliver a better life for its citizens.
In the past year, the international community has stepped forward with vital assistance. Some thirty nations have troops in Iraq, and many others are contributing non-military assistance. The United Nations is in Iraq to help Iraqis write a constitution and conduct their next elections. Thus far, some 40 countries and three international organizations have pledged about 34 billion dollars in assistance for Iraqi reconstruction. More than 80 countries and international organizations recently came together in Brussels to coordinate their efforts to help Iraqis provide for their security and rebuild their country. And next month, donor countries will meet in Jordan to support Iraqi reconstruction. Whatever our differences in the past, the world understands that success in Iraq is critical to the security of all our nations. As German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said at the White House yesterday, "There can be no question a stable and democratic Iraq is in the vested interest of not just Germany, but also Europe."
Finally, we have continued our efforts to equip and train Iraqi Security Forces. Wehave made gains in both the number and quality of those forces. Today Iraq has more than 160,000 security forces trained and equipped for a variety of missions. Iraqi forces have fought bravely — helping to capture terrorists and insurgents in Najaf, Samarra, Fallujah, and Mosul. And in the past month, Iraqi forces have led a major anti-terrorist campaign in Baghdad called Operation Lightning — which has led to the capture of hundreds of suspected insurgents. Like free people everywhere, Iraqis want to be defended by their own countrymen — and we are helping Iraqis assume those duties.
The progress in the past year has been significant — and we have a clear path forward. To complete the mission, we will continue to hunt down the terrorists and insurgents. To complete the mission, we will prevent Al Qaeda and other foreign terrorists from turning Iraq into what Afghanistan was under the Taliban — a safe haven from which they could launch attacks on America and our friends. And the best way to complete the mission is to help Iraqis build a free nation that can govern itself, sustain itself, and defend itself.
So our strategy going forward has both a military track and a political track.
The principal task of our military is to find and defeat the terrorists — and that is why we are on the offense. And as we pursue the terrorists, our military is helping to train Iraqi Security Forces so that they can defend their people and fight the enemy on their own. Our strategy can be summed up this way: As the Iraqis stand up, we will stand down.
We have made progress — but we have a lot more work to do. Today Iraqi Security Forces are at different levels of readiness. Some are capable of taking on the terrorists and insurgents by themselves. A larger number can plan and execute anti-terrorist operations with Coalition support. The rest are forming and not yet ready to participate fully in security operations. Our task is to make the Iraqi units fully capable and independent. We are building up Iraqi Security Forces as quickly as possible, so they can assume the lead in defeating the terrorists and insurgents.
Our Coalition is devoting considerable resources and manpower to this critical task. Thousands of Coalition troops are involved in the training and equipping of Iraqi Security Forces. NATO is establishing a military academy near Baghdad to train the next generation of Iraqi military leaders — and 17 nations are contributing troops to the NATO training mission. Iraqi Army and Police are being trained by personnel from Italy, Germany, Ukraine, Turkey, Poland, Romania, Australia, and the United Kingdom. Today dozens of nations are working toward a common objective: an Iraq that can defend itself, defeat its enemies, and secure its freedom.
To further prepare Iraqi forces to fight the enemy on their own, we are taking three new steps:
First, we are partnering Coalition units with Iraqi units. These Coalition-Iraqi teams are conducting operations together in the field. These combined operations are giving Iraqis a chance to experience how the most professional armed forces in the world operate in combat.
Second, we are embedding Coalition "Transition Teams" inside Iraqi units. These teams are made up of Coalition officers and non-commissioned officers who live, work, and fight together with their Iraqi comrades. Under U.S. command, they are providing battlefield advice and assistance to Iraqi forces during combat operations. Between battles, they are assisting the Iraqis with important skills — such as urban combat, and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance techniques.
Third, we are working with the Iraqi Ministries of Interior and Defense to improve their capabilities to coordinate anti-terrorist operations. We are helping them develop command and control structures. We are also providing them with civilian and military leadership training, so Iraq's new leaders can more effectively manage their forces in the fight against terror.
The new Iraqi Security Forces are proving their courage every day. More than 2,000 members of the Iraqi Security Forces have given their lives in the line of duty. Thousands more have stepped forward, and are now in training to serve their nation. With each engagement, Iraqi soldiers grow more battle-hardened, and their officers grow more experienced. We have learned that Iraqis are courageous and that they need additional skills. That is why a major part of our mission is to train them so they can do the fighting and our troops can come home.
I recognize that Americans want our troops to come home as quickly as possible. So do I. Some contend that we should set a deadline for withdrawing U.S. forces. Let me explain why that would be a serious mistake. Setting an artificial timetable would send the wrong message to the Iraqis — who need to know that America will not leave before the job is done. It would send the wrong message to our troops — who need to know that we are serious about completing the mission they are risking their lives to achieve. And it would send the wrong message to the enemy — who would know that all they have to do is to wait us out. We will stay in Iraq as long as we are needed — and not a day longer.
Some Americans ask me, if completing the mission is so important, why don't you send more troops? If our commanders on the ground say we need more troops, I will send them. But our commanders tell me they have the number of troops they need to do their job. Sending more Americans would undermine our strategy of encouraging Iraqis to take the lead in this fight. And sending more Americans would suggest that we intend to stay forever — when we are in fact working for the day when Iraq can defend itself and we can leave. As we determine the right force level, our troops can know that I will continue to be guided by the advice that matters — the sober judgment of our military leaders.
The other critical element of our strategy is to help ensure that the hopes Iraqis expressed at the polls in January are translated into a secure democracy. The Iraqi people are emerging from decades of tyranny and oppression. Under the regime of Saddam Hussein, the Shia and Kurds were brutally oppressed — and the vast majority of Sunni Arabs were also denied their basic rights while senior regime officials enjoyed the privileges of unchecked power. The challenge facing Iraqis today is to put this past behind them, and come together to build a new Iraq that includes all its people.
They are doing that by building the institutions of a free society — a society based on freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of religion, and equal justice under law. The Iraqis have held free elections and established a Transitional National Assembly. The next step is to write a good constitution that enshrines these freedoms in permanent law. The Assembly plans to expand its constitutional drafting committee to include more Sunni Arabs. Many Sunnis who opposed the January elections are now taking part in the democratic process — and that is essential to Iraq's future.
After a constitution is written, the Iraqi people will have a chance to vote on it. If approved, Iraqis will go to the polls again, to elect a new government under their new, permanent constitution. By taking these critical steps and meeting their deadlines, Iraqis will bind their multiethnic society together in a democracy that respects the will of the majority and protects minority rights.
As Iraqis grow confident that the democratic progress they are making is real and permanent, more will join the political process. And as Iraqis see that their military can protect them, more will step forward with vital intelligence to help defeat the enemies of a free Iraq. The combination of political and military reform will lay a solid foundation for a free and stable Iraq.
As Iraqis make progress toward a free society, the effects are being felt beyond Iraq's borders. Before our Coalition liberated Iraq, Libya was secretly pursuing nuclear weapons. Today the leader of Libya has given up his chemical and nuclear weapons programs. Across the broader Middle East, people are claiming their freedom. In the last few months, we have witnessed elections in the Palestinian Territories and Lebanon. These elections are inspiring democratic reformers in places like Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Our strategy to defend ourselves and spread freedom is working. The rise of freedom in this vital region will eliminate the conditions that feed radicalism and ideologies of murder — and make our Nation safer.
We have more work to do, and there will be tough moments that test America's resolve. We are fighting against men with blind hatred — and armed with lethal weapons — who are capable of any atrocity. They wear no uniform; they respect no laws of warfare or morality. They take innocent lives to create chaos for the cameras. They are trying to shake our will in Iraq — just as they tried to shake our will on September 11, 2001. They will fail. The terrorists do not understand America. The American people do not falter under threat — and we will not allow our future to be determined by car bombers and assassins.
America and our friends are in a conflict that demands much of us. It demands the courage of our fighting men and women … it demands the steadfastness of our allies … and it demands the perseverance of our citizens. We accept these burdens — because we know what is at stake. We fight today, because Iraq now carries the hope of freedom in a vital region of the world — and the rise of democracy will be the ultimate triumph over radicalism and terror. And we fight today because terrorists want to attack our country and kill our citizens — and Iraq is where they are making their stand. So we will fight them there … we will fight them across the world — and we will stay in the fight until the fight is won.
America has done difficult work before. From our desperate fight for independence, to the darkest days of a Civil War, to the hard-fought battles against tyranny in the 20th Century, there were many chances to lose our heart, our nerve, or our way. But Americans have always held firm, because we have always believed in certain truths. We know that if evil is not confronted, it gains in strength and audacity, and returns to strike us again. We know that when the work is hard, the proper response is not retreat, it is courage. And we know that this great ideal of human freedom is entrusted to us in a special way — and that the ideal of liberty is worth defending.
In this time of testing, our troops can know: The American people are behind you. Next week, our Nation has an opportunity to make sure that support is felt by every soldier, sailor, airman, coast guardsman, and Marine at every outpost across the world. This Fourth of July, I ask you to find a way to thank the men and women defending our freedom — by flying the flag … sending letters to our troops in the field … or helping the military family down the street. The Department of Defense has set up a website — AmericaSupportsYou.mil. You can go there to learn about private efforts in your own community. At this time when we celebrate our freedom, let us stand with the men and women who defend us all.
To the soldiers in this hall, and our servicemen and women across the globe: I thank you for your courage under fire and your service to our Nation. I thank our military families — the burden of war falls especially hard on you. In this war, we have lost good men and women who left our shores to defend freedom — and did not live to make the journey home. I have met with families grieving the loss of loved ones who were taken from us too soon. I have been inspired by their strength in the face of such great loss. We pray for the families. And the best way to honor the lives that have been given in this struggle is to complete the mission.
I thank those of you who have re-enlisted in an hour when your country needs you. And to those watching tonight who are considering a military career, there is no higher calling than service in our Armed Forces. We live in freedom because every generation has produced patriots willing to serve a cause greater than themselves. Those who serve today are taking their rightful place among the greatest generations that have worn our Nation's uniform. When the history of this period is written, the liberation of Afghanistan and the liberation of Iraq will be remembered as great turning points in the story of freedom.
After September 11, 2001, I told the American people that the road ahead would be difficult — and that we would prevail. Well, it has been difficult. And we are prevailing. Our enemies are brutal — but they are no match for the United States of America — and they are no match for the men and women of the United States military.
Thank you. And may God bless America.

Relatively non-exciting day. I'm finally starting to get settled into a routine. Woke up sick, got ready, went to campus to study outside, took Arabic quiz, came back and got tamayya for a pound (about 20 cents) then ran to Alfa to buy some random stuff like shampoo, water, and Cadbury bars. Studied a little, talked online, chilled out around the dorm, contemplated with people about how little gets done each day in Egypt, ate some of my ten dollar box of Fruit Loops (ridiculous purchase I know, but when you need them you need them. . fast fact: I could have bought 56 lunches of tamayyas for that price!), then wrote emails, walked around a bookstore, and did some Arabic interviews and homework and am now reading political science after having MFCR discussions online. They told us before we came that the slow pace of the culture and the heat really hinder productivity and not to expect to get as much done as you would at home, but we all thought we wouldn't fall into the trap. . .it's nuts!

At first I enjoyed the relaxation pace but now am starting to feel bad about it. For instance going out for dinner (what is "lunch" but it's not until at least 2 in the afternoon) or supper takes an hour and a half MINIMUM! Since we have to eat every meal out, I've been trying to run to fuul and tameyya counters (basically the only food Egypt has to claim for itself. . it's just not Lebanon or Syria or Morocco) or to the grocery store. But when we go out. . .usually once every day. . .it takes half an hour to get to the place then about two hours to eat since there is usually a big group and to get the food, the bill, and divide up all the extra taxes, service charges, tips, and cover charges is always a process.

While I am enjoying the relaxation of the summer, sometimes it's hard to reestablish your life when it's hard to get settled into a routine that feels nonproductive. However, at least now I have a routine for studying, class, and I know where more food places are! Hopefully I will be done being sick soon so I can put working out back into my schedule like the first week of classes.

Oh no. . .everyone has been warning though that the July heat is about to begin!

On a positive note, I may have spent 10 dollars on Fruit Loops, but my dry cleaning was only three dollars for three pieces. I think it'd be cheaper to ship my clothes to Egypt to get done, and they did an awesome job! Oh, but when the front desk told me to stay in the lobby because the dry-cleaner was coming right away it took thirty minutes from that point. Let me tell you, you think the UP is slow? You haven't seen this before!

I swear it's the last post of the day, and the last thing I'll ever say about this year's CR drama. . .but the truth has been told. . .I can't belive that Joe Sylvestor admitted that other forces (Davidson) were behind getting rid of Cassin as our MFCR Chair--too bad people didn't tell the truth a few months ago. They would have saved me tears, fights, missed nights of sleep, emails, meetings, and ridiculous phone bills! See the post on June 27th-Post Convention: http://www.bconservatives.blo...

On a happier note I'd like to inform everyone that there is a hole in my bag between the lining and the bottom and my key was found between those layers! Also, I most likely do not have to move rooms becaue apparently they accidently put a guy's name on the list of the people without roommates and there now exists and uneven number of girls! But. . .I still have to study for an Arabic quiz while dealing with a sick stomache. . .but still. . .the little things in life can make you happy :)

Today did not go so well! I woke up relatively early to go to campus and try to sign up for the A.L.I. trip to Sharm and Mount Sinai for this weekend since our own trip (that us yuppies were going to take so we could fly instead of drive seven hours and so we wouldn’t have to miss class on Sunday) fell through, but before I got to campus I had a few obstacles!

Again, I woke up totally sick, then I went to pick up my laundry and it wasn’t done yet so I had to use a tshirt when I got out of my shower because my towels were all in the wash! And speaking of shower, it took trying out three different showers to get one that both the hot and cold water worked, and as I finally got settled into the fourth one I remembered it was the one that the pressure changed from power sprayer to a drip and taking that shower is like playing a musical instrument to keep the water flow right. Mind you, the dorms at AUC are like the nicest place in Egypt and are beautiful and clean, but even here you can’t stop the bad plumbing system of Egypt from affecting you!

