Wait, classes?

Yesterday marked the completion of my first week of classes at AUC. This post is mostly about the "study" part of my study abroad experience, so there's not too much about exotic places here (save for the Cinnabon on campus).

So five days a week I have classes at the AUC new campus, which I arrive at between 9 AM and 10 AM every day and depart from around 5 PM daily. Due to the fact that the new campus is so isolated, every day begins with a 30-45 minute bus ride and ends with an hour-hour and a half bus ride back. This bus ride is mostly spent talking to friends, listening to music, sleeping, and doing homework (in that order). Getting up at 7 or 8 AM and not getting back to the dorm until around 6:15 PM almost feels like a full-time job. However, since my schedule goes between classes and hours of free time spent in the library, I guess it's not really that intense.

While the new AUC campus is gorgeous with its sophisticated design, it is a dramatic departure from any other part of Egypt I've witnessed so far. Take the food for example. The new campus contains several Western-style eateries and one Egyptian Food vendor, which is by far the cheapest meal option and the one I eat most often. Familiar names such as Cinnabon and McDonald's are on campus, yet their prices are close to the same as what you would pay in the US (A cinnabon is about 15LE, which is about $3 US, and a McDonald's meal is about 25 LE, or about $5 US). Additionally, after ordering some Egyptian McDonald's, I found out that it unfortunately tastes the exact same as in the US (which reminded me of a book I read freshman year about McDonalds), even if the Egyptian McDonalds has food like the "McArabia" available (basically replace the bun with a pita). For these reasons, I end up eating falafel most of the week.

While the campus is clean and has an unnecessarily high number of fountains (for the middle of the desert), the greatest contrast between AUC and downtown Cairo I've noticed is the people. I should start by mentioning that AUC is 80-90% Egyptian students. While downtown Cairo is full of women dressed conservatively and wearing headscarves and men wearing relatively normal-looking western clothes, the AUC campus is like a fashion show for both genders and the percentage of women wearing hijab (Muslim conservative dress, generally headscarves) is much lower. Most of the American students, myself included, came to Cairo with moderately-priced clothing for travel purposes. The Egyptian students on the other hand, tend to wear expensive-looking designer clothing that looks more expensive than all of my band t-shirts and cowboy shirts combined.

As far as my classes go, I'd have to say that despite not getting everything I wanted, it could be worse. I'm enrolled in two Arabic classes, two history classes (both of which are Middle East history), and one political science course. The two Arabic courses are four days a week each, meaning I have Arabic in some form at least once a day. Since my friends know that I really like learning Arabic, I actually really appreciate this and hope I learn a lot by the end of the semester.

My first Arabic class is my Modern Standard Arabic course, which represents my fourth semester in this particular part of the language. For those that don't know, Modern Standard Arabic is very formal, and is used more or less only in official announcements, writing, and the news. Attempts to use this on the streets of Cairo when asking for some kushari will be met with odd looks, laughter, and occasionally a complete lack of understanding. However, despite its seeming uselessness, it is used everywhere in the Middle East, unlike the local dialects (an Egyptian would not be able to understand an Iraqi or Moroccan if colloquial Arabic was used). My Modern Standard Arabic course's professor doesn't know English too well, so the overwhelming majority of dialogue in the class is in Arabic. This is a significant shift from my professors at AU, who would break down the language and explain it in English most of the time. I can't say that I didn't learn a ton about Arabic at AU, but this new approach seems like it will be really effective at getting me to increase my speaking and listening comprehension abilities.

In contrast to Modern Stanard Arabic is my Egyptian Colloquial class, which nearly every American student I know is taking for its usefulness. I have very little experience with Egyptian Colloquial Arabic, with the exception of a few short lessons at AU and a phrasebook, so I'm hoping that I'll be able to say what I need to in Arabic by the end of the semester. The dialogue in this class is also mostly in Arabic, and our professor does a lot of teaching by correcting us whenever we don't know a word or use a modern standard word. I have also never had homework like I have in the class, as all of our assignments consist of recording ourselves speaking and then e-mailing the professor the recording.

My Modern Middle East History Class seems very interesting, since I really know very little about Middle Eastern History and everything I learn is new information. The professor, despite her claims to impartiality the first day, has also made some very biased comments, which actually make the class more interesting. For example, when explaining the significance of Al-Azhar University as the most important Sunni Islamic school, she repeatedly added that Sunni Islam is the only "true path" of Islam. She also went on an interesting side note about how the Taleban are not representative of Islam at all, and how militants, terrorists, and conflicts between Muslims have really marred the religion's reputation worldwide.

My second history class, Survey of Arab History, is my only class that is overwhelmingly Egyptian students. At orientation, they warned the international students not to take 200-level classes, as they would be too easy for Americans, and on the first day of this 200-level class I found out what they meant. Most of the Egyptian students in the class are math and science majors, and about half the class raised their hands when the professor asked who was taking it because they had to as a core requirement. However, despite how easy the classwork looks, I found that I knew almost nothing about Arab History from pre-Islamic times to the 20th Century, so I'm stil learning a lot of new information. From an alternative perspective, it would be like an Arab student coming to the US and learning about the Revolutionary War and Civil War in a general course for non-majors.

My political science course, Government and Politics of Egypt, is taught by a German professor that some friends from AU who were here last semester warned against. While I tried to switch out of this class, dropping and adding classes here is very difficult as it is not done online and there is no waitlist system like there is at AU. I'm deciding to stick with the class and hoping for the best, since the topic itself seems really interesting. I also get to write a research assignment on my first choice of available topics, Political Islam in Egypt.

Okay, so sorry if this post wasn't all that interesting and lacked pictures, but not much exciting happens during the school week. I go to campus, come back and eat dinner with friends, and then do homework and go to sleep a lot earlier than I do at AU. My next update will probably come after I do some fun things this weekend.