15/04/09
Today we woke up in the Jump Inn Sharm and headed to the Sea Club all inclusive hotel. We all got there a little tired from our travels and headed to the beach on the Red Sea. We snorkeled a bit in the coral right off of the beach and saw some extremely colorful small fish. We then caught a few more rays of the sun and swam around in the water. There was a pier where you could jump into 20 ft of water and it opened later on in the day. We all jumped in and realized we were SURROUNDED by jellyfish. We all freaked out and swam back to the pier and got out of the water. That was the last time we went in there. We then played Bocci Ball with a few old Italian guys and then got ready for dinner. This hotel made me feel like I was in Cancun; just with a much prettier view. We were all still tired after dinner and knew we had a long day ahead of us so we finished our night off laying on the beach and looking at the stars.

16/04/09
We woke up in the morning and headed out to go snorkeling. We got to a dock where we found out that Pat's uncle had gotten us our own private boat. We sailed for about 45 minutes where we stopped at a huge coral reef. We all jumped in and snorkeled for about a half hour. We saw some of the craziest colored fish we have ever seen. Bright greens, turquoise, pink, and bright yellow were some of the colors of these fish. We then got on the boat and sailed for another half hour to see some more coral. Once again, extremely beautiful I dove to look into a cove; I saw some beautiful fish but got burned by fire coral on my arm. We then had lunch on the boat. We had some fish that was literally the freshest fish I have ever eaten. It melted in my mouth. We then snorkeled/swam a little bit more in some open water and headed back to the dock. We got into the bus and headed back to the hotel where we ate dinner and decided our plans for the night. We were offered to go to a club, but it was 30 Euros, and we didn't have that type of money. We went out on our own and caught a bus to the city of Sharm. This bus was a local bus that drives people home from work. We got us 7 into this mini bus and when we got there the driver wanted 30 egyptian pounds. Pat worked his magic once again and got it down to 15 egyptian pounds which is roughly 3 bucks. Yes, a 20 min ride for a total of 3 bucks. When we got to downtown Sharm some people decided to go to the casino; I once again didn't have money so a few of us went to the Hard Rock Cafe. We hung out there for about an hour and then went to Panorama which is a bar that overlooks all of Sharm. We hung out for one beer and then headed back to the hotel. When we got back, those that had gone to the casino were all depressed. Thats their fault. When we were in Sharm I realized how much Muslims hate Americans. Everytime I told someone I was American they had a wise comment like "Oh where is your horse?" or "Where is your gun. Are you in the mafia?" I finally realized that I could not tell people I was from America anymore and started telling people I was from Spain. It stopped people from trying to sell me things because when I spoke Spanish they didn't understand and just forgot about me. I am an itelligent one......remember that.

17/04/09
After about 2 hours of sleep, we hopped on a plane to Cairo. 45 minutes later we are grabbing our bags and heading to the city. We got to our hotel which was right on the Nile. Once again a thanks to Pat's uncle. We put down our bags and met up with Pat's uncle at his office. We had a traditional Egyptian coffee which was a lot thicker then American coffee. Walking through the streets during lunchtime was insane. People were literally ON the streets praying as loudspeakers blasted prayers in Arabic. People could not drive down some streets. We then went out to lunch.....to McDonald's. The menu was in English and in Arabic and it was quite funny to get McDonalds in Egypt. It tasted the same. After lunch we went to the Cairo museum where we saw many artifacts that were discovered in tombs; many of the artifacts were from King Tut. The luxury and detail that these artifacts had from about 5000 years ago. I can't believe some of the things these people brought with them to the afterlife. We then went to a street market where people tried to sell us a ton of stuff. I did not have the bargaining skills nor the money that Pat had so I didn't purchase anything. Pat got a bunch of gold and silver things for his family for pretty cheap prices, but I didn't see anything I liked.....seriously. I am a horrible shopper, I needed a girl with me, preferably my mom. She would have LOVED it. It was fun walking around there and just watching all the people. It was the coolest type of people watching I have ever seen. We then went back to the hotel and headed out to go to Chilli's for dinner. It was good, once again tasted the same, but Pat LOVED it. It was in a huge mall; bigger then Woodfield. 7 floors and quite the hoppin place. This mall made me feel that Egypt wasn't third world. We then got into 2 cabs and rode home. These cabbies were friends and were quite speedy. Weaving in and out of traffic. I said earlier that driving in Egypt is crazy. Its even crazier when your in the car that when it passes you your like "OH MY GOD WHAT IS THAT DRIVER THINKING." We all held on for dear life as we made it back to our hotel in half the time it took us to get to Chilli's. After getting back to the hotel I laid in my bed and listened to the bustling Cairo city and went to bed.

