Let me preface this post (and future posts) with an apology, because I'm growing more and more incompetent each day. I chalk this up the increased usage of a foreign language; I can barely speak gud Engleesh anymore, and my spelling has gone completely awry (e.g. "so" became, "os" and "built," "buitl"; I'm blaming this on Arabic's right to left read). Anyway, I'll scour this post for spelling/grammar errors, but please overlook the missed ones. Shukran!
To begin, AUC is a stark contrast from the rest of Cairo. Whereas Cairo is friendly, poor, and culture-rich, New Cairo/AUC is elitist, rich, and bland. The new campus is quite beautiful, but does not reflect Egypt in any way, which is a major disappointment. At the risk of sounding pretentious, AUC's educational standards are quite subpar to the University of Michigan's, and unfortunately class has been rather dull. I hoped to really increase my Arabic skills, but I'm beginning to question how much I'll actually be learning - my Arabic professor announced we could only miss 12 classes a semester (12?!?!?). With that said, despite everything, I'm still enjoying myself. The campus is brand new and is still working out various kinks; in addition, I'm in Cairo, where patience is the first virtue learned. I'm meeting wonderful people, and it's quite interesting to view Egypt's elite in a social setting.
All of my classes revolve around Egypt or Middle Eastern culture, and undoubtedly I'll learn something. For example, I've already learned that Egyptians are rarely on time, as my professor prefers to walk into class 20 minutes late.
On a good note, some of my classes have several field trips planned - we may be going to excavation sites, which will be incredible, to say the least.
In other good news, the Obama craze continues, and one man actually "raised the roof" when he found out I was American.
Also, I feel compelled to tell you that it's 80 degrees here - wah-wah!
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