1 Roos Visser
Report Semester Abroad Cairo
27-01-2019 – 16-04-2019 Your study programme or your internship programme
Last semester I studied abroad. To be particular, I spend my semester in Cairo, Egypt. When I started my study Middle Eastern Studies, I already knew I had to spend a semester abroad. A part of Middle Eastern Studies is learning the Arabic language. The semester abroad is mostly installed to improve the Arabic language. We had the option to choose between Rabat, Morocco and Cairo, Egypt. This was a difficult decision to make, but eventually I choose Cairo. My main reason for this choice was that Cairo, after all, was and still is the centre of the Arabic world. I felt that if I really wanted to experience the Arabic world I had to be in the absolute centre. Another reason for me was that the Egyptian dialect in Arabic is very commonly known and spoken, while the Moroccan dialect is not. The last reason for me was that it seemed very interesting and overwhelming to be living in a city of 22 million people. To be able to find your way around the busy Cairo streets seemed like a challenge I wanted to except.
Language
Back in Groningen I already had to take three courses in Arabic, but these courses took only four hours a week. In Cairo, on the other hand, I had four courses in Arabic, so that counted for eight hours a week of intensive Arabic lessons. These were, however, not the only courses I took. Because in Groningen we study Middle Eastern Studies instead of Arabic Culture and Language for example, we also followed the Middle Eastern Studies program in Cairo. This program contained, except for the Arabic courses, also three content courses. These courses were Migration in Egypt, Colonial Architecture and Gender Issues in Contemporary Egypt. As the names already give away, all the courses had to do with or centralised around Egypt. These courses were taught in English, while the Arabic courses were mainly in Arabic. This was also a massive difference compared to the way our Arabic was taught in Groningen. By speaking almost exclusively Arabic, we were forced to do so as well. This really brought us to a higher level. My language improved a lot, and I think the main reason for that was the amount of Arabic you hear around you and therefor speak yourself. You hear it everywhere in the streets, a lot of Cairo’s citizens do not speak English and you have very intensive lessons in school (and a lot of homework).
Finance and other conditions
According to the financial picture, I have some comments. Cairo and all of Egypt for that matter, are really cheap. 20 Egyptian Pounds are One Euro. This means that you can grab a falafel sandwich for only 0,25 Euro. The rent contains around 150 to 250 Euro’s, depending on the number of roommates, the location and your bargain skills. Your basic life expenses can be around €150/€200 a month, but this varies of course. This makes it very easily accessible for everyone.
2 Preparation and contacts with the faculty before, during and after your stay
Because the program is a part of the major, it was quite easy to get in. The only thing you had to do, was apply basically. Other than that, you also had to make sure you passed all your first-year courses and Arabic III. This is of course a great benefit. But there were some preparations you had to make. You had to get in touch with the host institution and send them all your basic personal information. The host institution is in this case the NVIC, het Nederlands Vlaams Instituut in Cairo. The NVIC and the RUG had established a good contact, so that also made things a lot easier. A few months before the beginning of the semester a teacher from the NVIC came by and gave a presentation with all the basic information about the program, living in Cairo, the financial impact and other things that you needed to know. This was really informative and interesting. The first day we arrived at the institute was an informative day. We had a big presentation about everything we needed to know in order to live in Cairo. We ended with a lunch on the roof top to get to know everyone. This was a very nice way to start the semester. During the whole time of my stay the institute was always very open to questions and was always willing to help you out with any problem you had. In general, I can state that the contact with the institute was always more than pleasant.
Housing
When we arrived in Cairo, we didn’t have a house yet. Almost everyone from Groningen decided to go a few days in advance and stay in a hostel for those first days. During those days we went looking for a house. The NVIC had made a list with some brokers we could contact. All the brokers worked many years for the institute and were completely trustworthy. I also had a broker via a friend who went to Cairo last year. Eventually I lived with one other girl, in a neighbourhood close to the institute. In our building and the next-door buildings stayed a lot of people from the institute. This was a lot of fun. We walked to the institute every morning. As I said in the financial part, the housing can be very cheap compared to the Netherlands. This is a great benefit.
Culture
The culture was in the beginning quite the shock. Cairo is a busy city of 22 million citizens and the traffic is always impossible. Crossing the streets is probably one of the biggest challenges I had to face during my time in Cairo. But other than that, it was amazing. It is so nice to be able to experience the city and the Arabic culture to the fullest. Especially once you’ve really stated to know your way around. Despite the smog, traffic jams, sounds of the Mosques five times a day (and at 5 in the morning) and the absolute chaos, I really loved the city and the whole country for that matter. People are really friendly, and everyone is very helpful. Never have I felt unsafe, not even for one moment.
Free time
Are week contained four days of school and three days of weekend. During the school days I spend almost all my free time on homework. But the weekends I used for traveling around the country. Busses are really cheap and if you take a night bus, you don’t lose a day. This made us able to see almost every part of the country I wanted to see. The first few weekends we stayed
3 in the city to see all the touristic things in Cairo itself. But after that we spend a lot of weekends at the cost or in the desert. Once we made some more Egyptian friends, we also went to a lot of parties during the weekends, which was also very nice.
Travelling
As I said above, I travelled a lot during the semester itself. We also had two weeks holidays and during those weeks I also travelled around Egypt. But we also travelled outside Egypt. After the end of the semester me and my roommate decided to go on and travel for one more month. We went to see Jordan, Lebanon and Israel. This was an amazing experience and I really recommend this to all the other students.