Finally I made it to the 10am bus as it was pulling away! Luckily, Rebecca and I planned to meet to run to sign up for the Sharm trip so she made them stop. The Sharm trip had enough room and was quite cheap for a Thursday-Sunday trip and my excitement made my day better. But first a stop at the bank on campus to exchange traveler’s checks to pay for the weekend. After filling out over six forms (every hotel I’ve been to just makes you show an i.d. and sign the checks) and showing them my passport and receipt I finally got my money! I ran up to pay for the trip and finally had downtime to study in a shady corner of the courtyard for two hours before class!

Arabic class was just one of those days that never ended. We had to memorize and reenact a conversation—for some reason that doesn’t teach me the words I’m suppose to know because I spend the whole time thinking about what is next—then we had a listening activity—the funny thing is that at UMich listening activites are hell but here anything is better than reenacting scenerios and memorizing them!

After class I grabbed a salad at Beanos with some peopel—an American coffee place—and I have totally given up on the no fruit or salad thing because I’m sick anyways and I can’t go any longer on fried tameyya! Then we scurried to our political science class.

After being so excited about how balanced my teacher was on the Iraq unit, he no longer was balanced on the Israeli-Palestinian unit. Honestly he presented everything on the defensive—as if we were disputing facts from the 1900s. None of us disagreed with the facts he was talking about during the creation of Israel, but then the downfall began when he started talking about colonialism, the disregard for Arabs like the apartheid, and ancient Jewish history. Again I could go on for hours and probably will when I get home describing all the horros of this class, but there were two most upsetting aspects of the class that many with different political views than me (oh yah that’s everyone!) agreed upon. 1) As an American we didn’t feel like we were able to contribute to this discussion because it was more like a pep rally for Palestine with the teacher and the students than a real discussion (esp. since we were only talking about Zionist beginnings and the establishment of Israel up to 1950ish so we couldn’t debate current things) and 2) Our teacher actually said that the amount of Jews ever in Jerusalem is debated because there was so much archeological evidence of Greeks, Romans, and Arabs but no drop has ever been found of Jewish history—maybe because people burned down the temples and sent the Jews into exile? Geez I wonder if that makes sense. Many of us were upset—even very non-Zionists, but we felt we couldn’t really interrupt the “pep rally”.

Enough about that class for now. However, class got out late to continue my awful day and I missed seeing the Doctor who is in the dorms a few times a week until 7 (and I have class til 6:30) and it was too late to pick up my laundry. On my way upstairs before going to grab food with people I realized I lost my roomkey. So right now I’m eating Fruit Loops at my desk, taking a break to write about the horrors of my day, then searching through everything I own to find my room key (a guard let me in) before I grab yogurt or s/thing (since I missed dinner with people) before settling in to study Arabic for the night for my quiz tomorrow!

Not a good day! But. . . .only THREE DAYS until Sharm, the beaches, and climbing Mount Sinai!

26 June 2005

Happy 21st to Lindsi!!!! I love you!

Interesting analysis of the CRNC Convention by outsiders: (take it with a grain of salt)
http://www.campusprogress.org/page/community/group/ collegegopundercover" title="http://www.campusprogress.org/page/community/group/ collegegopundercover" target="_blank"http://www.campusprogress.org...

I ran out of room on my first Egypt webshots and have updated to a second. Here is an update of all the webshots pages I own:
http://community.webshots.com/user/aajacobs" title="http://community.webshots.com/user/aajacobs" target="_blank"http://community.webshots.com...
http://community.webshots.com/user/aajacobs2" title="http://community.webshots.com/user/aajacobs2" target="_blank"http://community.webshots.com...
http://community.webshots.com/user/aajacobs3" title="http://community.webshots.com/user/aajacobs3" target="_blank"http://community.webshots.com... (EGYPT 1)
http://community.webshots.com/user/aajacobs4" title="http://community.webshots.com/user/aajacobs4" target="_blank"http://community.webshots.com... (EGYPT 2)

So yesterday I did not have time to discuss Memphis and Saqqara. We left very early in the morning and I fell asleep the minute we hit the bus since I stayed out way too late the night before on the Nile cruise. We first went to Saqqara—a site about an hour away from Cairo—where they have the very first pyramids. In fact they were first build as underground tombs (a rectangle shape) and the King at the time (between 5,000 and 4,000 B.C.) wanted to bury all of his family with him so he expanded the bottom and then made another “step” or another rectangle on top. This continued until it was a multi-layered step pyramid. Each subsequent pyramid got better and better—Darshur, Luxor, and the Great Pyramids of Giza. We did not get a chance to get to the pyramids at Darshur but we could see them from the ruins on Saqqara. At Saqqara—in the middle of a 40 degree celcius day (about 110) we walked a good ten minutes in the desert to a less commonly visited tomb of a royal vizier. It is one of the best preserved in all of Egypt because many people do not visit it. The walls still have much of the color on the original carvings. It was as amazing as pictures—as most of the walls of tombs, even in the Museum, have either lost their color or their color and much of the carving has withered down to a flat wall.

After Saqqara was a stop at Memphis—the old capital of Egypt under Rames. Unfortunatley not much was left there besides a “park” of statues. The most impressive piece for me was that there was a tablet from about 800 B.C. by an archeologist going through the ruins of Memphis—so by 1000 B.C. the capital at Memphis had already totally been destroyed.

The trip overall was great because I got to spend some time with the people I spent the first week with in Egypt—the A.L.I. students—since A.L.I. planned this trip. During the week it is too difficult to coordinate with students in A.L.I. so my group has really changed to study abroad students. So needless to repeat I appreciated the weekend with my “first friends” in Cairo.

After the sweaty time in the desert (and making some friends with tourist police in Memphis) I napped then grabbed dinner of tameyya and mashed potatoes at my favorite place for about 2 dollars—Tabeyya in Muhandassin. I answered some emails and at this time I’d like to apologize to everyone who has emailed me and is still waiting for a response! I only have a few left—I’m going to get better at this whole communication thing!

Today was the usual Sunday getting my dorm room cleaned (I’ll never get used to standing in my dorm and watching them clean like some stuck up child) and getting laundrey and dry cleaning brought to the appropriate places. I wish these services were as cheap at home as they are in Egypt!

Class today led me to a great realization. UMich is an awesome school! Some students in my class may have gotten A’s in their Arabic classes at their respective schools but they know very little. I wonder if graduate schools know which schools have good programs and which schools don’t. I also feel bad for those who get good grades with no work because they are spending so much money and time to be so behind. It is very, very obvious who attends schools with strong Arabic programs and who does not. So even after all my struggles and complaints, I have 1,000 thanks to the University of Michigan.

Today was class, picking up my passport with my new student visa, and then running to Alfa to buy more cereal and granola bars. It is so cheap to buy Egyptian products and so expensive to buy foreign products, but a girl needs her cereal and granola bars for breakfasts instead of sick dorm food! And who in the world is going to go out to eat at 9am?!

Tonight I’m being a bad kid and skipping church. Anthony was going to play the piano tonight and I just couldn’t leave an hour early because I have so much reading to do and an Arabic quiz on Tuesday that also includes verbs (and verbs are always my weakness!). So off to read as much poli sci as possible before I get hungry then reviewing verbs tonight!!

I'm over here in the middle of the Sahara desert dying of some sort of Nile River parasite and studying a Palestinian version of the Israeli-Palestinian issue, and I desperately need to be updated on the CRNC convention! I've been dying waiting! While I love Egypt and am glad I got to stay out of some of the mess of choosing candidates at convention, I don’t want to miss out on anything with the MFCR stuff (as I am all summer and feel quite bad about, but I will do my work over email soon!)!

Oh Golden just gave me an update—apparently Gourley won by like five! Yay! More on the election later! I’ll read the blogs in the morning and get the updates as to any complaints or excitements or as to what will happen next and update on some of my opinions and where the CRNCs legitimacy will go from here.

I also have details to share of my Memphis and Saqqara trips today to the former capital of Rames and of the first pyramids of Egypt, however, I have to read political science and get to bed in the next two hours. So tomorrow after class I will update on today’s great conclusion to an amazing weekend in Cairo. Only four weekends left! How nuts is that—this time is going by way to quicly! However, I am greatly looking forward to an August in the Upper Peninsula without work or a care in the world. Also, I am looking forward to wearing tank tops and mini skirts like none other! Yay for women’s liberation! (Oh on a random note, last night on the dinner cruise there were many fully face-veiled women from the Gulf area—the rich couples who vacation in Egypt—and we were surprised to see that many took off their face coverings to eat and actually had makeup on under the veil and others actually just lifted a flap to eat while keeping their veil on.)

Anyways—trip details tomorrow. Off to read articles from the post-‘67 war (early ‘70s pieces) telling the Palestinians to concede to a two-state solution. Interesting that it took 20 more years to attempt to start working on one!

UMich kids read this: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/0...

Sorry I missed my post yesterday—between classes, the evening out, and calling home I didn’t have the energy to post. However, now I have so much to write about—from the opera to a camel back!

Yesterday after our Arabic presentations in class we were talking with our professor Imam about how we were going to the opera that night and Anthony realized that he didn’t have a neck tie with him. In her amazingly motherly way she let Anthony hop in her cab home and borrow one from her son. Apparently along the way he found out she was an evangelical Christian—which is pretty remarkable in this country.

After class, Sarah, Tim, Ivan, and I headed over to the Mobacco store. Mobacco is my new obsession; there are like five (or maybe even more) of their stores, which is like the Egyptian Polo, in Cario. I’ve been scourging all the stores for polos in my size but they always have really little and really big so I’m going to go searching tomorrow again. What makes them so special is #1 they are really cheap #2 Egyptian cotton is amazing and #3 they have a camel instead of a polo logo! The boys were being totally metro and trying on every size and color. The store keeper got mad at me trying on the kids sizes—which were still too big—but even more mad when Tim bought the largest in the kids. She kept trying to yell “too tight!” in English. Apparenlty metro isn’t in here.

We ran back to the dorm and got all dolled up for dinner on the Nile and the Opera. A bunch of us (see pictures I don’t feel like counting or listing names!) went to this Greek resteraunt called Andrea’s right on a Peninsula in the Nile and had the most amazing meal ever! I guess the Greek food was similar to Lebanese and that is what I was expecting in Cairo—but no! I can’t reiterate how disappointed I am with Egyptian food!

Once we got to the opera house—while I was dying of heat walking in heals and ticked off that I had to wear a shawl with my outfit since shoulders have to be covered—we ended up walking around it like five times because we couldn’t figure out how to buy tickets. They always say that in Egypt you can ask three different people the same question and get four different answers. Yup so true! We honestly asked five different people where to buy tickets and got different answers—one guy even told us to go left once and another time to go right! At the exact moment the opera was starting the doorman rushed us in and we were elated to have finally made it there in time, even after having to check our cameras in the midst of the rush.

It was really sad how few people were at the Opera. I’m pretty sure I’ve described the arts facility before (where the Modern Art Museum is), but I can not explain how beautiful and overwhelming it is in the midst of Cairo. With such an amazing center for the arts and such great works being shown and produced there, it was quite sad to see how few people visited or supported the center. In addition, it was sad to see so much money and land taken up even Cairo is so poor—but it was built from gifts not from the government.

We saw two one act operas—my first opera experience ever. It was interesting that the Operas—Cavalleria Rusticana and I Pagliacci—were in Italain and had Italian guest artists and were set in Italy but that the cast members were still Arab so they wore veils even though it did not fit with the costumes or locale at all. It was hard to picture the veiled women as Italians! Also interesting is that each opera was basically about love, jealousy, and lust and that the main women character in each was not veiled. The nonveiled woman is totally viewed as a seductress here.

Although the opera was in Italian I was able to pick up a few words from my Spanish background and a few from the Arabic translation on the wall. However, it was as they always say very easy to pick up what was going on by the changes in music and in voice! I was impressed at how easy it was, actually!

Back to the veiled/nonveiled women. . .the definition of beauty is so much different in Egypt. Women are beautiful because they are women. Size doesn’t matter, eyes, smiles, and jewelry seem to matter the most. Today on the camel ride my guide was telling me how it’s much cheaper to marry a tourist. Confused I gathered that it is because women cost about 20,000 L.E. here to marry. In a papyrus store today we asked a teen about that, and he said that only some cost that much and many cost up to 50,000 L.E. (in gold).
It’s seems so archaic to have a dowry and unattainable for the meager salaries here.

After the opera we wandered around Zamalek to satisfy my icecream craving and to celebrate my first day not being sick! After talking to my parents until about 2:30am (while the cats that run all around this country meowed and screamed in the courtyard), I finally meandered to bed in hopes of waking up at 7am for the pyramids.

This morning I woke up frantically at 9am and ran around the dorm to get ready within 2 minutes and called Iasha to tell her we had to meet the group at the pyramids by 9:30. A group that was going to crawl inside the pyramids went at 7am and I was suppose to call them when Iasha and I got there or meet at 9:30 as a backup plan, but my cell phone ran out of minutes while talking to my brother last night and I didn’t wake up in time to buy more minutes! Freaking out I called Iasha to find out she didn’t wait for me for an hour—she too had just woken up! Thank goodness! Apparenly Elizabeth missed the early crew and was going with us as well! So by 9:20 everyone was finally ready and I was freaking out until I realized that Iasha had a cell phone. We promptly called the crew to find out they were still waiting in line to get in the pyramids. (I didn’t go because all there is inside is the room because all the artifacts are in the Museums in Cairo or London and I didn’t want to get claustrophobic climbing around in a pyramid!) We decided to grab breakfast and them meet them there for a camel ride after they grabbed lunch.

Of course taxi-ing to the pyramids caused the same woes as last time—annoying camel dudes hopping in your cab and yelling stuff. Now that we know the Arabic words for shame and enough we did much better this time. Arriving at the pyramids Iasha’s phone had no service and we couldn’t find the crew. Some tour camel guide guy took us to a Vodafone place down the block so I could buy my minutes (for more money than the actual card was for—stupid tourist locations)! After getting ahold of the crew already there they were still stuck by some pyramids because they walked the wrong way—with nine pyramids it’s easy to get lost in the desert!). So I angrily told them we weren’t waiting and Iasha, Elizabeth, and I found a camel guide and worked out a pretty good deal of 35 pounds each for an hour—which turned into almost two for the same price!!

