My Orientation Was Better Than Yours

So, unlike American University in DC, we didn’t have orientation leaders (sorry O-Staff) but they did however take us to the Red Sea.

Fridays in Cairo are like Shabbat in Brooklyn: there are only a few cars out, the city is eerily quiet and the pollution briefly lifts (seriously). Friday is the Islamic day of rest so we were able to make it through Cairo relatively quickly (and painlessly since I didn’t almost lose an arm, like usual). We boarded ten buses bound for Ein Sukhna, which is a little less than two hours east of Cairo on the Red Sea. After arriving, CRAZY LADY TOMADER gave us a few quick sessions before we skipped out to the beach before lunch.

For two days, we all sat out on lounge chairs, under the sun or in the crystal blue waters of the Red Sea. The food was a much needed upgrade from Cairo food, despite having to pay 8 LE for water at every single meal, or having a busperson remove our plates from right under our forks. It was quite hot (still in the upper 90’s, lower 100’s) and sunny all weekend (we did see one cloud) but we managed, realizing our friends were wasting away in classrooms across America. And now after a long weeekend at the beach, I am glad to be back in Cairo; the craziness of bazaars, or the taxi drivers who have no idea what a red-light is, to the moderately priced bottles of water and the crazy amounts of traffic, my melancholy was erased as soon as we entered back into the most ridiculous city in the entire world.

For all you orientation planners out there, take the kids to the beach. I worked as an orientation leader all summer, and I loved it, but taking the kids to Rehoboth Beach (or Ro-he-both, or whatever) wouldn’t be that bad of an idea (despite our A+ feelings about the scene). Taking them anywhere, for that matter, isn’t that bad of an idea. It’s about the bonding, not about the information. I think the only thing I learned this weekend was how much inefficient AUC really is, but in reality, I already knew that.