The excitement has dwindled some. Well, dwindled is a strong word, I would more say it has become less of an ecstatic buzzing extreme and more of an explorative adventure type feeling...ummm... These last few days have been spent at the university and filled with figuring out arabic levels, arabic tests, aamiyah classes (colloquial egpytian) and the like. Yesterday was my first day on campus. I can’t take any pictures within the walls for security reasons, so I’ll try to explain it… The exterior area, the downtown, is a downtown. There are dingy shops with random machinery sitting of the floor next to nice european style cafes (with horrible food by the way. Egyptians CANNOT do paninis. They should stick to the fuul and falafel, and schwarma which they are amazing at). We were walking to lunch and had to step around a stream of a man’s pee as it rolled down the sidewalk behind him. A few steps away was a fully equiped radio shak with all the expensive electronic equipment you can imagine…The sidewalks are uneven, in areas so destroyed it is just chalky dirt. Trash is everywhere and the smell of exhaust mixing with trash and cigarette and hookah smoke is pretty overpowering. Once you step through the metal detectors at the AUC gates it is like a little country club. The campus is very small, close to the size of my high school, but cooler. Beautiful landscaping, like none I’ve seen anywhere else in Cairo. The buildings are typical school buildings with one, the palace, very beautiful and fully decked out in arab architecture. In the middle of one of the campuses (there are two just a block away from each other) are tennis courst bordered by wicker chairs where people sit and talk, study, smoke… I like the campus. So, it’s been back to real life. Time to pick classes. We all had to take an arabic placement test, which was EXTREMELY hard for me. I’ve taken six semesters of arabic. But I only tested in as 103. (101, 102 and then 103). Completely frustrating and embarrassing to me. I have three excuses which make me feel better, take them or leave them: 1. I haven’t done a speck of Arabic for at least 9 months. The test was the first formally written arabic I’ve tried to interpret since last May. 2. MY last two semesters were focused on conversation (which I’m still no good at) and very little grammar. The test was nearly entirely grammar. 3. AUC has a very challenging arabic program, ASU’s has been great for me, but isn’t as challenging. My last comment on this subject of my testing so low in arabic before I go off to sulk by myself in shame is that I should have put more time in on vocabulary, which I never did. So on a brighter note, the class I was recommended to go into fits much better into my schedule! Also, I am excited to relearn the basics. I am a bit worried though. At first the aamiyah class I was in was WAY too difficult, now I am finally getting with it. I hope that after a few weeks revival in the elementary arabic class doesn’t leave me wishing I’d begged for a higher section… Last night I went to Khan al Khalili for the first time. A very exciting section of the city filled with vendors and people and things. We watched whirling dirvishes. The Sufis would whirl in circles until they attained a sort of trance bringing them closer to god. It has turned into a dance form that tourists eat up. Egyptian men wait in Khan al Khalili to feast on tourists, showing them around the area while obtaining profits from all the shopkeepers they take the tourists to. It isn’t an entirely bad system as many tourists receive a guide they don’t even realize they are paying for. But it was one of these men who told us about this free show to watch the dancing. It was pretty uncomfortable. We were all stuck in there like pigs prepared for slaughter…it didn’t feel right. I left early with another guy, Peter, to go get some food and wait for the show to end. Nothing happened, but it wasn’t a great feeling to be packed in this courtyard with all these tourists… I have to say the dancing was absolutely awesome, though. I do not intend to diminish that in any way. I’m noticing more and more that Amman and Cairo are much more different than I expected. Cairo is making me appreciate Amman more. I realize that Amman has a very cool sort of charm to it, one that is hard to explain. The downtown area situated on hills is a complete maze of stairways between buildings not accessible to cars by a long shot. 100’s of stairs some people may climb to get from the street to their building. The sweets shops in amman are UNBEATABLE with little cookies half inch in diameter to sit and munch on while attempting conversation in arabic. The cab drivers in amman were sometimes creepy, the cab drivers here in cairo are nearly all creepy. Now I can’t make too many generalizations, because I met an awesome cab driver last night but this is my little space for thoughts and updates so I will present my experiences. I really would like to visit amman with bigger eyes now, I think I will appreciate the smallness and accessibility of the city. Although Cairenes are far more accustomed to seeing westerners with the huge tourism industry here so the ability to be more anonymous here is so refreshing… Lastly, things start later and end later here. Just an observation. Most people are eating dinner around 9 or 10, children still playing in the streets until at least then… it’s interesting. Highly conducive to the student lifestyle…