ACES Global Ambassadors Tour Egypt

Tuesday, Jan. 4

Hello Everyone,

My name is Adam Schwartz and I am the current president of ACES Global Ambassadors. One of my responsibilities on this trip is to send out a daily e-mail to everyone with quick updates on our trip's status.

Today was a busy day—flying, flying, and flying! We all arrived at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport late Monday evening (Jan. 3) to depart for our Egyptian Adventure. The group encountered a small ticketing problem—but we all got on the plane without any worries! Our flight went pretty smoothly, even though most of us were scattered in different locations. Once we arrived in Frankfurt it was a mad dash to catch our flight to Cairo. Once again, many members of our group had a small ticketing issue—but we got it all cleared up and boarded the plane for a nice, short 3.5 hour flight!

Once we arrived in Cairo, we were amazed! We quickly got our luggage (well, except for Raquel, whose bag is still in Frankfurt...boo! but will arrive in the afternoon), went through immigration and met with Hamish Gow and Burt Swanson, two UIUC Professors, as well as Deenah our guide! The bus trip from the airport to our hotel was about an hour in length and the best part was we got to see the pyramids while driving!

Right now we are all settling into this very nice hotel, and getting ready to grab a quick bite to eat.

A special note for parents—your students are working on contacting you! Many of us, me included, are trying to get our phone cards to work and will either call tonight or tomorrow—once we talk to the UIUC Staff in Egypt, and they can give us guidance.

Well, with that being said—I'm going to go meet up with the group and enjoy a quick bite to eat. I will e-mail again tomorrow.

Wednesday, Jan. 5

Hey there from Cairo!

It's me again! We are very excited to say we have spent our first full day in Egypt! YEAH! Our day started when we met up with our guide, Deenah, to take us to the UIUC Offices in Cairo. We met with Dr. Mohamed Samy from the Cairo MUCIA Office (a.k.a. UIUC's Office), and three faculty members who are normally "stationed" on our campus! It was cool, since they were familiar faces from back home in the corn fields of Illinois. While there we heard two presentations, one about UIUC's work in Egypt and one on CARE International, one of the part of UIUC's Project.

After that our Egyptian adventure continued as we headed to the Nile Cruise. The cruise was a lot of fun, once we actually got there. (We made a "boo boo" and went to the wrong hotel first...but on the bright side, we got to see new parts of Egypt because of the mistake!) The cruise itself was awesome—we were on a boat that would be the equivalent of any cruise line—food, music, pictures, and more! We had a blast. The only downside to our adventure was a small case of Egyptian Rain—not expected...but hey the AGA Global Ambassadors fought it out and still had fun.

Afterwards, since we decided to head back to the hotel for a few minutes of relaxation and resting, before the students headed to the downtown streets of Cairo to see how the Egyptians shop! [Well, actually so the UIUC Students could shop in the Egyptian stores :) ] We had a fun learning experience of the wonders of scary taxi driving. Let's just say that "off ramps" on an expressway were NOT made to be done backwards. (It's a story that we'll tell you when we return). Past that, we all headed back to the hotel, where the "braver" and more awake students decided to venture out to a new area of the town we are staying at and try some new food—while the others went home to get a good night�s sleep, before we finally get to go see THE PYRAMIDS!!! [Not that we are excited or anything. :) ]

That is it for now—the "braver" and more awake students are getting ready to head back to the hotel so we can get some sleep. I will make sure to e-mail again tomorrow or the next day.

A special note for parents, again, many students are still having problems with the phone cards. Some have figured it out, and some have not. Also, some who have figured it out are having trouble getting connected—rest assured that everyone is safe and having fun, and they are trying to call home.

Have a great night—and enjoy the snow (for all of you Illinois people, at least), while we enjoy the nice warm weather!

Thursday, Jan. 6

Heidi-Ho from Cairo! [Okay...it is a cheezy opening, but it rhymed. :) ]

So it is Day Three on our Egyptian Adventure and the group is having a lot of fun, and lots of new experiences.

Our morning started very early (especially for UIUC students) with a 6 a.m. wake-up call. That is when it turned "interesting". Promptly at 6:05—when many of us started to take showers, etc.—the power in the hotel went out and so did the water! (Yes, no water in the morning—not too fun!) Luckily for some they had a candle in the room, others had cell phones, and with a little bottled water, we avoided any smelly students—either way, we proved that we are all troopers and pushed along to get ready to go see the famous Egyptian Pyramids.

