What's up all,
Well, if the weather in Frankfurt doesn't get any nastier, I should be home tomorrow evening. I've been gone for just under 4 months. By the time I get home, I'll have traveled nearly 15,000 miles by plane, train, bus, camel, taxi cab, and hot air balloon. I've seen some wild stuff and had some great times exploring 4 new countries, but I've got to say, I'm more than ready to get home. We'll see how the reverse culture-shock goes, but I'm hoping the excitement of being home will outweigh the strangeness of being back in the old US of A.
I'll try to put up one last post with pictures from Egypt and Israel, but I don't think I'll get around to that post until after Christmas. Either way, I just wanted to thank everyone again for reading my blog over the course of my travels. I hope you've all enjoyed getting a little glimpse of my time in the Middle East!
Until next time (probably the last time for this blog),
Your Favorite Luker
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Last day in Cairo, Off to Israel
What's up all,
Wow, it's been over a month since my last post, definitely the longest I've gone without posting something new, and in that time I've been crazy busy, so I guess I shouldn't be too apologetic for failing to keep everyone updated. Anyways, I'll be home in just about a week now, so I'll be able to recount my last month abroad in person with many of you.
Nonetheless, I figured I should throw up one last blog before I set off for Israel by overnight bus later this evening. Egypt has been incredibly cool and incredibly busy. When we've been in Cairo, we've had an average of 5 hours of class a day at the American University in Cairo (AUC), classes on subjects ranging from ancient and modern Egyptian history to Islam in Egypt, from the funerary practices of Ancient Egyptians to American-Mid East International Relations, a random. Fortunately, even though we've had a ton of class in Egypt, we only had one test for our classes from AUC; I rushed through the test this morning, and I've got to be honest, I was far too travel-fatigued to put much effort into it, but at least it's over. To be even more honest, I've got to say that with the exception of my final exam and term paper for Professor Langerak's test, I've been completely checked out for the last month in regards to academics. Our AUC lectures were interesting and I did make an effort to pay some attention to the material, but unfortunately, it seems as if my mind has reached a level super-saturation, over-filled with everything I've seen and experienced over the course of my travels. At this point, there's just no room left in my mind for new information. Hopefully a couple of weeks of decompressing at home will free up some extra space in my head in time for my last semester of classes at St. Olaf.
Cairo has been a great city to explore. The city is by far the dirtiest city I've ever seen, at times breathing is difficult with all the smog and even seeing clearly can be a challenge with all of the dust in the air, but I've got to admit that Cairo has character; the people are friendly, the food is good and extremely cheap, and there's plenty to do if you have the energy and the persistence to seek stuff out. Highlights from my time in Cairo include a boat ride on the Nile, live jazz at the Cairo Jazz Club, smoking hookah at the Marriott, and digging in on Cario's cheap street food (e.g. beef and chicken shwerma, koshary, lentil and onion soup, etc.)
We've also had a few guided tours of sights in Cairo including tours of the Great Pyramids, Egypt's most famous sight. The tours were interesting in terms of content, but on several occasions, Cairo's weather and pollution made touring nearly unbearable. During our last round of tours this past weekend, the wind was blowing strong through the streets, kicking up enough dust to make all of the air turn a nasty beige color. I couldn't walk more than a few steps without having to rub the dirt out of my eyes. I could feel the dirt crusting up on my skin and in my hair and when I licked my teeth or my lips, I could taste the dust on my tongue and I could feel it crunching in my teeth. The air around me, the sky, and the horizon were all rendered indistinguishable by the thick fog of dust rising up to mix with the smog that's always hanging over Cairo's skyline.
In addition to class and sightseeing in Cairo, our group also had two mini-excursions in Egypt. During our first excursion, we headed North to the Mediterranean to visit the WWII battlefields at El Alamein and to check out Alexandria, the second largest city in Egypt behind Cairo. We spent a day at a beach resort on the Mediterranean that rivaled the horrible Batihan in Turkey in terms of strangeness: the Porto Marina Resort, a nearly deserted, thousand-plus room monstrosity with it's own hopeless mall filled with closed shops that looked as if they had been looted. The only thing that was open in the Porto Marina mall was the Chili's restaurant, whose staff didn't seem to understand the concept of bottomless chips and salsa and drinks. And the beach was pretty crummy too, but at least we had the chance to do nothing for a couple of days.
