It wasn’t until we actually left the airport that it hit me – we’re in Egypt now.
On hand to meet us was our beloved Arabic instructor Professor Lo. With him was Zoe, a Duke alum who works in Cairo and who will be serving as our on-the-ground coordinator. They ushered us outside into the heat and unto a microbus, which ferried us through meandering one-way streets until we reached our apartments. DukeEngage provided us with two apartments located in Garden City a district adjacent to the Nile. All we knew about the apartments was that there were two of them (one for boys and one for girls), they had formerly been American University in Cairo dorms, and that they were “nice”. “Nice,” though, may have been the understatement of the century, and can’t even begin to encapsulate how beautiful and spacious our accommodations are. If you’re curious, you can check out my video tour of the guys’ apartment. [Note: actually, you can't yet. We're having some technical difficulties getting internet so it'll probably just be text updates for the near future.] Suffice it to say that we’re all incredibly relieved, excited, and grateful about our living situation.
Many thanks for reading, and please feel free to write us with any questions you might have! We’ll try to keep the blog updated as often as feasible –we don’t have internet in the apartments right now, but we hope to get wireless within a week or so.
- Max
On hand to meet us was our beloved Arabic instructor Professor Lo. With him was Zoe, a Duke alum who works in Cairo and who will be serving as our on-the-ground coordinator. They ushered us outside into the heat and unto a microbus, which ferried us through meandering one-way streets until we reached our apartments. DukeEngage provided us with two apartments located in Garden City a district adjacent to the Nile. All we knew about the apartments was that there were two of them (one for boys and one for girls), they had formerly been American University in Cairo dorms, and that they were “nice”. “Nice,” though, may have been the understatement of the century, and can’t even begin to encapsulate how beautiful and spacious our accommodations are. If you’re curious, you can check out my video tour of the guys’ apartment. [Note: actually, you can't yet. We're having some technical difficulties getting internet so it'll probably just be text updates for the near future.] Suffice it to say that we’re all incredibly relieved, excited, and grateful about our living situation.
Our orientation starts tomorrow. For now, we’re just relaxing, unpacking, and getting ourselves mentally prepared for the next two months. Past participants in this program have told me that it constituted the hardest two months of their lives, but I’m sure it will prove to be the most rewarding as well.
Many thanks for reading, and please feel free to write us with any questions you might have! We’ll try to keep the blog updated as often as feasible –we don’t have internet in the apartments right now, but we hope to get wireless within a week or so.
- Max
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