Egypt

It’s slowly hitting me. In 4 weeks I’ll be off of this ship and at home. I’m starting to dread our final day more than anything. I’m dreading leaving the friends I’ve made and the amazing semester I have spent abroad. Last night we were walking the streets of Alexandria and I told my friends that I never thought I would be dreading leaving the ship. I thought I‘d be ready to leave. The first month of the trip was hard adjusting to culture shock, life on a ship, traveling in general, tough classes and not really having a phone or internet. I thought that 3 months would be enough time away. Now I’m to the point where I don’t even want too much contact with anyone else except the people on this ship. I am over that “missing” stage, I am over the “it sucks to not have a phone” stage and I’m over the “I need to get online” feelings. Now I just want to live every last moment on this ship and in port to the fullest. We have Turkey, Croatia and Spain left. And then we have finals, packing and Florida. It’s so crazy to think about.

I had quite possibly the best overall time in Egypt. I saw so much, spent quality time with friends and enjoyed every moment in port.

We spent our first day traveling to and around Cairo. The ship was docked 2 hours from Cairo, at a small port city named Adibiya. I had previously purchased an SAS trip with 5 of my friends and over 150 other students. We all packed up and loaded onto a coach bus. The Camera man (SAS has it’s own camera man, Andy, who films everything that goes on in port and on the ship. He picks an SAS trip and follows the students around and films everything) Andy was on our bus so we got to be on the camera a lot during our time in Cairo. Once actually in Cairo we went to the 4000 year old Step Pyramids and the Egyptian museum. At the museum we were able to see about 15 real mummies as well as King Tut’s jewelry, clothing and casket . It was an experience, that’s for sure. That night we took a dinner cruise around the Nile. The food was buffet style and included entertainment (Belly dancer and singer). After dinner we headed back to our 5 star hotel (It was right by the Pyramids, has a HUGE pool with a swim up bar, 5 restaurants, very nice rooms, and a Hookah bar. I roomed with Kat and we had a view of the Pyramids. It was the nicest hotel I’ve ever stayed in.

The next morning we were at the Pyramids by 5:30am. It was cold and windy out but very worth the early morning wake up call. We ended up staying at the Pyramids for a little over 4 hours. We got to explore the 3 Pyramids and the Sphinx. Before we left we took a Camel ride around the 3 Pyramids -- that was so much fun! The Pyramids are not “touristy” at all and are actually very well kept. They are out in the desert and while standing next to the big Pyramid, you can see most of Cairo in the distance. Since we arrived so early, SAS students were the only people (Besides the few tourist police and men selling postcards and what not) at the Pyramids until about 9am.

Upon leaving the Pyramids, we went to Mohammed Ali’s Mosque and then to the Khan al Khalili Bazaar. At the Bazaar we shopped around and then the 6 of us girls stopped for Arabic coffee and Sheesha. Sheesha = Hookah! After hanging out for a while we met back at the buses and headed for lunch on the Nile. After lunch, we went back to the hotel and hung out for the rest of the night. Jess and I went swimming in the pool and then we all got ready for dinner at the really nice hotel buffet. That night we hung out by the pool with all of the other SAS students staying there. We had a hookah bar at the hotel and we of course took advantage of the close location.

The next morning we slept in until 8 and went to breakfast, then headed to the Bazaar again. That afternoon we took the bus back to the ship and just hung out on the 7th deck until we were too tired to stay up. I think we were all in bed by 10pm.

The next morning I woke up to watch us enter the Suez Canal and then we laid out for most of the day. The crew prepared a really nice dinner for us since there were only about 100 students on the ship. Transiting the Suez canal is optional for students. Once in Adibiya, you can leave the ship and do what you want in Egypt (Can go anywhere, do anything) for 6 days. On t