I will start with the beginning of my journey. My first day at the NVIC would be on the 27

In the second year of my study, we had the opportunity to study abroad for the second semester. I study Middle Eastern studies at the University of Groningen. My exchange was meant to improve my skills in the Arabic language. There were some conditions for my exchange. First, you had to finish year 1 of Middle Eastern Studies completely. If you had failed one exam or one deadline, you were not allowed to study abroad. Second, you had to finish all the Arabic or Hebrew courses of my study.

Since I met all the requirements, I was allowed to study abroad. The exchange is a part of my studies, so it wasn’t a replacement for my minor, but if you didn’t want to go, you had the right to decline the offer. However, since it was a part of the programme and it was an amazing opportunity to improve your language skills, no one even thought about declining the offer. People, who weren’t allowed to join the exchange programme, had to find another way to achieve their study points.

Since it was part of our study programme, we had two choices: studying at the Dutch-Flemish institute in Cairo (NVIC) or the Dutch institute in Morocco (NIMAR). There was only one person in my year who studied Hebrew so he could go to Israel as well, but the Arabic students could only choose between these two schools. Egyptian Arabic had some advantages compared to the Moroccan dialect and overall the programme that the NVIC offered was in my opinion more interesting, so that’s why I chose to study abroad in Cairo. At the NVIC, I had some language courses and some courses that related to Egypt. These are the 6 courses that they taught us there: Egyptian Arabic Grammar, Egyptian Arabic Conversation, and Modern Standard Arabic: Media, Colonial Archaeology in Egypt, Gender and migration. The Arabic courses were really intense but I do feel that they helped me improve my Arabic. Besides, it was nice to use your new information in your daily life since you spoke Arabic with people on the streets as well. The Egyptians didn’t really spoke English so Arabic was the way to communicate but because of that, people had to try to speak more Arabic. At the end of my exchange, I noticed that conversations started to become a bit more natural and that I really made progress.

I will start with the beginning of my journey. My first day at the NVIC would be on the 27

of January but some other girls and I decided to travel to Cairo on the 24

. I would really recommend anyone who will study abroad to arrive a few days before the start of your semester especially when there is a huge cultural difference. Now I had a few days to get to know Egypt but also explore some apartments because we all had to find our own apartments in Egypt. This was also recommended by the universities in both Groningen as Cairo, but also by former students. Getting an apartment in Egypt is really easy and it is nice to check the place before you move in to see if everything is all right.

So on our first day in Egypt, we immediately started looking for an apartment. Before we went to Cairo, the NVIC already mailed us some practical information, including information about the housing. They gave us some sites where we could find some apartments, but those weren’t really helpful. They also said that they had a register in Cairo with good brokers and estate agents. One student already arrived in Cairo on the 22

of January and went by the NVIC to get some phone numbers. We called one of them and he already had like 5 different apartments in different areas that we could check out. At the end of the day, another girl and I had found our apartment and we could immediately move in.

Our apartment was around 250 euro per month and we also had to pay an extra 250 euro per person as deposit. The owner of the apartment would use the deposit to pay for our electricity, water, gas etc. After 4 months, we also got around 60 euro’s back because that was left from our deposit.

Housing in Egypt was really cheap compared to the Netherlands and our apartment was located in a good neighbourhood close to the institute. We also had to pay an extra 10 euro per month for the doormen and the man who would pick up the garbage. So in total, we would pay around 260 per month for everything apartment related.

Before we went to Egypt, some former students gave us some tips related to housing in Egypt and I think those might as well be very useful for future students who want to study abroad. If you are looking for an apartment, check everything. We eventually didn’t check everything when we moved in and we didn’t have major issues or problems, but later on I found out that the shower was too low for me so I couldn’t fit under it. I found a way to deal with it but for some people this could be a big issue.

At first we also didn’t had a washing machine and we didn’t want to sign the contract until the

washing machine arrived, so the next day, there was a washing machine in our apartment. Internet

connection is also really important. We didn’t have one in our apartment and our broker told us that

we could arrange something with the NVIC, which wasn’t true. However, we bought our own modem

and bought internet. This seemed a good solution at first but at the end, this became a really expensive solution since there were some problems. So we learnt that having Wi-Fi in your apartment is really important because in total we paid, I guess, an extra 200 euro for wife during those 4 months.

I already mentioned that before I went to Cairo, I sat down with some former students. This was a really smart thing to do and I would recommend everyone to do that. So many students are living abroad or having done an exchange, most of them are nice enough to help you figure some things out. In a way, they helped me to be more prepared for Cairo. They told us how foreigners are easily tricked in paying more money for everything and they also told ladies how the act and dress in Egypt, which is really important in Egypt. They also told us that tampons are really rare in Cairo and they were right about that, so everyone took some extra with them to be prepared. Small things and tips like this could help you to be more prepared and in my case, it made me less stressful about the whole exchange.

Also the NVIC mailed us about some important issues like housing, finances, first days, etc. On our first day, they discussed many of these topics again including additional information about the programme and Cairo. They really did everything that they could to have us prepared for the coming months and they were willing to answer all our questions. During my stay in Cairo, the staff of NVIC was really helpful to answer some question of mine regarding to my visa. This was in my case really helpful because my visa was extended for only 3 months instead of the 6 months that most of the students got. They also kept us updated about the situation in Cairo regarding to our safety, but they also mailed us about nice events in the neighbourhood. During my stay, they were my point of contact instead of the faculty in Groningen.

Egypt in general is a pretty cheap country. I got the Marco Polo scholarship which was around 170 euro per month and I used this money to pay for my apartment. I’m a Dutch student, I have access to a chip card that I can use to travel for free during the week, but since I wasn’t living in the

Netherlands anymore, I got 95 per month. These two amounts covered my rent. I used my own money and some borrowed money to pay for additional costs at school, my groceries and trips. I would really recommend any student to save some money for their exchange. Once you’re there, you want to explore the country or the city and this all cost money. In the end, I was surprised how much money I had spent on those trips. However, I don’t regret spending it on exploring Egypt but you have to keep this in mind when studying abroad. I think that in our case, a lot of people were eventually shocked by the amount of money they spent during those four months.

This was more the practical information about Egypt, but like I said, I had the change to explore this beautiful country in the last couple of months. There was a huge culture shock when I first arrived in Egypt. As a foreigner, you are treated differently since people think you’re rich. Besides, people want to take photos with you just because you are a foreigner, especially when you’re blond.

As a woman, you might get harassed in the streets. Luckily for all of us, these were just stares and words but you have to be careful. It was advised to never walk alone in the streets. Fridays were really important in Egypt because it is an Islamic country, that’s why we were also advised to stay inside until it was around 1:00 P.M because the streets were crowded and a lot of people were praying.

Fridays soon became our study day. We even were in Egypt during Ramadan and this was really interesting to experience but it is difficult since public life is changing because of it.

My weekend lasted from Thursday until Saturday so when I was not so busy with exams,

school or deadlines, my friend and I were exploring Cairo. Sometimes we even went to places outside

Cairo. For example we stayed in the desert for one night and during our week off, I went to Hurghada

and Luxor. I would recommend every student that will travel abroad to explore the country. To be

honest, I didn’t really like Cairo because I think it is crowded and dirty but I loved Egypt. Egypt has

some really nice places and I’m really happy that I had the change to explore them. Besides, travelling

was really simple and easy since we could easily take the bus or the train to our destination. So in

general, Egypt was an amazing experience and I would recommend everyone to visit Egypt or at least

study abroad to a country of choice. It was the best experience of my life and I don’t regret it.