Hi Friends,
As a sophomore in high school (Spring 2012), I went on a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Egypt with my Geography teacher, his wife, and a few students through an educational travel program (EF)..
With layovers in Chicago and London, it took about 25 hours of traveling to get to Cairo from Texas. Over 10 days, we visited 3 cities, a Nubian Village, too many ancient temples to count, pyramids, tombs, and took a Nile River cruise. Each day was planned out for us in a packed itinerary with optional activities out-of-pocket as well (hot-air ballooning, trip to Alexandria, etc.)
Our tour guide, Hala, was loving, informed, and treated us like her own children. A big worry for us, our parents, and EF was safety but luckily our trip landed after the major revolution in Egypt and before protests started up again (Praise the Lord for keeping us safe). Hala, our charter bus driver, and our guard made sure we felt safe.
Egypt was truly a land of contrasts: Developed buildings were bordered by miles of unfinished apartment buildings (people were still living in them, laundry hanging outside and everything). The famous pyramids weren't in a desert but on a hill right next to the city. Half of the country is dry, arid land, while the other half next to the Nile is so green it seems like a different country. Many people wore modern clothes while others wore traditional garments.
Souvenir sellers would yell out names of their 2 favorite American female celebrities (HANNAH MONTANA(?) & SHAKIRA) as we walked by. Surprisingly, Egyptian men love Asian women who look very Asian. At every tourist destination, I had to pull my friend, Jean, away from Egyptian men who would yell "SHAKIRA!" and compete with marriage offers of 1000 chickens or 100 cows.
But of course, the most amazing part of the trip was seeing all of the ancient ruins. As I walked through the giant temples and shrines, I couldn't imagine how people planned and built these detailed structures with just man power. Each pillar, wall, and ceiling was covered in hieroglyphics (some even still had color) and intricate tombs with different rooms and stairs were built on the side of mountains and stone. The slight changes in architecture styles showed who controlled Egypt in a certain time period.
THINGS I LEARNED:
- "Habibi" means my love/darling in Arabic
- Egypt may be a far-away place for Americans but for Europeans it's an exotic vacation spot.
- Men there love Hannah Montana, Shakira, and Asian women.
- It is almost impossible to imagine the sheer intelligence and ability of ancient Egypt
- There is such a thing as TOO much hummus and Pita bread
- The McArabia pita wrap at McDonald's is pretty good
- EVERYONE MUST VISIT AT LEAST ONCE
