New Campus, New Cairo

AUC is moving next year, leaving downtown Cairo for the middle of the desert in "New Cairo." There are many problems with this, and I whine about them repeatedly and with little provocation. Most importantly: the new location means that I have to move, and unless I move to campus (which I won't) it means that I will have to commute. A lot. There will be a shuttle, but this is meant to cost 3300 Egyptan pounds a year. Finally: there is nothing in New Cairo. You can't walk from campus (as you can from old campus) and reach numerous cafes, or procure life-changing falafel, or visit any airline office you desire. There is, unlike Oakland, no there there.

All of this was confirmed during my cushy private tour of new campus. I arranged through an old professor (or rather, he arranged and I eagerly accepted) a jeep with driver and the head of landscaping to walk me, the parents and The Roommate around. The trip from downtown took an hour, and during that time we sped to our (driver's) heart's desire since there wasn't a lick of traffic. I don't anticipate this kind of traffic-less-ness happening often when I actually have to get to class. Through the window, we saw city, city, city and then developments, half finished houses, and then. . .nothing. Of course, the campus is designed like an oasis in the middle of this lack of activity. Still, it's a bit disconcerting that, next door to campus, all there is to see is a lot of sand. People say that New Cairo will be fully developed in five to ten years. It will be teeming in full, Southern California style. In a couple months, however. . .

My bitching aside, campus will be very impressive once it is finished. The buildings are beautiful. The library is huge. There will be an olympic-sized pool, a park, thousands of trees and several fountains. But will it be finished by September, when classes start?

Not from what I saw (I saw half finished buildings and milling construction workers), but I like to think it's possible. Maybe. Somehow.

Our guide wasn't sure what all these buildings were, but he enumerated the various thousands of trees. Here we have some buildings of some sort, and a pile of yet-to-be-planted date palms.


This is the entrance to the library from inside, and the plaza behind said library.


That tower is attached to the sports complex. Perhaps they will make football players run up and down the stairs? Also: we had to wear hard hats for our entire time on campus. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to keep them.




This is the football field and track.


The AUC park is already planted. Every tree has its own light so that they can glow, eerily, in the darkness.