So Ally passes me her PC (I am a Mac user just to make it clear) and says, "You have not posted anything on the blog, and we have been here for a month!" As a result, here I am a month later writing about my experiences in the far off distant land of Egypt. Well, let me tell you that Egypt is very much romantisized in plenty of literature - especially that of Egypt's history. No pre-reading on Cairo can prepare you for its busy overcrowded streets, smog filled air, and maze designed malls. However, somehow we have been able to manage and adapt to the arabian world. We not only stop at the local street vender for our fruits and vegetables, but we also are now able to walk around in the palm tree filled streets in 33 degree weather without breaking a sweat (this was unbearable before). The climitization of our bodies is a clear indicator that Cairo is beginning to feel like home.
I shall tell you about Cairo another time - Ally made it clear that information about my experiences at the AUC is imperitive in this post. So here goes... Where do I begin? My first day on campus during orientation week was overwhelming. As the large air conditioned bus pulled into the gated campus after a one hour commute in Cairo traffic to the "New Cairo" campus - I felt my blood rush with excitement. Security at the AUC is intense - first you must pass through the gated walls with armed security and then you must pass through metal dectectors and bag scanners before being permitted to enter the campus. It was at this point that I became emotional and shed a slight tear of joy. Here I was, in the midst of an american university, in Cairo, to be taking Egyptology. What adventures would await me? What challenges lie ahead? Granted, I am at the AUC to study, so although I was excited to study in Egypt, I also knew that this was going to be a challege.
The $400 million, 260-acre AUC campus is beautiful. Its outdoor courtyards with palm trees and arabic architecture mixed with modern makes it the perfect environment for academia to flourish. There is a large library that is modern in architecture and has an airy feel that provides refuge from the overcrowded loud city. Once in this library, your brain is able to turn to your studies and focus entirely. The space however is only one benefit to the library, its real gem lies on the third floor where you will find the "Rare Books Library". This library is home to some of the rarest books known to the field of Egyptology, and the examintion of some of these books require the archival process of using white gloves in a well ventelated room. I should note that one must pass through another set of security before being allowed access to both the main floor library and then another on the third floor rare books. Without an activated sudent card, access to this wonderful database is restricted.
There are many buildings on campus including a large gymnasium and an outdoor olympic size pool that is free to use by all students at anytime. It also has a large gardenspace that is filled with date trees, palm trees, and other exotic flowers unknown to North America. Although this space is beautiful, it is usually empty because it is in an open area and can be quite hot during the day. I must tell you now about the location where I will spend the next two years of my life. The Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Hall is much like any another with regular class rooms consisting of white boards, overhead projectors, and a lecture desk for the professors. All of my classes are in a regular sitting setting with desks and not in a lecture hall setting.
These are all boring details - the interesting bits come from my classes. One of the classes I am taking is the History of Ancient Egypt with Dr. Sabahhy, where we examine the historiography of Ancient Egypt and look at reasons for historical change. Another class I am taking is Art and Architecture of anceint Egypt where we look at the art as a source and examine it for information on Egypt's past. So far, we have looked at pottery from periods such as the Neolithic Period and how it reflected early sun religion in Egypt. Geography of Ancient Egypt is also interesting. In this class we look at geographical reasons that provided the ancient Egyptians with their way of life - which was in some way restricted because they did not travel out of Egypt, but at the same time gave them everything they needed to survive. My last class is Hieroglyphics where we study the language of the ancient Egyptians in order to be able to read ancient hieroglyphic texts.
All of these classes are very interesting to me. They are of course, prerequisites for my Masters and the "A" average required in them has been pressure that motivates me on the weekends when I struggle through my hieroglyphics. I should tell you that there has been times that I am in class and when I see an artifact that I am familiar with, I get excited to find out more on it. I still cant believe that I am studying Egyptology in Egypt! Sometimes as I wander through the library, I see books that I have used in my undergraduate thesis that I had to interlibrary loan - just there for students to read.