While riding a camel is very similar to riding a horse, it is very high and very difficult to get up and down because camels bend their legs and sit on them. To get up and down you have to lean back then lean forward extremely quick! They are guided the same way as a horse so I had no problem. Iasha was freaking out in the back and Elizabeth was just her calm self. After we went around the outside of the pyramid park our guide, Ahmade, hopped on my camel with me so he didn’t have to walk in the sand the whole way. While it was nice to have him up with me so I could practice my Arabic and so he could practice his English the mixed smell of Egyptian b.o. and camel was unbearable. I think it was made up for in hilarious conversations though! Iasha kept not listening to his directions so he was making jokes saying “Iasha lean forward” when he really wants her to lean back! It was great! He was also telling me how in August when the Arabians come (I’m assuming the Gulf State people like Saudi, Kuwait, oil, etc.) he hates guiding them because they don’t listen like American tourists. He said they think that they are the only people in the world who make money. Also, on the conversation of money he was telling us how it would have been much cheaper if he had married a tourist. I didn’t understand, but this is where he explained to me that it costs about 20,000 L.E. to marry a woman here.

We went into the park, saw the pyramids, took pictures, and camel-ed back to find a taxi to the dorms. The first thing I did was open my windows and try to get the smell of camel out of my clothes and room; the second thing to do was take a shower! As soon as that was done, us three girls grabbed lunch and headed to Khan al-Khalil—where all the real fun of the day began!

My first goal was a gift for my father. After haggling with a guy for a good twenty minutes I walked away and shouted out a super duper low price—the awful part was that he ended up finding me twenty minutes later and saying okay—after I bought a different gift! This was just the start of my haggling power that I must have inherited from my father.

Rule number one was to try to speak to them in Arabic—not only do you practice Arabic but they give much cheaper prices if you haggle in Arabic! Rule number two was to tell them that I was Lebanese and let them promptly ooh and ah over my “Arab eyes”! (They didn’t have to know my family has been in the U.S. for longer than four generations!) Rule number three is to take an Egyptian, Muslim with you. There is a certain order to lowering the price from highest to lowest: 1) American 2) Arabic speaker 3) Arab 4) Muslim or Egyptian 5) Muslim and Egyptian. Since I was lacking 4 and 5 I was getting screwed over a few pounds so Iasha was very helpful. . .however if you are only at #1 you literally pay double to triple.

Aight on with my day. Between the marriage proposals, made up stories (I was married to a Jordanian), cat calls, and getting chased down the street I managed to buy almost all of my gifts! Needless to say, even with my great haggling skills I still had to hit up an ATM after the excursion. I learned the difference between fake and real papyrus, made a great friend named Said Hassan who is an engineer who works on Fridays in the shop his grandfather started. I even saw the pictures of his grandfather, of himself working as a young child, and was forced to get Egyptian kohl put on my eyes as I waited for a purchase to be delivered from another store.

So many great purchases today that I can’t talk about because few are for me! So many hilarious half English/half Arabic conversations or comments (“Are you Spanish?” “You dropped something.” As I turn to look. “My heart”. “Will you be my special friend?” and so many times “You want to marry an Egyptian man, right?” Haha, They go on and on! More business cards of people to get me good deals than ever before! Hahaha!), so many “new friends” like the Egypt-born Iraqi guy I armed wrestled to get cheaper prices for something I was buying six of! The difference between Egypt and say Mexico is that in order to get lower prices you must form a relationship with the people. Khan al Khalili is not a very big tourist location—while many go on the outskirts the vast majority of people actually in the larger souk in the world are Egyptians—and you cannot treat them badly. Sometimes it takes a cup of tea and a conversation in horrible Arabic to get a lower deal. This was an entire afternoon ordeal and one of the best times I’ve had here—how often can you go out and really practice talking to people?!

After the souk (*so many stories I could go on forever*) we headed back to the dorm and I ran into Russell and Ahmed and they were talking about doing a dinner cruise. I debated not going since I had gone on one already and had just spent way more money at the souk than I ever should have, but the Hyatt buffet, dessert table, belly dancers, and live music on the Nile sounded way too enticing for me to turn down. I will just be eating fuul and tammeyya for 50 piasters (half a pound) every day for lunch for about two weeks to make up for the money I didn’t need to spend tonight. Also (see pictures) eight of us were going—how could I turn that down!

The food was amazing—huumos, fresh fruit and vegetable salads, salmon, chicken, saffron rice, and the largest dessert table I’ve seen in ages. After filling up on meal, wandering around the balcony for a bit outside as we cruised through the Nile and tried to forget how polluted it was so that we could enjoy its ancient beauty, we sat down for the belly dancer and music. I would say the belly dancer would fit in my section devoted to the difference in beauty between cultures. While she was very talented, one would never see someone in the States belly dancing that had a belly. Regardless, we all enjoyed the evening.

After some people were going to walk back and some of us headed for a taxi. Today I was already in a taxi that broke down on the highway ever time we had to slow down for traffic—somehow we made it back to Zamaleke—but tonight was the craziest taxi experience. Trust me, if it’s crazier than the people hopping in my car at the pyramids, crazier than the two times I’ve been in broken down taxis, and overall the craziest of all the random taxi issues I’ve had then it’s a good story!

Wow it’s now almost 4am and I have so many great, funny stories (it's hard to go to bed early when our dinner cruise started at midnight!)...but I guess I can’t relive every moment of every day! Aight, take story time! When we got in the taxi Russell offered the driver a cigarette and the driver was like (in Arabic) “I only smoke sheesha.” Then he proceeded to tell us (as much as we gathered with his clapping, beeping, yelling awesome—keep in mind he was like in his 30s) that he smoked too much sheesha and was high. We aren’t really sure because he drove fine, between the four of us in a taxi we could only piece together some of his Arabic, and we don’t know if you can get high off of sheesha. . .however, let me tell you it was hilarious how he was carrying on like an excited child. At one point we heard him say the word “gin”, and then we all got nervous. But we couldn’t understand it all and somehow we survived another crazy Cairo taxi driver !

I have to get up in three hours for Memphis and Saqqarra. . .more tomorrow!

Check this out:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0" title="http://www.foxnews.com/story/0" target="_blank"http://www.foxnews.com/story/...,2933,160265,00.html

I wasn’t too sick this morning which was a HUGE improvement. Maybe it was my breakfast of Rasin Bran and Juice that protected me throughout the day—yay American food!

Sarah and I headed to the library at about 10am to study poli sci for a few hours before heading to Arabic, lunch, and our exam. I felt as if I had really grasped all the possible ways that a government could be set up in Iraq, the problems in the post-war Iraq, and some of the issues between the sects and ethnic groups. Of course I read and took notes on all the articles.

After a rowdy Arabic class—apparently none of us felt as if we wanted to be there—I headed to grab lunch and study again. I really knew it all.

Our first half of the three-hour class was interesting, as always, as I really enjoy Kazziha’s teaching style. He is so objective but adds his opinions in without force. I know I constantly talk about the great questions he asks, but honestly, I don’t have teachers like this at UMich. Althought I feel the caliber of student at UMich is much more involved in the class.

Our professor is also very wise. Today we talked about searching for articles to back your opinion rather than the true way of reading as much as you can and then forming an opinion. We also talked about the conception of knowledge and saw an example of four facts about the Middle East (which honestly were quite interesting) that were put into paragraphs to say two totally different things. Both legitimately using the facts but being put into “knowledge” based on the ambition/intent of the person teaching that knowledge.

One of the four facts was that “The Middle East was backwards.”. In all of my classes at UMich the teachers spend hours talking about how the U.S. media has wrongly and sadly portrayed the Middle East as backwards and here sitting in a class in Cairo the only ones shocked at this statement were the Americans who have been taught over and over again that their civilization is different not backwards.

Some other interesting things that came up were: 1) Interpretation of religion (ex: Iran) and how religion is an accumulation of histories, socities, and international settings and is constantly changing. 2) One’s student’s perception that all the leaders in the Middle East are only in power because the U.S.wants them to be. 3) U.S. has a lot of power in the Middle East but the main reason it is not thought of as legitimate because of their view on Israel. 4) Interesting (and relieving) comment from my prof. that everyone is speaking out about Palestine here but no one is standing up for other humanitarian causes like Sudan, etc. (so really U.S. standing up for democracy in some places and not others is the same as Arabs standing up for human rights in some places and not others)

Other interesting thing today was, after a presentation of Fouad Ajamai’s piece urging the U.S. to go to war in Iraq, the professor was like “See, not all neocons are American WASPs”. He proceeded to explain that there are actually many that take the America neocon side in Afghanisstan, Cairo, and Beirut—and that many are even from a Marxist background in the 1960s.

Anyways. . .so the test was quite upsetting for me. The one question essay was not about security or different methods of setting up a government or any other reasonable essay that we read articles on or discussed. Rather the question was “Was the war in Iraq necessary? Why or why not?”. While I am glad that I have always paid attention to the news, was involved in debates at school regarding this topic, and have a general opinion, it was not a fair question since it did not require any reflection of the material we read unless you chose “why not” and then you could use the article entitled “Sanctions Worked”. I was very disappointed after having been so excited about the moderate approach of my professor. Hopefully he will not grade on opinion, but I still feel like there was no way to adequately show that I had done the readings and understood them. I could have written he same essay if I had never come to class. Ivan and I were the only ones that we know about that picked “yes”, so either it will help us because there are less to compare them to or it will hurt us because of our opinion or because there was no material supplied for our side—and barely even for this topic.

When I first got the test I thought about just writing in the negative but realized I am here to learn and to listen to others not to concede my views while listening. If I do have a change of heart or mind I would write that—I obviously have no material here to cling to for my views—but I thought about how this class is also a learning experience for those in the class. Not only do I get to hear what Egyptian students think, but they get to hear what American students think. For that reason I do not want to distort my view for a grade that does not even transfer with me. I am here for a different academic perspective not a G.P.A. and will challenge myself to question my beliefs in the context around me but to make a decision based on what I believe—not on fear of those with a different opinion.

I think it’s nap time after that emotional essay then dinner and working on my Arabic presentation! Thank God it’s the weekend tomorrow!

Today the realities of Egypt continued to shock me. . . .I awoke abruptly at 6am to find my stomache attacking my sleep cycle for the next few hours. I thought the worst of adjusting to Egypt was over, but once again I was completely incorrect. After my rendevous with the produce man at the grocery store and with the fruit seller yesterday evening I had to complete my assignment by locating Souk Babalouk (no joke, it really does rhyme!) near campus and and finding out more prices of produce.

Due to my failing immune system I missed the bus with Rebecca to go to the Souk and ended up having to find it on my own before class. It was only a block off a campus, but that block was a walk back a hundred years—even in Egypt time. The road smelled of garbage and chickens were running around loose. I entered the gate into the Souk (after using great skill to locate it with my Arabic!) and felt as if I was in medieval times. The first booth I saw was a produce booth and proceeded to get the prices from the man working there. He did not seem too overjoyed with my explanation that it was for homework and I wasn’t going to buy so I left after asking about five items—rather than ten—to save my life. Walking onto campus was refreshing, to say the least.

Arabic class was rather upsetting and added to my unhappy day. Our professor never collected our homework that I spent over two hours running around town to complete instead of studying for my political science exam because so many kids had not completed the assignment and claimed sickness. Here the talk among American students about stomache sickness is not embarrassing or avoided, as at home, because everyone is suffering together and we all understand it’s a fact of Egyptian life.

After I told myself “it’s Egypt you can’t get mad about anything” I enjoyed the rest of class. I met Sarah and Ivan for lunch after unsuccessfully trying to exchange my traveler’s checks at the campus bank (I didn’t have the receipt with me). I made them go to the Intercontinental Hotel with me to exchange money—where they wouldn’t take Ivan’s because his bill had a rip in it—and to get food that, regardless how expensive it would be by Egyptian standards, would not make me sick.

On the way there—while wearing my brand-new white Polo shirt—someone dumped sludge out of their window and it landed on Ivan and I (Sarah lucked out!). A bried moment of anger was quickly subsided when I remembered that I had a Shout wipe with me—the fourth one I’ve used in two days—and again reminded myself that “I’m in a third-world country, this is what happens”.

However, like a naïve, patriotic, American girl I marched right on over to the American hotel and enjoyed a fabulously expensive lunch of roast chicken, fresh mozzarella, and tomatoes. We ran to our political science class and the discussion of Iraq began.

I was ready for anything after my morning, but the discussion was actually quite objective. While there are students I would consider quite extreme in my class and while I know my teacher has quite a liberal view, he is an amazing professor who teaches much more objectively than any of my teachers in Ann Arbor—he asks difficult questions to whomever speaks or explains both sides of every story. Students in my class that are liberal leaning in foreign policy thought some of our readings were very liberal leaning, but I guess that just shows how unbalanced UMich is when I find a class on conflict in the Middle East IN the Middle East to have a quite balanced view of American foreign policy.

I will talk more in detail about reactions to the class when I get home, but after a study session with some students tonight I realized how many people do get “kicked out of” Egypt because of what they talk about or what they do and that we really are quite watched. While I am probably being too cautious, I can’t help but wonder. I feel very reserved here when talking about politics—while I do clearly say my side I feel I approach it in a much more delicate way than I would at home.

After class I got back to the dorm, did my Arabic recording, and then took an hour nap before Sarah and I headed out to find the supposedly healthy deli named Insomnia (open 24 hours). We never did find it, but we ate and studied at Cilantro for a few hours while having some interesting conversations regarding the pieces we were reading on the war in Iraq and of course rambling on about futures, affirmative action, and random stuff. We talked a bit about how some of the students here are here on a “field trip” to party and others are trying to find their “cliques”. I have truly gotten to know as many students as possible. I mean let’s be honest—all of us here are dorks (myself included) and none of us are really cooler than the others (I mean no one else is in Alpha Phi like I am. .but ya know!) and we should all just hang out, go with the flow, study and see Egypt together. I live by the motto that I just do whatever with whoever is around. I know this is quite different than my stressed out self in Ann Arbor, but this is Egypt and we are only here for seven weeks—not a time to freak out or try to pretend like it’s a world it’s not.

Tonight on the way back from Cilantro I splurged at the market and bought Raisin Bran and Skippy peanut butter. I could not go any longer without “safe foods” that really fill me up!

