Second day at the new campus

Today was my second day at the new AUC campus in New Cairo, located about 35 miles outside of the city.

One of the AUC professors gave a great lecture today on the greatest impact of Egypt on North American culture. His argument was that the Great Pyramid of Giza (located about 3 miles from my apartment by the way) contributed more to American culture than anything else from Egypt. Charles Piazzi Smyth was a British mathematician who formulated a book that examined the relationship of the British inch to the Great Pyramid. After measuring the dimensions of the pyramid in inches, he was able to formulate a convincing argument which stated that the Pyramid was divinely inspired and predicted the covenant of Abraham and the birth of Christ. As a result of the book he published, he gained support for continuation of the British measurement system. He believed it to be divinely inspired, and sought to oppose the metric system developed by the French. His influence eventually forced Congress to adopt the inch as the official measurement, and to reject the metric system. Although Smyth's assessment is no longer accepted, it still used the Great Pyramid to influence an important aspect of Western society.

The same professor, who is also an administrator, told us honestly that they were aware there were hassles within the AUC administration and that they will be resolved as soon as possible. A few things at AUC have been disorganized but I appreciated someone saying that they were aware of them, rather than pretending as if they didn't exist. Luckily I had no trouble registering with any of my classes, though I know a lot of students did.

I attended the second day of the intensive Survival Arabic class, which had only one other student attending. I would highly recommend this course for any future study abroad students who come to AUC, as I have picked up so much in the past two days.

The return to the city from the new campus, however, highlighted perhaps Cairo's biggest detraction: traffic. We were told that there was a big accident in the city so we could not take Qasr Al-Nil Bridge, which is one of the two bridges that crosses the Nile. As a result, it seemed every car in the city was trying to go across 6th October Bridge. I enjoyed seeing part of the city I had not yet seen, but after two hours on the bus I decided I would get off and walk. I ambled around Mohandeseen (the name means "engineers"), which is a wealthy district just north of Doqqi.

The biggest difference I noticed between Mohandeseen and Doqqi is the quality of the apartments and stores. Mohandeseen's apartment buildings are taller and in better condition, and there appeared to be, generally speaking, more expensive-end stores in Mohandeseen.

In Mohandeseen I passed the Shooting Club on Nadi al-Sid Street. In Egypt, organized sports are generally reserved for the wealthy upper class. Some kids can be seen kicking footballs (soccer balls), but generally sports can only be played at the sporting clubs. Sporting clubs are large gated areas with lots of different fields and athletic facilities, along with locker rooms and perhaps other facilities. They are the equivalent of country clubs in United States, as they require an expensive membership that one typically holds for life.

A quiet night on Amer Street from my apartment



After a few days, I'm still very pleased with my apartment. Though it's old and some things could be fixed, it's spacious and so far I haven't seen a street or neighborhood on which I'd rather live. Although Doqqi shares some of Cairo's pollution problem, it seems to be mostly on Tahrir Street and Doqqi Street, but I am far enough away from those streets to not notice it from my apartment.