Classes

So now that I am in my second week of being here I have finally started classes and let me tell you about the odyssey of registration. Thus far, I have spent 10 hours in the registration office, they know me by name and ID number. Hopefully though, my classes are finally set and I am ready to start this semester. A few notes about AUC first:

 To begin, I am told that this school is really just a playground for the rich elite kids to hang out until they take over the family business. Sadly, I have found this to be true in most of my encounters with the Egyptian students, some of them did not know what plagiarism was in my 300 level Anthropology class. (yikes) I was also told that I could miss up to 9 classes a semester. NINE! At Bradley, you could maybe miss one or two but you had better be on your death bed. Most of the Egyptian students have made it abundantly clear that they hate all the international students, especially the Americans. I think it is because we ruin their MTV perception of America and force them to realize that their own lives are petty and shallow. (No bitterness here mind you) This kind of discrimination even extends to the administration at times, I have had several friends be jumped in line waiting for bus passes or ID cards by Egyptians and this is found acceptable by the administrator. Everything here is so bogged down by the bureaucracy and everything is a constant battle. 

    This weekend we will official inaugurate the new campus so everything is going double time on the construction. Not the classrooms mind you, but the fountains and benches. The First Lady of Egypt, Susan, will be here to celebrate as she is an AUC alumna herself. The Egyptians all hate her and many are not attending the ceremony because of it. I think it should be interesting to see.

    Aside from all the negatives though, campus is beautiful, and we hope to leave the compound much more often. See, new campus is in "New Cairo" which is yet to be built. We are the only structure for at least 15 minutes, completely surrounded by desert. Because of this there are guards everywhere, many of them armed. I do wish I had applied to live off campus as maybe then I could interact with the real Cairo. But soon the shuttle buses will work and we will go downtown on a regular basis.

I realize that this has been a mostly negative account of AUC but rest assured that I am enjoying myself in spite of these nuisances and will post a more upbeat message later. Please leave a comment or write back as it makes my day 100% better!