In which I am set upon by Gypsies and Visigoths*

I left O'Hare at approximately 3 PM on Friday (my flight having been delayed by about 20 minutes due to late arrival from LA - good thing I didn't leave any earlier) and flew 8 hours to Frankfurt, Germany. In Business Class. And let me tell you, if you have never flown Business Class, you don't know what you're missing. I had probably 2 feet of leg room, a fold-out leg rest, and a seat which reclined almost all the way to horizontal. And a really big tray table which came out of the arm rest, and a personal video screen which came out of the center console (on which I watched Waitress). And then there was the food. Case Hall would have been hard pressed to provide food this good even on one of their above-average days.

The Frankfurt International Airport is very nice; I walked about a mile (seriously) through the airport at 5:45 AM on Saturday (local time) from my arrival terminal to the center court, which is called Goethe Plaza and features a large number of shops and restaurants that seem to have been designed more for yuppies than for people who go to airports at 5:45 AM. (Or any other time.) I could have bought Versace ties, designer watches, and gallons of Jack Daniels (all duty-free, of course), or even had my suit tailored while I waited. I declined, though did get an overpriced cappuccino while I waited for my connection to Cairo (9 AM local time).

Cairo is four hours from Frankfurt, and an hour ahead. For this leg, I was unfortunately resigned to Economy Class (back with the rest of the cattle), but did have a window seat with an amazing view of the Alps and the Greek islands as we crossed the Mediterranean, itself phenomenally blue. (I had a window seat from Chicago to Frankfurt as well, though most of that flight was at night, but I did get to see some Scottish and East Anglican cities all lit up, as well as the stars from 37,000 feet.)

Getting from Cairo International to my residence was trying in and of itself - never mind that I'd been awake for about 23 of the previous 24 hours at that point. First, we got lost in Doqqi looking for the Marwa Palace Residence. (Arabic Students: Let me emphasize the importance of your short vowels here and now. If I had told the driver we were looking for Sharia al-Khatib, pronouncing it with an "i," as opposed to Sharia al-Khatab, pronouncing it with an "a," I'd have arrived about one hour earlier.) When I finally arrived, I handed my passport and confirmation email to the receptionist, who went to confer with her supervisor regarding my rooming assignment. 20 minutes later, they had packed me into a taxi with directions to Fonduq Kanzy, a women's residence hall in Doqqi, because apparently in the two days since my housing had been confirmed, I'd been switched to Kanzy. Fine, whatever. Except that Kanzy didn't have a reservation for me either. Kanzy's receptionist was on the phone, speaking angry and annoyed sounding Arabic, as I attempted to hold it together at the desk. They finally stuck me in a room; truth be told, I have no idea if I'm supposed to be here or not, but they will have to pry my cold, dead hands off these orange vinyl chairs before I will move.

My room itself is a bit of an eyesore, apparently decorated by someone with a bad case of '70s nostalgia. The carpet is orange shag, accented with orange vinyl chairs and orange light fixtures. Our TV looks like the one that my mother took to college circa 1975 (this morning we watched Saudi cartoons before we went to the university), and the bedspreads and curtains are made of the same supremely ugly material (in the pictures, it might appear that it is some sort of African print, but in fact it is not; it is just ugly, plain and simple). Even the bathroom is a blast from the past, with its dark yellow ceramic fixtures, blue tile/decor, and this thing that I do not know what it is. I have claimed one corner of the room, next to the TV as my computer/desk area, ceding the small round table to Nafiza, my roommate (American University).

I went to campus for the first time today, but I'm going to hold off on posting about it until at least tomorrow, only because today it was all really, really new and I still don't feel that I have a good sense of the place. I'll take some photos then as well. My placement testing and orientation are on Tuesday, but I'm going back to campus tomorrow for a little while to see if I can actually locate the ALI office (I've received several different opinions as to its location and hours). I think I'm going to try taking the Metro to Midan Tahrir and see if that transportation works, since the shuttle only comes once an hour and pick-up times from the campus are a bit shifty.

*With no insult intended towards past, present or future affiliates of either of these groups, or the affiliates of their affiliates.