Today despite all it’s third-world blunders had some great personal discoveries, intellectual discussions, and interaction and amazement at the world around me. From an amazing conversation with a professor on the thirty minute traffic-jammed bus ride today regarding his difficulties teaching to the elite at this university and his comparison of students from different universities in the states to listening to those students that align with the Muslim Brotherhood, who identify with Sunni or Shi’i sects, and who live in America and desire to know more about American F.P.. . .from each end of the spectrum to another. . I survived today and became a more thoughtful and learned person because of its faults and successes.

Off to read two more articles about Iraq then my first exam tomorrow! Pray for my exam and my stomache!

Random things I forgot to put in my blog:

Yes, everyone, I did dye my hair brown. And, yes, sorry I didn't send you all a massive email to let you know. I can tell my pictures have been a hot spot by the number of AOL messages I receive each day to the tune of "I didn't even recognize you." "What did you do? You are suppose to be blond?" "I love your hair brown." "You look even more Jewish now.". . the list goes on and on. But yes so I stop getting a ridiculous amount of messages, I did dye my hair brown. And thank God I did because it's a big enough distraction being white here. . .it'd be even worse being blond. Althought the sun has made it much lighter and a bit of golden tones are showing through. . .so maybe you can all recognize me soon!

Second thought is that I forgot to describe one aspect of the mall today that was very interesting. The Arabs are great salesmen and women. .a fact we all knew. . but in malls they are just as intense as they are at markets. In markets/bazaars one expects to be prodded and questioned and followed around to buy things and there is no problem because one knows it is coming. However, when you enter a mall that appears so Western, the last thing you expect is to enter a store and have the salesperson/people talk to you for a few minutes and the proceed to follow you throughout the store. I didn't want to buy anything because it was so uncomfortable. I guess I'll have to get used to people crossing into my space!

That was it for now! Oh one interesting thing I read in an article for poli sci tonight is that many of the infrastructure and job creation and governmental organization successes are not reported because then they become a terrorist target. I guess I always think of the gov't not releasing the failures (in the cynical method I've been taught in American schools), but in reality there are so many successes within the country we do not know about! Add that to all the successes we do know about and whal-ah! (haha spelling?!) things are on their way to democracy and a market economy!

Today Arabic class was focused on fruits and vegetables, as well as ordering foods. After some great scenarios on the phone (very helpful!) we discussed fruits and veggies and my cravings for clean and fresh nutrients was almost unbearably overwhelming! Our assignment today was to go to the supermarket (of course we went to Alfa, which is basically like the Egypt WalMart) to a fruit vendor and then to a market by campus. We have to use our direction asking skills tomorrow to find out where the market is in the morning and go there before class. I just got back from Alfa a streetside vendor and both were so pleased to help me! I’ve found that everyone appreciates Americans learning Arabic so much—no matter how awful I sound! Althought today a taxi driver told me my Arabic was good! Can you imagine that—the girl who spends half her hours at the library either with a tutor, crying over her G.P.A., or freaking out about Arabic class?!

I’ve also realized it’s time to seriously get into my homework. It feels so rewarding when I understand my Arabic, and I want to keep up on all of the vocabulary. I have a presentation in class on Thursday but an exam in Poli Sci on Wednesday so tonight Sara, Ivan and I are going to force each other to read it all.

A little upset today because our Sharm and St. Catherine’s trip was all planne for nine of us for the weekend of July 1st, but the reason it was so inexpensive is because the AUC Travel Office gets us Egyptian prices (about a third less for airfare). However, the other students did not get their student visa yet and it takes two weeks to get in, and we cannot get Egyptian rates until we have our student visa. So even though I went on the first day I got to campus we have to change the weekend we go to Sharm and rebook everything since no one wants to pay the American rate—which doesn’t seem expensive until you realize how cheap it is for the other rate and after being in this culture for a long time! But I guess it’s Egypt and things never run according to plan so I just have to settle 

Today after class I wanted to start getting some of my gifts (and will hopefully finish this weekend at the Khan!) so we went to the City Stars mall in Nasser City. To get there is ridiculous! We had to go in a tunnel that seemed to go on forever—for some reason my claustrophobia is insanely sensitive in this country and I thought I was going to freak out! It must be the combination of pollution, heat, and uncertainty about Egypt’s infrastructure that makes me feel so closed in. After about a thirty minute cab ride in the over 105 degree weather (since the temperature always feels about 10 degrees higher in the traffic and exhaust) we finally made it to a beautiful western mall. While I probably wouldn’t go back, it was fun to see where the “elite” shop—althought I think we see enough elite on campus! For the Egyptian clothes stores things were around 40 or 50 dollars for skirts and tops (cheap for designers in America but expensive here), but the imported clothes stores were at least 25% more! There were stores such as Nike and Diesel which were totally overpriced because of import taxes! Anthony bought a pair of flip flops at Adidas because he lost his in Alexandria and they were over 30 dollars!

On the way back from the mall we got to see a lot of areas of Cairo I had not seen before. We passed one of the trade universities, one of the local universities with a medical school, Saddat’s memorial, and the old cemeteries. .and of course had to go back through the never-ending tunnel!

Today when I got back I had a letter—but not an exciting one! I never got a roommate even though I signed up for a double and today I got a letter with the names of seven other girls who did not have roommates and a message that said that if I did not find a roommate by Thursday and move in or have them move in I would be charged600 EXTRA Dollars for having a single. I know three girls on the list but they apparently got the letter yesterday and two moved in together and the girl on my hall moved in with another girl on my hall so now I have to call the other four I don’t know and hope that they can switch into my room so I don’t have to move. Just another piece of evidence of the unorganization of Egypt—how unfair to not place me with someone and then make me move and find a new roommate after two weeks. I don’t understand how this would even save them money since they have to do a total cleaning regardless since I already have lived in here! What’s the difference if they do it now or later?

On an exciting note today as I drove up to get to class I noticed the main building on lockdown. Wondering what in the world could be going on I got out at the library stop and walked to the main campus back entrance and towards the main building. Then I remembered Condi Rice was going to be in Egypt today. .I just had no idea she would be at my school!!!! I heard her—my admiration—speak a few weeks ago at an AIPAC conference but was so excited she would be wher I was again! Unfortunately it was only held at the University to have a secure and neutral location for over 700 important Egyptian governmental officials and students couldn’t attend! I tried looking through the gate for about half an hour to watch her come in, but then I had to scurry off to class!!

It’ll be really interesting to see what everyone says in class tomorrow! (Oh, other evidence of the “in-sha-allah attitude” of Egypt: my professor was going to be in Greece this weekend and said AirEgypt was not reliable, so even thought his flight was suppose to be in on time for class he pushed class back until tomorrow!) My guess is that they all agree with her that Egypt needs democracy—the private cries for democracy are intense here (althought I could be getting more of that side since I’m among the elite, educated, and more westernized Arabs in class) and there are more public protests for democracy, but the general public attitude is not discussing it out of fear—however there is a general feeling that they don’t want to get told what to do by America! Althought it’s been mentioned in class before that America does nothing about Egypt/Mubarak because he’s on the American side of the Israel issue, so maybe now they will be happy to see America is standing true to principles of democracy? We’ll see what side I hear and I’ll report more! For now the article link: http://www.foxnews.com/story/...,2933,160057,00.html

Her transcript: http://www.state.gov/secretar...

Remarks at the American University in Cairo

Secretary Condoleezza Rice
Cairo, Egypt
June 20, 2005
Thank you very much, Dr. Hala Mustafa, for that really kind and warm introduction and your inspiring thoughts about democracy here in the region. I am honored to be here in the great and ancient city of Cairo.
The United States values our strategic relationship and our strengthening economic ties with Egypt. And American presidents since Ronald Reagan have benefited from the wisdom and the counsel of President Mubarak, with whom I had the pleasure of meeting earlier today.
The people of America and Egypt have always desired to visit one another and to learn from one another. And the highest ideals of our partnership are embodied right here, in the American University of Cairo. This great center of learning has endured and thrived -- from the days when our friendship was somewhat rocky, to today, when the relationship is strong. And I am very grateful and honored to address you in the halls of this great center of learning.
Throughout its history, Egypt has always led this region through its moments of greatest decision. In the early 19th century, it was the reform-minded dynasty of Muhammad Ali that distinguished Egypt from the Ottoman Empire and began to transform it into the region’s first modern nation.
In the early 20th century, it was the forward-looking Wafd Party that rose in the aftermath of the First World War and established Cairo as the liberal heart of the "Arab Awakening." And just three decades ago, it was Anwar Sadat who showed the way forward for the entire Middle East -- beginning difficult economic reforms and making peace with Israel. In these periods of historic decision, Egypt’s leadership was as visionary as it was essential for progress. And now in our own time, we are faced with equally momentous choices -- choices that will echo for generations to come.
In this time of great decision, I have come to Cairo not to talk about the past, but to look to the future -- to a future that Egyptians can lead and can define. Ladies and Gentlemen: In our world today, a growing number of men and women are securing their liberty. And as these people gain the power to choose, they are creating democratic governments in order to protect their natural rights.
We should all look to a future when every government respects the will of its citizens -- because the ideal of democracy is universal. For 60 years, my country, the United States, pursued stability at the expense of democracy in this region here in the Middle East -- and we achieved neither. Now, we are taking a different course. We are supporting the democratic aspirations of all people.
As President Bush said in his Second Inaugural Address: "America will not impose our style of government on the unwilling. Our goal instead is to help others find their own voice, to attain their own freedom, and to make their own way."
We know these advances will not come easily, or all at once. We know that different societies will find forms of democracy that work for them. When we talk about democracy, though, we are referring to governments that protect certain basic rights for all their citizens -- among these, the right to speak freely. The right to associate. The right to worship as you wish. The freedom to educate your children -- boys and girls. And freedom from the midnight knock of the secret police.
Securing these rights is the hope of every citizen, and the duty of every government. In my own country, the progress of democracy has been long and difficult. And given our history, the United States has no cause for false pride and we have every reason for humility.
After all, America was founded by individuals who knew that all human beings -- and the governments they create -- are inherently imperfect. And the United States was born half free and half slave. And it was only in my lifetime that my government guaranteed the right to vote for all of its people.
Nevertheless, the principles enshrined in our Constitution enable citizens of conviction to move America closer every day to the ideal of democracy. Here in the Middle East, that same long hopeful process of democratic change is now beginning to unfold. Millions of people are demanding freedom for themselves and democracy for their countries.
To these courageous men and women, I say today: All free nations will stand with you as you secure the blessings of your own liberty. I have just come from Jordan, where I met with the King and Queen -- two leaders who have embraced reform for many years. And Jordan’s education reforms are an example for the entire region. That government is moving toward political reforms that will decentralize power and give Jordanians a greater stake in their future.
In Iraq, millions of citizens are refusing to surrender to terror the dream of freedom and democracy. When Baghdad was first designed, over twelve-hundred years ago, it was conceived as the "Round City" -- a city in which no citizen would be closer to the center of justice than any other. Today -- after decades of murder, and tyranny, and injustice -- the citizens of Iraq are again reaching for the ideals of the Round City.
Despite the attacks of violent and evil men, ordinary Iraqis are displaying great personal courage and remarkable resolve. And every step of the way -- from regaining their sovereignty, to holding elections, to now writing a constitution -- the people of Iraq are exceeding all expectations.
The Palestinian people have also spoken. And their freely-elected government is working to seize the best opportunity in years to fulfill their historic dream of statehood. Courageous leaders, both among the Palestinians and the Israelis, are dedicated to seeking that peace. And they are working to build a shared trust.
The Palestinian Authority will soon take control of the Gaza -- a first step toward realizing the vision of two democratic states living side by side in peace and security. As Palestinians fight terror, and as the Israelis fulfill their obligations and responsibilities to help create a viable Palestinian state, the entire world -- especially Egypt and the United States -- will offer full support.
In Lebanon, supporters of democracy are demanding independence from foreign masters. After the assassination of Rafiq Hariri, thousands of Lebanese citizens called for change. And when the murder of journalist Samir Qaseer reminded everyone of the reach and brutality of terror, the Lebanese people were still unafraid.
They mourned their fellow patriot, but they united publicly with pens and pencils held aloft. It is not only the Lebanese people who desire freedom from Syria’s police state. The Syrian people themselves share that aspiration.
One hundred and seventy-nine Syrian academics and human rights activists are calling upon their government to "let the Damascus spring flower, and let its flowers bloom." Syria’s leaders should embrace this call -- and learn to trust their people. The case of Syria is especially serious, because as its neighbors embrace democracy and political reform, Syria continues to harbor or directly support groups committed to violence -- in Lebanon, and in Israel, and Iraq, and in the Palestinian territories. It is time for Syria to make a strategic choice to join the progress that is going on all around it.
In Iran, people are losing patience with an oppressive regime that denies them their liberty and their rights. The appearance of elections does not mask the organized cruelty of Iran’s theocratic state. The Iranian people, ladies and gentlemen, are capable of liberty. They desire liberty. And they deserve liberty. The time has come for the unelected few to release their grip on the aspirations of the proud people of Iran.
In Saudi Arabia, brave citizens are demanding accountable government. And some good first steps toward openness have been taken with recent municipal elections. Yet many people pay an unfair price for exercising their basic rights. Three individuals in particular are currently imprisoned for peacefully petitioning their government. That should not be a crime in any country.
Now, here in Cairo, President Mubarak’s decision to amend the country’s constitution and hold multiparty elections is encouraging. President Mubarak has unlocked the door for change. Now, the Egyptian Government must put its faith in its own people. We are all concerned for the future of Egypt’s reforms when peaceful supporters of democracy -- men and women -- are not free from violence. The day must come when the rule of law replaces emergency decrees -- and when the independent judiciary replaces arbitrary justice.
The Egyptian Government must fulfill the promise it has made to its people -- and to the entire world -- by giving its citizens the freedom to choose. Egypt’s elections, including the Parliamentary elections, must meet objective standards that define every free election.
Opposition groups must be free to assemble, and to participate, and to speak to the media. Voting should occur without violence or intimidation. And international election monitors and observers must have unrestricted access to do their jobs.
Those who would participate in elections, both supporters and opponents of the government, also have responsibilities. They must accept the rule of law, they must reject violence, they must respect the standards of free elections, and they must peacefully accept the results.
Throughout the Middle East, the fear of free choices can no longer justify the denial of liberty. It is time to abandon the excuses that are made to avoid the hard work of democracy. There are those who say that democracy is being imposed. In fact, the opposite is true: Democracy is never imposed. It is tyranny that must be imposed.
People choose democracy freely. And successful reform is always homegrown. Just look around the world today. For the first time in history, more people are citizens of democracies than of any other form of government. This is the result of choice, not of coercion.
There are those who say that democracy leads to chaos, or conflict, or terror. In fact, the opposite is true: Freedom and democracy are the only ideas powerful enough to overcome hatred, and division, and violence. For people of diverse races and religions, the inclusive nature of democracy can lift the fear of difference that some believe is a license to kill. But people of goodwill must choose to embrace the challenge of listening, and debating, and cooperating with one another.
For neighboring countries with turbulent histories, democracy can help to build trust and settle old disputes with dignity. But leaders of vision and character must commit themselves to the difficult work that nurtures the hope of peace. And for all citizens with grievances, democracy can be a path to lasting justice. But the democratic system cannot function if certain groups have one foot in the realm of politics and one foot in the camp of terror.
There are those who say that democracy destroys social institution and erodes moral standards. In fact, the opposite is true: The success of democracy depends on public character and private virtue. For democracy to thrive, free citizens must work every day to strengthen their families, to care for their neighbors, and to support their communities.
There are those who say that long-term economic and social progress can be achieved without free minds and free markets. In fact, human potential and creativity are only fully released when governments trust their people’s decisions and invest in their people’s future. And the key investment is in those people's education. Because education -- for men and for women -- transforms their dreams into reality and enables them to overcome poverty.
There are those who say that democracy is for men alone. In fact, the opposite is true: Half a democracy is not a democracy. As one Muslim woman leader has said, "Society is like a bird. It has two wings. And a bird cannot fly if one wing is broken." Across the Middle East, women are inspiring us all.
In Kuwait, women protested to win their right to vote, carrying signs that declared: "Women are Kuwaitis, too." Last month, Kuwait’s legislature voiced its agreement. In Saudi Arabia, the promise of dignity is awakening in some young women. During the recent municipal elections, I saw the image of a father who went to vote with his daughter.
Rather than cast his vote himself, he gave the ballot to his daughter, and she placed it in the ballot box. This small act of hope reveals one man’s dream for his daughter. And he is not alone.
Ladies and Gentlemen: Across the Middle East today, millions of citizens are voicing their aspirations for liberty and for democracy. These men and women are expanding boundaries in ways many thought impossible just one year ago.
They are demonstrating that all great moral achievements begin with individuals who do not accept that the reality of today must also be the reality of tomorrow.
There was a time, not long ago, after all, when liberty was threatened by slavery.
The moral worth of my ancestors, it was thought, should be valued by the demand of the market, not by the dignity of their souls. This practice was sustained through violence. But the crime of human slavery could not withstand the power of human liberty. What seemed impossible in one century became inevitable in the next.
There was a time, even more recently, when liberty was threatened by colonialism. It was believed that certain peoples required foreign masters to rule their lands and run their lives. Like slavery, this ideology of injustice was enforced through oppression.
But when brave people demanded their rights, the truth that freedom is the destiny of every nation rang true throughout the world. What seemed impossible in one decade became inevitable in the next.
Today, liberty is threatened by undemocratic governments. Some believe this is a permanent fact of history. But there are others who know better. These impatient patriots can be found in Baghdad and Beirut, in Riyadh and in Ramallah, in Amman and in Tehran and right here in Cairo.
Together, they are defining a new standard of justice for our time -- a standard that is clear, and powerful, and inspiring: Liberty is the universal longing of every soul, and democracy is the ideal path for every nation.
The day is coming when the promise of a fully free and democratic world, once thought impossible, will also seem inevitable. The people of Egypt should be at the forefront of this great journey, just as you have led this region through the great journeys of the past.
A hopeful future is within the reach of every Egyptian citizen -- and every man and woman in the Middle East. The choice is yours to make. But you are not alone. All free nations are your allies. So together, let us choose liberty and democracy -- for our nations, for our children, and for our shared future.
Thank you.

