The last time I wrote, I mentioned that I was going to Alexandria. Well I went, and came back, and have been extremely busy since then (what else is new). We drove down Friday morning in the group vans to Alexandria, and we got there around noon. The first thin
g we did was go to check in to our hotels (or book them). We hadn’t looked into hotels at all, we just figured we’d wing it and find a place when we got down there. When we got off the busses, we went one street over and found at least 4 possible hotels to look at. We split up and a few of us went to each hotel and checked out the prices. We all thought our hotel had the best prices (50 pounds, 75 pounds – $10-$15), until one of our friends informed us that they hit the jackpot – or at least it felt like they did. They found a hotel for 15 Egyptian pounds, only THREE US dollars to stay over the night. It wasn’t the nicest hotel, but it was a hotel nonetheless. We got three rooms for 9 of us, and each room had 3 beds. Also, each room had a balcony that overlooked the Mediterranean. Yeah, crazy, huh? Anyways, the rooms like I said weren’t the nicest; they didn’t have any facilities, just a crappy old sink that I wasn’t expecting to use.In Alexandria, we became tourists again, and visited some really nice places. The first place we went was Qaitbay Citadel. What is with it with Egypt and relaxi
ng places: mosques, citadels, café’s – Egypt is a very relaxing country. The Citadel was like a fortress, with outer walls surrounding it on all sides. Being on the "cape cod" part of Alexandria as it seemed, the Citadel was surrounded on two sides by water. Inside the Citadel, there were 3 or 4 floors, with an uncountable number of nooks and areas to sit and relax near a window. Looking out over the Mediterranean with a cool breeze coming off the water was something that was found pretty much anywhere in the fortress. After the Citadel, we visited the catacombs. These were really cool even though there wasn’t much to see, and we couldn’t take pictures inside.Our last scheduled stop of the day was at the library of Alexandria. Yes we went to a library, and it was awesome
. The architecture of it was really cool. It was 12 floors high, with two floors above those that were used as meeting rooms. In addition to the main library, there were two other buildings that accounted for the entire Alexandria library campus. For the rest of the day Friday, we just relaxed and got dinner and enjoyed the Mediterranean breeze, even though the humidity made it seem hotter than Aswan and Luxor. After sleeping overnight at our hotel, we went to the beach on Sunday. We swam in the Mediterranean and were going to go downtown at one point before breakfast became a 2 hour fiasco.Security has been enforced upon us everywhere we have traveled. As if we don’t stick out enough ourselves, our vans have the word "tourist" written on them, so the police usually stop us and give us an escort. I realized during one of these times when they were giving us an escort, that there isn’t really any method pulling over in Egypt. It took me a minute to realize that the policemen had stopped us right in the middle of a 3 lane road. They didn’t bother to have us pull over; they just assumed that the other cars would maneuver around us. Luckily they did, but as I looked out the back window, I just thought it seemed funny that we were "pulled over" in the dead center of a main road.
On Sunday night we had our next fun experience. We went to a socc
er game. We saw Egypt play against Congo in a World Cup qualifying game. The atmosphere was amazing, with people screaming and singing and dancing throughout the entire game. At least half of the stadium was filled up with Egypt’s army (as fans, not in uniform). We got tickets for 25 pounds ($5) and we sat in the 1st row right next to the field – well as close as we could get. There was a border of guards (these in uniform with shields and helmets) surrounding the entire stadium. In addition to these policemen, and the 4 foot deep pit that surrounded the entire field to prevent fans from running onto the field, there were people sitting on the actual field just watching the crowd and making sure nothing was thrown. The security here was just as strict as everywhere 
else in Egypt. There was a group of about 20-25 of us, both American and Egyptian students. Nonetheless, they still created a gap between us and the rest of the Egyptian fans. At least it was just a few empty seats around us, unlike the Congo fans. If those fans didn’t feel intimidated, then I’m not sure what could intimidate them. They were surrounded on all sides by a wall of policemen (three guards deep), each with helmets, shields and a baton. I’ll just say I’m glad I was an Egypt fan.The game itself was an unbelievable game to see. The crowd was fairly subdued during the first half as Congo led 1-0 at the break. However, the second half was a different story. Egypt scored two goals – one on a volley that was an absolute laser, and the second on a rebound that beat the keeper upper 90. All three goals in the game were awesome goals (Congo scored on a free kick from about 30 yards out). Overall the game and the atmosphere was so fun and entertaining that it was something I will never forget.
After seeing a soccer game, it made us want to play some soccer ourselves. Our Egyptian friends who brought us to the game, also found a sports club where we could play some soccer. *(By the way I’m writing a reflection post that will sum up everything I remember about Egypt, and this will be written about in there. Actually it will be verbatim because I’ve already written it in. I went to start this post tonight and instead I just started writing a reflection. I wrote about 1000 words before realizing I should probably write this post first. So, back to soccer…)* The facility we went to was ginormous; think of a college campus. It had fields and courts for every sport you could think of – and in excessive amounts. There were at least five basketball courts, ten tennis courts, handball and badmitten courts, not to mention about eight Astroturf soccer fields. The place was chuck-full of kids running around. There must have been over 200 kids on the soccer fields alone. We got there at 9 p.m. and tried to start playing… tried is the key word. We started juggling in a circle, and before I knew it there was a circle of kids surrounding us about 5 people deep. I swear it could have been a never-ending juggle session. If we over kicked it one of the kids would just kick it or head it right back into our circle. They were so excited that there were Americans there playing with them that they stopped playing to come watch. We couldn’t even get enough room to kick it around so we had to wait until the place shut down around 11:30 p.m. Luckily the managers realized we weren’t going to get any time to play so they let us play after most of the kids left. We played for two solid hours before they literally turned the lights off on us at 1:30 a.m. Once again, everything goes late in Cairo – in the U.S. soccer or most physical activity doesn’t go past 10 or 11, in Cairo 1 a.m, easily. The Egyptian students were pretty good at soccer. Well I guess pretty good is an understatement for some of them. Even though I realized how out of shape I am, it was so much fun playing, I had so much energy and just kept running all over just enjoying the experience.
My time in Egypt is winding down, and I’m starting to realize that I really don’t want to leave. The only thing that is keeping me set on leaving is that we have 17 days to travel across Europe – another experience that will be a once in a lifetime opportunity. In the last few days I have a final exam, then a couple free days which hopefully I’ll spend with a lot of the Egyptian students I’ve met, as well as all my friends from the trip. Sunday we meet to have a final dinner at Abdu’s and then we’re going to a park for a debrief. I guess the next time I post I’ll be wrapping up my time here in Egypt and be looking forward to Europe.
By the way, I keep telling myself that I need to enjoy the time and experiences as I have them. I keep catching myself looking forward to other things and not letting my current experiences sink in. Well I’ve changed that. Although I still: can’t wait to go to Europe, can’t wait to move into my new apartment, can’t wait to get onto the coop track again, can’t wait to get some American food I’ve been craving (specifically hot wing pizza from Fat Daddy’s); I know that I’m having the time of my life here in Egypt, so I won’t overlook it.
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