Advice to future students: Get an apartment in the city Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

I think that the classes that I took were the exception to the rule - I took an Arabic class, an anthropology class taught by a visiting American professor, and two graduate classes in political science. My classes were fairly in-depth and intensive and required a substantial (25-30 pg) research paper by the end of the semester. Given that sometimes quantity was valued over quality, the classes were informative. I did feel like my two graduate classes were quite boring - the professors put very little time into creating lesson plans or facilitating good discussions. Despite my decent experience, I know many American students who felt their classes were NOT of this quality. It would be wise to look into the courses and the professors before signing up for all of your classes.

On-site administration of your program

AUC was moving its campus at the time that I studied abroad. Due to the chaos, a variety of things happened that really displeased a lot of people. A lot of people who were told that they'd get housing in dorms were later told that they had to get an apartment. The buses that were supposed to take us 45 min across the desert to get to our classes often didn't arrive on time, or at all. The food and amenities on the new campus were ridiculously overpriced, yet students were forced to buy them because there was nothing else out there in the middle of the desert at that time. The administration basically didn't respond to any of the needs of the students.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

Not bad - the rooms were big. Bathrooms were shared with the entire hall. There was a gym and a cafeteria, which I appreciated.

It was cheapier to eat in restaurants than cafeterias, so I often did that. I would also go to the grocery and get easy things to eat on the go. I felt my health was really bad while abroad b/c I was frequently sick and didn't have much variety in my diet. But, I still enjoyed the way that a lot of the food tasted. I was also a vegetarian when I arrived, and had to start eating meat again because I felt like I was getting enough nutrients.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

We had some fun cultural activities scheduled by AUC, like Sufi dancing!

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

Cairo definitely has a serious problem with sexual harrassment. I got verbally harrassed daily, and touched only sometimes, but it would be VERY rare to get assaulted or raped. There's definitely a line there that most people won't try to cross. Save a few unique situations, I never really felt endangered. I did get very sick a few times. RESEARCH A GOOD HOSPITAL before you let someone take you to one. I was taken to a rather unpleasant hospital b/c I didn't do my research. Also, if you are only minorly ill, you can go to any pharmacy and just ask for most medicines. You don't need a prescription for 99% of things. I actually don't even know if they write prescriptions in Egypt...

(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost)

I became much more comfortable with speaking and listening, whereas before I mainly focused on reading and writing.