The Last Month

As my family has repeatedly pointed out, a trip to Jerusalem is a poor way to finish my record of a semester in Egypt. Of course the problem is that the longer I wait, the more behind I get, and the more daunting the eventual task becomes. With that in mind, please forgive me if I am sparse in my description of my last month in Egypt.

The last significant trip that I took before finals was to the Sinai Peninsula. It was a short trip, taken over the course of a normal two-day weekend, which gave it a rather hurried feel. That combined with the lingering effects of food poisoning from the previous week made portions of the trip less than completely enjoyable. However, there were two highlights that definitely justified squeezing the journey in the limited time. One was snorkeling in Dahab; the second a nighttime hike up Mt. Sinai to watch the sunrise from its peak.

Dahab, the base of our brief adventures, is a world-famous place for diving and snorkeling. Among the many locations with spectacular coral life is a spot known as the Blue Hole, which is infamous for an underwater arch that several divers have died attempting to reach. Luckily my two friends and I had no such aspirations, and we generally stuck to the surface. The place is rather disappointing from the shore, and seems like any other bit of ocean, although the depth of the hole is apparent by its much darker blue. But after sticking your head underwater a colorful world of life emerges, one that presents a stark contrast to the bleak desert above water. We swam and stared for about an hour and a half, until my swimming abilities were more or less exhausted and we returned to the beach and then to our hotel.

The second adventure began that night when we drove to Mt. Sinai at 10:00 PM after attempting to sleep for five hours in a room that cost under two dollars and was worth about that. We reached the reputed site of Moses ascent at about 1:00 AM, and became part of one of the oddest movements of people I have seen. In an odd combination of pilgrimage, tourism, and mountain climbing, hundreds if not thousands of people ascended the mountain in the dark, sleepily stumbling up a winding trail and wondering how all these people could possibly fit on the top. Finally, after two hours walking, we reached the final resting stop where climbers could buy overpriced food or drink or rent camelhair blankets to fend off the suddenly chilly weather. For those who climbed especially early there were even beds that could used for a predawn nap.

We rested at this stop for a while and then made the final ascent, where an old chapel marks the legendary peak. We were still early enough to get good seats, if having a view of the

sunrise is the operative standard. Unfortunately they were also seats perched on the edge of thirty foot drop. Whenever an ambitious tourist attempted to climb the rock to my right they would seem to be on the verge of pushing me down this drop, and consequently I was quite ready for the sun to hurry up and rise. Finally it did, illuminating a landscape of rocky, jagged peaks, which reminded me of T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land, and his description of a place where "the sun beats, and the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief, and the dry stone no sound of water." Beautiful, but not particularly inviting.

Not much needs to be said about the remainder of the semester, other than that finals went well and by the end most of the study abroad students were plenty ready to return home, to a more familiar and seemingly sane land. But as they gradually began their flights to America I began the longest and most thorough trip through Egypt of the semester, with my newly arrived family. Their visit lasted 18 days, and included far more than I can include here, so I will briefly summarize. The first portion of the trip focused on Ancient Egypt and southern

portion of the Nile Valley, which I had yet to visit. We saw a large number of temples, monuments and tombs, some of them famous and others relatively ignored. We also enjoyed a three day river cruise, during which we didn't have to worry about food, tourist hacks, or the other myriad problems of independent travel. Some of the sites, such as Abu Simbel and Karnak Temple, astound with sheer size. Others, like the Tombs of the Nobles at Luxor, were less breathtaking but more accessible with their simple paintings reflecting everyday life.

After our time in Luxor we stopped for a day in Cairo before heading west to Siwa, an oasis on the edge of the Sahara that was famous in ancient times for its Oracle, whose most famous guest was Alexander the Great. The oasis is a welcome sight after miles upon miles of featureless desert, and is large enough to support over 30,000 inhabitants, although its main town feels much smaller than that. Our main purpose in coming to Siwa was a three day camel safari through the surrounding desert. This safari was, by consensus, the best part of my family's visit. Siwa felt like another culture, more African and joyful than the rest of Egypt, but also more conservative, especially in the dress of their women. The desert was amazing, with classic views of dunes, countless shells from its days as an ocean bed, and unbelievably starry skies at night.

