First week in Cairo

So today was our last day of "Survival Arabic" and we met our teacher at the old campus downtown instead of at the new campus. I wish AUC were still there- it was pretty and only 15 minutes away (I just added pictures of both the old and new campuses. The new campus is the place with all the pristine buildings. The old campus is the one with grass). We got lunch with our teacher. I just had falafel and mango juice- The juices here are sooo good). Then we walked around the city and she pointed things out and we asked how to say a lot of different things. I took some pictures of the Nile during the day and the Cairo Opera House which is really pretty. Our teacher told us it would only take 10-20 minutes to walk home from where we were. It took an hour, but I guess that is just Egypt time.

I've definitely noticed a lot differences between the US and Egypt in the week that I've been here. It's really weird living on an all-girl floor, especially when boys aren't even allowed on the floor, let alone in our room. Whenever one of the maintenance or cleaning men is on the floor, one of the female cleaning persons will repeatedly yell "Man on the floor! Man on the floor!" I've been warned many a time about harassment on street and so far it really hasn't been that bad. I've had guys say things to me a couple of times, but it's mainly in Arabic so I don't understand what they're saying. Today when we were walking around a lot of guys said hi and "welcome" or "welcome to Egypt." It's definitely a different experience being in the minority.

A couple of other things I've noticed- there are never paper towels in bathrooms. ever. I bought a hand towel to bring with me because I got tired of wiping my hands on my pants. Having to buy lots of water is a pain too. It's super cheap but it's annoying to not be able to use any water fountains. People stay up really late here. We went to a bar on Wednesday night around 11 and people were there eating dinner! I can't imagine eating dinner that late. Also, everyone smokes here. And they do it everywhere. There is a sign in our dorm room saying that "Heavy Smoking" will set off the fire alarm- heavy being the key word there. I guess regular smoking is ok.

Classes start on Sunday and tomorrow is our first day where we have nothing required to do. I think I'm going to go to a big market with some people I've met here. I'll take lots of pictures!