EGYPT, the finale.

So, my trip to Egypt eventually came to a very unwanted end.  I had seen so many astonishing monuments, temples and structures and had met so many amazing people from around the world in only a week’s time that it was overwhelming just thinking about all that I had seen and done.  I must say, however, that I would not have changed my experience for anything in the world, and if ever the opportunity to relive my experiences came about I would drop everything to do it all over, again.

I must tell my audience about one of the most fascinating blogs I came across while researching blogs about Egypt. It was Dr. Zahi Hawass’ (a famous Egyptian archaeologist ) blog about his research, findings, and experiences in Egypt.

Dr. Zahi Hawass

Most of you have probably seen him on the Discovery channel, the History Channel or the Travel channel digging up ancient tombs, mummies, and structures all over Egypt.  He’s done a lot of great things for archaeology.

What interested me so much about his blog were his experiences in the Valley of the Kings.   He says of the valley, “Of all the sites in Egypt, this one is the most magical”.

The Valley of the Kings

He writes of his experiences as a young archaeologist, and how much the magnitude of the Valley of the Kings impacted him.  Most of his site is dedicated to Egyptian history and may be a bit hard to follow for those of you not particularly interested in traveling to Egypt, but for those of you who are, this blog is a must.

Again, here is a link to his blog:
Dr. Zahi Hawass’ Blog

source:

Egypt Travel Blog, Dr. Zahi Hawass. (2008, June 25). Retrieved October 23, 2008, from Egypt.com Web site: http://blog.egypt.com/en/?cat=16

EGYPT, days 3-7

The overnight train ride was not what I had expected (or what any one else had for that matter) – it lasted for almost 28 hours when it was supposed to last just eight…(more on that later)  When we finally did arrive to our destination, we were whisked away in the night to our beautiful ferry which would be taking us down the Nile for the next few days.  I barely had enough time to shower, check out the honeymoon suite I ended up sharing with Torpy (my new crazy Australian roommate) and head off to Abu Simbel.

Abu Simbel

Abu Simbel (in Aswan) was carved out of a mountainside during the reign of Pharoah Ramssess II.  Next to the Pharoah’s temple is another temple that he had built for his wife, Queen Nefertari.  The twin structures overlook Lake Nasser and we had the privilege of being at the temples during sunrise, which was (sounds so corny, but…) a very magical moment.  This was the one experience in Egypt that moved me to tears – I’m so lame.

The following days in Egypt were a blurr.   We visited so many places it’s hard to keep track of everything that we did (especially when I don’t have the itinerary right in front of me, which is safely stowed away at my mom’s house).  Without going into very much detail we saw the botanical gardens, the valley of the kings, Queen Hatchetsup’s Temple, the High Dam, the Sultan Hussan Mosque, Karnak Temple, the Step Pyramid, and Luxor Temple (just to name a few). Shwew.

Here are pictures…

At the Botanical Gardens in Aswan

Inside Karnak Temple

The Nile River

The Sultan Hussan Mosque

This is my favorite picture I took in all of Egypt. It captures a really amazing moment I had when a group of girls started going crazy asking my friends and me what our favorite hobbies, foods, etc. were. They were cuties.

EGYPT, day two continued…

After visiting the pyramids of Giza we were then able to see the Sphynx, which I had no idea was so closely situated to the pyramids, themselves.  It’s also much smaller than I had imagined…

The Sphynx

I find it also important to note that throughout the entirety of the trip, the men of Egypt were not shy in telling us how they really felt about us Western women, and I first noticed their honesty during my visit to the Sphynx and pyramids.  I can’t say that they were necessarily mean, uncouth or callous towards me or any of my female counterparts, but the fact that on numerous occassions they would call out “SHAKIRA, SHAKIRA” in hopes that, I don’t know, we would wiggle for them or something, made me laugh.  I just don’t understand where they’re getting Shakira from?  I mean…

Me...

