accomplishments & alexandria

So I can't decide which of the milestones I reached this week was more important: the fact that I saw the Mediterranean Sea for the first time, or the fact that I have successfully quit Diet Coke (hopefully once and for all)? Hmm... probably the Mediterranean. But I'll explain the significance of the latter later in this post.

This weekend (Friday and Saturday), I and ten of my friends from AUC went to the beautiful and historic city of Alexandria (al-Iskendriyya in Arabic). This was my first trip outside of Cairo since arriving a month ago (can you believe it's already been a month? I definitely can't!), and most of theirs as well. It was absolutely amazing. By the time I got home on Saturday evening, I was exhausted, but in the best way possible. I'm planning to go back for another weekend soon, because I spent the entire time sightseeing, and not nearly enough time just soaking up the culture of the city! The train from Cairo to Alexandria takes about 3 hours and was extremely comfortable, considering we paid about 5 USD each for the trip there and 7 USD each for the trip back. Lots of leg room (something we don't have on the tour buses that take us to and from the AUC campus each day)! Upon arriving, the first thing I did was take a taxi straight to the shore. I couldn't wait to see the beautiful blue-green sea, and it did not disappoint.

First glimpse of the Mediterranean... I never want to leave!

Gorgeous view from my room at the New Capri Hotel!

First, we visited the Citadel of Qaitbay, a huge defensive fortress built by a sultan in the fifteenth century CE at the mouth of the Eastern Harbour on which Alexandria is situated. The fortress was built on the ruins of the spectacular Pharos Lighthouse, which was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and probably the world's tallest building when it existed. It was destroyed by several successive earthquakes from 1000-1400 CE, until the final remnants of the granite structure were used in the construction of the Citadel we visited. The views of the Mediterranean from the towers and walls of the fort were beautiful!

The 15th-century Citadel of Qaitbay that now stands in the Lighthouse's place.

These chunks of red granite are all that is left of the lighthouse.

With (left to right) Ben and Erin from Notre Dame and Matt from American University, on top of the wall of the fortress!

We had lunch and checked into our hotels (a passport mishap led to this being more complicated than necessary, but more about that soon), then visited the ruins of the Roman amphitheater in Alexandria. They were more than a little miscellaneous, but Ben is a Latin nerd like I am, and we had a great time exploring and reminiscing about our high school Latin studies.

Ruins of the Roman amphitheater, in relief against the modern buildings of central Alexandria.

We ended our sightseeing at the deservedly famous new Bibliotheca Alexandrina, possibly the nicest building in all of Egypt. Designed to commemorate the ancient Library of Alexandria, the most famous library of the ancient world, which was destroyed sometime between 48 BCE and around 700 CE, the Bibliotheca was completed in 2002. It's gorgeous inside and out, and a great departure from the historical sites we'd been visiting thus far.

The breathtaking reflecting pool outside the library.

The main facade of the library; it's designed to allow sunlight to hit every desk on the multiple levels inside.

Beautiful modern architecture inside the library!

Following the suggestion of our Lonely Planet guidebook, we ate dinner at Hood Gondol, a strangely-named but spectacular seafood restaurant. It wasn't much to look at, hidden away in an alley, but the huge amount and variety of seafood, rice, potatoes, tahini (a dip made from sesame seeds), and salad, plus drinks, that we got for about 6 USD were just ridiculous. There's no overrating the quality of the fresh seafood in Alexandria. It almost made me feel like I was at home, on the beaches of South Carolina! We ended the night by smoking shisha (water pipes) and playing backgammon, two old, old, Egyptian pasttimes, at a coffeehouse right on the Corniche (the road that follows the whole Eastern Harbour), and going to a bar called Spitfire that was filled with expats. Lots of other AUC students, including my roommate Lea (traveling with a group of her friends from Princeton), were in Alexandria this weekend, which made for lots of fun run-ins at the different tourist sites.

MASSIVE plate of seafood-- check out the eyes and legs still on the shrimp!

On Saturday, we visited the Catacombs of Kom el-Shaqafa, one of the Seven Wonders of the Middle Ages, a vast underground necropolis, the architecture of which melds elements of Egyptian, Greek and Roman style. This is typical of Alexandria, capital of Egypt under the Greek Ptolemaic pharaohs (i.e. Cleopatra), who ruled over Egypt as a Greek culture and kingdom from about 300 to 30 BCE. We also saw Pompey's Pillar, a 99-foot-high red granite column built in 293 CE for the Roman emperor Diocletian atop the Alexandrian acropolis. It was very impressive, and my favorite part of the exhibit that accompanied the Pillar was finding out that a group of 33 people apparently once had a lunch party on its capital (the decorations near the top)! I'm not sure how that's possible, but it's still awesome.

