I have officially arrived in Egypt. We flew into Cairo at
about 2:00am last night! I am so happy to be here! I am having fun and learning
new things already!
The trip here was actually pretty easy. The flight to Istanbul
was about 11 hours long but it wasn't bad at all. Turkish Airlines is
fantastic. I never want to fly American again! The food was great. We were fed
dinner and breakfast because we flew overnight. It was absolutely awesome.
Besides dinner and a quick movie (V for Vendetta- my favorite), I slept though
most of the flight.
Istanbul airport was a very interesting experience. We had a
7-hour layover so a few of us decided to go to one of the nice lounges that had
food, clean restrooms, showers, and comfortable chairs. I didn't actually
shower but the rest of it was nice. We also wandered around the airport for a
little bit. It was an odd experience. I went to Starbucks with a friend (Karly)
and the cashier told Karly that he loved her. Then, Karly and I went to Sbarro.
The man working there told us that he loved us and proceeded to give us free
teas. It was pretty fun. Our flight for Cairo left at 12:30am. Thankfully, that
one was only 2 hours.
When we arrived at Egypt, everything went very smoothly.
Customs took about a minute. It was great. Both of my bags arrived. A few other
students weren't as lucky. Fortunately, their bags will be here tomorrow.
Our hotel is great. We are staying at the Sheraton Dreamland
in Giza. Although it is annoying to be at a Sheraton when I am suppose to be on
vacation (for those of you that don't know, I work at a Sheraton in Des
Moines), it is still very nice. I just try to ignore the Sheraton logos
everywhere. We can see the pyramids from the window, very cool.
Before lunch today, we were able to talk with an employee of
the hotel. She was pretty young and asked us about our opinions regarding the
revolution and the upcoming election. She then told us a few of her opinions.
Surprisingly, she seemed very upset about the revolution. She spoke of how the
tourism industry has been negatively affected. She expressed a fear that it
would not get better for a very long time. At one point, she explained, that
she believes Egypt use to be a great and powerful country but now it is in a
state of chaos. She is very skeptical of an eventual positive outcome of the
revolution. This was quite shocking to me. Until this point, I had
heard very few individuals speak negatively about the revolution. Most
Egyptians I have talked to have been very excited about it and optimistic about
the future. However, I realize now that these Egyptians are individuals that
are slightly separated from the country in the sense that they either live or
go to school in the United States. I find it interesting that one of the first
locals I met while here has such strong opinions in the opposite manner than I
am use to. I am curious as to what other opinions I will encounter in the weeks
to come.
Today was a very relaxing today as we are all trying to adjust
to the time difference. Right now it is 11:00pm here but 4:00pm in Iowa.
Additionally, the flight was very draining and at odd times. I think the
majority of us are a little confused about what time it is and even what day it
is (at least, we definitely were this morning). We played water polo and smoked
hookah. We also had a speaker who talked about micro financing.
Just a few pictures so far:
Hannah smoking hookah
WATER!
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