My Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was amazing!

We started the day waking up on the overnight train from Cairo to Luxor. Once we got to Luxor we were given time to eat lunch, and because it was Thanksgiving a bunch of us decided to get a traditional American meal - Pizza Hut pizza!! It was fantastic. I didn't think the day could get any better...but little did I know.

We went to Karnak, an ancient Egyptain Temple. It had the most amazing hieroglyphics I have seen yet on this trip. It was beautiful! We went straight from Karnak to a faluka boat on the Nile river and took a ride along the nile to watch the sunset.

When we got back to the hotel we all got dressed up as best we could and went to Thanksgiving dinner. I wasn't expecting much - but our amazing tour guide Waleed came through and had the chef at the hotel make us a genuine Thanksgiving meal (though not as good as my mom's or Grandma's!!). There was Turkey, stuffing (which I didn't partake in), mashed potatoes ... and the best part ... GRAVY! It was the best surprise of this trip!

After dinner we had a secret Turkey gift exchange. This was our earlier version of secret santa. We all got together after dinner and exchanged small gifts - it was FABULOUS! I got pharonic playing cards and chocolate...the perfect gift.

I tried calling home, but the internet is not very good here. All of our festivities today made me super happy but also made me miss home a little bit. I can't wait to get home and celebrate Christmas with all of my friends and family. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone back home! I love you and miss you all!!!

P.S. Please eat some pecan pie for me!!

My Pyramids

This weekend was devoted to seeing the ancient Egyptian sites around Cairo. On Thursday we went to the Egyptian museum. It was really awesome to see ancient artifacts including King Tut's head covering. So COOL!
On Friday we went to Memphis to see Sakkara and the step pyramid as well as a lot of tombs with hieroglyphs. Some of the spaces to get to the tombs were really small and it was so much fun to go through the tunnels.
Saturday was our trip to the pyramids!! They were absolutely amazing. We were among the first 150 people in line so we were able to get tickets to go INTO the great pyramid. The climb up was really scary and there wasn't much air flow in the pyramid - but it was TOTALLY worth it! I still can't believe I was IN the great pyramid. The sphinx was pretty amazing as well.
Now it is back to school for a couple days before we head to Luxor to see the valley of the kings and then Hurgada for some beach time! I hope everyone is having a fabulous November and has a great Thanksgiving!

My Cairo

Things have started to slow down I think =). We have settled into the Cosmo Hotel and started classes at the American University in Cairo. Cairo is a great city so far. I haven't seen much of it because I got a bit sick this first week here, but I'm on the mend and am planning to explore!

Last night there was a huge soccer game in Egypt. The Egypt national team played Algeria to qualify for the world cup. The shop keepers outside our hotel set up sheets in the middle of the road to project the game. The game started at 7:30 but the cheering and noise started at 3! It was nuts. I went out to watch the start of the game, but I am WAY too short to see anything in a crowd so I went back inside and watched it in my room. It was really cool to be a part of that type of community again - I've missed it since the Beshiktash game in Istanbul.

Nothing else is really new. We've been occupying ourselves by doing homework, watching the one english channel we get that has really good movies, and hanging out. Things are going to start picking up because we start touring egypt every time we don't have classes.

My Mountain

The flight to Cairo was pretty uneventful, except for the fact that I couldn't sleep. Right after the we got through customs, we got onto our bus and drove for 6 hours (overnight) to Sinai. We were heading to Sinai instead of Cairo in order to climb Mount Sinai and watch the sunrise. When we arrived at our hotel in Sinai we went directly to some hotel rooms that they let us crash in for the afternoon until our real rooms were ready. I slept straight through the afternoon, woke up for meals, then went to sleep for the night. (If you can't tell, I was a little tired). Our entire group had to get up at 2AM, eat breakfast (which was basically as much coffee or tea as people could drink) and be on the bus by 2:30. I layered on as many warm layers of clothing that I could in order to not freeze while climbing Mount Sinai, because surprise it was COLD! I was still pretty tired, but managed to wake up at 2 and was ready in time for the bus to leave. It was pitch black when I got to Mount Sinai. The original path was pretty flat, but soon got quite a bit steeper making the journey up a bit of a challenge. It was very rough, however completely worth it once I got to the top. The view was amazing, and we had a great seat (there were a BUNCH of tourists) to see the sunrise! It really was a majestic experience. A couple of us decided that instead of taking the easy route (the route we took up the mountain = NOT SO EASY lol), we took the 3750 stairs of penitence down. The path was amazing, and not nearly as difficult going down as it would have been going up!

