A wizard is never late Frodo, nor is he early.... he arrives precisely when he means to. Likewise I would like to say that a blogger is never late to post, nor is she early, she blogs precisely when she means to...
Since I have been here almost a couple of months now I want to share what the experience has been like. This is just a little introduction to the university itself.
This is me standing outside the University. The whole university is surrounded by a thick wall although exactly what they are trying to keep out I am not so sure about since the university is out in the middle of nowhere surrounded by building projects that seem to have failed miserably. It is kind of like living in a ghost town.
Although the campus is in the middle of nowhere it is beautiful, I really love the sunsets here, they are spectacular!
This is a view of the main walkway of the campus. All the buildings are in a row, so there is a sort of main street that everyone uses.
Egyptians enjoy sitting. There are places to sit absolutely everywhere, like these chairs which I have seen the maintenance people make and mend around campus, then there are stone benches hidden around in random places, steps for no other purpose than a place to gather (and rumor says, protest on once a year) and even small cement blocks that I guess are supposed to be used as some sort of chair...
I love the oriental feeling that the Campus has. It really is beautiful. Although it is more beautiful than it is practical. On of the most famous buildings on campus is called Prince Alaweed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud Hall but is more commonly referred to as the HUSS building. The building itself is as complicated as the name implies. It was built to resemble an Sheik Palace and has doors that only open from one side, stairs that lead to nowhere, and random bridges. It is beautiful but if you don't know where the class is before going to it you won't find it. Even students that have been here for years still get lost in it.
There are water fountains all over campus, and a lot of greenery. In a way the campus is like an oasis in the desert.
The most grass I have seen in three months. No further comment needed.
To finish this post I want to say a few things about the dorms. It is the first time I have lived in dorms and it will be the last time...ever... I guess it is nice to not have to worry to much about doing anything, but personally, I like doing things and having responsibility for my own stuff. I want to be responsible for cleaning my own room and not having a maid come once a week and wash the floors and change my sheet while I can just stand and watch her. I want a bathroom that doesn't look like a public restroom. I want a kitchen that has a real oven and not just two hotplates and a microwave to share with 20 other girls... Once again, there is focus on beauty but not practicality...
The kitchen... actually, they call it a kitchenette... let me just repeat: shared with twenty other girls...
Egypt really is wonderful! It is an archaeological dream, there are ancient remains everywhere! Whenever I am driving around I can hardly stop myself from starring out the window at everything, there is always something fun to see!
One day I went to a mall in Heliopolis called City Stars, it is enormous! It is the second largest mall in the Middle East (Dubai Mall is bigger). Anyway, I wrote down interesting things that I saw that evening and just to give you an idea of what Egypt is like here is the list:
1. We were watching a movie at the cinema (Inception). Halfway through they stopped the movie for five minutes and people got up to have a smoke break.
2. When looking for CD's at the store we found a few but also a large amount of cassettes, most of them were also somewhat dusty.
3. Chips with cuttlefish taste... why anyone would ever want to eat chips that taste like cuttlefish?
4. A sign advertising 0% sale...
5. Car missing a wheel parked in the middle of the highway
