T- 2 days

And so begins my attempt to document the next 9 months I will be spending in Egypt, particularly the culinary adventures that will (insha'allah) be had. I should probably start out by telling the story of this study abroad trip, a tale mired in drama and strife. Just kidding. Sort of.

To start out with, I am a Middle Eastern Studies major (Mount Holyoke College) who has never been to the Middle East. I think you can see how this might be viewed as a setback worth remedying. Enter junior year study abroad. My original plan was to travel to Lebanon for the year to attend the American University of Beirut. Imagine my joy when I received a scholarship to do so! For the purposes of this blog I will decline to mention the benefactors of this scholarship, but needless to say they have the authority to say where I can and cannot go. So, about two and a half months ago I received a call telling me that Lebanon was no longer an option. Citing "safety and security concerns" I was told to find a new program. For September. In June. Hundreds of calls, emails, forms, and, I admit, a few nervous breakdowns later, I am preparing to spend my fall semester in Alexandria and my spring semester in Cairo. And she lived happily ever after. Insha'allah.

In Alexandria I will be attending the University of Alexandria, the second largest university in Egypt, where I will be studying Arabic intensely (12 credit hours a week!). In January I will move to Cairo to attend Cairo University (not the American University of Cairo as I have been strongly cautioned against this particular school by several knowledgeable individuals), where I will study Political Economy.

There are two days left before my extremely early morning departure on Thursday September 9th and most of the big tasks are finished. Shopping has been done, luggage has been bought, and theoretically my visa will arrive in the next hour. I have or will have copies of all my important documents and I feel about as prepared as I can be to move to a new country with a completely different culture. Which is to say not very prepared at all.

Time permitting I will post again before my departure, but I make no promises. Here would be a good time to explain to anyone who doesn't know what insha'allah means. I have a feeling I will be using it a lot and I know for a fact that everyone in Egypt does. It translates to "God Willing" and acts as a sort of "get out of jail free" card for Egyptians. Instead of saying no (which apparently and somewhat ironically seems rude to them) they can say this handy little phrase and then if something doesn't happen as it is supposed to (they don't meet you at your scheduled time or aren't able to provide the service you requested), it is merely because God did not will it to be. Now, as an American, I am not at all unfamiliar with the practice of using God as excuse to justify just about anything. I have been told however, that the extent to which it is used in Egypt will become quite frustrating. So I'm getting used to using it now and undoubtedly you all will hear more about it in the coming months.

So, to wrap things up, I will just say that I will be posting on here again soon. Insha'allah.