18/04/09
I woke up earlier then everyone extremely thirsty. We could not drink the faucet water so I went out for a walk to purchase water. I walked to the Nile and found a vender who sold me a huge water. I then walked back to the hotel to wake everyone up and we headed out to Giza to see the pyramids. Giza is about 30 mins out of Cairo. We got to the pyramids and went into the Great Pyramid. Seeing the pyramids was breathtaking and going inside the pyramid was a little claustrophobic. There wasn't much to see inside but it was just cool climbing sideways to the center of the pyramid. We then took camels to the panorama where you could see the city of Egypt and all 3 pyramids. We stayed there for about 15 minutes learning about the history behind the pyramids and then we took the bus back to Pat's other uncle's house. This uncle is EXTREMELY rich. Pat says he is one of the top 25 most rich people in Egypt. He owns the largest steel company in Egypt. His house was 7 floors overlooking the pyramids. It has its own pool, basketball court, soccer court, tennis court, garden, animals that they kill to eat, a guest house, a pool house, and 8 full time servants. So we had a huge meal, literally 15 plates filled with all different types of food; liver, veal, salad, soup, sausage, and anything else you could think of. His aunt and uncle were not eating due to the fact that they were fasting. We then went to their roof and watched the sun set on the pyramids. One of the most amazing views of my life. The sky was a beautiful orange and the sun set RIGHT over the pyramids. We then played a game of basketball and swam a little. We talked to his uncle and around 10 at night we headed back to the hotel. We went out in Cairo that night to a local club.

19/04/09
I woke up and headed to the airport. I travelled from Egypt through Frankfort to Madrid. I then caught a bus back to Bilbao. 18 hours later I was back home in Bilbao. This trip was a trip of a lifetime.......... I can never experience anything like I just did ever again. A lot of these stories are just the straight facts. Once again I am doing this for the majority of me remembering what happened. There is a lot of further explanation I can give on the status of Egypt, my feelings for the people, their economy, the history I learned, and the things I saw. There just isn't enough time to write down everything.........
That is all, please feel free to contact me with any questions or comments!

