First Cairo, then the World.

Hi, I'm Alecia.

I'm a third-year dual enrollment student in College of Art and Design and the College of Literature Science and the Arts at the University of Michigan and will be graduating in 2013. For the academic year 2011-2012 I'll be studying Art and Arabic at the American University in Cairo.

I'm kind of a pioneer regarding art students from UofM studying in the Middle East and so I'm going to be using this tumblr to document the process of getting everything together, travel, culture shock, and hopefully able to show you all what a wonderful experience I'll be having. My goal is to be a resource to those who have an interest in studying in Cairo and I hope that they will learn from all my successes and mistakes.

A primary motivation for going to Egypt is the opportunity to improve my Arabic, because I'm really bad at it and that isn't something I can accept. I don't know much about the art scene in Cairo but I hear it's fantastic.

The only time I've been out of the United States was for an afternoon in Canada, so this is going to be very interesting. Thanks for accompanying me on this journey!
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March 6, 2012. Mohandessin. Approximately 4pm.

March 6, 2012. Mohandessin. Approximately 4pm.

March 6, 2012, Route 11: Dokki/Mohandessin. Approximately 4pm.

March 6, 2012, Dokki, Approximately 4pm

March 6, 2012, Dokki, Approximately 4pm

It’s Monday January 9, 2012. At home searching for creativity where I’m out of my element. It’s cold. And I’m tired of wearing my Michigan sweatshirt.

It’s Monday January 9, 2012.
At home searching for creativity where I’m out of my element.
It’s cold. And I’m tired of wearing my Michigan sweatshirt.

On the second day of being in Egypt I decided that I would allow myself to enjoy the convenience of bottled water as long as I used more environmentally friendly means my second semester. 

The bottles were collected from August 19, 2011-January 6, 2012 and includes almost every bottle of water I’ve consumed for that period of time. I say ‘almost’ because there were bottles from restaurants or shared at an even that didn’t make it into the pile. I’m also sure there were a couple that I mindlessly threw away/recycled as well.

This is more embarrassing than I thought it would be.

‘This’ being the process of collecting water bottles over a period of time in your closet to have a visual representation of personal environmental impact, even on a small scale, and then putting it on display for other people’s judgement.

My flatmates are gonna think I’m weird.

Anyway, after this they’re going to be put outside my apartment gate and the neighborhood kids will recycle them for money.

The breakdown: 90 —1.5 liter bottles

85 Dasani (what the kiosk near my house sells)
4 Aquafina
1 Nestle

32 —17oz water bottles

16 Aquafina
11 Nestle
3 Dasani
2 Schweppes

And there was a lonely Sprite bottle in there as well.

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