Finally we left Siwa for a day in Alexandria, followed by two days in Cairo, during which my family saw the Pyramids, Coptic Cairo, and the Islamic quarter. Then it was time for the flight home. Of course Egypt couldn't say goodbye without one final inconvenience, in the form of a two-hour delay in our departing flight. Luckily we had left a long layover in Germany open, and so we managed to catch all of our planes and even enjoy a delicious German lunch in downtown Frankfurt. Twelve hours later we were in Denver, and my semester abroad was finished in the same place it begun. However, my reflections on the time were only beginning, and will no doubt continue for a long time. I hope to share some of those thoughts, but I should warn my readers to not hold their breath.

Jerusalem

A couple of weeks ago Egypt celebrated "Sinai Liberation Day," and in honor of the occasion 4 friends and I traveled to the very country the Sinai was liberated from: Israel. The trip came right after a busy week for me, as my Glee Club friend Trigg Ferrano visited, along with fellow Domer Ellie. Their visit went excellently, and it was quite refreshing to get a new perspective on Cairo from Trigg. However, on Friday night I bid them farewell and headed to the bus station for the overnight bus to Taba, on the Israeli border. Soon I would learn one important lesson in two countries: try not to travel on people's holy days.

For the first hour or so the Egyptian bus played the Quran at excessive levels, completely ruining any chance of going to sleep. I'm not sure if this was company policy or the driver's choice, but it insured that I arrived at the border in a sleepy state. After crossing over without much hassle I discovered a second problem. While buses normally depart from Eilat to Jerusalem throughout the day, on Saturday the first one leaves at 4:30. Eilat is a lovely resort town, but resort towns are really only nice if you happen to have a room to resort to. Otherwise, you're just wandering mostly empty streets, and counting the number of open restaurants on one hand. So after a bit of this I decided to take the 11:30 bus to Tel Aviv, and hope that there were more frequent connections from there to Jerusalem.

Of course, that didn't quite work out either, as the next bus after I arrived left at 8:00. However, I did get to spend a few hours wandering around Israel's largest city, and hoping to surprise my traveling companions, who had come to Tel Aviv a day earlier. Alas, I searched the beaches in vain. Finally at 9:00 I arrived in Jerusalem, to find the city practically dead. After Cairo the place seemed sleepier than a Nebraska I-80 town. I had arrived in one of the world's most famous and controversial cities, but it was a quiet reception.

The next day revealed a little more life. My friends were joining me that afternoon, so I spent the morning going to a few sites that were a little less famous. My first stop was the Garden of Gethsemane, which was just opening. I had the place to myself, which was a pretty amazing experience. There is also a rather new basilica built nearby, on the ruins of two earlier churches. After leaving I climbed up the Mount of Olives, and sure enough I was semi-lost in East Jerusalem. This was actually quite exciting, because I got a chance to use my Arabic to get directions out, and of course enjoy a cup of over-sweetened coffee from some Arab construction workers who were happy with, and a bit amused by, my attempts at speaking their language.

The next day and a half were occupied with seeing the major sites of the city with my friends who had come from Tel Aviv. Jerusalem truly has a ridiculous number of holy sites, to the point that we unknowingly stumbled upon the Upper Room, where the Last Supper is supposed to happen. Of course their were three sites that overshadowed everything else, one from each major monotheistic religion: the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, where we got a free guided tour from a very enthuastic Canadian priest in training, the Western Wall, and the Dome of the Rock. All three were amazing experiences, but in different ways. The Western Wall is quite unremarkable in appearance, yet might present the purest spiritual experience, free from the distractions of ornate decoration. The Dome of the Rock is probably one of the most beautiful buildings in existence, at least from the exterior (only Muslims are allowed to enter). And the Church of the Holy Sepulcher packs the most history and holy sites in a relatively tiny, cluttered site. It was much different than any other church I've been in, perhaps because its ownership is divided between five different sects, who do not always get along.

As always in the Middle East, the journey back presented plenty of adventures, or misadventures. We literally caught the bus back to the border seconds before it departed, but the trouble really started when we tried to enter Egypt. First of all Israel has a rather evil exit tax of 98 shekels, which of course is impossible not to pay. Then several people had trouble with visas at the border. Normally they could buy a new one without trouble, but because it was Israel it was more complicated, which really means more expensive. But in the end we all got through and caught a minibus to Cairo, ready to enter the homestretch of the semester abroad.