13/04/09 Luxor, Egypt.
We once again woke up around 6:30 AM and headed to the Valley of the Kings. We got there around 9 AM and I would say it was already 100 degrees out; literally I had already undressed myself down to my undershirt and had my other shirt over my head to block the sun. The Valley of the Kings is an area where 63 tombs of old kings have been found. They literally just found the 63rd one and believe there to be a ton more in the valley. It is a mountainous region that had tombs dug into the mountain; how anyone found it I will never know. Our pass allowed us to see 3 tombs, so our guide took us through a bunch of the King Ramses tombs (there were like 10 King Ramses')
Sidenote: All of these excursions that we took costed me half price. Before I came to study abroad my parents intelligently bought me an ISIC (International Student Identification Card) and that was the only type of identification they took for students pretty much.... Also the Egyptians are extremely racist against other cultures. While I was paying 30 egyptian pounds (like 6 bucks), normal people were paying 60 egyptian pounds (like 12 bucks), Tannous, an egyptian citizen was paying 4 egyptian pounds (less than a dollar).
So we finished visiting the tombs and hopped on the bus to go to Al-Deir/Al-Bahari Temple. This temple was a long HOT walk away. By this time it was like 11:30 and ATLEAST 110 degrees out. So hot that our tour guide didn't walk to the temple with us and went back to the bus. We went, walked through the temple, took a few pictures and went back to the bus. We then headed back to the bus. As we drove back to our Cruise Ship we passes many small villages. People were swimming in the small river that we were driving alongside, and houses look liked they probably didn't have running water. I am willing to argue with anyone that Egypt IS a third world country.
We got back to the boat and laid on the deck for awhile. We were still docked in Luxor and we saw a guy baithing his horse in the Nile. Tannous loves animals and I really wanted to swim in the Nile so we headed down to talk to this guy. I asked the cruise boat manager if I could jump in the Nile, and he told me it was strictly forbidden to swim in it due to the fact that it is so polluted. I was extremely saddened by this fact, but realized I did not want to end up in the hospital that night so I took his words of advice. We went and talked to this man and Tannous spoke to him in Arabic explaining our situation; I sneakily put my foot in the river. I can now say that I have "been" in the Nile (cross it off the list). This man was dressed in nothing but his "Gap" white underwear so I considered him to be a poor man, but he told us he owned a Felluka boat and was willing to take us out on it that night no charge. So we go out with him on his boat and he takes us to a small island. We go on the island and sample some bananas that were picked right off the tree behind us; these bananas were probably the most delicious bananas I have ever tasted. I never thought I could use the word juicy to describe a banana......but I just did. This man was extremely nice and invited us to come back to his village. We agreed and went back to his village to play a game of soccer. His friends vs. Us..... Egypt vs. The United States if you may. We walk through his town as all the kids, who know absolutely no English, scream "Hello!" to us. I know immediately I was safe in this village as I watched 6-10 year olds outside playing makeshift games of soccer and running around on the sandy roads. We walked to the local YMCA and started a game of soccer. We had no shoes, so we played barefoot on this cementlike surface outside with the lights shining on our game. We ended up losing 2-1 but it was a great time playing a game of soccer against Egyptians. We then went back to a local watering hole, had some Fantas and relaxed while Hassan's wife cooked us dinner. After, we went back to his house to eat. We were not allowed to see his wife because it is against Muslim culture. So we sat down and ate his wife's cooking; delicious whole chicken, potatos in a red sauce, cucumber and tomato salad, and bread. We ate until we were stuffed and then relaxed on his roof drinking tea.

14/04/09
We packed up and got ready to check out of the cruise, but before we completely left Luxor we went to the Karnak Temple. We went solo, without a guide and got there. Just so you know I am not lying about the temperature a message board read 42.5 degrees celcius at about noon when we headed to the temple. So we get there and we only have an hour to spare because Tannous has an earlier flight then us. We pay for our tickets and some guy offers us his guide services for 100 egyptian pounds. We say no and he goes down to 50 pounds. Thats under 10 bucks for 6 people so we decided to go with it. This guide was amazing, knowing we had to go fast, he took us through the temple within an hour pointing out amazing things. He explained the reason that the faces were messed up on all the statues was due to the fact that when the Christians came, they thought that the spirits of the God's in the statues were still alive and looking at them. So they scratched off their eyes, ears, and nose so they couldn't hear, smell, or see the people. He also showed us how they put color to their images using sandstone that was in the tomb itself. We then went back to the ship. Tannous took off and we waited a few hours to leave for our flight. Around 4, we caught a cab to go to the airport, checked in and got on a plane towards Sharm El Sheikh. This was probably the bumpiest flight I had ever been on and as I calmly looked around at all my wide eyed friends, I realized that I have no problems with travelling. I think that comes from my dad. Anyways, 45 minutes later we are landing in Sharm El Sheikh. We get to the "Jump Inn Sharm" a hostel I booked and Tannous had already talked to his Uncle. We are not going to stay here all three nights, but only one. The next two nights will be spent in an all inclusive hotel right on the beach of the Red Sea for about the same price. Once again, Pat's uncle has hooked us up. We check out the streets of Sharm El Sheikh which remind me of Cancun. There are a ton of bars and restaurants all wanting your business and people will stop at nothing to try and get that business. We ate a bit and headed back early, ready for another long day tomorrow.