Not too much to cover today! Usual Sunday morning of dropping my laundry off to get done and getting my room cleaned. It’s the most awful feeling to get your room cleaned here because you have to have it done once a week and you have to ask the maids to do it for you and you have to sit in the room while they change your linens and mop your floor. I feel like such a spoiled brat sitting back and watching them clean my room—something I’m totally capable of doing. However, the getting my laundry done part is amazing! I just drop off my bag of laundry in the basement of the dorm and for like five dollars for a huge mesh bag full they do all my laundry and ironing! I wish I had that in Ann Arbor!

After the cleaning stuff I headed to Arabic class, got my visa extended, and came back for lunch. I couldn’t take it anymore and after surviving the apple I had for breakfast (I wiped it with rubbing alcohol and then washed it in bottled water, since you can’t have fruit that has been rinsed in this water) I decided to brave it and had a salad for lunch. If I get sick tomorrow it was totally worth it to have greens that weren’t cucumbers mixed with tomatoes!

Did a little studying, headed to church in Heliopolis where we had some interesting discussions about the laws in Egypt since it’s legal to be a Christian in Egypt but it’s illegal to convert a Muslim to Christianity, then came back and went to dinner with a crew at the most amazing place I’ve been so far! It was the cheapest place ever—four tameyya balls for 50 piasters (that’s half a pound and 6 pounds equals a dollar!), hummus for a pound, mashed potatoes, etc. We ordered a little of everything and all just dug in!

After the great meal we hopped in a taxi that died halfway home on the highway and eventually started up again, and now I’m back in my room looking up information on hotels for two weekends from now when we go to Mount Sinai and at information on the Opera for Thursday night! Then studying!

After two short hours of sleep on Thursday night I scuttled down to the lobby at 7:30 AM only to wait for the bus to leave on “Egyptian time”—which basically means that when they say “in-sha-allah” after everything (God-willing) they really do mean that they have no idea when things are going to start, whether it is a class, a field trip, or any sort of event. As soon as we finished our fuul and tameyya (amazing Egyptian food eaten at any meal) and crossed the October 6th Bridge over the Nile, I was fast asleep and did not wake until the sight of the Mediterranean Sea when we reached Alexandria three hours later.

In keeping with the tradition of ridiculous amounts of food in Egypt, they bought us each a pizza on the way to the beach! I’m not kidding a WHOLE pizza a person. I ate about a pizza’s worth of crust and we headed to a resort on the Mediterranean. After an hour of boys’ and girls’ turns in our rented “cottage” for the day, we finally were laying out on the perfect white sand on our own private beach for the day. In the water (as can be seen in my pictures) there was a large fence that separated our beach from the public beach. Looking through the fence was as if we were looking at a whole new world; the other side had every single inch of sand covered, bright red Vodafone (which is basically a cell phone company that is taking over the world!) tents covered all the sand, and the women were swimming in full garb.

We spent about seven hours at the beach doing some bonding, swimming, tanning, sunscreening, and attempting to study a bit. The afternoon/day was lovely! The beach we were on was part of a little bay so that there was not a wave in sight.

After an outstanding time at the beach we headed to the hostel to eat dinner and clean up before we hit the mall and pub for the night. Dinner again was ridiculously large amounts of food—and awful food at that. I ate a heaping plate of cucumbers and tomatoes (all I ask for is real fruit!) and then attempted some French fries. Let me tell you—French fries are more prevalent in this country than anywhere I’ve ever been—I don’t even eat them or like them at home. Our rooms were a little aged and very small, althought clean, and as long as my shower worked I could handle wearing sandles in it just in case and the sheets looked clean enough as long as my body never touched the blanket!

After showering and throwing on some halfway decent evening clothes while maintaining Egyptian standards of modesty, we headed to a mall. Keeping to the fact that people eat so much in this country, the mall was a combination of a never ending food court and block of resteraunts mixed with a few Western clothes stores. We walked around for a bit—Ivan and I trying to find Mobacco polo shirts (they have a camel on them)—then sat in a café for an hour or so before meeting the 39 kids on our trip at the pub. This was not a club or a bar, more of a resteraunt with a dance floor, and we were the only ones there. Needless to say, I had a great time!

The bus with about 29 kids left at about 1 AM, but ten of us were given permission to stay and dance longer. It was so great because it was just us in the pub so we did not have to worry about anything. I learned I’m awful at dancing to Arabic music, but I am in the process of learning! They also played a ton of American music so we had a great time. Egyptian bars and clubs have minimums to be in them for the night so it really stinks for those like me that don’t drink and have to pay the amount even though we get nothing for it, but the best part of the night was the fact that this was not technically either so I got away free for the night!

Not sure when, but at some point we meandered back to the hotel, and my tiredness outweighted my paranoia for hotel sheets which made my few hours of sleep worthwhile! Waking at 7:30 again this morning was totally unpleasant but well worth our day.

Breakfast included an amazing ricey creamish milky hot cereal (not sure what it is or what it’s called!) and then we headed out on our tour bus to see a brief tour of the city of Alexandria, the Catacombs, an old Roman coliseum, and my favorite the Citadel before an amazing lunch at a bistro overlooking the Sea. After lunch we headed to icecream and then the Biblioteca before I slept the whole way home! Before I start my homework I so desperately need to do, I will briefly describe the wonders we saw today!

First of all Alexandria was built under the commission of Alexander the Great and has a stunning Roman past as well as a European feel to the city overlooking the Sea. It is much cleaner, cooler, and more beautiful than Cairo—I imagine it’s almost as if entering a Greek city rather than the dirt, grime, and busyness of Cairo.

On the city tour—which I shamefully admit I was half asleep for—the two most spectacular sights include 1) a stoplight that was actually used (people actually follow the rule of law while driving in Alex.) and 2) Pompey’s Pillar (a pillar built for the Emperor a little before 300 A.D. that stands over 25 meters high).

Our first visit was entering the Catacombs of of Kom al-Shoqafa—a tri-level Roman burial ground discovered when a donkey pulling a cart fell in to a hole! We were able to enter the first and second level, but the third was totally underwater. I had no idea how large the catacombs would be! It was amazing to be walking under the ground and see the carvings and painting with a Greco-Roman influence in the Middle East.

After the Catacombs we spent some time playing in the Roman ampitheatre. This area was discovered relatively recently and much of it is still under excavations, but there were many good-sized marble columns still totally intact as well as some Egyptian-themed structures and artifacts. To see the cultures and civilizations all mix in Alexandria put a whole life to my history books.

However, the Citadel—located at the sight of the old Lighthouse (one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World—was the icing on the cake. We were able to climb all over the castle-like fort located on an arm of land in the Sea. Furthmore, there was a great wall around the entire fort that could be walked upon. After a few of us hung out on the wall by the Sea, praying not to fall down the sharp decline, we realized we were late for the bus. However we had to walk around the entire fort because there was only one entrance/exit on/off of the perimeter! About twenty minutes late or “Egyptian time” as I told Ihab I showed up to do my official count of the number of people on the bus. Apparnelty Muhammed and Ihab (the heads of the ISSO) can remember my name easily because they think “Ally McBeal” so I was stuck doing the headcount each time we got on the bus, which only further enhanced the “dictator” nickname I received after not liking the way people were building our sand pyramid at the Red Sea last weekend!

After lunch we headed to the Biblioteca—the sight of the ancient Great Library which once held over 500,000 essential documents such as the Hebrew Bible and works of philosophers, etc. Unfortunately what was once the greatest, first, and largest library in the ancient world was burnt to the ground with virtually all of the documents during the time of Julius Ceaser. While we first joked about why we cared about a library built on the site of the old one, we realized that the museum inside held some artifacts from the past and that the current library (built during the past century) is well known for its architecutural structure and it’s beauty. Surrounded by fountains and with outer walls decorated in Hebrew, Hieroglyphics, and Arabic script, the inside is just as overwhelmingly large and stunning. The most fascinating to me is that it is lit with completely natural light: triangle windows across much of the ceiling all pointing North so that direct sunlight never hits the books or those in the library.

I’d love to go on and on about Alex., but it’s time I started to do my studying ! Until tomorrow!

Although I have much to say as usual, I will keep this brief because it is 3:55am in Cairo and we are headed to Alexandria Egypt tomorrow at 7:30am!

Basic day, woke up feeling sick, survived, went to campus to work with the travel office on our trip to the Sinai in a few weeks (will have updates on Sunday) then had Arabic class for a few hours. After class I finally felt better and also felt starving! I could feel the “I’m crabby, haven’t had anything to eat today, am hot and exhausted” attitude creep in and Rebecca whisked me away to McDonalds. I have not had McDonalds since high school except for the Chicago International Airport Terminal on the way here. Keep in mind I hate McDonalds at home, but for some reason in a foreign country it is comforting. There is a Drew Carey episode when he is stuck in China at the Great Wall and somehow McDonalds comes up and he compares it to the American Embassy. After the way my stomache has felt, I did the same. You know what you are going to get.

This afternoon I cleaned my room, read the news, basically just chilled out at the dorm until Chris and I grabbed yogurt at the grocery store and then headed into the dorm foyer to hang out for a few hours.

Instead of doing Lebanese for dinner and then going out (Zvika was sick and my stomache wasn’t ready for two meals in one day yet) a whole slew of us went to the movies. I prodded and protested the choice of Batman! I wanted to see Prive Alex—a movie in Arabic and their top hit—but Batman won out because everyone wanted to not think after a week of Arabic class. I think the second week being here is when the culture shock hits and hence the reliance on McDonalds and American movies.

After a few hours in the dorms discussing our woes of the sex segregation and also the attire for going out, we headed to the Galaxy Theatre. . .or so we thought. A few cab rides later—including a hilarious standoff between our cab and the cab behind it pointing towards two cabs pointing towards us in a one way alley—and three movie theatres later we ended up at the English theatre!

The move was actually amazing! More details about that later. However before bed the things to note that are different are these:
1) the movie theatre operates like a theatre because you buy your ticket by seat number and someone shows you to your seat
2) there is a smoking intermission
3) I’ve never seen so many people smoke in one place in my life 3) everyone in Cairo is going to die of cancer
4) they aren’t quiet in movies—they shout at the screen or make comments or have conversations
5) Eygptians and Americans laugh at totally different things
6) the onscreen kiss was a huge deal
7) we still aren’t sure what they cut out but something was cut out of the original

In a couple of days I’ll post about the Alexandria/Mediterranean Sea trip! Until then, have a great weekened!