Ahly vs. Zamalek

Last Friday I accomplished one of my goals for this semester by seeing Egypt's biggest domestic football game: Ahly vs. Zamalek. FIFA said that the two clubs share "one of the world's fiercest footballing rivalries," and while the match does not have talent of El Clasico or the Milan derby it certainly shares the passion. This year Al-Ahly had already more or less wrapped up the league title, but a win over their archrivals would be a particularly sweet way to clinch the title. Meanwhile, Zamalek could insure a second place finish, and thus a place in next year's African Champions League, by a victory. Of course bragging rights until the next game next year were also on the line. The price for a second class seat to the game? 30 pounds, or between 5 and 6 dollars. Not too shabby.

We showed up to Cairo International Stadium about an hour and a half before kickoff, to find the stadium already almost completely filled up. Our first error was to enter the Ahly gates, even though we intended to support Zamalek. After we saw that the Zamalek section was still open we asked the guards if we could cross the "no man's land" between the two areas, guarded by two rows of riot police. After some deliberation we were allowed to go over, and found seats with high but good view of the entire field.

The game surpassed all my expectations. Zamalek got off to a stunning start by scoring in the first minute, and the Ahly section went dead quiet. For the rest of the first half there was non-stop action, as the two teams traded goals before going to the locker room tied at 2 all. The second half was a little calmer, so when Zamalek scored with under 15 minutes remaining it seemed that they might have wrapped the game up. The Zamalek section got rowdier and rowdier as the clock wound down, until the game reached injury time, the extra time added by the referee to make up for time lost on injuries and other distraction during the half. Then disaster struck as Ahly scored an equalizer in the final minutes, and it the Zamalek section's turn to fall silent, except for the sound of curses and a few chairs broken in anger. The remaining time expired without incident, and although the game ended in a draw the Ahly crowd definitely came away with a better feeling, having taken a point away from what looked like certain defeat. Despite my disappointment at the result I mostly felt lucky to have witnessed such an incredible game, which provided great entertainment both on and off the field. Here's a video of the game's six goals.

Spring Break: Part Two

Things are getting surprisingly busy here in Egypt, especially since we're entering the time of year when school is actually challenging, or at least time consuming. Final papers are popular in Egyptian classes, so in the next few weeks I'll be writing three 10-12 page papers and several smaller ones, while fitting in a trip to Jerusalem(!) in between. So if I'm a little tardy in posting, please forgive me.

With that note, I'll try to give a few more happenings from Spring Break:

Least Time At A Major Monument: The first day we were in Athens we the Acropolis perched on its hill, so naturally enough we decided to check it out. By that time it was past 6:00, which in Athens is apparently way too late to be open. No big deal, we would come the next day. So the next morning we followed a Lonely Planet walking guide that was supposed to take 2 hours, 4 if you walked slowly, and included the Acropolis. Apparently we are exceptionally slow walkers, and that combined with a lovely hour and a half long lunch put us at the gate of the Acropolis at approximately 2:35, where we told that Athen's most famous destination was closing in 10 minutes. There are two major problems with this: nothing closes on the quarter-hour, and unless its a tea time break why would anyone close before 3:00? But there was no time to argue, so we spent the next ten minutes sprinting frantically around the top of the hill, barely stopping to snap the occassional picture or glimpse at the wonderful scenery below us. Despite the rush, I could appreciate some of the wonder of the place, which I think is much more impressive in person than pictures, like many ancient monuments. The size of the building, like the pillars of the Temple of Zeus we had visited earleir, was truly impressive.

Least Touristy Destination: Skopje, Macedonia

This is definitely not a tourist-oriented city, and it would be difficult to spend more than one or two days of sight-seeing here. Almost none of the major sites had any sort of booth, and the fortress doubles as a sort of park for locals. The only time we bought a ticket it turned out rather poorly; it turns out that the Art Gallery in the old Turkish baths is 60-70% blank walls, with a few pictures in one wing of the building. There is a nice "bazaar" in the town (anyone who has been to Cairo or even Istanbul would probably laugh at the idea of the orderly town market being compared to those cities), and there I bought my only souvenier of the trip, a nice beret. All around, the best thing about Macedonia was the mountains; on the train ride into Skopje we were able to see a gorgeous moonrise over the hills behind us.

The Goofiest Outfit Award:

Easily goes to the Athenian soldiers at their Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. This is a case where a picture is worth a thousand words, apologies for the pigeon wing in the foreground.