Matt and I in front of (and far away from) the pillar. It's huge, we're tiny :)

This was such an incredible weekend. In addition to seeing so much, I got to know the friends I travelled with even better. One major piece of advice I'll give to anyone considering study abroad in the future (as I know those of you who have done so or are abroad currently must already know this): as much as possible, avoid traveling in large groups. This is tougher to do than one might think, because all of the people here are so great and most of the time, I really do want to just take about 50 of them with me somewhere, because I know we'd have an amazing time. (One instance in which you can do this is on a felucca ride; about 70 AUC students rented one on Thursday night, and we danced on the Nile all night long!) But when traveling and especially when sightseeing, less is more. Only five people can fit (and not comfortably) in Egyptian taxis, so more than that is cumbersome for getting around; and even when walking, a group of more than four or five is very hard to keep track of and direct through the crowded streets of Middle Eastern cities. The worst scenario is when the group is lost on the way to a destination; with no designated leader or tour guide, and ten or eleven different opinions on what to do, it's hard to just enjoy exploring an area.

Not sightseeing for once: Rosie, Toby and I on the AUC felucca on the Nile!

So, taking our own advice (except when we all met up for dinner), we split into two groups for manageability's sake. I traveled with my friends Ben and Erin from Notre Dame, Matt from American, and Patrick from GW. It was a pretty perfect group! I really feel like I'm getting to know everyone so much better in recent days; these friendships are becoming real and deep. Dealing with the inevitable curves traveling abroad throws at us on a daily basis has helped us to bond. On Friday, we realized that only about four or five of the eleven in our group had brought their passports (or copies of their passports) with them to Alexandria, and thus couldn't stay in the same hotel we had originally planned upon. So, travelers: bring your passport whenever you travel in a foreign country. Especially for those of us still waiting for our student visas to be processed, passports are an absolute necessity because they are your only legitimate form of ID as far as hotels, police, and international bodies are concerned. I almost forgot mine, but brought it at the last minute.

On to the real news of this post: those of you who know my habits in the States know that I've been known to drink three to five cans of Diet Coke a day. I usually try to quit about once or twice a year, but fail because I'm addicted to the caffeine (with my pathetic sleep schedule, it's not optional) and I crave the taste. But living in Egypt has done the impossible: not only have I quit Diet Coke without even really trying, I don't think I've even gone through the usual withdrawal period. It's a combination of two things: obviously, this is the desert, and mostly all I ever actively want to drink is a giant bottle of cold mineral water (this doesn't usually cost more than 50 US cents, either!). When you're dehydrated all the time, soda's usually the last thing you want to order with a meal or pick up at the grocery store. But part of the problem is also, counter-intuitively, my devotion to Diet Coke and Diet Coke in particular: it's not available here. We've got all the regular Coke, Coke Zero, and Coke Light you could want, but Coke Light is not the same. Who knows if this will stick once I come home? But right now, I'm pretty proud of myself.

This weekend, I'm planning to travel to the Black and White Deserts and the Bahariya Oasis, about 300 km west of Cairo, with a large group (broken down, of course, into smaller groups!). I can't wait, since my first experience with traveling around Egypt was so successful! My weekdays are getting less eventful with the advent of weekend trips, since we all want to rest and get work done while we can. However, on Monday nights (since we have Tuesdays off), Tuesdays, and Thursday nights, I still make sure to hit the town, enjoy Cairo, and spend time with all of my different groups of friends!

I've opened up comments to allow anyone to be able to comment, so please, please let me know your thoughts! I wanted to share a few things with y'all, too. First, the February issue (the 15th anniversary issue, actually!) of the University of South Carolina Garnet & Black magazine is out online and in print (definitely pick up a print copy if you are in Columbia). I'm the features editor of the magazine and we worked very hard on this issue-- editing with a 7-hour time-zone difference is not easy. Take a look! And for those of you who are cat people (Dad, I'm looking at you), my friend Jonathan from Notre Dame has put together a lovely photo album entitled "The Stray Cats of Cairo." Since he braved potentially contracting rabies from getting so close to these feral cats, you should check out what he has to show for it! Thanks for reading!