Shakira…

Tourism at the Sphynx.

Despite all of the Shakira remarks, most of the men there were very simply trying to sell us their stuff.

There are dozens of Egyptians circling the tourist sites like hungry vultures waiting to make their moves.  They bombard you with their cheaply made trinkets and hassle you until either you give in and purchase one of the commodities, or they feel satisfied in making a fool of you.  I must say, that I hesitate in describing their actions in this way, because it sounds as if I am simply neglecting the blaring fact that these people, of whom are all suffering poverty-stricken circumstances, rely heavily on the tourism in their country.  These people are just trying to make a living the best way they know how, and I couldn’t help but feel like I was helping to create a situation in which they’re sacred, religious history was undergoing a certain amount of exploitation just so that they could create a simple means of living for themselves.

After seeing all that we could see for the day, we were all looking forward to taking some time to relax on the overnight train that would take us to Aswan…or so we had hoped…

EGYPT, day 2

Sunday, October 30th.

First picture I took. A man riding his donkey through morning traffic. Crazy.

Being that this was the starting day for our Egyptian tour our tour guide was anxious to get us to as many places around Cairo as he could possibly manage. First we visited the National Egyptian Museum.  I wish I could’ve taken pictures inside of their but cameras were prohibited.  Pretty much an amazing display of some of the most ancient pieces of writing, architecture, tools, etc. in the world.

Jeny.

After visiting the museum we were able to visit the Pyramids of Giza, which was probably the most exciting part of the trip for me because the Pyramids are what you think of when you think of Egypt (right?).  Well, not only did we take pictures of this spectacular site, we were also able to actually go inside of one of the pyramids.  Unfortunately, we weren’t able to take any pictures (it’s an ancient and sacred temple for chrissakes) but in order for you to get the best idea of what it looks like let me explain;  We had to climb through this tiny, dirt opening which led to a rickety, old ladder that led us deep down into the pyramid (Note:  I’m not a claustrophobic person by any means but that was by far the most claustrophobic I’ve ever felt it in my life – and it was upwards of a 100 degrees inside of the pyramid. Yuck.).  The ladder led us down to an even smaller dirt hole, which only gave a person room to crawl with their face to the floor (Ancient Egyptians were much smaller in stature than the modern day human if you’re wondering why everything’s so tiny), which led us to another ladder that we had to climb up in order to get to the center of the pyramid.  It sucked if you’re wondering.  Once finally at the middle of the pyramid however, we came to a huge room that held the tomb of an Egyptain prince.  The mummy’s casket was in the room, and there was hieroglyphic writing all over the twenty foot tall walls.  (The scary ladder climb was worth it)  Absolutely awesome.

Pyramids of Giza

After seeing the insides of the pyramid, we were able to take a camel ride through the desert!  I didn’t think I’d be so afraid of the camels, because I’m a horse rider (I’m going to the Olympics one day – watch out fools) but those suckers are not only F**KING HUGE, but they are mean bastards, as well (probably because they’re owners are abusive towards them…).  Of course, my camel was the tallest of the bunch (and seemingly, the meanest) so I was a bit more freaked out than the rest of my companions, but I never let it show…

Rebecca and me.

EGYPT, the first day.

So, if there’s one experience that I could discern as being absolutely life changing on all accords it is, with no doubt, my trip to Egypt.

I, along with my three delightful friends (Rebecca, Seth, and Ashley) decided that we were going to spend our spring break cruising down the Nile and riding camels.  Hell yes.

Seth, me, Rebecca: Plane ride to Egypt.

March 29, 2008.  We left for Egypt.  I remember, arriving at the airport, seeing a huge poster dangling on the wall in front of arriving travelers with the inscribed words “Death by Hanging Will be Enforced if Any Person is Caught with Drugs and/or Drug Paraphernalia” and thinking, “O damn, I am definitely in Egypt.”