We left the hotel at about 7:40 to get in line so we could be one of the first 150 at the Great Pyramid—since only the first groups can actually go inside. With luck on our side, and some fancy work from our lovely tour guide Deenah, we got tickets! Yes, we actually went INSIDE the pyramid! It was awesome...we also got to go see many from the outside.

My personal favorite part was seeing the Sphinx up close. After that we gave into our American-selves and decided to get Pizza Hut/KFC for lunch. Even though it is the same restaurant, the pizza tastes much different.

After that we went to school, yes school—Cairo University, that is. We met with the Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture (a.k.a. the Agricultural Department), different professors, and about 15 students. These students were some of the nicest people we have met and they taught us a lot about their culture, and some of the "insider" Egyptian information that we can never learn in a guidebook. After the official "meeting" we took a tour of the campus and got to taste some of the bread they cooked! [We need to get a bakery factory on campus so we can have fresh bread and cookies all the time :) ] We had so much fun with them that we decided to invite them to our farewell dinner in a week and a half.

Well, after that we came back to the hotel to rest up before our evening. (That is where I am now writing this e-mail.) The entire group is going to meet up in an hour or so to get ready to go see a Laser/Light/Sound spectacular back at the pyramids! (Anybody jealous?) After that we are going to meet up with one of the UIUC Professors who will be taking us out to different areas throughout the city. The group is excited to be able to stay out late, since we don't leave until 9:30 tomorrow—a late start for our group. I think it may be a "Christmas Gift" from our tour guide, since Christmas is celebrated tomorrow in Egypt, instead of on December 25th like we are all used to having.

Well, that's all to report for now! More to come from our adventure...

Saturday, Jan. 8

Hey there!

So today was an early day in the wonderful land of Egypt. Our morning was taken up with a two hour drive to the town of El Fayoum where we met up with the UI Faculty and other members of the UIUC Project in Egypt. In the city we started at a resort to grab some drinks and relax before going farm hopping. We went to see two different farms and view the different resources they have available. Afterwards we joined the UI Faculty and the other guests for lunch. For some it was a scary, scary lunch since each person was served TWO, not just one—but two, WHOLE fish (eyes, tails, and all). So, for the non-fish eaters it was quite a surprise. Our lunch ran a bit late, and we had to speed back to Cairo to meet up with the UI Alums who were coming for dinner.

The dinner was a lot of fun, since we had about 8 alumni attend the event including the president of the Alumni Association, the ex-Minister of Technology and Urban Development, a member who works for the United Nations and others. It was a great opportunity to bring "the Illini spirit" to Egypt for them again :)

Well, that is all to report from Cairo. More than likely the next time you will hear from me will be on Monday Evening, since we are taking a night train tomorrow night from Cairo to Luxor. So, unless I can find a computer, it will be a little bit until I can write...but don't worry, I'll update you on everything once we arrive.

Have a great, safe weekend.

Sunday, Jan. 9

Hello All!

Well, as you may have noticed you are receiving an e-mail today when I said I didn't think it would occur. The reason I can e-mail is that we are sitting at the hotel waiting to catch the bus to the train station.

Today was an interesting day. Our day started early since we had to check out of our hotel by 8am. We were delayed before leaving since the hotel ran late "checking-in" our luggage to hold while we are in Luxor. Once they finished we headed out to PICO Farms, a bio-tech area and a normal farm. We toured the facilities and saw their current research projects.

Afterwards we grabbed a bite to eat at a nice Egyptian restaurant that served us American food :) After that was a cool part of the trip for many people. We went to see both a Jewish Synaguage and a Coptic Christian Church in Coptic Cairo. This area is considered the first area of "modern" Cairo. It was very interesting since we went to both areas where Jesus stayed and Moses was found while they were both in Egypt.

Finally, we headed to a corner store to grab some food for the long, and most likely boring, 10 hour train ride to Luxor.

Well, that is all to report for now...

I will talk to you all later.

Monday, Jan. 10

Hello from the Hanygroup!

Our group is very excited to finally be in Luxor after taking one of the longest train rides ever!!! We started our ride at about 9pm where we waved goodbye to our tour guide Deenah and headed out for a 10 hour journey. Once on board we saw our rooms which reminded many of our days in the UIUCvResidence Halls—small and cramped! Actually, the rooms on the train made the Residence Halls seem like castles. Basically imagine the size of an average closet, double it and you got our room. There was just enough room to pull a bed out of the wall. But, leave it to our group to have fun. We all played cards, played a dice game, and hung out while on board. We also had both dinner and breakfast.

