Bianca went on exchange to the American University of Cairo, and decided to extend her exchange with a semester.
Pre-departure:
My first exchange with the American University in Cairo in the Fall of 2015 had left me wanting more. The University’s amazing Egyptology Programme, what seems like unlimited academic and social resources, and its location within one of the worlds busiest and culturally diverse cities ensured that I would be a returning study abroad student. The hard work that I had put in during my first exchange seemster had paid off immensely and had resulted in my receiving the Simpson Fellowship for international study abroad students for the second time. As a postgraduate student I can tell you that every penny counts and greatly improves what can often be a financially dire situation.
The biggest cost that I had incurred during my first exchange was the flight ticket. Flights within Africa, as I saw with many of my AUC friends’ travels, can more than often be incredibly expensive and requires long term planning. Prices can skyrocket from R6 000 to R14 000 per round-trip within a matter of days and with no warning. Luckily however, I have a friend who works as a travel agent and somehow always manages to book relatively inexpensive flights for me. So, first piece of advice then, plan your flights ahead and work with someone who understands your budget.
With regards to accommodation, as someone whom had never visited Cairo before I had decided to stay on campus within the chalets provided by the university during my first exchange. As a first time visitor I highly encourage this approach. Cairo is a huge city and while accommodation is always readily available, the language barrier (my Arabic being almost non-existent) and social/cultural laws with regard to gender interactions and behavior can make a bad situation even worse. Furthermore, there is no distinction between private and public space in Egypt and it can often be found that your neighbours or the buildings bawab (a kind of security guard/moral policeman) get involved in your personal life and feel the need to impose certain rules upon your comings and goings as well as your interactions with visitors. One of the downsides to the on-campus accommodation is however, that it is incredibly expensive. If your budget is limited and you wish to stay off campus I would then suggest finding a roommate who already has an apartment or one that has experience with regards to this endeavor. There are many Facebook groups that you can look at which have options for any budget. Apartments can range between 4000le (around R7600) to 6000le for a 2 bedroom, obviously depending upon the area and utilities. Furthermore, the international office at AUC (known as the ISSA office) can provide you with a list of available flats/apartments. Living off campus has also been made easier with the fact that AUC provides its students with transportation to and from most areas in Cairo. While a semester’s bus pass does seem expensive, for undergraduate students it being around $300 and for graduate students it being $170, it makes the world of difference getting to and from campus and is safe, air-conditioned and has wifi. These passes can be purchased within the first week of the semester, during which AUC’s transportation system is free.
Experience at AUC:
The objective of my exchange with AUC was in order to gain experience in the field of Egyptology, and AUC has one of the world’s best-known departments. Headed by Professor Salima Ikram, one of the field’s leading scholars in human and animal mummy research as well as ancient Egyptian art, AUC’s Egyptology department provides its students with the best possible environment for expanding their knowledge on ancient Egypt. Its location within Egypt itself provides the opportunity for numerous site and museum visits and a real-time experience with objects that are known worldwide. Visiting professors also provide students with the opportunity to increase their knowledge in certain fields not offered by the university itself. This semester for example, we were fortunate enough to attend a museum studies workshop led by Dr. Monkhouse, the head of the British Museum and trusted and a good friend of Professor Ikram’s. Furthermore, the constant stream of invitations sent out to the students to lectures around Cairo at various institutes allows for an integrated approach in which students can interact with scholars working in the field.
The courses offered by AUC differ with each semester and are incredibly diverse. While the core courses in history, art and hieroglyphics (both I and II in each field) are presented on a constant basis, and which students are required to take in order to graduate, the selected topics vary both in topic and time period. I was fortunate enough to be able to attend a graduate course this semester presented by Professor Ikram herself on the subject of site analysis. Every dig requires that extensive research be undertaken upon the site itself, critiquing previous work undertaken by Egyptologists and identifying possible areas that need further work and that might bear undiscovered objects. These types of courses differ strongly from the undergraduate courses in that they require a large portion of independent study apart from the 2-hour lectures that are presented twice a week. However, the huge amount of information presented in the undergraduate core courses, such as history, art and hieroglyphics, does require constant dedication. The almost weekly quizzes and small papers assigned to students in each course requires discipline, as one small mistake can lead to a drop in your overall GPA, which the department stresses should be at least a 3.5.
Apart from visiting lectures, workshops and the basic classes, the professors at AUC’s Egyptology department strongly encourage their students to make use of their fortunate location and organize at least 3 trips per month to various sites around Cairo and Egypt itself. Apart from the numerous day trips we had to sites such as Saqqara and Giza, this semester we were given the opportunity to travel to Luxor and Aswan. The trip was funded by the department itself, only requiring students to organize their own transportation to Upper Egypt (which is in the South…). A few of my friends and I made use of Egypt’s train system for our travels, a second class ticket to Luxor only costing around 57le. During our trip we visited sites such as the Valley of the Kings, Edfu temple, Deir el-Bahri (Hatshepsut’s mortuary temple), the valley of the Nobles, Luxor museum, Abu Simbel, the site of Elkab, Medinat Habu or the temple of Ramses III, Luxor temple and Karnak temple. As AUC’s professors are respected world wide, we were also allowed access to many dig-sites that are currently closed to the public, such as the opening of 2 Middle Kingdom tombs at Deir el-Bahri. Furthermore, our visits to the various sites were also made all the more exceptional because of the numerous interactions we had with scholars currently working in the field.
Return to Stellenbosch:
One thing that I have to say is that it was incredibly difficult leaving Cairo. The unbelievable friends I have made there and the experiences I had truly made it one of the best years of my life. Studying in what has often been classified as a ‘middle-eastern’ country puts you into contact with people of such diverse backgrounds and truly exposes you to the true international community. I must say that this was at often times heartbreaking, as Egypt and Cairo itself houses many refugees and asylum seekers from areas such as Somalia, Iraq and Syria. The American University in Cairo in fact has many students originating from these countries in conflict and the many conversations I had with them over a tea and shisha at the local café changes the way in which you view your home and what you deem as important in your life. I must add that my experience in Cairo has not only changed my perspective, but also my future plans.
The trip that our department organized to Luxor and Aswan was a turning point in my career path as Professor Ikram introduced me to a woman who worked as an epigrapher. Katie, who currently works for Chicago’s publishing house, lives and works in Egypt on a permanent basis, moving from site to site and recording objects and art for conservation purposes. My conversation with her at Medinat Habu, the site upon which she is currently working, opened my eyes to a field that I thought had long ago been replaced by photography. My academic background and experience in fine arts and visual studies, along with my background in Egyptology makes me a perfect candidate for this line of work. At the hotel later that night I had a conversation with Professor Ikram, which eventually resulted in her invitation for me to return to AUC and complete the MA of which I had already fulfilled some of the basic requirements. My hard work and passion for the field of Egyptology paid off once again as I have found out recently that the department at AUC will be funding my entire MA in Egyptology with a focus on epigraphy.