That first night in Egypt was surreal.  My friends and I had arrived much later than we had planned because our flight was delayed (we didn’t get there until about three o’clock in the morning), so we missed the first day of our tour (the meet and greet kind of bullshit that’s necessary at the start of any organized function).  O, and I guess I should mention at some point that our entire trip was facilitated through Contiki.

Rebecca and I endorsing CONTIKI. alla alla habibi for life.

Contiki is an Australian tour company that organizes group traveling expeditions to different countries all over the world, including countries in Europe, Africa, and Asia.  It is specifically intended for travelers between the ages of 18-35, which is great for making sure that all people are satisfied with the agenda of the trip.

I’ve used other travel agencies and tour groups to travel to other countries, but I must say that I would recommend Contiki over any other company to any traveler in a heartbeat.  They were organized, considerate, and were able to get the cheapest deal for my friends and I.  BIG thumbs up.

Anywayyyyy, our first night was spent very simply by whispering, “OH MY GOD WE’RE IN EGYPT RIGHT NOW” to one and other and silently admiring the early morning air of Cairo as we made our way to our hotel.  Our hotel was lovely – Seth and I tried to explore it a bit but after seeing a group of shady men sneaking around outside of our room, we decided we should just stay inside.  I didn’t sleep that night.

UNI!

So some of you may ask; what were you doing in England for five months Lauren?

Well folks, besides sleeping, traveling, drinking, watching Harry Potter with Ashley and Lilly, pub crawling, and becoming a mutant I was attending uni.

Kingston University in Kingston Upon Thames is a ‘top modern university’, according to the site, and was my academic home while studying abroad. I really have nothing bad to say about uni at all. The professors I had were all well qualified, intelligent, and thought provoking individuals (which is always a nice change) the classes, for the most part, were extremely easy, and the students weren’t so bad.

O yea, and there was a pub on campus. (Why can’t all unis have a pub on campus????) The only problem I found with Kingston University was that in the majority of my classes I only had one paper or one final exam to make up the entirety of my grade, which sucked. That meant that I, basically, had one chance to make a grade for myself. Psyche. (I still got top marks, though. BOOYASHAKAH)

**P.S. The picture here is one off of the site. I’m guessing they’re attempting to showcase the new John Galsworthy building on the Penhryn Road campus. Anyway, the picture made me nostalgic so I had to post it. Sigh.

Things Other People Love About Other Countries. Hey Now.

Here are some interesting blogs I found about people living and traveling abroad:  They’re experiences, likes, dislikes, funny moments, etc. etc. etc.  Enjoy.

Remember Elyse from America’s Next Top Model?

Yea, me neither.  This is her blog about living and modeling in China, though, and it is really very interesting and funny.  She pokes fun at all the little nuances of Chinese culture, while exploring the interesting food, culture, and people that she meets.  She’s also really, very funny.  A little vile in her language, but that resonates with me so she’s straight.

Mr. and Mrs. Fantasy go on vacation

My former boyfriend came to visit me while I was in England, and while he was in town I had the pleasure of meeting up with one of his good friends from high school who had been living in England with her boyfriend.  I recently came across her blog about their travels through Japan, and it’s awesome.  She talks about all the delicious (and not so delicious food), crazy people, and random places they explored.  Shout out to K.D. Fantasy and Mr. K.D. Fantasy!  (p.s. if either of you two read this, hope you’re well)

My Marrakesh

This is a woman’s blog about her travels through Africa and living in Marrakesh with her husband and two children (and nine peacocks apparently).  The blog is fully of amazing pictures from her travels and truly captures the essense of some of the horrifying, yet beautiful circumstances in Africa.  The only thing I don’t like about it is that she writes in this 3rd person, poetic tone, which gets a bit annoying, but I’ll deal.

Things I Love About England.

Here is a list of all things I LOVE love Love love LoVe about England.

