Part One: Egypt

Yay! I know you're all wondering how my travels went so here's the first installment :). So first we had to get to the airport in Thessaloniki. This should not have been that difficult because we kind of knew where the bus was we needed, but we went the wrong way at some point and messed it up. I got to practice my Greek though asking people for directions. We got there eventually with plenty of time, of course cause it's me and I always leave insane amounts of extra time. We had a short flight to Athens, a layover that wasn't bad, and then a short flight to Cairo, Egypt! Even though they were short flights (only 2 hours from Athens to Cairo), we still got like a full meal. We even got this mini delicious strawberry shortcake thing for dessert! What is wrong with airlines in America?? They are no fun. Anyway we made it to Cairo! When we got there I think that was the first time I've ever really experience major culture shock. It is really different there, and we stick out like crazzzzy. I'm really glad I didn't end up studying there. I don't know if I could have handled it. Plus Cairo isn't exactly the prettiest, cleanest city to live in for 4 1/2 months. Anyway, so what was so different? Well to start with the driving was insane. So much traffic and no traffic lights, stop signs, lines, or anything. One of the first things we saw driving to the hotel was a car crash on the highway. There wasn't any police or anything blocking anywhere off. The ambulance was putting someone on a stretcher and there was just a huge crowd around them and we drove really close next to all this. The crazy traffic also makes crossing the street nearly impossible. Then our first night we wandered around near our hotel trying to find somewhere to eat and we did not get a very good first impression of Egypt. It's just hard to get used to drawing so much attention and having like everyone talk to you when you're just trying to walk down the street. But after we got to see the sites I definitely had a much better impression.

So the sites!!! Oh I forgot to mention I was traveling with another girl from the ACT study abroad program, Elissa. She goes to Eau Claire in Wisconsin. We did a tour that did everything for us: hotel, tickets to everything, transportation. It was so nice. I don't know how we would have done it on our own. So the first morning we went right to the main event: the pyramids of course! It was pretty amazing to see them for real. They were so huge and so were the stones they were made out of. Our guide, Ali, was with us all three days and he was really good. He helped us take all the best pictures :).

We got to go in the 2nd great pyramid but we couldn't take pictures inside. sorry :(. But there's not really much to take pictures of inside them anymore since there's nothing left inside. But it is cool to see that there are these huge rooms inside these things. It was really muggy and stuffy inside. At the pyramids there were a lot of Egyptian kids there on field trips and this is the first time they're exposed to other people so it kind of felt like we were celebrities. They wanted to talk to us and take pictures with/of us. I didn't really like it, but I was amazed at how well even really young kids spoke English. Next we saw the sphinx and the temple thing (not exactly sure what I know that's sad) near it.

We had lunch for less than a dollar (falafel!). sweet. Then we went to the Egyptian Museum where we got to see a lot of the treasures and statues from ancient Egypt including the mask from King Tut's tomb. I wish we could have spent more time there, but we had a very full day. I don't like museums that much though. I understand we need to preserve these things, but I just think they would be better to see everything basically where it originally came from. It's sad especially when some things are just in random museums so far away. I didn't see them, but some people I know here said they saw some of the statues that were originally in the temple near the sphinx in the Vatican! Why can't they just keep them in the temple instead of being in any museum? That night we went on a fellucia boat ride on the Nile. It was so pretty and peaceful after the crazy but amazing day.

Day two! We left Cairo and took a 3 hour drive to Alexandria (named after Alexander the Great)on the coast. I loved learning about Ancient Egypt and the relationship with Ancient Greece. It's crazy how intertwined the two histories really are and I liked Alexandria a lot because you could really see the two coming together. They're both really connected with the Romans too so I picked the perfect combination of countries to visit together. The first site was the catacombs (no pics allowed again) where you can see both Greek and Egyptian influences. It's hard to explain without pictures but basically the murals over the coffin things had both Egyptian gods and Greek symbolism. The second site we saw in Alexandria was a temple that was made by the Ancient Greeks and Egyptians together while the Greeks were there. This was one of my favorite places because the two cultures recognized the similarities between their religions instead of fighting and focusing on the differences. They both mainly worshiped one god, but then they had other gods for everything (like love, things in nature, etc.). So they just decided to combine the two and make a new set of gods to worship in the city of Alexandria and dedicated this temple to them. The Egyptians' gods usually had a half animal form and the Greeks worshiped the human form so the main god and the lesser ones all had like two faces to satisfy everyone. The rest of the day in Alexandria was spent at quick stops to take pictures like the Montazah Palace and the citadel and enjoy the views by the water.

Moving on to our last day exploring Cairo. First we went to Sakkara, the original pyramid. This was a cool place right away because you could see a stark contrast between the Sahara desert and the Nile river delta. It was so sandy and bare on one side and then so green just right next to each other. So Sakkara was this place where the pharaohs had to prove themselves and prove that they weren't too old/weak to rule. First they had to run around to a bunch of different shrines, then they had to run around this track, and the last thing was to fight and kill a bull. After that (possibly with some cheating) they would be crowned in temples for upper and lower Egypt. We also went in a tomb there that I wish I could have taken pictures of but I couldn't. The ceiling was decorated with the most amazing stars that looked like starfish. I want to do that in my future house somewhere. The way they used to bury the pharaohs was sort of a flat rectangle:

But when this king started building his and digging underground they found his mother's tomb (I think) so he changed the design to extend it to include her tomb too. They liked to make things even and everything so some how this ended up as a pyramid.

Then on to old Cairo! It was pretty cool because it was sort of below the rest of Cairo because the street level rose over the years. First we saw the Hanging Church which was built directly over a Roman Fortress and you can see it below in one spot where they have a glass floor.

I think it was also where Jesus was hiding at one point when he ran away from the Romans. I don't remember exactly, too much information! Then we went to the Ben Ezra temple (no pictures allowed again :( ). Super cool because it was the day before Passover! It was important because it showed the Jewish presence at the time and was cool because it was a converted church and you could tell. Next was the Alabaster Mosque outside of the old city on a hill with a great view of Cairo. The big 3 religions all in one spot! The sad thing is that at some points in time they were actually able to live peacefully all together. The mosque was really beautiful and was modeled after the Blue Mosque in Istanbul which I saw a few weeks ago! I really like mosques for some reason. I think if I was ever going to be religious I would want to do it in a mosque. It's definitely the most peaceful and spiritual looking, although I haven't been to a Buddhist temple yet... I like how there's no chairs or anything it's just a huge open carpeted floor which wicked high ceilings and low orb-like lights. I think it would be cool to have a yoga class there. :)

Last, but not least, we spent the rest of the evening at the market haggling for some souvenirs. Then the next morning I made the Exodus on Passover out of Egypt!!

Pictures(sorry I look so ugly in all of them. oh well.):

http://picasaweb.google.com/kaitz.j/Egypt#