Hello everyone,

I know its been a long time since I've updated you on my adventures here in Egypt. I'll begin with a class trip to the Arab League in downtown Cairo. On Monday before the Luxor trip the students and staff took a trip to the Arab League to talk with the chief of staff of the Arab League. We discussed majors issues and conflicts within the Middle East including the Iraq occupation, Israeli/Palestinian/Arab conflict, Iran, and the crisis in Sudan. It was fascinating to get to hear the opinion of the Arab League and have an open and candid conversation with a top official within the Arab world.

On Tuesday night we left at 9 pm for Luxor by train and arrived at 10:30 am the next day. Over the next two days we went to three temples and the Valley of the Kings. The temples and ancient ruins were awesome. My favorite temple was Ramses temple near the Valley of the Kings. It had the deepest inscriptions and many of the pictures still had their original color. There is a picture of me standing in the middle of this temple that I posted. Overall the trip was just okay. The ancient ruins are great but the city of Luxor is not as good. Many of the store owners and restaurants bank on the fact that tourists that go there are clueless so they always overcharge everything. Many of us ended up getting in arguments with waiters and getting menus to show them what is worth what and tell they finally agreed and gave us the correct price. Overall the trip was good, the city of Luxor was just not that enjoyable outside of the temples and tombs.

After we got back on Saturday morning I began an intense week of homework and studying. That Wednesday I had a final for Islam and a paper due. This last Sunday I had two more papers due and today I took an Arabic final. I also caught a cold on Tuesday, but I am feeling close to 100% now. Also today the those of us that took a tabla class had a little concert for the rest of the students and staff. It was a lot of fun. The Dabka, a Palestinian dance, group also gave a performance. I was able to hang out with Alyssa, my friend from APU who has been living in Cairo since June, one last time before she leaves on Friday to go back to the states.

So overall it has been an extremely busy week, but the most exciting news is that this Wednesday morning we will be leaving for Istanbul, Turkey by plane. We were briefed and given a general outline on what we will be seeing, the people we will be talking, and other things. I am really excited to go see explore other countries and get out of Cairo for awhile. Basically we will be flying to Istanbul on Wednesday and stay for a few days then drive to Ankara the capital. After that we will drive back to Istanbul to catch a flight to Syria and hang out in Damascus for a few days, then drive to Jordan for two days and swim in Dead Sea. After that we will go to Jerusalem. During our time in Israel we will be traveling into the West Bank, the Golan Heights and Sea of Galilee area. We also visit the cities of Tel Aviv and Jaffa. I arrive back to Cairo on November 26th.

I hope to update my blog a couple of times while I'm gone, insha' Allah. Well it's time to go to bed. I hope everything is going well. Next time I update my blog I should be in another country, insha' Allah. Ma' salaama.