1.  The people.  They are awesome.  Everyone is so witty and sarcastic and intelligent (well not everyone but the majority, for sure) it’s exciting.  I also love their sense of style.  Like this little femme fatale, here.

2. Primark

It’s basically the Wal Mart of clothing stores in Ireland, the UK and Spain, but it’s ridiculously inexpensive clothing is, most times, really cool.  It’s a perfect store to pick up basic clothing, and the occasional trendy item, but I still can’t help but wonder if an ill-fed child in a dimly lit and damp factory in some far off land rarely thought about by the average Westener sewed together these ridiculously inexpensive threads I love so much…hmmmmmm…

3.  

CIDER!!! Before coming to England I was a self-proclaimed beer hater.  Completely yucked me out.  Especially the warm piss drink called “Keystone” that so many fellow Rowan students love to gorge themselves with.  Ugh.  But, once arriving in England and learning of the beautiful taste of cider, something of which my American lips have never tasted before, I was overjoyous to find an alcoholic beverage that tasted, essentially, like juice.  Loving cider made me want to try other types of ciders, which made me want to try ales, which led me down the dark road towards stouts, etc. etc.  The point is, cider changed my life.

4.
Public Transport. This is the one aspect of my living abroad experience that I was most apprehensive about…how was I going to get around?  I’d never really used public transportation before (I’m from New Jersey and the few times I did actually get on the Septa my friend Laura yelled at me for not knowing how to use the ticket. ya.) The London Underground, along with the bus and rail system in England, however, is extraordinary.  I never really worried about not being able to make it home, drunk as a skunk, from the pub at 3am because I knew the bus ‘would not fail me’.

5.  SQUASH! No, not as in the vegetable.  I mean the delicious sugary juice concentrate that Brits drink.  I’ve been watering down my juice for as long as I can remember, and most people scold me for doing such an “atrocious” thing, but when I got to England and saw that people actually have a drink based solely on this concept, I felt revenged.  It was like a big middle finger to all those who doubted my juice habits.  So suck on that.

**Keep an eye out for an up coming blog about all those things that I (sorry to say) hate about England (as well as the other countries I’ve been to).

‘The Lonely Londoner’

My last post seems awful dreary, and I don’t want people to get the wrong impression about my experience in England, because the five months I spent there were the five best months of my life, and I never really fully understood how great they were until I reminisce about my experiences. I won’t lie though, there were some rough times, and whenever I’m talking to a prospective traveler or study abroader who is about to live in another country for an extended period of time, I tell them about my first week. Don’t get me wrong, I also tell them how great the experience was and how I would recommend living in another country to any person in the world, but I don’t sugar coat how hard it is to leave everything behind and start anew in a world completely different from the one that you may know.

Firstly, it can seem overwhelming lonely when you’re in another country – think about it; You don’t know a single person there and when you’re in a country like England where every person seems like they have a chip on his or her shoulder at all times it can be slightly intimidating to interact with them. Regardless there are few things a traveler can do to avoid this emotion called “loneliness”.

1. Get drunk. Seriously, the more you drink, the more friendly you become, and therefore the more you talk to that guy in the corner who you suspect of being a mega-dork, the more you realize that he’s actually a really cool guy. I’ve met plenty a decent folk while chilling at the pub and talking over a few pints.

2. Talk to the natives. No matter where you are, I strongly believe that the people of that country are generally friendly and eager to talk to you. Even when I was in Egypt (a country where I was immediately greeted with hostility for wearing shorts in public) I was able to have an enlightening and amicable conversation with an Egyptian man on a crowded train platform about the way Western women are treated in their country. And I must add that while living in England, I found that it was easy for people to assume that the English are rude and/or uninterested in others’ cultures because of their seemingly icy demeanor, but this is as far as one could come in contact with the truth. The British (as I found them) were remarkably friendly, excited to chat with a Statesman and overall extremely witty, intelligent and amicable people. So, I guess all I’m tryin’ to say people is please, don’t judge a book by it’s cover. Didn’t we learn to stop doing that in the second grade?