The first picture is of our 5-star cruise boat. Presidential Nile Cruises (TELL YOUR FRIENDS) I know what your thinking. That doesn't look like a 5-star cruise ship. Please remember that the Nile River is a lot smaller then what a normal cruise boat would be on. Believe me, the food, service, and adventures we had on that boat make it a five star cruise boat. Pat was hungry one night and walked to the kitchen at 2 AM. They served him. We were royalty on that boat. No doubt.
The Second picture is sort of an action shot of us walking down a street in the village of Luxor with Hassan. Notice the kids outside, the sand road, and the lack of neon signs.
The third picture is of us all on the small boat heading to the island with Hassan.
The fourth picture is of the sun setting while we were on the island. Look how picturesque that sunset is!

10/04/09
So I landed in Cairo around 11 PM purchased a visitors pass for 15 dollars and wondered out on to the streets and realized I had no phone that worked in Cairo and had no idea where I was going or how to get there. So I asked a guy in a suit if he spoke English and he said yes, and he let me use his phone. None of the numbers I had were working so I had to call the only other number that I had, Pat's grandma. This lady is 85 years old, doesn't speak english and is hard of hearing. This gentleman talked to her (repeated a bunch of his sentences numerous times) and got me a number to reach Pat. He came with his uncle and picked me up and we headed back to his Uncle's place to gather everyone. His uncle's place is located in the center of Egypt and it is a beautiful 3 bedroom 3 bath upper middle class apartment. Driving in Cairo is chaotic. No street lights, no lanes, no rules. I held on for dear life is cars cut us off and sped right past us. Kids walked through traffic like it was no problem. I can't explain it at all... Cairo is a city of about 24 million people and I feel that everyone was on the road at that time. The horn is a completely overused object. We then went out for dinner and sheesha at about midnight. Sheesha is flavored tobacco traditional to Egypt. It is served in a 4 foot high water pipe. I had a tradition meat dish and sat and talked until about 2 in the morning. Dan's flight didn't get in until 3, but ended up being delayed so we stayed up to wait for him; we had a flight at 6 anyways. The craziest thing about that night was that around 4 o'clock in the morning a guy got on a loud speaker that you could hear all throughout Cairo praying in Arabic. It gave me the creeps to hear it. You could hear other people following his prayer, and the cats and dogs of the streets howling.

11/04/07
After not sleeping at all the night before we boarded our plane around 7 A.M. to Asuan Egypt. We flew into Asuan and basically flew right into a desert. Once again we got picked up right at the door. Sidenote: Throughout me talking about this trip, it will seem like we are royalty. We honestly got treated like royalty and I can't thank Pat's uncle enough for everything. Pat was on the phone with him every half hour, if anything went wrong, or whatever. He got us hotels, tours, and travel for dirt cheap. He literally MADE this trip. We leave the airport and head to High Dam which was sort of like the hoover dam on a smaller level. It produces enough energy that Egypt can export energy to other countries. We then went to Philae temple. This temple was on an island so we had to take a small boat to get there; it was ghetto to say the least. So we see this temple, and having not eaten all day, sleep deprived, sweating, and in need of water, I did not learn much about it. Our guide was going on all these tangents about ancient Egyptian gods and history. I was completely lost. We then ate Guavas off of a tree, lets face it I have a horrible stomache and I am going to have stomache problems, why not enjoy the things I eat. After getting back to the bus, we went to a place where they make their own perfumes out of flowers. We didn't enjoy it, but the girls in our group LOVED it. We then got on the bus and were harassed by vendors trying to sell us crap that none of us wanted. Tannous would just speak in Arabic and the people would realize that we were not in the market to purchase their things. Then we headed to the Cruise. Pat's uncle is director of operations for a 5 star cruise line down the Nile. After a long day of travelling and sightseeing we dropped our luggage in our rooms and went for a few drinks on the top deck and watched as we sailed down the Nile. We then went to a delicious dinner and passed out listening to the waves of the Nile as we cruised along.