Alexandria was fairly interesting. We visited the Alexandrian Library, built as an homage to the ancient library at Alexandria. We also checked out the original site of Alexandria's famous lighthouse, one of the wonders of the ancient world; the lighthouse collapsed into the Mediterranean over one thousand years ago, but we were able to visit a fort built in the 15th century at the original location of the lighthouse. After Alexandria, we were back to Cairo for several weeks of class.
In addition to climbing Mount Sinai back in the first week of November, the second highlight of my time in Egypt, and probably of my time abroad, happened during our second round of excursion to southern Egypt, referred to as Upper Egypt (that might seem to be backwards, but it's all about the flow of the Nile, which runs south to north, hence south is Upper and north is Lower). Overall, our second excursion was really cool. We saw amazing tombs and temples in Aswan and the Valley of the Kings in Luxor, incredible art and architecture that has endured for over 4500 years. Our group took a ride on the Nile in a sailboat in Luxor and some of us, myself included, coughed up the dough (80USD) for a sunrise hot-air balloon ride over the Valley of the Kings. But, even though all of these experiences might deserve once-in-a-life-time status, the top prize for highlight of the trip goes my day of scuba diving on the Red Sea. Un-expletive-believable. I don't have the time right now to describe my scuba-dive for all of you because it would take me far too long to do it justice. All I wanted to say is that it was one of the best, if not the very best, day of my whole trip.
Well, I've got a lot more to say and many pictures to share, but I think I'll save the rest of my material for one final post, which I probably won't get around to creating until after I get home. In that case, most of you will have a chance to hear about the rest of my trip straight from the Luker's mouth. If this ends up being my final post, I want to thank all of you for following my blog over the last 3 and 1/2 plus months. It's been a real trip and I hope you've enjoyed my posts. I'll see you all soon.
Ohh, here's one picture of me at the Pyramids. Check out my flow. That's what you get when you don't cut your hair for 7+ months.
Peace,
Your Favorite Luker
Wow, it's been over a month since my last post, definitely the longest I've gone without posting something new, and in that time I've been crazy busy, so I guess I shouldn't be too apologetic for failing to keep everyone updated. Anyways, I'll be home in just about a week now, so I'll be able to recount my last month abroad in person with many of you.
Nonetheless, I figured I should throw up one last blog before I set off for Israel by overnight bus later this evening. Egypt has been incredibly cool and incredibly busy. When we've been in Cairo, we've had an average of 5 hours of class a day at the American University in Cairo (AUC), classes on subjects ranging from ancient and modern Egyptian history to Islam in Egypt, from the funerary practices of Ancient Egyptians to American-Mid East International Relations, a random. Fortunately, even though we've had a ton of class in Egypt, we only had one test for our classes from AUC; I rushed through the test this morning, and I've got to be honest, I was far too travel-fatigued to put much effort into it, but at least it's over. To be even more honest, I've got to say that with the exception of my final exam and term paper for Professor Langerak's test, I've been completely checked out for the last month in regards to academics. Our AUC lectures were interesting and I did make an effort to pay some attention to the material, but unfortunately, it seems as if my mind has reached a level super-saturation, over-filled with everything I've seen and experienced over the course of my travels. At this point, there's just no room left in my mind for new information. Hopefully a couple of weeks of decompressing at home will free up some extra space in my head in time for my last semester of classes at St. Olaf.
