So, I promise I haven’t died….just been really busy writing essays!! Anyways, there have been a few things of note other than boring essays.
I went the ALEXANDRIA last weekend! It was pretty OK is how I would rate it. Alexandria is a worn down European port city that is rich in history and not much else. I got to see the Library, but wait, the library that was considered one of the seven wonders of the ancient world burnt down quite a while ago. The library I went to opened in 2002…it is really impressive (something like 8million books in it) but other than that it was truly just another library. It is on par with the Seattle Library, but nothing to write home about (I way that aware of the irony).
I also went to the Cairo Museum and saw more “things” than I care to ever ever again. The museum is really madness…very hasty curator skills on the part of the Egyptian government. I swear it was an effort to stuff as much crap in one building as possible. BUT, the KING TUT stuff was amazing…really beyond words. The guy was buried in 3 sarcophaguses and had a face mask of pure gold. It was incredible. The whole thing was laid out separately but there are pictures of what it looked like when the tomb was first discovered. The King Tut portion of the museum is everything that you dream of….I spent most of my time being hypnotized by the headdress….pure gold, shiny, and beautiful.
Today, three friends and I went to the Citadel (and if any of you play video games, this is the Citadel from Call of Duty, I think)…So the Citadel is really sweet. Beyond the fact that our taxi driver to the place was the best EVER because he insisted that we only speak Arabic…the Citadel has two amazing mosques, one of which has a bunch of aluminum covered domes. The palace sits on a high hill overlooking Cairo (which was so evidently polluted this morning that it was nearly invisible), but the views are incredible. The mosques inside were cool for all the obvious reasons: carvings, paintings, chandeliers, inscriptions, domed roofs, etc. At this point, however, I am SO over being around tourists, I am practically local ;). kidding, I am not yet that full of myself.
Back to essays, in case you are interested. Half of the semesters work is due before we leave for Turkey (which is TUESDAY!!!!). These are all debate topics where I have to take one side or the other. So, I am arguing 1. Imperialism is not the biggest obstacle for social, political, and economic development in the Middle East. Instead I am showing how totalitarianism, religion, and demographics are the most challenging problems in the Middle East. 2. I am arguing the religion is NOT the cause of unequal rights in the Middle East, but it what is the cause is political corruption, nationalism, and indigenous culture. 3. (This one is actually an engagement essay, so I don’t take a clear side of any argument, more express the competing arguments in my brain) I am arguing that there are two reasons why Christians and Muslims conflict in the Middle East. First, historical causation is to blame: history made it this way. Second, I explore briefly the possibility that religions really aren’t meant to coexist. These are all due Monday morning, and I am trying to get the Imperialism paper finished still….
I LEAVE FOR TURKEY ON TUESDAY. for real. hooray :)
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