Day One in Egypt (again)

Here we go again!  So long story short, I was in Egypt last semester for 8 days when the revolution began.  You can check out my old blog  http://lahstudyabroad.blogspot.com/ to get the story on what happened while I was there.  Now I'm back for the fall semester and in the spirit of revolutionary Egypt I am hoping to fill this blog with the amazing experiences that I will have here in the upcoming four months.

Since I think that people really liked the pictures I posted last time I was in Cairo (and since I'm a bit on the lazy side), most of these blog posts will document my experiences using mostly photographs that I've taken along the way.  Of course I can't promise that a few paragraphs won't slip out here and there when I really have something to say.

One quick explanation before I begin:  I named this blog Return to Uum AlDunya after Egypt's common pseudonym, which translates to "Mother of the World".  The name is often used by Egyptians and provokes a certain respect for this ancient yet thriving city and country that hosts the youth who propelled the Arab Spring forward.    

Day 1:

Plane trip!

This is a shot of the airbus I took.  It's hard to see form this picture but it was huge.  I flew economy plus, which was nice since it got me a little bit of extra leg room.  The seats weren't the most comfortable but I'd have to say that the least fun part of the flight was the very tall, very sick man next to me.  I got accidentally sneezed on a few too many times and his legs seemed to always find a way to get into my leg space when he slept.  Not too much fun.

After reaching Amsterdam I went immediately to my flight to Cairo (there was only a one hour layover).  I arrived at the Cairo airport around 2 p.m.  First thought: "I'm baaaaaacckkk!!!!!!"  Unfortunately I was pretty grumpy having not slept more than thirty minutes on either of my flights and when a man from the airport came to greet me I had my notorious "don't mess with me" face on.  He was nice enough however to find me a cab that knew how to get to the church on the other side of the street from the dorms where I am staying.  Thirty minutes later, I was at the front door.  Above is a picture of the student residence I'm staying in.

Since I arrived before check-in time began I didn't have a bed to collapse in.  Instead I ended up wondering around the block with two other girls, Alex and Amelia that I met in the lobby.  Already it's clear that things have begun to change.  For one thing, all of the little booths like the one above that the police used to sit in were empty.  It might have been because it was around 5 p.m. that we went walking or because it's Ramadan, but nonetheless I remember all of these booths being occupied (or being knocked over and used as blockades by protesters) the first time I was here.

The next thing I noticed was the street art.  Nearly every wall that we passed had some type of graffiti on it, all with post-revolutionary messages.   Here are some of the best ones.

A few hours after coming back rooms were assigned and I went upstairs hoping to first unpack then write up a quick first post before I went to sleep.  Then I saw the bed....

I will update again either tonight or tomorrow for day 2 but I hope you've enjoyed the pictures so far!