12/04/09 (Easter Sunday)
We awoke at 6 A.M. ate breakfast on the cruise and then headed to the Edfu temple. After a long night of sleep I was able to understand the history a lot better. The temple was dating back to 237 B.C. and it blew my mind standing in the middle of something that was created over 2000 years ago. Just looking at the structures, I wondered how they put everything together without any technology. After going to the temple we headed back to the ship. We left for Esna right away and made it there about midday. Everyone was sleeping as we docked, we then left and went through a lock in the Nile river. As everyone slept, I sat on the deck and watched small towns pass us. These towns made me realize how much of a third world country Egypt is. If this was any other country the Nile would be covered with million dollar mansions, instead it is covered with houses that look like they barely have running water. I then took an hour nap as we docked in Luxor and we got up and got ready for dinner. We said grace and had a delicious Easter dinner on the cruise. It was Pat's birthday a week ago, so we were to celebrate it that night on the cruise. He got Happy Birthday sung to him in Arabic, Spanish, and English and the chef on the boat cooked him his own special cake. We then got dressed up in Gabalas which are traditional egyptian wear; long robes worn on a daily basis. We hung out with some of the other people on the cruise and enjoyed the calm night on the Nile.
Literally, how many people can say they slept on the Nile and cruised down it for 3 days? Not many

This first picture is a view from our boat as we cruise down the Nile.
The second picture is of us dressed up in our Egyptian Wear.
The third picture is at Philae Temple.

Hola,
I have officially made it back to Bilbao! I am so happy to be back, but have a ton to talk about. I guess I will just start from the beginning and see how it flows. I wrote in a diary everyday so that I could remember all the little details that triggered something in me or made me realize that I was not in America.

07/04/2009
I packed up all my stuff and took a bus to Hendaye which is on the border of France and Spain. The people living here speak both French and Spanish, but more French then Spanish; they also speak Euskara because it is a part of Pais Vasco. So I get on a train headed to Paris. Sidenote: I paid a total of 33.30 Euros to get from Spain to Paris, I am quite the smart shopper. So on this train, its all French. I have my IPOD on, but I am not listening to it because I am just taking in all the sounds of the train. In Europe they have those phones that play music, and its all the craze to listen to the music on your phone as loud as you can in public places. So there is a guy on the train playing the music on his phone. A lady comes up to him and asks him to turn it down, he nicely replies with a no. Then a big guy gets up and into his face yelling at him about turning down the music. He argues back and this goes on for about 20 minutes and I am just sitting there laughing at these people screaming at eachother in French. So the stereotype of the "loud obnoxious French" was actualized within 10 minutes of being in France. So 7 hours later my train pulls into Paris, France. I get off realizing I have NO money on me, and make my way to the train station. I find some way to pay for the train, hop on and make it to Pat Tannous' dorm room. It was late at night by the time I got in so we stayed in knowing it would be a long day the next day.

