First day of class

What a lucky day it's been. Got up at 5 and realized it was 5 due to the time difference, then got up again at 6 and took the early bus to AUC for my first class of the day...3amiya! Next, Egyptian Foreign Policy, MSA Arabic, and International Law.

Half my professors didn't show up to class today. Neither of my politics professors. That is sad. Although to be fair, a lot of people were absent because of Ramadan and Eid being this Thursday/Friday. Egyptians are a sociable lot, and the campus showed this extremely well judging by the amount of people hanging around the walkways chatting with their friends.

I'd go on a rant again about the ridiculous bureaucracy that involves me going to three different places to activate my email password--which I took care of last week and mistakenly thought I was finished--but "the system" will undoubtedly be evident in this and future posts.

I think it's really interesting how people think of education differently than we do in the US. Here at AUC, we Study Abroad students are invited to meet a slice of the Egyptian population that's really the thinnest cut of the top twirl of red velvet icing on your succulent, dark chocolate Georgetown Cupcake. (Why cupcake? No, it's not some deep metaphor for Egyptian society, although I'm sure a lot of less well-off Egyptians would consider these people the "let them eat cake" flavor. No. I just like cupcakes.)
Where was I? Yes, the student population. Being as privileged as they are to attend the best university in Egypt and one of the finest in the Middle East, understandably many don't seem to feel the motivation to work as hard since their family money and connections point to a decent job at the end of college anyway. It's the same to some degree in America. But again, this is just my first impression, so it'll probably change once I meet more people. (Some fondly refer to us as AUCians, but I refuse this label. To me it just sounds like we're from another world. Ok, this may in fact be true. I take it back.)

After walking out of my International Law class after the professor didn't show up, I decided to go to the library and hang out. Figuring I didn't have anywhere to be, I let time tick away aimlessly, knowing that the next bus was at 9:15pm and I'd find people to talk to or something else to occupy my time. Two hours went by.

As I walked to the gym to possibly work out, I remembered two things: the gym was closed in the afternoons for Ramadan, and the free dinner and talent show at Zamalek were tonight at 8pm. Ya Allah, one more day wasted, khalas. No buses before 9:15.

Of course, it pays (or it's free, in my case) to have Egyptian friends. As luck would have it, my friend Ahmed was just about to leave campus for Mohandiseen and gave me a ride back with plenty of time before the dinner. I owe him one, big time.

The talent show turned out to be worth it. We all gathered in the cafeteria area on the floor to see the raw talent (and in some cases stupidity) that our fellow exchange students offered, including Filipino break dancing, a true story/comedy routine involving an American and two giggly Egyptian girls, and a rap from the point of view of an Iraqi insurgent. This latter act reminded me a lot of the Elder Swear and Snape's cry: "Five hundred THOUSAND points from Gryffindor!"
Nobody else wanted to go, so I went up and did the bhangra routine from senior year. I'm sure people were a little freaked out but that's what these things are for. I'll just say this: never be afraid to put yourself out there, because you never know what might happen.

Continue reading.

After we had our free Iftar dinner, one of my friends (who turned out to actually be Indian) did her own dance to Mauja hi Mauja. Totally stole my act. (Although technically I stole her people's act first, I guess.) Apparently I inspired her to do it, which could be a good or bad thing depending on how she thought my dancing was. Near the end I came up and we both performed. Overall a very interesting night.

Even though she and Jens, the Swedish accordionist extraordinaire (first and last ones performing, funny how that works), won the talent competition, I got a lot of compliments most involving having the baidan to dance in the first place. Good stuff.

Then I had a good munaqisha about politics and petrol with Hassan, our soon-to-be-vacated Egyptian roommate, and worked out at the Zamalek gym. I'd say it was a fairly productive first day. On the whole, kuwayyis awi (very good).