It Is Time

It is indeed time for a new post, an update, a window in to the every day life of little old me!

I am now safely back in Haifa, returned to my small, but cozy and welcoming dorm room, and reeling from how familiar it all seems. It's almost as if my subconcious has already decided that this is "home" for me. Which suits me just fine. :)

But how did I get here? Seems that my last post was written in Cairo. So let me tell you about how I made my way home...

After our day spent at the Pyramids-of which pictures will be posted in the next post, going up RIGHT after this one-we spend another day in Cairo, returning to the Islamic quarter, and taking a tour of Al-Azhar University (which claims to be to OLDEST university in the world). While there we were able to see the mosque and take a short trip up one of the minarets (the giant tower thingies)-the view was AMAZING. (Again, pictures to come!) Then we did some more wandering of the streets and had a really nice dinner and last night in Cairo. We decided as a group that we would not be returning to Zagazig for the wedding our friend Ahmad had invited us to, and so, in a very abrupt decision, we decided to leave the next day. Our original itinerary had us heading down south to Luxor and Aswan, but again, as a group, we decided that we would all much rather just skip on ahead to Alexandria. So we found ourselves on a nice air conditioned bus to the coastal city jsut a few hours after having decided to go there. Don't you just LOVE traveling on the fly? :)

So anywho, we arrived in Alex and made it to our hostel with only one minor car accident. Not to worry, nothign happened really, our taxi was rear-ended, but, considering the RIDICULOUS driving throughout all of Egypt, only getting in one minor fender bender over the course of four hours or so is quite impressive. But we made it to our hostel, situated not even one whole block from the sea. And oh! I didn't even realize it until we were there, but I HAD missed the sea. I missed seaing it out my window every morning and smelling the saltiness in the air. Cairo is a wondreful city, full of life and color, but for me, I'm not sure it could ever compete with a city on the coast. Alex is the perfect coastal city by the way, so laid back and chill, like you have all the time in the world to get around to living your life. I think it was love at first sight? After getting settled in our hostel, we decided to grab lunch at a local Egyptian place, by now becoming masters of Egyptian food. Afterwards, we met up with a friend of Carolyn's who lived not too far away. And apparently, this friend of hers, doesn't realize he's living in a MANSION. Backstory: Alexandria is a fairly important ancient city, named after Alexander the Great, but used as far back as the time of Cleopatra. It has a rich history that far outlives that of the modern day country of Egypt. Now, Carolyn's friend Kareem's family lives in the hosue that once belonged to the FInancial Advisor to the King of Egypt, before the revolution. It would be an under-statement for me to say that the house reeks of royal influence. I think I might have asked almost ten times if I could move in? I realize this tangent is a bit distracting, but I just could NOT get over the splendor of this house.

BUt I suppose I can will myself to move on, to tell the rest of my story. That night, after tearing ourselves away from the poolside gardens, Kareem took us all out for drinks and hookah at a beautiful little place right on the water. It was a really fun night that ended all to quickly for my tastes, but, as often happens after a day of traveling, sleep was a definite necessity. The next day brought with it a hike to to very tip of the Eastern Harbor and a tour of Fort Qautbey. Then in the afternoon we met up with Kareem again for a surprisingly cool swim on one of the private beaches on the outskirts of Alex. The next day we went on a tour of the Bibliotecha Alexandria-the world's LARGEST library. It was SO cool. Like...unbelievably COOL for a library. We first were able to see some specialty exhibits, then we saw the planitarium show, and then tackeled the library itself. It has now become ony of my favorite buildings, and definitely my favorite library. It's the one thing that Alex is known for above all else it seems, and now I fully understand why. If any of you are ever in Egypt, make sure to check it out! After our long day at the library, we met up with one of my very good friends from Madison who is studying at the University of Alexandria this fall. I didn't even realize she was there already! It was purely chance that we were both online at the same time the previous night and realized we were in the same city. How crazy! SO I gotto meet up with her, and reminisce about our traveling tales (she was part of the group that I traveled with when I went to Israel/Palestine in 2009). She showed us her dorms and we had some drinks, and it was so incredibly AWESOME to get to see someone from home SO FAR from home. Without even planning to! It made the night pretty special.

The next day, as we couldnt quite figure out where else we had the energy, the money, or the clean clothes to get to, we made the decision to begin to make our way back to Israel. This was a hard decsion for me to make, as it meant we would be returning with a full two weeks still until our classes were to start, but ultimately, after being on the road for a month, it was best for us at the time. SO that morning we woke up in Alexandria, but after oh I don't know..one taxi, three buses, two vans, one train and twenty-four hours, we were back! Coming back in to Israel in the dead of night was an interesting experience, and not exactly easy..but we made it! And when we arrived back in our beloved Haifa the relief and wear on our faces couldn't have been more apparent. First things first was NAPPING-which is pretty much all I did the first two days I was back, in between seeing every one we had left behind. But after that, laundry became my higher priority. After tackling that obstacle, we spent the weekend in Tel-Aviv with a friend. And this week I've basically just been enjoying my down time. I spent a couple days at the beach, read a few good books, cleaned my place, and am still in the process of catching up on all my neglected responsibilities. (Emails, bills, etc.) But I WILL catch up, or at least I'lll have to before next Sunday rolls around.

AH NEXT SUNDAY!! It will be October 10th already!! WHERE does the time go??? Our orientation and registration is fast approaching, which means my classes are fast approaching. Which means VERY soon my relaxing days will be taking on the stress and the rush that can only come with a college semester. Here we go. Time to be a real college student again..who can't jet off to foriegn lands and adventures at the drop of a hat. Boo..and I was getting so used to living that way. Ah well..I'm sure there will be more adventures on the horizon, if I know me anyway..which, I think I do?

Until then. :)