Spring Break: The Good, Bad, and Ugly- Part One

This is easily the most challenging post I've attempted yet; trying to describe a 12 day trip through 4 countries with any justice takes far more writing than I can do at the moment, and would require more reading than most of you would probably care for. That fact, combined with the rather annoying reality of schoolwork, means that instead of a thorough summary of my break I'm only going to cover some of the highlights, and maybe a few of the low. But first, let me say that there were far more of the former than the latter, and in general it was the best break I could have asked for, both because of the excellent sites we visited and the great company we enjoyed. And now let me present the 2010 Eastern Europe Trip Awards:

Best Country: Bulgaria

Bulgaria was the suprise of the trip, with just the right combination of great sights, cheap prices, and the feel of being undiscovered. But what might have really made the Bulgaria experience complete was the highly-reputed Hostel Mostel, who turned out to be just as good as advertised. When we arrived in Sofia off the overnight bus from Skopje we were three tired travellers in a random, wet Eastern European city, without much of an idea what, if anything, there was to be seen in town. But as soon as we arrived at Hostel Mostel we were greeted by a cup of coffee and a free map, made by our hostel, with a recommended walking tour that stopped by just about every site in the city, large or small. This gave us a much-needed sense of direction and purpose, and we spent what turned out to be a beautiful day seeing a suprising number of beautiful buildings. The Soviets aren't known for architectural brilliance, but they actually managed to make some impressive, albeit somewhat imposing, buildings in Sofia. And of course there was the beautiful Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, which is dedicated to the 200,000 mostly Russian soldiers who fought to free Bulgaria from the Ottoman Empire.

Best City: Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria

The other half of the Bulgarian experience was even better than the first, although this may just show my preference for smaller, historical towns. Veliko Tarnovo has a setting that is hard to beat for good scenery and good defensive capabilities. The oldest part of the town is set on a ridge between two rivers, which is narrowly connected to the old fortress, pictured here. Most of it is ruins nowadays, but it doesn't take much imagination to realize that this was once an excellent place for a defensible capital. Walking anywhere in town was a challenge, as no road could manage to go more than 10 yards without turning, rising, or falling. Veliko was also the setting for one of our best meals, with some excellent Bulgarian beer, some sort of strange Spanish pizza, and some Bulgarian pot dishes.

Worst Moment: Train Ride from Athens to Thessaloniki, Greece

When we decided to save money by taking a midnight train from Athens to Thessaloniki, we assumed that the Greeks would prefer to sleep between midnight and 6 in the morning. Or at least accomadate those who might wish to by turning off/dimming the lights. Unfortunately, the reverse seems to be true, which resulted in a very long and frustrating train ride between the two cities, spent listening to a group of chatty women in the rows before us. Nevertheless, we managed to put in a solid day sightseeing in Thessaloniki, although the coffee market received a considerable boost.

City That Most Deserves More Time: Istanbul

This is a hard one to choose, especially since we only spent a day and a half in Athens, one of the most important cities in history. Nevertheless, Istanbul seems like it would be a wonderful place to spend time a couple of months in. Of course there are all the major sites in Sultanhamet (the oldest district), but our brief forays into other parts of town revealed a town with a much more distinctly Turkish feel, and a huge number of secondary sites that would be worth a visit. Unfortunately student discounts seem to be unknown in Istanbul, so we had to limit ourselves to the must-sees. With a little more time and money Istanbul would be the perfect introduction to the Middle East; with its clean streets, easy public transportation, and somewhat exotic feel it makes for a less shocking transition than other cities. Cairo, for instance.

Alexandria

After a couple of weekends bumming around in Cairo this weekend a group of friends and I decided that it was finally time to visit Egypt's second city: Alexandria. With that in mind we made plans to catch an 8 o'clock train out of Cairo station Friday morning, so we could spend a full day touring the city. Unfortunately, this plan didn't account for Thursday night, which just happened to be the first weekend night after St. Patrick's Day. Of course Americans cannot allow Ireland's holiday to go by unnoticed, and the requisite plans for a felucca ride were made. A felucca, or at least a party felucca, is a long, low boat with excessive lighting and bad speaker systems that can be rented out for under 10 dollars an hour. When this is combined with forty to fifty foreign students and whatever alcohol they bring you get a classic Nile party. This one was particularly anticipated, perhaps because some entrepreneuring soul had promised to acquire Guinness and Jameson, two items which are sorely missed in Cairo. Suffice it to say that it was a successful party, but that meant we didn't get back to the dorms until two or three in the morning, four hours before our planned rendezvous.

Somehow my mind managed to wake up just before seven. I briefly contemplated checking to see if anyone else was actually going to go through with the plan, but I decided that the thought was absurd. Twenty minutes later I was proven wrong when I woke up to a phone call informing me that I had five minutes to get up, pack, and make my way downstairs to leave. I made it in under 10 minutes, and by a minor miracle 4 out of the original 6 travelers caught the 9 o'clock train, an hour late but far ahead of my expectations.