15 June 2005

Shout Out: HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALLISON ANN KIRBY!! I MISS YOU AS YOU ARE OUT ROAMING EUROPE! YAY FOR 20!

As I sit here engulfed in Sprite Light and my ridiculously expensive saltine crackers I have apologies to make. First, to everyone who has gotten sick in Egypt. I did not mean to laugh at your misery or brag about my “amazing” immune and digestive system. I’m sorry you suffered for a few days, but to be honest, I probably wouldn’t have been sorry until today. I may have told you all that my summer experience in Brazil showed me that I would not get sick here, that I’m used to eating this food, and that I’ve been really good about drinking bottled water. Somewhere along the way, I lied. My stomache decided to beat up my cocky immune system. Hence the lack of real food today, the excessive use of Imodium to get through class, and the waste of five meals worth of money on imported saltine crackers because the ones adorned “Light Digestive” in Arabic were just not going to work for my spoiled self.

Needless to say, this morning was a waste. I did not work out. I did not study, and I did not move. After overdosing on drugs to get rid of “Tut’s Tummy” I survived through my six hours of class with great strength.

The political science class did turn out to be quite interesting. My biggest problem though was not what I expected! I expected the professor to be quite biased, but rather he was studious, thoughtful, and objective. No matter who spoke he took a critical approach to what they said and asked intellectual questions. He also gave two mini-lectures during our discussion section. The first was in response to a boy who started bringing political alignments into the discussion, and the professor talked about learning about the common themes and obstacles in each crisis/conflict and not about the small politics behind the issues. Also he spoke briefly about students wishing to “teach the class” and new professors wanting to spread their ideologies. He explained that at his age (he’s an older professor and the head of the poli sci dept.) he has realized that education is not a thing or an accomplishment but a process. The most profound thing he said was the controversies have no answer. I liked that because often at school my professors think they have the exact answer.

The American students were the problem in the class. Many tried to dominate conversation and focused all the conflicts (as we were overviewing the class topics today) on blaming and hating the United States. While the U.S. undoubtedly does not get involved in every humanitarian issue and does focus on issues which further them (us) I do not find this something to hate the United States for. And this was not students in the class that do attend AUC and are from Egypt. The U.S. students dominated the discussion. I wanted to shout out that we do follow a code of morality, but that our code of morality is realism. Like it or hate it, it is the code we follow and we do have a rhyme and reason for support the regimes in Egypt and Saudi Arabia even though they are not democracies and for trying to establish democracies in other Middle Eastern countries. These students shouted out that our policies are shameful because there is no common goal, just whatever is best for us economically. I would argue that we have a clear common goal—protecting the strength and existence of our country and our way of life. This entire discussion and this side of the argument is exactly similar to what I wrote in my paper on the Iran-Contra and Reagan’s use of realism as morality. I wish I could have showed the side that Irene, Ivan, and I felt—proud Americans—however after the angry Americans finished their discussion I did not want the American students to dominate the conversation anymore. What was different about this than at U of Mi is that I did not feel the need to shout out my view because I’m here to understand the views of others not trying to further my agenda; I just wished I hadn’t heard such ridiculous, unthoughtout comments by my fellow citizens. I can respect a dissenting view which is thoughtout well, but this total bashing ruined the atmosphere of the class and also embarrassed me as an American before foreigners. If I don’t speak up next time how will the students in the class view my country? As a regime led country?

I could go on for hours regarding the discussions that took place in my three hour seminar, but I will elaborate a little bit each class as not to bore my readers with my tangents of emotions and thoughts!

After class, Irene wanted to grab icecream before the bus to take us back to the dorm came, so we quickly ran into McDonalds. Even in my total sickness state and even with how much I hate fast food at home (besides Taco Bell!), the smell of McDonalds was comforting! Aside from seeing the McArabia on the menu (a Chicken Schwarma haha!) and the McFalafel, the menu was legit. It’s funny the things that comfort you. I’ve traveled a bit before, but Egypt sure does feel far away. Speaking of food. . .again I must reiterate that I love Middle Eastern food, but Egypt is just not known for it’s food and I know why! Tomorrow night (hopefully!) we are thinking about a Lebanese resteraunt so I can show everyone how great my people are !

Tonight we rode segregated (no joke—sexes do not mix here!) elevators to the seventh floor terrace which the dorm opened up for a dinner get together for all the students in the dorm. Floor seven and up houses faculty so we have never gotten to go up to the terrace before and never will again I’m sure. It was absolutely beautiful looking over the island! I’m going to steal some pictures from Rebecca’s webshots and post them tonight on mine!

Tonight they served us a mix of American and Egyptian—a meal consisting of both French fries and hummus! I chose not to eat for a few reasons: 1) Egyptian food is bad. 2) Cafeteria food is bad. 3) Egyptian cafeteria food is probably equal to a week of sickness.

After the wonderful terrace evening some of us headed to Alfa—otherwise known as the Egyptian WalMart! It was wonderful! I almost bought peanut butter because it was only six dollars instead of 11 at Seoudi—the market I usually frequent. Instead I settled for the expensive saltines, sodas, and toilet paper because I cannot handle the lack of it in this country anymore.

Since being back, I’ve just been pondering the fact that even though I’m taking classes this is the most relaxed summer of my life. First, I did not realize how good of a school and how difficult of a school Michigan is compared to others. The work load here is virtually nothing compared to home, and this is the first time since tenth grade I’ve not had a job and sports or a zillion clubs and cheerleading while doing school. However, I think it’s good that I have a great learning experience and a laid back summer so that next year I can focus much more on school than I did this year when I was burnt out.

Well the bed is calling me! Last day of class tomorrow before the weekend and the Mediterranean! I’ll post in a few days about how great the Sea is—or I’m assuming it will be !

14 June 2005

For some reason I am extra tired today. I did wake up slightly early and work out for the second day in a row which sounds productive but really is only to counteract the small amounts of fruits and vegetables and the large amounts of meat and bread that is available in this country! While yes the food is cheap and abundant, it is not as good as Lebanses/Syrian food and in most places the veggies/fruits are not safe enough to eat. Although, most people have gotten ‘Tut’s Tummy” while here, I have not gotten sick at all yet so I am thinking I might just start going for those apples in the cafeteria.

Arabic class is taught way differently than in the States (or at least at UMich). Rather than getting taught things in class and then being expected to learn them at home, we basically spend the two hours of class time each day just learning. While it’s great that the vocabulary is being drilled into my head and that the speaking opportunities exist, I feel we could get more done and learn more if we had more work to do at home. I guess the philosophy at AUC is not to get us to learn and memorize large quantities of vocabulary but to put what we know into a working function/situation. This is being, but I can’t help but feel so unproductive. Everything about life is so slow here.

I wonder if the culture of relaxation and “slowness of life” produces the fact that Egypt cannot get ahead economically or if it is a product of the fact that Egypt is a third-world nation? More on this topic as I ponder it throughout my time here.

After class, Rebecca and I got icecream and sat out in the Greek Campus (one of the three blocks of campus and the most socially active) and watched people and just chatted about the structure of school compared with school in the States, random thoughts about live, and enjoyed the “cool weather” today (it was a low of about 89 today). The sad thing is (or good thing at this point) is that it actually felt so bearable today. I was excited about the weather today! At home it’d be a heat wave and we wouldn’t know what to do!

This evening Rebecca and I went to the Opera House and Art Museum complex. An area larger than two blocks, near the Cairo Tower, that is gated and filled with fountains, gardens, sculptures, and beautiful buildings that house the arts for Egypt. First we stopped at the Opera House and got a schedule—some of us might check out an Arabic/Italian opera next week—then we headed to the Modern Art Museum. It was a small collection for an art museum but an amazing collection hosting many of Egypt’s top artists including the amazing sculptures of Mohmoud Molhtar, the paintings of Mohammed Nagui, the impressionist Voussef Kamel, the boring portraits by Ahmed Sabir, and the frightening modern pieces by Mahmoud Said. My favorite piece was entitled “Overpopulated”, but I forgot to write the name of the artist down. It was an abstract of an overhead view of the streets of Cairo. Up close it was a disgusting mess of colors but to view it from a few feet back highlighted the beautiful, elaborate display of intense accuracy of the congestion of the streets. In addition some of the war and peace pieces really moved me. I am looking forward to my seminar class to see those emotions in the people themselves. Hopefully I’ll get back to the art museum soon. If only I had taken that Middle Eastern art class last semester. . . . .

After the museum we headed to dinner and after I talk to my family on the phone I am going to do a little bit of Arabic and read the news for my first seminar discussion on the Iraq War tomorrow! Wish me luck!

P.S. Keep those emails rolling in! Everytime I open my inbox I get so excited by the love I feel !

Day Two of class was much more successful than day one. Our Egyptian Colloquial picked up the pace today, which made me much happier, and I started my political science seminar. The seminar does not require much reading—for Wednesday we only have to read two analytical articles on the Iraq War and write a page critical examination of each. At the beginning of each week—from here on out—we’ll pick up the weeks readings at the Copy Center, and our Prof. told us we will only have about 200 pages a week to read! The seminar should be very interesting as long as the students (about 20 of us) participate. It is basically six hours a week of open discussion. The topics for each week are: the war in Iraq, Lebanese-Syrian conflict, Arab/Palestinian-Israeli conflict, democratization of the Middle East, and political Islam. While I undoubtedly have formed opinions on these subjects and will join in discussion to earn my participation grade (and because I don’t think I could ever survive without joining in!) I am going to try to take a bit of a step back and observe the views of the East. The reason I came all the way here and took the time and spent the money is to understand the “other side”. So each day, before I speak up, I am going to try to make myself step back and take in all the other student’s opinions. Also, the teacher is a Palestinian who has citizenship in Lebanon, Syria, and Canada, and he is the head of the Poli Sci Dept! For those reasons I will also take in what he has to say. From his opening comments today, I can see that it will be even more interesting/shocking than what I’ve experienced at UMich, but I’m ready to understand, nobody is asking me to accept, but to listen and learn why some view these issues as they do.

My Arabic homework was a challenge today. It was not a difficult memorization or reading or writing assignment, but rather we had to speak to five native speaking Arabs on the street, in the stores, etc. and ask them where they were from, their names, their age, random stuff, etc. Then I had to go out and buy a tape recorder and record all the information I received. Luckily Erin found a technology store right off of campus on our way to lunch, and bless her little heart. We missed lunch as we waited for my tape recorder to be “delivered” from another store. The sales “man” (boy) was my first victim. I actually had about a 15 minute conversation with him (with some help from Erin) and even got a phone number at the end of the conversation “in case I wanted to go see the pyramids”. I was told to just wait for the first phone number and to not be shocked because it’s common! All of us girls in the dorms could sit around and laugh for hours about all of our funny stories of phone numbers, cat calls, marriage offers, etc. After that my victims included the teller in the grocery store. When I went back a few hours later with Chris on our evening walk he acted as if we were best friends! I promised I’d be back tomorrow to buy my breakfast yogurt and to try to speak again !

So on some random notes. . .after a week in Egypt all I really want is a homemade chocolate chip cookie or some peanut butter. The more that Chris and I looked at prices of imported foods the more we craved really random things from home!

Also, while in the dorm you can get McDonalds delivered, maids to change your sheets, dust your room, and wash your floor, a wake-up call, a personal trainer, and security practically whenever you move, there is always a shortage of toilet paper. I think tomorrow I’m going to go out and buy my own! It’s getting ridiculous!

Another observation is that food here is amazingly cheap! Last night Ivan and I ran out to the takeaway counter Baraka and got HUGE chicken sandwhiches (mine was some attempt at a fahita middle eastern style) for 5 pounds (less than a dollar) and tonight Rebecca, Melanie, and I ran to my favorite little pasta place and my Bruchetta and pasta cost me 12 pounds (two dollars)!

In a response to my family email, Uncle Greg’s was the best:
My Subject: MarHaba (Hello) from Egypt
His Subject: Hey der (Hello) from the U.P.
My Quote at the End of the Email: RANDOM QUOTE: "Youth is the time to go flashing from one end of the world to the other, both in mind and body." Robert Louis Stevenson
His Email: Regardless of what RLS says, be careful what you flash over there, I've heard they aren't that liberal.

Also, the blogs are not that exciting right now as I need to get into the routine of homework and classes this week before I start mixing tourist activities into my schedule again (aside from the weekends), but I will continue to plug away since my best friend insists: “I've been checking your photos and blog every day so DONT STOP UPDATING THEM or I will convince myself that you have been shot. And that would be bad.” I promise you Sara Roedner that I will do whatever I can to ensure that something appears so that you know of my safety.

Also, for all those that have replied to my email, THANKS SO MUCH!! It’s very exciting to get email from everyone I miss at home! Love you all!

Off to catch the Jackson verdict with the whole world downstairs! Have a great night!

Relatively few exciting things to report on today! Classes started today, as the weekend in Muslim countries is Friday and Saturday. My first class was a survey of Arab history. While, I had a similar class from Prof. Babyon at UMich, this class was a little more indepth (coveiring only 6AD to current) and I presumed it would be interesting to learn it from the eyes of the Eastern World. However, once I got to class and was handed a syllabus where 30% of the grade was going to be memorizing the map of the Middle East and Northern Africa, I decided that if I was going to come all the way to Egypt and spend so much money I would need an academic challenge. I immediately switched out of the history class. Besides, I had Babyon for history; didn’t I already learn from the Eastern worldview?

After I switched to a political science seminar, that I will discuss more once I attend tomorrow (this class is lengthy but only twice a week so if I miss a day of class for a long weekend trip I’ll be better off!), someone pointed out that the Egyptian Arabic on my schedule was the class that used the Latin script. Back to I.S.S.O. to get that changed to the Arabic script Egyptian Colloquial. Before I go into the details of the class, I feel that my audience may need an explanation as to what Egyptian Arabic is. At school I have completed a year (all of al-Kitab—the most widely used Arabic textbook) of fusha/ modern standard Arabic. This is the Arabic that is understood by all in writing, academic studies, newspapers, etc.; it is not how the general population speaks. So after a year of Arabic we sound clunky and stiff when we try to speak to people here—that is why I am taking Egyptian Arabic. There are a few different dialects of spoken/colloquial Arabic, but Egyptian “travels” the best as Egypt is the “head of the Arab world”, as well as produces the most films, etc. While technically colloquial is not a written language, it is sometimes used in contemporary TV shows, plays, short stories, and poetry.

