Posted in Uncategorized on Feb 28th, 2009 No Comments »
Malls are not a typical feature of the musings of American students abroad. They are the places we go to be reminded of home, to drink Starbucks and take a break from the more adventurous seeming experiences. The City Stars mall in Heliopolis, about a half hour from downtown Cairo, certainly reminds one of America, [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Feb 19th, 2009 No Comments »
Every week I spend approximately eight hours on a bus, travelling from Zamalek, near the center of the city, to the campus of the university, located in the suburb of New Cairo. Clustered with Americans, Egyptians, and others on a ride that can take up to an hour and a half, I literally experiene the the expansion [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Feb 9th, 2009 2 Comments »
I have just begun a semester abroad at the American University in Cairo, an outsider in a university that is itself outside of Egyptian society. My hour-long rides on the bus to the outskirts of the city, where the brand new campus is located, bring to mind its inaccessibility to the vast majority of Egyptians [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Feb 5th, 2009 No Comments »
One of the most fundamental sources of difference between my home and this new place is in how people relate to their cultural past. In Egypt, ancient history seems to be everywhere, displayed in sterile glass cases in countless museums, and on maps that spill out from tour agencies. Just as the pyramids rise up [...]