I am sure that I have bored you enough with all this jargon on my classes - but I will definatly be informing you on more cool things that I learn in class. Tomorrow, I have my first field trip to an excavation site to the ancient site of Saqqara where Ptolemaic remains have been found and is currently being taken out of the ground!! Im really excited about all of this, and although I have a killer cold that causes me to cough up tons on gunk - I am going tomorrow if it kills me!
I shall tell you about Cairo another time - Ally made it clear that information about my experiences at the AUC is imperitive in this post. So here goes... Where do I begin? My first day on campus during orientation week was overwhelming. As the large air conditioned bus pulled into the gated campus after a one hour commute in Cairo traffic to the "New Cairo" campus - I felt my blood rush with excitement. Security at the AUC is intense - first you must pass through the gated walls with armed security and then you must pass through metal dectectors and bag scanners before being permitted to enter the campus. It was at this point that I became emotional and shed a slight tear of joy. Here I was, in the midst of an american university, in Cairo, to be taking Egyptology. What adventures would await me? What challenges lie ahead? Granted, I am at the AUC to study, so although I was excited to study in Egypt, I also knew that this was going to be a challege.
The $400 million, 260-acre AUC campus is beautiful. Its outdoor courtyards with palm trees and arabic architecture mixed with modern makes it the perfect environment for academia to flourish. There is a large library that is modern in architecture and has an airy feel that provides refuge from the overcrowded loud city. Once in this library, your brain is able to turn to your studies and focus entirely. The space however is only one benefit to the library, its real gem lies on the third floor where you will find the "Rare Books Library". This library is home to some of the rarest books known to the field of Egyptology, and the examintion of some of these books require the archival process of using white gloves in a well ventelated room. I should note that one must pass through another set of security before being allowed access to both the main floor library and then another on the third floor rare books. Without an activated sudent card, access to this wonderful database is restricted.
There are many buildings on campus including a large gymnasium and an outdoor olympic size pool that is free to use by all students at anytime. It also has a large gardenspace that is filled with date trees, palm trees, and other exotic flowers unknown to North America. Although this space is beautiful, it is usually empty because it is in an open area and can be quite hot during the day. I must tell you now about the location where I will spend the next two years of my life. The Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Hall is much like any another with regular class rooms consisting of white boards, overhead projectors, and a lecture desk for the professors. All of my classes are in a regular sitting setting with desks and not in a lecture hall setting.
These are all boring details - the interesting bits come from my classes. One of the classes I am taking is the History of Ancient Egypt with Dr. Sabahhy, where we examine the historiography of Ancient Egypt and look at reasons for historical change. Another class I am taking is Art and Architecture of anceint Egypt where we look at the art as a source and examine it for information on Egypt's past. So far, we have looked at pottery from periods such as the Neolithic Period and how it reflected early sun religion in Egypt. Geography of Ancient Egypt is also interesting. In this class we look at geographical reasons that provided the ancient Egyptians with their way of life - which was in some way restricted because they did not travel out of Egypt, but at the same time gave them everything they needed to survive. My last class is Hieroglyphics where we study the language of the ancient Egyptians in order to be able to read ancient hieroglyphic texts.
All of these classes are very interesting to me. They are of course, prerequisites for my Masters and the "A" average required in them has been pressure that motivates me on the weekends when I struggle through my hieroglyphics. I should tell you that there has been times that I am in class and when I see an artifact that I am familiar with, I get excited to find out more on it. I still cant believe that I am studying Egyptology in Egypt! Sometimes as I wander through the library, I see books that I have used in my undergraduate thesis that I had to interlibrary loan - just there for students to read.
I am sure that I have bored you enough with all this jargon on my classes - but I will definatly be informing you on more cool things that I learn in class. Tomorrow, I have my first field trip to an excavation site to the ancient site of Saqqara where Ptolemaic remains have been found and is currently being taken out of the ground!! Im really excited about all of this, and although I have a killer cold that causes me to cough up tons on gunk - I am going tomorrow if it kills me!
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| on campus |