Anyways, I entered class today and we split up into two different classes depending on whether we’ve had one or two years of Arabic at school. Apparenlty, those having one year of Arabic were all over the place with the amount of vocabulary their colleges taught, because the first day was quite boring! While I learned a lot of the colloquial twist, how words run together and vowels are dropped, the general conversation was all vocabulary I had already known. However, it’ll be awesome for me learn colloquial, expand my confidence in speaking (since our class is very small and we speak for most of it), and hopefully expand vocabulary in the near future. I’m sure it will get much harder, as I flipped through my book and saw lists and lists of practical vocabulary I do not know from msa classes.

After class today I grabbed lentil soup  then came home and picked up my laundry (only five dollars for them to do it all for me!!) in the basement of the dorm before showering for church. Anthony and I headed over to an English speaking Protestant Mission Church in Heliopolis. While I definitely want to attend a Coptic Orthodox service while in Egypt, I would like to also stay steady in my faith while here. I will attend a Coptic service for the cultural experience, but it is hard to get something out of church when it is not in my language.

The service was small, about thirty people, and composed of foreigners living in Egypt (from Europe, Nigeria, Asia, and the States) as well as Egyptians and many Sudanese refugees. After 21 years of being a missionary in Cairo, the pastor still spoke with a Texan accent and the other leader still spoke with his English accent after 8 years. We only took up about seven pews of the small Anglican Church that was used for the service; however, on Fridays they have a much larger service for families and youth. I will try to check that out on a Friday we are not on a trip somewhere in Egypt. Until then, I enjoy the personal atmosphere of the church and deeply respect those attending the church and running it as well. To be a Christian in a country that is about 90% Muslim is a difficult task and even more difficult when the entire culture is shaped around one faith. I imagine now that it must be a little more difficult than I once thought to be of a different religion in America than Christianity.

Off to do Arabic homework. Egypt is amazing. I will write more tomorrow and hopefully get some sight-seeing in this week!

“This is your life/Are you who you wanna be?/This is your life/Is it everything you dreamed that it would be when the world was younger and you had everything to lose?”

Many of the students here are graduate students or post-college students/returning students and the advice is the same from all of them: “take some time off to discover exactly what you want to do for graduate school and your life, travel, explore, work, be poor, travel more, learn more languages, then find exactly what you are obsessed with and go to graduate school for that, graduate school is not the time for exploration like undergrad is so take time now to explore—no matter how long it takes”. We’ll see where the next few years lead me !

Also check this out:
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From the pollution of the city to the immaculate sand of the Red Sea in one day: it was as if I entered a whole new world. Zamalek (http://www.touregypt.net/feat...) is already a whole different world than Islamic, Coptic, and Old Cairo or "Real Cairo", but after two hours of driving out of the sprawl of the city, and through the desert, military bases, and more desert we ended up in a different world: the resort. Today the ISSO (international student services office) took us on a day trip to Ain El Sokhna on the Red Sea to lay out at the beach at a resort. While many of us now have a little bit of sunburn we also have many more friends. Today was a great bonding experience for about the 50 of us that ventured to the Sea. Today's blog will be much shorter because we spent the day laying out, building a pyramid engraved "Misr '05" (the Arabic name for Egypt), and floating in the salt of the Sea. The water was perfectly teal, the sand was white, and the sun was hot. We slept both ways on the trip in order to rest up for our first day of class tomorrow (weekends here are Friday and Saturday). From here on out, I plan on doing one thing in Cairo a day and then leaving on the weekends to see the rest of Egypt, but the school work will be getting intense soon, so I won't be bogging you down with reading pages and pages of my blog during the week :)!

Chris's Quote Today at Dinner: "When I feel asleep on the beach today, I just kept dreaming about all those days I went into Meijers and bought a "sea breeze" car freshner, and thought 'this is what it's suppose to smell like'."

Some random thoughts before I begin:
*I couldn’t figure out what song made me cry in the Paris Airport on my way to Cairo—and now I can’t believe myself that I was sad because this place is amazing—but the song was Michael Buble “Home” (“Another summer day has come and gone away, in Paris and Rome, and I’m surrounded by a million people and I still feel alone.”). I guess the problem with i-Shuffle is not knowing what is playing and not knowing what is even on your computer!
*Cairo is dirty. As dirty as the dumps of Brazil that I once kneeled and prayed in, as dirty as the ghettos of Rio de Janerio where we hugged children, dirtier than the streets of Central America, and smoggier than Los Angeles.

TODAY:

Started out at the Cairo Museum once again—I had not made it to the mummy room on my previous visit. Absolutely stunning! The hair, the teeth, the skin, and the bones, even the fingernails of the Pharaohs and Queens were still intact! After the first stop at the mummy room, I went around the museum with Chris (from U of Mi) and Cary. Chris took quite a few Egyptology classes so was very helpful in the museum. With the size and quantity of items, it was as if I was seeing the museum for the first time. The highlights were def. Amenhoptep and Tut’s stuff as well as the jewelry room and mummy room; however, there are artifacts too numerous to mention from all the time periods! Thought, quite devastating to see how poorly they take care of many of the finds: some of the huge scultures and tombs are out for the public to touch and have been scraped or have been written on !

After the Museum, the three of us wandered around Cairo—first downtown to get schwarma for Chris and then we headed to Islamic Cairo to appease me! This week was the celebration of the Martyr Hussein so I wanted to be in Islamic Cairo for the celebrations. We went into the worship area of a mosque for my first time. I was handed a green, dirty, body order lavished robe to cover my arms and my head—from now on I am going to carry a veil with me for areas of town such as this one where I felt quite uncomfortable in a short sleeve blouse that I buttoned all the way up for the afternoon and with my hair down. After looking at the perfect, elaborate detail of the mosque, our guide took the three of us up the minaret. The steps were never ending, about twice the height of normal steps, spinny, and pitch black. The boys fumbled around the steps for a bit while the guide held my hands up to the top. Keep in mind, my claustrophobia is so bad that as a child at Camp Bat.’s overnights I would sleep by the tents clutching the zipper; however, making it to the top was one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve had thus far. In the distance were the pyramids, and in the immediate area were modern, business buildings and multiple mosques. Looking out about the city we saw that we were in “Real Cairo” with the call to prayer being announced, the “factories” below of robed men and women celebrating the holiday of Islam’s first martyr, and the garbage covering the roofs and streets surrounding the small, disgusting apartments the average person in Cairo lives in—nothing like the places those who study at AUC live in or near. After taking about 30 pictures off of the life-changing minaret and pondering that Cairo is the cleanest of the third world cities and that something needs to be done NOW, we headed to see the prison from years past. It was more comical than historical. Pictures are on webshots.

Immediately after the mosque, we walked through the Egyptian Shouk. There exists Khan el Khalili for tourists, the Egyptian Shouk where things are made and sold to be sold at Khan el Khalili at a higher price to tourists and the Egyptian Shouk is where the locals shop, and the Turkish Shouck which I know nothing about. We learned the difference between real mother-of-pearl and fake. Finally we headed back to the hostel after exploring the streets for hours and being watched as outsiders. I could finally unbottom my blouse a little, and the smell of the first robe was nothing compared to the way we smelled after traveling through Islamic Cairo.

Back at the hostel we cleaned up for about 10 minutes and grabbed some of the girls to head to the pyramids for sundown—things did not work out as planned at all! As if riding in a cab isn’t already a near death experience each time one gets in, after our two cabs stopped at the pyramids to discover that the entrance we were headed to to take pictures was closed already tour guides ran alongside the taxis and then hopped in! Imagine the fright on our faces! Cary was not happy about this and made the taxi drivers drive directly to the sphinx, while Chris, Senait, and I wanted to stay and take sundown pictures from the fence. At the sphinx the same thing happened because apparently when the sites are closed guides can take you by camel to them—we’ve been screwed over enough in terms of money as Americans so we were not going to take them up on that offer—so we proceeded to get out quicly of Giza since the Sphinx would not be open until 8:30 for the light show.

We headed to the closest safe spot—the Sheraton—and ended up paying the drivers ridiculous amounts over 100 pounds. Then we ended up having a wonderful, but non-Egyptian meal, at the Sheraton and missed the 8:30 light show. We made it back in time for the 9:30 light show in FRENCH!! At this point, all we wanted was to take pictures of the pyramids lit up at night, which was one of the more amazing experiences! A total Cairo day! My lit up pictures did not turn out so well so I enjoyed the hour long light show in total awe of the Pharaohs and Egyptians of the past. Such intelligence, skill, and detail, lit up to end a perfect, hectic, sweaty, dirty, polluted, beautiful, laid back, Cairo holiday.

*Note to those on the trip: after all the rush and horror of the taxis, all I could think about when they place the bread basket in front of us at the Sheraton was La Borrogeo !

I finally beat my jet lag!!! Each day it was getting worse and worse and I knew I wasn’t just exhausted from the sun, so today orientation was not until 1pm so I slept in! Finally I have energy!

Orientation today, met quite a few other international students I had no yet met—everyone is so kind and willing to meet others. Orientation was relatively noneventful. We split into groups and had a tour with a student at AUC. Our leader, May, was amazing! She is originally and now lives in Cairo, but she has lived all over the world. After the tour her and another one of the guys giving the tours, Ahmed Saamir, took three of us—Melanie, Juvaria, and me—all around Cairo in her car. She showed us were she lived, they took us to the Cairo Tower (a huge tower that Nasser built supposedly so well built that it can withhold during even a nuclear attack and supposedly built when the U.S. tried to pay off one of Nasser’s decisions and instead he built the Tower), and to Diwan a great music/book store where I bought Nancy Ajram (a Lebanses chic that is kind of like the Brittany Spears here) and Mohamed Mounir (who is just a classic, music is not like Eric Clapton but that is how I’d describe his popularity, just steady everyone knows him). I also was eyeing up a Fairouz greatest hits and an Amr Diab greatest hits, but I have so much on my ipod that I couldn’t bring myself to pay for two more cds. . .hopefully I’ll make a trip back!

Finally they took us to a shee-sa (spelling in English?) bar. Commonly known as the hookah in Ann Arbor and D.C., DO NOT CALL IT THE HOOKAH HERE! May and Saamir told me that that was the name that Jewish students usually called it and May proceeded to tell me a story about how shee-sa is from their culture. I will remember that from now on, but I am pretty sure that at Rendevous in Ann Arbor—where I have watched people smoke many times and just have never done it myself—they call it the hookah. Regardless, I got over my fear of having never smoked anything and went for the mint. It was wonderful! There was none of the smoky taste I was expecting nor did it make my throat dry. It was purely flavor that was really relaxing (not that I know how you can be more relaxed than these people in Cairo!)! After about 20 puffs though I had a stomache and Juvaria had to finish it for me. I guess tobacco takes a little getting used to for beginners!

As soon as I got back to the hostel I ran into Rose and Erin and we headed for the Nile Maxim River Dinner Cruise! It was a little pricey but well worth the money. An amazing meal of Shish Tawook and Crème Brulee followed by a Sufi Twirler and Bellydancers! Some of the bellydancers were awful—like a Disney Cleopatra image or something and some seemed more like flaggirls—however some were very talented. I’d like to go see bellydancers in an old Cairo setting now to get the best of both worlds.

Pictures are constantly being posted, however my camera died today so most of my pictures from the Nile River cruise didn’t survive, but after my trip the pictures will be greatly supplemented by those of other students!

Before I begin today's journey under the overwhelming sun, I found a hilarious web site for all to enjoy! You might be from Ann Arbor if. . . .

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My Favorites Being:
*If you walk in the grass/mud through the diag in order to let the vicious squirrels pass you on the sidewalks.
*You go back to your hometown and constantly almost get run over by cars.
*You might be from Ann Arbor if you've had a conversation with a homeless person who started quoting Keats.
*You might be from Ann Arbor if you've had school canceled due to a walk out demanding more than $27,000 for part-time work.

Go and read more! They are quite entertaining!

Onto today:

Quick rap up as exhaustion is still attacking me. As each day passes I seem to be more and more jet lagged.

Missed the first two busses because instead of going to a breakfast cafe we went and got lentil soup and pita bread for breakfast. I mean in all this heat we have to start out with protein right? Rendevous Cafe in Ann Arbor is amazing, but nothing can compare to th e lentils everywhere in this city!

Then we went took the bus to campus and made our best discovery of the stay thus far! Let me deviate first:

See everyone worrying about terrorism or kidnapping or any other bad deeds happening to me were totally incorrect. The biggest problem and the number one cause of death here is being hit by a car. It is ridiculously scary to cross a street. If you can not find an Egyptian male to walk behind and stop traffic for you, crossing the street will most likely be a near death experience. However, the problem with an Egyptian man helping you cross the street is that then they will drag you to their shop or their buddies shop and you cannot get away because you just used them to cross the street.

Today we got over half of Liberation Square (which is right downtown and the busiest place in the city and more of a traffic circle than an actual square) by a wonderful Nubian English teacher who spoke very well and helped us with some tourist questions. So out of kindess we had to go to his friend's perfume store. We walked in because we had a few minutes to kill anyway before the museum opened again and we pleasantly spoke a little Arabic to the men in the store and proceeded to leave. Well the owner proceeded to chase after me with perfume and put it on my arm as I LITERALLY RAN AWAY! To be continued soon. . .

So the great discovery of the day was. . .if you go into the metro stations they have tunnels under the roads so you do not have to attempt death and cross the street or get chased by the crazy schiester salesmean.

After this perfume attack, Melanie, Rose, J, Senait, Yomari, Blair, and I proceeded to the Egyptian Museum. After a few trips through the entry way because we had to check our cameras and cellphones we finally made it to see one of the most amazing collections I've ever seen. The Egyptian Museum is filled with almost every artifact that has been excavated, aside from those visiting other museums or some very precious pieces in the British Museum (since Britian didn't leave Egypt til the 1950s). It is basically a huge warehouse of items. Many tombs and mummies and artifacts are not even in cases, they have little papers attached in Arabic, French, and English telling what they are, and the rooms are arranged by time period of the Egyptian Empire. There are so many artifacts in the museum that they constantly rotate collections from the storage are as well. The best part was King Tut's room with everything from his tomb except the actual mummy which is still at Luxor (his three layers of coffin are all in the museum though). In addition, there was a beautiful room of all ancient jewelry. Senait and I could not help cracking up over how we ran out of fashion ideas and steal from the ancient Egyptians, as everything looked in modern style.

