2017-2018
MARCO POLO FUND Study Report
This form needs to be completed by every student who has received a scholarship from the Marco Polo Fund.
Last name*Please write your name as shown in
your passport Van Loon
First name*Please write your name as shown in
your passport Sara Marie
RUG Student Number S3166279
Please enclose a 2 page report on your experiences abroad, using the following headings:
1. Your study programme or your internship programme
This semester I went to Cairo. It was a study programme that was facilitated by the bachelor Middle Eastern studies. I followed 30 ECTs at the Dutch Flemish Institute in Cairo (NVIC). The programme consisted of 10 ECTs Egyptian dialect and 5 ECTs Standard Arabic. With this I also had courses about the Egyptian society, like gender, migration and archaeology. All the courses were given in English by mostly Egyptian teachers. The university of Groningen was not the only university attending the semester. Also students from Amsterdam, Leiden, Nijmegen and Gent joined. In my Arabic classes were only students from
Groningen, but in the other classes’ students from different universities attended as well.
My normal school week in Cairo consisted of 4 days school, and 3 days weekend.
Every day I had 2 classes of two hours. At first, the Arabic classes were a struggle. I was lucky to be put in a classroom with people with whom I had classes in Groningen, so we were on the same level. Still it was a huge change.
In Cairo they focused way more on speaking, and the classes mostly go in
Arabic. In the beginning it is a big change, but after a while I got used to it and I noticed that my Arabic really started to become better. Still, don’t expect that when you finish the semester you are able to speak fluently. You will need many more years for this to happen.
2. Language
The language in Egypt is the Egyptian Arabic dialect. Little people speak
another language, English is uncommon. At the institute are Dutch, Flemish and Egyptian People. In classes we spoke mostly English.
3. Finance and other conditions
For this semester abroad you can apply for a Marco Polo scholarship. It is not extremely difficult to get one but it does require some time. You can also get money for your OV student subscription. But Egypt is a really cheap country and you can make it as expensive as you want.
4. Preparation and contacts with the faculty before, during and after your stay The preparation for the semester was a hard one. Middle Eastern studies has strict requirements for participating in the semester abroad. You need to have
your P and successfully finished all your Arabic courses. Because the last Arabic exam is only a few weeks before the semester in Cairo begins, you know last minute if you are able to go. I also had to re-do a course from the first year, and that’s why just five days before flying to Cairo I knew that I was able to do the semester. This was a very stressful time, also because you have to fill in
documents and spend time on getting you Marco Polo scholarship.
The information I got before arriving to Cairo was almost zero. There is one information meeting with someone from the Institute but that’s it. There was little contact with the faculty during and after my stay.
5. Housing
I arrived in Cairo a few days before starting the semester. Upon arrival, it is your responsibility to get yourself an apartment. The Institute has a list of brokers (it is advisable to get this list before arriving to Cairo and start calling around because when we arrived, a lot of the cheap apartments were already gone). I would recommend arriving a few days before the semester starts to make sure you have an apartment and are settled in.
I lived in Zamalek, it is the most expensive neighborhood but also close to the Institute. I lived with two others and we paid 600 euros each month. Others mostly lived in Agouzah and Doqi. If you want to live with the different gender then you might find difficulties. Not many houses allow that and you will have a hard time looking.
6. Culture
The culture is what makes Egypt so fascinating. Especially because you will live in Egypt for four months, you get to experience it better. I do believe that Egypt is experienced different for men in comparison to women. As a women you will notice that you don’t get the freedom and get to interact with the locals as the men do. It is uncommon for Egyptian men to interact with women. And you don’t find many Egyptian women in the public sphere. This, and the language barrier, makes it hard to get to know locals. I joined an only-women fitness center, and here I experienced the most contact with (although mostly rich) Egyptian
women. You will also notice that some men show interest in a woman for sexual reasons. I experienced some small incidents in which I had to get mad or angry because the way I was treated. But this didn’t stop me from loving the country and its people. After you can see through this you will see the beauty of the culture, and what makes it so fascinating. The lessons at the Institute give insight and also the traveling and visiting different places made me understand the culture way better.
7. Free time
In Cairo I had a lot of free time. It was not uncommon that I was done at one or two in the afternoon. You get homework but this doesn’t take up a lot of time.
The Arabic teachers also encourage you to get out of your house and talk to people. Cairo has beautiful sights and even after four months you will still not have seen everything.
8. Travelling
Because the week is so short (and the homework you get doesn’t take up a lot of time) I was able to travel through Egypt and go sightseeing! Many places in Egypt are safe to travel and the public transport is really cheap. The trains work perfectly fine and I also used a lot of GO-busses. The institute asked us to let them know when we were going out of Cairo. Also the secretary of the Institute was a lot of help with providing us with drivers, or helping with translation and communication.
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Signature Participant
Date: 23-6-2018
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