Wow, today was boring. Imagine the most boring day ever, and then imagine that you're still exhausted from the two days before that, then imagine that you have to spend seven and a half hours on a college campus in the middle of nowhere where you alternate between hour long periods of walking back and forth in the blazing heat and sitting completely still in freezing air conditioning.
That was my day. I hope I won't have too many more like it, but I'm not going to hold my breath.
I think the commute may be starting to get to me. I want to start reserving that driving time for naps, but it's hard, because I also want to talk to my friends, and they (apparently) want to talk to me.
Today was mostly so full of suck because I had a ton stuff that I had to get done, and not a lot of time to get it done in. I had a travel payment to make on one end of campus, books to buy on the other end of campus, and a class schedule to change and copies to make somewhere in the middle, all in between attending four classes and trying not to fall asleep.
The air conditioning in the classrooms seems to act like some kind of sleep aid when I come inside out of the sun. I could swear I'm not sleepy, and then I catch my eyes closing for longer and longer periods of time, until I do one of those awkward jump things and wake myself up. Even then, it doesn't always stick. I guess this isn't really just an AUC problem though. It happened at UCSB and in high school too. It must be me.
I tried the 'American food court' for lunch today, and ordered a Subway sandwich: turkey with tomatoes and mayo on wheat bread. How hard could it be? Apparently, very hard. If you have ever thought that Subway in the U.S. was incompetent, you should see them in Egypt. For one thing, they didn't have provolone cheese. What's up with that? For another, during the time I was ordering my sandwich and waiting to pay, I saw them drop two newly made sandwiches on the floor. Two. Whole. Sandwiches.
I was grateful at first that mine escaped that fate, but once I started to eat, I realized I hadn't been that lucky after all. They may not have actually dropped my sandwich on the floor, but it sure tasted like they did. It's a little weird, but I think that Subway sandwich today was the first meal I've had in Egypt that I couldn't eat. Probably that says something significant about me, or Egyptian cuisine, or maybe about Subway, but I'm tired, so I'll let you decide what it means for yourself.
I have good news on the switching classes front, though. Right now I'm enrolled in Art and Architecture of Ancient Egypt at 8:30 am on Sundays and Wednesdays. The class is interesting and fine, and I'd be okay to stick with it for the entire semester if it weren't for one thing: the other section of the class is being taught by Salima Ikram. If you don't know who she is, think back to the last television special on Egyptian mummies you watched. (Don't lie, I know you've seen at least one.) Now remember the lady who talked about animal mummies? That was Salima Ikram.
Now, hero worship is a pretty strong word, and I'm not sure I know enough about her to take that leap, but I have to say, the potential is there. I included the video above just to give you a glimpse of an actual AUC professor that I will soon (insha'allah) be taking a class from. (For added lolz, read the comments on the video on youtube, especially the ones about the rabbits.)
Tomorrow is the first day of the Eid break, AUC's scheduled vacation to celebrate the end of Ramadan. That means that it's time for me to go to Luxor and Aswan! I'm very excited, because the trip promises to be a complete whirlwind, and I'm really looking forward to it. While in Upper Egypt (the south), I'll get to see the Valley of the Kings, Elephantine island, and maybe (cross your fingers for me) Deir el-Bahari, the mortuary temple of Queen Hatshepsut. Oh, and did I mention? Almost the entire trip will take place on a Nile cruise ship.
I'm not sure if I'll have internet this entire weekend, but I'll keep blogging no matter what, and if it turns out that I can't post while I'm there, everything that happens during my trip will be posted here by Monday morning, Cairo time.
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