Oh back to the perfume. . .The number one reason I am glad we discovered the tunnels and will be able to avoid scary vendors is because as we entered the museum shortly after the perfume incident I questioned whether the museum smelled funny. Someone answered that maybe it was someone I was by, as someone smelling unclean or bad in our notion of smells is not uncommon here for the Western nose. About twenty minutes later I asked the same question and realized that IT WAS ME! The perfume he adorned me with was disgusting. I wish I would have ran faster!

Speaking of accosting people. I don't even notice catcalls anymore. If I do notice I just laugh so hard!

After the museum we went to the Nile Hilton Shopping Mall and decided to spend all of our money at Khan al-Khali instead, but did meet a Graduate student who is spending his third year in Cairo and heard about all the ins and outs from him.

Tonight we went to a great little Italian resteraunt which cost me about two dollars :)

Off to bed. . .orientation tomorrow!

The Arab World moves at a very, VERY, let me reitterate INSANELY slow pace of life. This is a huge change from the life I lead, however I've adapted quite well in three days--Today we got virtually nothing accomplished. While everyone took their Arabic placement test that Melanie and I didn't have to take, Mel browsed the bookstore for a few hours and I sat in the courtyard of our amazing campus, with the wind blowing and the shade covering me from the beating sun, and read the entire Lonely Planet guide to Egypt. I knew nothing about Egypt before I came here besides that Old Cairo has the designer shops, Khan al Khalili is the biggest souk (shooping bazaar) in the world, the Egypt was hot, and that there were pyramids here. Now I know the ins and outs of where I want to go!

After the test we went to this deli called Cilantro. Things move even slower when you try to order! All we did was pick out pesto salads and drinks that were packed in a cooler already and the guy made us bring them to him then about 20 minutes later he served us our drinks exactly the way we took them out of the cooler and about 10 minutes after that he took our plastic filled containers and put them on a plate and served them to us. Again, after about 30 more minutes we had to beg for the check. Also, food is very inexpensive here but they add about 22% in gratuities and taxes—however none of that goes to the waiters so you must add a bit more but fortunately not much. The funny part is that we get so mad about all the extra money because 12 more pounds sounds so high but really it’s like two more dollars and we’d never get mad in the states over two dollars !

After lunch we walked around downtown then back to the bookstore to check out all the Eastern-opinion literature we’d never get in the States then caught the bus back to campus.

Frances and I went and go cell phones—votafones—the coolest thing ever! The phones cost about 50 U.S. Dollars, but then you just had to buy a SIM card with a permenant Egyptian number for about 10 U.S.! If I go to another country I can buy a votafone Sim card with a number for that country, and if I ever return to Egypt (hopefully!) I can just stick my SIM card in and have that number again! We just have to buy prepaid minute cards, but they are like 4 U.S. for 75 minutes in Egypt and can be bought at any convenience store!

Next, Katie, Blair, and I had to get some passport pictures for our dorm i.d.s so we walked about a block down from the hostel and found a Kodak store. The passport pictures were only like 4 U.S. Dollars but as they directed us upstairs to the “studio” we got a little skeptical. The photographer pulled out all these ridiculous backgrounds and props and literally gave us a photoshoot. If I knew I was going to be a model, I might have actually combed my hair or showered or something! However, after our ridiculous giggles and the language barrier he only charged us for passport photos and instructed us to come back in 2 hours to pick them up. When we got back he had cut some into head shot/passport photos and gave the other “fashion shots” to us. I dunno what his deal was, but it was the funniest moment of my trip so far!

Tonight we went to a French resteraunt for dinner with HUGE bouncers outside. We didn’t ask questions, we just walked into this quaint, candle lit, French/Mediterranean Resteraunt, and a young couple moved tables so that a total of 8 of us could push a few tables together and literally double the number of people in the Resteraunt. A great meal and conversation later, they charged us about 40 pounds too much so we wrote our own bill, paid and left. We were so upset again, but in reality that’s only like 7-8 Dollars!

Funny quotes of the night:

“I’m Canadian, my parents were so happy when I could finally stand because I could be useful to them—I could bring them their Molson’s!” by Blair
(and) “I’m ranked 0 on the skin tone scale.” By of course your pale friend Ally to Sunyte my African Arab friend!

Also, we never made it to the museum today so in about 8 hours I’ll be up and heading to see all the Egyptian artifacts (that aren’t in the British Museum in London!!)

Oh and to answer all the questions I've gotten that I didn't know the answer too:

Zamalek is actually the area on the island of Gezira that I live on (I thought Zamalek was the island name but apparently it's the neighborhood name) and it's at the most 5 miles long and at the widest spot 3/4 miles wide.

Also the Mulukeyya that I had yesterday for dinner at Abu as-Seed was made of rabbit both and greens !

I don't know why I was thinking about this, but when I wrote earlier today I forgot to describe the view of Cairo as we landed, what downtown Cairo was like, and now I can also add my amazing evening experience!

As they announced our descent yesterday on Air France, I was upset to be woken up on top of my already ticked-off-ness of having yet another flight being squished into the window by an obese man (what is up with not buying two seats?). However, waking up was one of the best things that could have happened to me. As I looked out the window I saw the greatest expanse of vegetation and the window could have reflected the most confused look off of my face! After vegetation I saw the Nile and another expanse of greens, and it finally made sense to me. As soon as I turned around and looked again, all I could see for miles and miles was sand. Suddenly I was so excited--this is what I pictured! From the air I saw the largest craters and hills and waves of sand, as if I was looking out over the Pacific and seeing the waves. Finally, I saw small but structured clumps of sand! Then I realized those little tiny things were the pyramids!! Compared to the craters in the sand and the natural formations I could not and still cannot believe how minute the pyramids looked. But soon I will see them up close and will let you all know how craftfully enormous and delicate they are!

Today, being downtown Cairo was an experience in itself. If someone was worried about terrorism or anti-Americanism they were ridiculous, they should be worrying about automobiles. No one stops for anything here! Vehicles simply beep to pass or to tell you to get out of their way. Apparently I'm not just joking because I'm used to Ann Arbor walking or anything either because the number one cause of death in Egypt is getting hit by a car! We found the most creative ways to cross the street in downtown Cairo, we'd find a random guy who would be in total running position and run behind him. A few times men would stop cars for us. It was quite scary but the people were so wonderful and friendly. Yes, the catcalls are ridiculous (apparently their only view of Western/white women are skanky movies and tv shows so they think we are all promiscuious!), but we are learning to deal with them and to make sure not to make eye contact.

Tonight, a huge group of us went to Abu Seedee (excuse all of my phonetic spellings for Arabic words!) for dinner. In the Middle East though, dinner is not just dinner, dinner is an evening event. We walked about twenty minutes to this amazing authentic Egyptian resteraunt. As we walked in the resteraunt we were presented with flower necklaces and then bottles of water. We all sat around a HUGE wooden table with a lower-set middle for shared dishes. We all ordered-some of us in English and some of us in Arabic. I ordered an Egyptian dish "Mluukeeya bil Chicken" since the Egyptian word for chicken is different than the word I know in fusha. The waiter was laughing so hard! And proceeded to teach me about the word for chicken and then only spoke to me in Arabic the rest of the night! After dinner we all ordered mint tea and sat for another hour. Three hours later we received the bill for like 65 pounds each! No where in America can you eat so much and such good food for about 10 dollars!

Tomorrow is the Cairo Museum and campus again! Sorry for such long entries. As homework begins in a week I'm sure they will be shorter and less frequent! But right now I'm just so excited about being in the Land of the Pharaohs!

As I sat in the Paris airport I opened my computer and wrote “The journey has proved to be long and emotional, thus far. I did not expect myself to feel so far from home.” just before my computer ran out of battery and closed. Wow how emotional the journey over was. It took almost two days, leaving my home at 7am on Saturday and arriving in Cairo at 9pm on Sunday night. The longest part of the two days was the flight from Chicago to Paris. I was alone, starving, and squished up to the window to avoid the overly obese man I was sitting next to. At about 3am Paris time when I had finally fallen asleep, dinner finally came. Air France actually had decent food and huge quantities. I ate as much as the obese man sitting next to me and thought ‘finally, I will be able to sleep again’. Instead I cried—which is really unusual for me. It’s not unusual for me to cry at a commercial or a Disney movie or even while reading my political science book, but it’s really strange for me to feel fear and the unknown. I didn’t’ realize how far Cairo was until I was on my way to Paris. From Wisconsin to Paris in one day! What a change of worlds.
At the Paris airport, moments after my computer died and I wanted to cry again, instantly the trip changed! I overheard a girl talking about AUC, so naturally I went up to her and asked her if she’d be studying there, where she was from, etc. Slowly person-by-person people started to come up to us. By the time we got on the plane we realized that 6 of us were headed to the same place—and now each of us much happier that we had found each other. When we got to the airport we were a little leary of customs, etc., but it turned out there was virtually nothing we had to go through. We had all heard stories of absurd fees for bringing in a laptop and no one once asked to look in our bags. We found our school driver and hopped over the Nile to our island!
The dorm is amazing! There are security guards everywhere outside and at the doorway, a huge marble entryway, and then glass doors that lead to a huge, luscious courtyard with tables, etc. A workout room and a computer lab are on the first floor along with a cafeteria. There are security guards again going up to the rooms since men and women are totally separate for dorms. Even when they brought our luggage up to our rooms, a female security guard had to go first and make sure that the hallways were empty for the men to carry the luggage up. It was quite a shock to see the measures taken to ensure our security and modesty.
Then last night, Francis, Blair, and I walked around Zamalek—the elite neighborhood and shopping district where our dorm “al bait al tuulub” is located. We walked down to the Nile (Zamalek is actually not just a neighborhood but an island in the Nile) and saw all the nightclubs and resteraunts where we will head tonight for dinner and a great evening with about 15 kids! We keep inviting everyone we meet—I know people are all nervous about finding friends so I just keep inviting more people! It’s like freshman during welcome week!
Today a bunch of us went to breakfast and took our first picture of the trip then headed to campus to find out how confusing the study abroad registration and planning is. Most of the students are in A.L.I.—the language institute—but I wanted to take Egyptian colloquial Arabic and a fun class (since all I know now is Modern Standard or “fuusha” and people don’t actually speak it, it’s purely for academics) so I’m in study abroad. Thankfully Erin and Melonie are also in study abroad and we are going to try to figure out the trips and the schedules together since the A.L.I. students are way more structured than we are and most of the people we’ve met so far are in A.L.I.
Today we also registered ourselves in the country, exchanged more money than we needed since everything is so cheap (ex: two bottles of water for 2.50 which is about 50 cents!). Then we walked around downtown Cairo a bit. We just got back to the dorms to rest up a bit, get out of the heat, and I finally got help setting my internet up! Tonight it’s out to dinner and then tomorrow to the Cairo Museum and downtown Cairo since orientation isn’t until Thursday. I’ll be online a little until classes start, but then I’ll be buckling down. A semester’s worth of two classes in seven weeks! I’m definatley enjoying everything I can now—classes start on Sunday!

After a month in the beautiful Upper Peninsula of Michigan, I forgot what the word "drama" was. Today I had a stark reminder of the drama of MFCR and of UMich politics. They are actually quite funny! At school I used to get super worked up about things, partly because I wasn't used to people "hating me" for what I believe and partly because I never got sleep and politics never ended. At home things are different. I can sit and laugh about incidents that at school I freak out about.

Today I had a trip back in time to the election season. The time period at UMich where I didn't sleep, didn't party, didn't do homework, and didn't stop getting hate mail. Both election seasons: the Presidential and my own MSA election.

Two friends told me two random stories.

1) Some random guy interning at the Senate that I've never even heard his name before was talking about how he hated me. I guess because I stood up to Voice Your Vote for registering voters in a total partisan nature when they were suppose to be unbiased as they were funded by student fees/MSA. It just makes me feel popular because he knows who I am and where I stand, but I have no idea anything about him besides the fact he must be a whiny liberal!

2) My CR friend that works at The Daily told me that one of the staffers wanted to write an editorial against me for MSA. Haha! I've reached All-Star-Conservative-Sta tus if they really were going to write an editorial against me! It would have been awesome because it would totally prove how MSA is liberal--since I was qualified enough with leadership/activities to run for student government they would have to have written about my conservative values. Maybe I would have gotten more votes? Haha!

What's so funny about all of this. . .is that at home I forget what my life in A2 is like, and in A2 I forget how calm my life is up here (haha aside from some random drama back in the high school day :)!!!). Then people tell me random things and I laugh at how seriously we take ourselves at school. Don't get me wrong; we all make a huge difference with our involvement. Youth are a very important force; However, sometimes in the realm of student politics, whether it be within our own parties, on campus, *or even national youth politics*, we need to get off our soap boxes and just enjoy learning from one another and cherish the great educational opportunties rather than throwing out hate.

Back during freshman year, when Howard Dean was famous for his blogging rather than his scream, the old chair of CRs at UMich and I decided to try tblog to capture the climate of A2, the election, and of our lives. Well, now that it is two whole years later and I am the retired chair, it's easy to see that our blogs didn't last long. I tried a few times last summer, but the Casperson campaign got the best of me. In the fall, I failed again and did the "RightGirl Blog" for MLive instead. Now, I am bringing back the name RightGirl (only because I think it's cute/dorky) but not to just discuss politics this time. Yes, politics are a huge part of my life--last year they were close to running my life. But now, I'm branching out a little bit--balancing my education and my perspective on what I want to do with my life. Yes, on these pages you will still find ramblings of my love for the Right, tears over the ruin of our country, and gossip, anger, and joy at student politics on campus and within my own party; but yes, you will also find details of my trip to Egypt, what changes are happening in my life, desires about graduate school, and all my thoughts from Escanaba to Ann Arbor to Cairo. I'm not sure that I'll be good at this, or interesting (since I have my own personal journal for all those thoughts you think you might get to read but you won't!), but I deleted all the entries of freshman year and that summer. . .a clean slate of sorts. . .to catalog my journeys, be they emotional, educational, political, or personal.