3. Read the Traveler’s Blog’s advice on how to escape loneliness when traveling abroad. They give a wide range of tips, tricks, advice and hope for the lonely traveler.

4. Finally, BLOG. Makes you feel better to write about it, I swear.

source:

Dealing With Loneliness On the Road, Part 3. (2008, September). Retrieved October 15, 2008, from Travel Blogs.com Web site: http://www.travelblogs.com/articles/dealing-with-loneliness-on-the-road-part-3

The Beginning.

I left for England on Sunday, January 20th of the brand new year; 2,000 and 8. I remember that I was excited and nervous at the prospect of leaving behind my friends, family, and then boyfriend to go and live in a different country for five months. I shed a few tears but my excitement (aided with the atmospheric pressure of the plane’s dingy cabin) dried those up in no time flat.

Arriving in England, I soon met with who would turn out to be one of my best friends for the next five months: Ashley. I remember thinking, “Screw this girl. I will not like her.”, but of course I ended up loving her. Despite the vast amount of differences in our personalities, interests and views she quickly proved herself to be, not only an interesting person, but a good friend. And seriously that’s all I’m really looking for these days. Anyway, we engaged in some awkward formalities and were quickly whisked away in one of those tiny European cars driven by a questionable character.

The car ride there was slightly insane, but unimportant. I noted how England looked just as I had known it would. Dark, rainy, chilly and luxuriously green. That was exciting for me.

The driver noted that Ashley and I were lucky to have arrived at the airport together because she and I were close neighbors, and this would give us ample opportunity to become the best of friends. “Awesome.” I realized, however, how important this observation would turn out to be in a matter of a few minutes after having heard him say it…

He dropped me off outside of my new home and told me to just go up to the door, knock, and wait for someone to answer. Easy enough. After a few minutes of standing outside the door, beaming and smiling to myself as a first grader would on the first day of school, I began to assume that perhaps no one was home. I kept rapping but nothing happened.

<<<WHAT THE F*CK>>>

My excitement vanished in the face of fright, especially when I realized that that my stupid prick of a driver was beginning to drive away. I ran back to the car and told him that no one seemed to be home. He (being so troubled by my mundanities) forced himself to get out of the car and see for himself what I could have possibly been talking about. (Note. This guy was a douche.) He sauntered up to the screen door and banged his bony fists as hard as he could. After several unsuccessful attempts at breaking the door with his man hands, he then proceeded to pull out a coin and tapped it on the glass door as hard as he could. All I could do was babysit my luggage and watch this guy make himself look like a psycho while he stood there tapping and screaming at me, “YOU HAAAVE TO USE A BRIIITISHH KNOCCKK. THEEYY CAAN’TT HERREE YOOUUU IFF YOU’REE NOT LOOUUDDD”.

Twenty minutes passed and nothing had changed, so he reluctantly threw my luggage back into the car and told me that I would have to be dropped off with Ashley at her house and that I could walk back to my vacant dwelling after a few hours had passed to see if anybody had come home. Ashley seemed nervous for what her situation would turn out to be like if this is what mine had already become…

After meeting Ashley’s lovely land lady Deborah (who hopefully I’ll be able to talk more about as this blog continues on), taking a walk through the neighborhood with Ashley, and discovering some of the strange food items in the local grocery store (thanksgiving dinner flavored crisps and blackcurrant squash to name a few), I was finally able to contact my land lady’s daughter and make my way into my new home for the next five months. I was relieved to finally be “home” but I have to be honest, that first week in England was a tough one. I didn’t have access to internet, phone, or much human interaction for the first few days and all I wanted to do was go out and explore this new country that I had never been in before. I was missing my friends, my family and the comforts of home much more than I had anticipated, but thinking back on how much that first week helped me to fully realize how independent I was capable of being makes me realize that even that first week of hell, was worth it in the end.