Sat in Grand Cafe, I’m watching the sun set over Bahari for the last time. My Egyptian adventure is finally coming to an end, this is the final Egyptian update of the blog. At the moment it’s hard to imagine that the year is already over, that I will be in London this time tomorrow, and that I don’t know when I will return here. It’s a question often asked amongst the students living here, do you love a city because it is special or beautiful or historic or because of her people, or do you love a city just because you’ve spent an important, wonderful, and formative year there? Ultimately, it doesn’t really matter, because I do love this city.
I hate to write this in list form, but I’m painfully conscious of my laptop battery draining and draining, so here are a few things I will miss:
The sea. As previously mentioned, I was brought up on the mean streets of Saddleworth surrounded by fields and sheep and more fields. The sea was somewhere I went for a holiday, where Will and Lucy and I went to bodyboard and swim and where mum sat wrapped in hats and scarves behind a multicoloured windshield. Living next to the Med here, I’ve all too often taken for granted the wonderful views as I leave the ghetto that is Omarat a-Zubat every morning to go to TAFL, the refreshing breeze on a hot day, and the excellent, excellent seafood. I’ll return to a quote from Michael that I first blogged after I’d just got back from Cairo: “Alex is Cairo by the sea”. The longer I’ve lived here, the more times I’ve come back here from Cairo, the more I’ve realised how important the sea is in that equation. Here the Mediterranean is a vast escape. It’s quite literally a breath of fresh air.
My friends. Clichéd I know, perhaps even soppy, but the main reason I’ve had the year I have is the people I’ve met or got to know here. Andrea, aha, Andrea. Tom has been the best housemate I could have wished for; a good friend through tough times, someone to teach and learn from, a constant, constant source of amusement. I could, and would, perhaps should, thank all of you on here, but you know who you are and you all know what I’m trying to say. Grazi, merci, thank you. شكرا
Arabic. I fall in and out of love with all the languages I’ve learned over the years, but I will miss the TAFL centre and the fusha, the taxi drivers and the arguments, the شتيمة and the banter with my Egyptian friends. Aha neek.
Time is of the essence. After two big nights, I’m looking to make it three-in-a-row before I leave Alex at 5 tomorrow morning to head to Cairo airport for a flight at 10.30. I’ll write a more exhaustive contemplation when I get back and when my laptop isn’t about to die, and when I can get a reliable internet connection. All I have to say for now is Farewell Alexandria. Farewell.
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