Oles Go Global: Traveling the World in 147 Days: 3rd Week of Egypt: September 25

Egypt Week 3 (September 25th to October 1st)

“ مرحبا! ” –Hello!

This week was our last week of classes at the American University of Cairo but only our first week of Arabic lessons! On September 25^th and 26^th we got to learn the basics of Egyptian Arabic taught by Professor Kamal Al Ekhnawy. This week was quite class-heavy; we spent six hours each day in the classroom learning everything from the modern history of Egypt to Islamic art and architecture! Many of our evenings were spent working on research projects and resting up for our individual presentations.

During our free time we did manage to have some fun in New Cairo! We celebrated Becca’s 21^st birthday (September 28^th) with a cake and lemon mint slushies. We also celebrated Michael’s 20.5^th birthday (September 30^th) with a Lebanese feast (at our favorite New Cairo restaurant) and an ice-cream cake! Some of us attended AUC Zumba, yoga and belly dancing classes, which was a fun break from such a class-heavy week. Others met and hung out with Egyptian students! One of our favorite things about living on campus in Egypt was how welcoming the students were and the fun we had hanging out with our new Egyptian friends.

All of this didn’t prevent us from going on a few tours! On October 1^st, we visited two well-known Egyptian mosques in Old Islamic Cairo: the Sultan Hassan Mosque and the Mosque of Ibn Tulun. No surprise, the Islamic architecture seen at these mosques was indescribably beautiful and ornate, and we all wished we could have stayed for more time! The Mosque of Ibn Tulun was especially fun! We wandered all the way to the top of the highest minaret, and saw a beautiful panorama of Old Cairo. However, some of us (Michael) were afraid of heights, but it was still fun!