Classes

Well, after two weeks of being here, classes have finally started. Actually, today was the second offical day of classes, as the Egyptian weekend is Friday and Saturday; we thus started on Sunday. Interestingly, in Arabic, the days of the week are named to reflect this: Sunday is called الاحد - Il Had - or very loosely, "the first." Similarly, Monday is الاثنين - Il Itneen - or very loosely, "the second." This continues until Friday, which is called الجمعة - Il Gama'a - or, "mosque day." As the holy day in the Islamic tradition is Friday, this nomenclature makes sense. Some of you will have noticed by this point that I've only discussed the pattern for 6 days of the week, which as most second graders and at least some study-abroad arabic students can tell you, is one less than there should be. This is because Saturday, السبت - Il Sabt - means absolutely nothing to me. I only remember it because it very vaguely approximates the first syllable of "Saturday" in english.

Anyway, back to classes. I'm pleased to report that I'm starting to have a schedule worth the name. Its got a lot more Political Science and less Arabic than I'd hoped, but I think it'll be fun nonetheless. I'll definitely learn a lot. The arabic course I am in is a little above my level, so I've got my work cut out for me for the first few weeks. On a related note, I also think I've managed to wheedle Swarthmore's Political Science department into letting me deal with the political theory requirement abroad here (or at least get part of it out of the way). I'll be sure to lay out a full arrangement of my schedule here once i'm confident I know what it is.

Oh, I also went to the first fencing club meeting here. Looks like there's about 10 people, many of whom are beginners. Now, i didn't follow the whole discussion, but its possible that I'm one of the better people there, and that if AUC sends people to tournaments, one of them might be me. So that'd be pretty freaking awesome.