Cairo has been a great city to explore. The city is by far the dirtiest city I've ever seen, at times breathing is difficult with all the smog and even seeing clearly can be a challenge with all of the dust in the air, but I've got to admit that Cairo has character; the people are friendly, the food is good and extremely cheap, and there's plenty to do if you have the energy and the persistence to seek stuff out. Highlights from my time in Cairo include a boat ride on the Nile, live jazz at the Cairo Jazz Club, smoking hookah at the Marriott, and digging in on Cario's cheap street food (e.g. beef and chicken shwerma, koshary, lentil and onion soup, etc.)
We've also had a few guided tours of sights in Cairo including tours of the Great Pyramids, Egypt's most famous sight. The tours were interesting in terms of content, but on several occasions, Cairo's weather and pollution made touring nearly unbearable. During our last round of tours this past weekend, the wind was blowing strong through the streets, kicking up enough dust to make all of the air turn a nasty beige color. I couldn't walk more than a few steps without having to rub the dirt out of my eyes. I could feel the dirt crusting up on my skin and in my hair and when I licked my teeth or my lips, I could taste the dust on my tongue and I could feel it crunching in my teeth. The air around me, the sky, and the horizon were all rendered indistinguishable by the thick fog of dust rising up to mix with the smog that's always hanging over Cairo's skyline.
In addition to class and sightseeing in Cairo, our group also had two mini-excursions in Egypt. During our first excursion, we headed North to the Mediterranean to visit the WWII battlefields at El Alamein and to check out Alexandria, the second largest city in Egypt behind Cairo. We spent a day at a beach resort on the Mediterranean that rivaled the horrible Batihan in Turkey in terms of strangeness: the Porto Marina Resort, a nearly deserted, thousand-plus room monstrosity with it's own hopeless mall filled with closed shops that looked as if they had been looted. The only thing that was open in the Porto Marina mall was the Chili's restaurant, whose staff didn't seem to understand the concept of bottomless chips and salsa and drinks. And the beach was pretty crummy too, but at least we had the chance to do nothing for a couple of days.
Alexandria was fairly interesting. We visited the Alexandrian Library, built as an homage to the ancient library at Alexandria. We also checked out the original site of Alexandria's famous lighthouse, one of the wonders of the ancient world; the lighthouse collapsed into the Mediterranean over one thousand years ago, but we were able to visit a fort built in the 15th century at the original location of the lighthouse. After Alexandria, we were back to Cairo for several weeks of class.
In addition to climbing Mount Sinai back in the first week of November, the second highlight of my time in Egypt, and probably of my time abroad, happened during our second round of excursion to southern Egypt, referred to as Upper Egypt (that might seem to be backwards, but it's all about the flow of the Nile, which runs south to north, hence south is Upper and north is Lower). Overall, our second excursion was really cool. We saw amazing tombs and temples in Aswan and the Valley of the Kings in Luxor, incredible art and architecture that has endured for over 4500 years. Our group took a ride on the Nile in a sailboat in Luxor and some of us, myself included, coughed up the dough (80USD) for a sunrise hot-air balloon ride over the Valley of the Kings. But, even though all of these experiences might deserve once-in-a-life-time status, the top prize for highlight of the trip goes my day of scuba diving on the Red Sea. Un-expletive-believable. I don't have the time right now to describe my scuba-dive for all of you because it would take me far too long to do it justice. All I wanted to say is that it was one of the best, if not the very best, day of my whole trip.
Well, I've got a lot more to say and many pictures to share, but I think I'll save the rest of my material for one final post, which I probably won't get around to creating until after I get home. In that case, most of you will have a chance to hear about the rest of my trip straight from the Luker's mouth. If this ends up being my final post, I want to thank all of you for following my blog over the last 3 and 1/2 plus months. It's been a real trip and I hope you've enjoyed my posts. I'll see you all soon.
Ohh, here's one picture of me at the Pyramids. Check out my flow. That's what you get when you don't cut your hair for 7+ months.
Well, see all of you soon! I know Minnesota is buried in snow right now, and I'm sure all of my friends and family there are probably sick of the weather already, but I'm really excited to get back for a white Christmas, and I'll gladly endure the sub-zero temperatures to be home again! <1 Week!
Peace,
Your Favorite Luker
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