Hampshire prepared me well...

...for getting things done at a disorganized school.

It's really a mess right now, but at least it's laughable. Every part of registration requires that I have already done some other part, but I don't find out about the pre-req until I've already stood in line for hours. Example: I went to get my ID this morning at 8:30, when it opened. After waiting for two hours, I was told that, as an ALI (Arabic Language Institute) student, I needed "the white card." They couldn't tell me anything more than that. So I went to the ALI office, where they said that I needed proof of payments in order to get my "white card." Luckily, I had printed out my proofs of payment before leaving the states and even had them on me. So I handed those over and received my mystical white card, which some people would actually call a "registration card." Fortunately, when I made it back to the ID office, the people in line took pity on me and let me in at the front so I wouldn't have to wait another two hours.
After that hastle, I went to activate my ID. I was told to come back in an hour, but when I came back in two hours, it still wasn't activated. When I checked back at 5 o'clock (five and a half hours after I had dropped it off), he told me that it still wasn't activated and that he didn't even have it anymore. He gave it to someone else, and lord only knows if I'll get it back tomorrow.
Of course, I can't get my email address until I have my ID card, which also opens the door to my room. But I'm taking it all in stride. I'm not frustrated, but just sort of rolling with it. Things work on Egyptian time here. If someone says we're leaving at 9, we probably won't leave until 10:30. There's no use getting upset over it, because that's just how things work. Things seem to be getting done eventually, and that's fine by me.

Aside from the crazy registration process, I've been having a really great time. Last night I went to the City Stars mall with some folks to pick up cell phones. I have never seen such a huge mall in all my life. It was something like six stories tall and just expansive. They had restaurants, a grocery store, and all kinds of shops. After getting phones, we ran into a group of Egyptian guys who took us to a hookah bar somewhat nearby. They were incredibly friendly and hospitable, and we had so much fun! I sipped on fresh mango juice and a lemon-mint hookah for hours, and it only cost me the equivalent of 4 US dollars. Two of the Egyptian guys, Ahmed and Sherif, let me talk to them in my broken Arabic and offered to show us around Khan El-Khalili tomorrow night. It was so refreshing to get off the compound that is AUC's new campus. The new campus, while beautiful in it's own way, is more or less in the middle of nowhere. It's located in the outskirts of Cairo that is still under development. Outside my window there is a chain-link fence, and beyond that is a brick wall, beyond which is construction and a highway. I was a little overwhelmed by it on Saturday. I was feeling lonely on a strange campus that looked more like Disney's interpretation of Cairo than Cairo itself, and I felt like an outsider because, well, I am an outsider. But last night's adventuring in Heliopolis was so refreshing and fun that it gave me a complete new attitude about the city and my time here. I'm really looking forward to learning more about this huge crazy city. School stuff will work itself out, but in the meantime I'm going to relax and enjoy the ride.

First 24 hours, in pictures

Well, I made it to Cairo safe and sound. It didn't take long for me to unpack the two bags I brought. Here, my room:


After unpacking, we went on a falucca ride down the Nile.


This morning, we visited Old Cairo and saw the fortress of Babylon, St. Mark's Church, the Crypt of the Holy Family, the Ben Ezra Synagogue, and one of the oldest mosques in Egypt.




More to come later, when I am a little more rested.