Westminster Business School Blog International Experience In Egypt By Student, Shahmaan Ahmed

International Experience In Egypt By Student, Shahmaan Ahmed

March 25, 2013
Student Life
1 Comment

I have been living in Alexandria, Egypt since September 2012, studying Arabic at the Alexandria Institute for Languages (ACL).

Day 1

Before I arrived in Egypt I assumed, based on news reports, that I was about to enter a war-torn country since the revolution of 2011. So with no expectations and hoping for the best I arrived at Cairo Airport. The airport was still intact when I arrived. I bought my tourist visa upon arrival for $15 and made my way to the exit. Immediately I was approached by numerous men who turned out to be taxi drivers, offering me their services and they all spoke broken English. I decided to wait for a couple of friends to pick me up instead; they arrived in Egypt a month before me and helped me get to Alexandria. We travelled to a bus station and they helped me buy a ticket for a bus (for 15 guinea which is equivalent to £1.50) from Cairo to Alexandria, which lasted about 8 hours. I took a bus instead of a train because I arrived at 2am in the morning and the bus station opens earlier than the train station and it’s closer.

Westminster Business Blog — The beach near my home

As I waited at the bus station I was approached by a man in his 40’s who gave me greetings and asked me if I was (in Arabic). Instantly I tried to remember everything I learnt in the past two years at Westminster and managed to explain I am a student from England and I am going to study in Alex. The gentleman known as “Mohammed” offered me a baguette which had some sort of meat that I had never seen before. I know what chicken, lamb and beef look like and I did not know what this was. At first I respectfully declined, but he continued to insist and I was starving at that time so eventually I accepted the gift. The baguette tasted great and revitalised me, Mohammed even gave me a bottle of water and he didn’t charge me for any of it. We prayed Fajr (the dawn prayer) together in a little prayer room at the bus station with other travellers. It was truly amazing. My first experience with an Egyptian and I was already in love with the country. We bid farewell to each other as my bus was going to Alex and his was travelling elsewhere, but I will never forget the kind man who offered me food. (It turns out the meat Mohammed gave me was liver, not bad I have to say).

The kitchen - where legendary cooking takes place… — The kitchen – where legendary cooking takes place…

Arriving in Alexandria I took a taxi to the apartment I had arranged for myself and my roommates (they travelled together from Borg El Arab in Alex and arrived before me). The taxi had a number of weird logos and souvenirs all over it including the dashboard having a hula girl and 6 mirrors, but that wasn’t the strange bit; each road had 3 lanes but there were 5 sets of cars. It was madness. I was sure we were going to crash or have some sort of accident but everyone else was just relaxed; just a normal day in Egypt I guess.