Our first day of school!

This morning, we all got in the vans and headed to our class - from 9 to 1. Our classrooms are in a building with many others, but they're more like conference rooms than classrooms. We had wifi and a projector, at least, and that's all we really need for class to be successful. It was a little cramped, though!

We look so happy.

We got another table, which helped a bit, but it's definitely not like it is back at Northeastern! We discussed changes to the website, and got everyone up to speed with programs. It was a very relaxed day, and it went quickly.

After class, around 1, we came back to the hotel and went to lunch. There's an amazing falafel place right near the hotel, with 2 sandwiches for 3 pounds! Score! I might have to become a regular there...

After lunch, we all got dressed up in our nice clothes and headed to the American embassy at 3. We had a Q&A with a diplomat, but his answers were very vague and not too helpful. It was cool to be at the embassy though - they even have American plugs there! It was like a weird little piece of home, complete with promotional posters for the states - an Idaho poster featured potatoes as a main attraction. As soon as we left the embassy, we were straight back in Egypt. So weird.

Since I've been running on very little sleep recently, I grabbed a quick nap after the embassy visit, and then we went out for the 21st birthday of a fellow group-member (Matt). We went to the Marriot on Zamalek, which was a total palace - literally! Drew told me that it was built to house foreign diplomats when the Suez Canal was first built. It's gorgeous, and very gold. I wish we were staying there, but we probably wouldn't get any work done!

Tomorrow we have class again from 9-1, then our afternoon is free. I'm excited for that. Free time is something that we don't get very much of here.