8/4/09
Pat insisted that I didn't need to get up early here in Paris, but I didn't believe him and woke up at 9:45 AM. Pat took forever to get ready, but whatever. We finally left his dorm and headed to the Latin District to grab a bite to eat. We stopped at a Doner Kebab which is a chain restaurant throughout Europe serving Gyros and other things like that; it was my first time to one and no one could believe I went that long without stopping at one. Tannous had school, so we walked over to his school, which was about 4 rooms, and he set me loose in the city of Paris with all of his ID cards. His ID cards were able to get me into whatever I wanted for FREE. This literally saved me over 100 Euros. So I walked around, saw the outside of the Pompidou which is a contemporary art museum, and is architectually contemporary. I then went to the Louvre. It was a beautiful day in Paris so I hurried through the Louvre. The Louvre used to be where they protected all the art during the French Revolution so that other countries would not steal it. I saw the Venos de Milo and the Mona Lisa. The Mona Lisa, I feel, was a little overrated. It was in a room filled with 100s of people and it took me 5 minutes to push myself to the front. I can cross it off the list at least. After I got into the Louvre (for free), I tried to go to the Dorsay, but the line was just too long to wait in. I then went to Notre Dame. That was the most beautiful church I have ever seen. Once again I used Pat's ID to climb to the top for free. I started getting a little claustrophobic halfway up as my heart started racing. I finally made it to the top and was taking in awe at the view. I could see all of Paris! I saw the huge bell weighing over 13 tons and was done with my visit to Notre Dame. 400 steps later I was finally on solid ground and ready to continue my excursion of Paris. I grabbed a Crepe and walked around for a little then headed back to Pat's dorm. We then got ready and went out to Montmartre which is a church overlooking all of Paris. We sat there, drank a beer, and watched all the local entertainment. The steps of Montmartre is a place where a lot of people sit and relax. There are street performers and a ton of things to watch. It started raining, so we headed back to Pat's dorm and called it an early night.

9/4/09
We woke up and went for breakfast. Tannous had to leave for Egypt, so he threw me the keys to his dorm as a last resort and said had fun. We had got in trouble the night before because he is not allowed to have overnight guests. After we had breakfast Tannous left to pack his bags and get ready and I went to the Arc de Triompe. Once again climbed the steps and saw the city of Paris from a different view (for free). I saw the Eifel Tower in the distannce so I headed that direction. It was a lot farther away then I thought it was, but I finally made it there. I took a nap in the grass, under the sun, looking at the Eifel tower. Once again it was so touristy. I did not plan on going to the top, but if I did, it would have taken me at least 2-3 hours in line. I took some pictures of it and stared at its gracefulness for about 5 minutes. Then I headed out and continued my walk. I had no idea where I wanted to go, and wondered aimlessly until I saw this gold topped building in the distance. I had no idea what it was but I went in using Pat's card once again. It turned out to be the tomb of Napoleon. Napoleon's tomb was huge and decorated to excess. When I die I would like to be buried like Napoleon (remember that family). I then went back to the Latin District to meet up with a friend of mine. We then went out for the night, and walked around the streets of Paris.

10/4/09
I woke up and headed to the airport. I have become completely independent since I have gotten to Europe. I can travel any city, find my way around any city, and even make a few friends! I made it to the Airport in plenty of time for my flight. I sat next to a lady from France and a man from Egypt. They entertained me with stories of France/Egypt throughout my 5 hour flight. People always say that France is extremely expensive; well, it is. I was able to do it on an extremely cheap budget because I had friends to help me out. I had the time of my life in Paris, but once again it was way to touristy for me. I hate waiting in lines and dealing with people that have no idea what is going on. As I sat on the plane and watched the little plane on the map move closer and closer to Egypt, my excitement arose. I had no idea what to expect, or what I was going to see or do. I was about to land in the Middle East. In Africa. To places I had never experienced before in my life.

The first picture is of me on top of the Arc de Triompe. You can tell why I thought it would be possible to walk to the Eifel Tower. (That day I probably walked at least 10 miles. Look on a map at the distances from the Arc de Triompe, Eifel Tower, and Napoleon's Tomb.......)

The second picture is of me on top of Notre Dame. It was amazing seeing the detail up there with the gargoyles. They seem to watch over the city.

The last picture is of Napoleon's grave. You can see how awesome the building looks, and why it would attract my eye from the distance.