After Sinai, we took the bus back to Cairo - another 6 hour bus ride. We arrived at the Cosmo hotel in Cairo at about 6PM and had dinner by 7. That day was my friend Shannon's birthday, so we had cake and a small 21st birthday celebration, and I went to bed as soon as I could in order to be able to be awake for all of the busyness that was going to happen the rest of the week. (Just to help you follow, we woke up on 2AM Sat morning and arrived at the Cosmo hotel at 5PM Sat night.)

On Sunday morning, we left the hotel at 9AM to tour the new campus of the American University in Cairo. It is gorgeous! I could barely believe it. I am really sad that our group doesn't get to attend that part of the University - it seemed like such an amazing and fun place. After our tour we had class for two and a half hours. We got back to the hotel in time for dinner at 7. It was a very long day, but since I my midterm is due on Thursday I figured I would spend a little bit working on it after dinner. I finally got to bed around 10!

Today, we took a bus tour of Cairo and saw all the different aspects of the city, including the outlines of the Pyramids rising through the haze (which is not fog - it is pollution...ew). After our tour, we had a lecture by a former St. Olaf prof who is from Egypt and now works here. Again, another pretty long and busy day! All I can say is I can't wait for this weekend because we have Friday AND Saturday FREE!!

My Madrid

Our flight from Casablanca to Madrid was pretty uneventful, which was great. We got into Madrid and checked into our hostel. Then our tour guide, Annette (a former OLE!) showed us around the city. It is gorgeous! I can't believe how amazing this city truly is. We got to see a Cathedral that was built in 2003, and other historical landmarks. We ended at the Reina Sophia Art Museum. This museum held Picasso's Guernica. It was amazing! I have never truly appreciated Picasso before. Today we are off to the Prado and a walk through Madrid's main park (but I can't remember the name). We are leaving right about now, so hopefully I'll get time to blog tomorrow in Cairo.

My Resort

Our excursion in Morocco has been a little rocky. First, our bus was not air conditioned and everyone got motion sick! But thankfully we were given a brand new amazing bus. Secondly, our original tour guide was not a very good guy. He was not very professional and was a bit creepy. A lot of the girls were uncomfortable with him so we complained to the company. They felt so awful that they gave us a new tour guide (a really great guy) and they put us up in a 5 star resort on the Atlantic Ocean in between Rabat and Casablanca. It is AMAZING. I am including a couple of pictures of the view, and of the ocean. Tomorrow it is off to Casablanca. After one night there we are heading to Spain. I can't wait!!

My boarding school

So, yesterday we visited a boarding school for girls from rural areas that don't get the opportunity to go to school because there aren't any near where they live. It was started by an amazing woman named Turia. She decided that girls should get the opportunity to be educated and therefore talked to the governor of Merikesh. She then (I don't quite remember how) got the prince of Saudi Arabia to give her a couple hundred thousand dollars and she build an amazing boarding school. They currently have 109 girls living there aged between 11 and 18. It is just amazing! I couldn't believe that this women could have created such an amazing place that impacts SO many people.

Today, we visited Turia's gorgeous house out in the country and she fed us the most amazing meal I have had yet on this trip! She was so welcoming and awesome.

That is pretty much all I have been up to lately. Tomorrow, we are heading to Rabat and then on to Casablanca! I am really excited because our program changed a little bit so we are now spending a night in Madrid after Casa. I am so excited to be in Spain!! If only for a night. It will SO be worth it!

I hope all is well back home!