We got into Alexandria about 11, and quickly made our way to the Corniche for a view of the Mediterranean, which really is a beautiful sea. Alexandria is a cleaner, smaller and cooler version of Cairo, which makes a trip there a very pleasant respite from the former. Unfortunately Alexandria resembles Cairo in that it often can only echo a more glorious past which is either destroyed or surrounded by endless concrete high-rises. In Alexandria's case there are two epochs in particular that would be wonderful to see first hand: the ancient city with its lighthouse and library, and the early 20-century city which had close cultural ties to the European Mediterranean, before the Suez Canal crisis forced many foreigners to leave the city.

Secure in the knowledge that most of us would revisit the city, our group took our time to visit major sites. In fact the only "must see" we saw was the Fort of Qaitbay, a smallish but impressive fortress that guards the entrance to Alexandria's bay. Afterwards we found a seafood restaurant with a great view and enjoyed fresh fish and mezze for a surprisingly low price. Then it was time to meet the final two travelers, who took a later train after sleeping in a little later. One of these was Ahmed, an Egyptian friend whose parents own an apartment in Alexandria, which was generously offered to us for the night. After lunch we headed there to drop off our stuff and plan our next move. That turned out to be nap time, which will come as no surprise to anyone familiar with college students' sleeping habits. Then, to complete the stereotype of living lazily, we didn't move much at all until dinner, which was another beautiful affair at a local restaurant. We finished the day by taking a long walk on the corniche to soothe our over-full bellies and enjoy a sheesha and tea session on the coast. So, while many sites went unvisited, there were two good walks and two better meals, which makes the day a successful one by my standards.

The only real drawback to the weekend was the performance of Catholic Big East schools in the NCAA Tournament. In a spirit of optimism I had predicted that Notre Dame would make the Sweet 16, instead they couldn't make it past Old Dominion. My bracket was even more devastated when Georgetown, who I put in the Final Four, somehow fell to Ohio. To complete the trio Marquette lost to Washington, but I could deal with that, I had them losing to New Mexico in the next game anyway.

Spring Break Itinerary

Today John, Matt and I booked most of our hostels for spring break, so our plans are now more or less set. They are ambitious, bordering on crazy, but since most of us didn't foresee returning to the southern Balkans in the neat future we wanted to fit in as much as possible. Anyway, here's the itenerary, with a picture of each destination, so you can see how many of the locations you can guess.

March 26-27: Athens, Greece- Since we fly in on the 26th, this is actually a day and a half. Trying to see the birthplace of democracy over a day and a half may be our most criminal act, but unfortunately its not our only one. We finish up by taking the overnight train to...

March 28: Thessaloniki, Greece- Greece's second largest city has some good Byzantine sites, and is situated in is supposed to be good, mountainious country. In addition to the 28th, we might also spend the next morning here, depending on whether we take the morning or afternoon train to...

March 29-March 30: Skopje, Macedonia- Probably our most random destination, which may or may not have been added purely for the opportunity to get another passport stamp. But actually there are some good things to see here, and it will be nice to escape the bigger cities for a while. Next, on the night of the 30th we will take a night bus to...

March 31: Sofia, Bulgaria- Like most of the cities in the region, Sofia is supposed to have some wonderful scenery. But the real reason to come is to enjoy the highly reputed Hostel Mostel, where $15 dollars a night will buy you a triple room, free breakfast, and a beer in the evening. After spending a day here we will spend the morning of April Fool's Day en route to...

April 1-2: Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria- OK, so this is actually the most random of our destinations. But this little place actually has quite a bit going for it, in addition to having another Hostel Mostel it used to be the capital of the famous Second Bulgarian Empire. (Is that an "ah!" of recognition that I hear?) And according to Wikipedia it is often referred to, rather grandly, as "city of the tsars." I'm not sure what the Russians would say about that. Then, we will take a night train to...

April 3-6: Byzantium/Constantinople/Istanbul, Turkey- Our little jaunt will end with a bang as we spend 3 1/2 days in this ancient city bridging two continents. There's too much to write about, just know that its supposed to be an amazing place. And finally we'll spend a decent (though still probably insufficient) amount of time somewhere.

By the way, alf mabrouk (a thousand congratulations) to anyone who managed to guess even half the cities. You did better than I could have.