Dinner was a combination of rice, cake, and mystery meat. We are not sure exactly what the meat was—maybe chicken, maybe beef, maybe fish—depends on who you ask. Either way, most people made the best of it. As for sleeping, for many that was a joke since the rocking back and forth and the constant starting and stopping of the train made that an impossibility. But, when the cabin attendant came around to wake us up, we all got up to head out to Luxor [well, some got up easier than others. :) ]

Once in Luxor we met up with our tour guide Hany. He welcomed us to Luxor and took us to his bus where he informed us that we will be known as the "Hanygroup" while on his tour (hence the greeting I started with). He gave us some brief information on board the bus—though most of us weren't really paying attention since it was only 6:15 am or so when we met up with him. So, once we arrived at the hotel we were all very excited. To make it even nicer, it turned out that our hotel is the equivalent of the Ritz-Carlton in the United States. In other words, the complete opposite of our small, crammped, kinda stinky from cigarettes train car room. Each room has a beautiful view of the Nile River and Desert, marble bathrooms, plush beds, and more! But, most of us didn't take too much advantage of any of that since it was either back to bed or shower time for members of the group.

Once refreshed we headed out at 9am to start our day of touring. We first went to the Kanarak Temples and saw many different things such as a row of Sphinxes, columns, and more! It was amazing. Afterwards we headed to the Luxor Museum where our tour guide gave us students more history than we could handle on only a few hours of sleep :) Finally, we headed over the Luxor Temples and got to see even more of Ancient Egypt.

Afterwards, we headed over the hotel for a nice break in the day. Many students decided to grab dinner at the Egyptian Buffet across the street, while other went to the Italian restaurant in our very nice hotel. Also, many members decided to go shopping and check out the town. [Yeah, we are kids...we go shopping often, especially in different countries. :) ]

As of right now, many students are resting up for tonight. Tonight we are giong to head to another Laser, Light and Sound show spectacular! It should be cool — both in weather and in entertainment value. :)

Also, I wanted to thank every one who has e-mailed me. Your comments have been a lot of fun to read...especially the trivia facts :) If you have sent me anything to pass out to your students, I have done just that :)

Well, that is it for now...I will talk to you all tomorrow when we get to see the Valley of the Kings and Queens, and more!

Tuesday, Jan. 11

Hello from the Hanygroup-

I hope you are all having a great start to your week back in the lovely United States. Our group is having a tremendous time while traveling throughout Luxor. Luxor is truly a different world from Cairo � a lot quieter, slower, and friendlier than their sister city.

Today started a little bumpy since a few members of our groupwere a few minutes late to get ready for the bus, and then we ended up waiting a little longer while some debating about signing up for an excursion for the evening (see note below :) ).

One moving, we headed towards the Valley of the Kings (stopping at a cool monument along the way). The Valley of the Kings was really cool. We got to go inside three tombs, see the area, and get a suntan all at the same time! Some of the members of the group even decided to pay a little extra to see King Tut's tomb, while others took the tour guide's advice to not spend the money since there wasn't much to see inside. Either way, we all had a great time.

Once off from there, our group headed towards the Temple of Queen ?? (Sorry, can't remember the name at the moment—it is past 11pm in Luxorsokay, maybe that isn't a valid excuse for a college student). This temple was the only one remaining that was actually all on pillars. The site was outstanding and we got some great group photos. If you want to see a few you can go to https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/amschwa1/shared and they will be available. Since the hotel only has a dial-up modem, we couldn't upload any others...sorry :( We may try to get a few others later.

Afterwards our group headed back to our vivacious hotel and broke into two parts. The first part headed on a Folkloric Excursion. This excursion was an optional trip costing some extra money to go see a belly dance, a Nile cruise, unlimited food and drinks, snake charmers and more. (This was the excursion sign-up that caused the group to start 45 minutes late :( ). The rest of the group, me included, decided to have an evening in Luxor. We went for dinner at a restaurant, walked the streets of the city seeing different stores and talking to locals, making taxi cab friends (named Abu), and then heading to the Sound and Light spectacular. (Our group didn't get to go to the show last night, like I said in yesterday's e-mail, since most of the group was too tired to head out that late, so they say—so a bunch of us decided to go tonight instead). It was a lot better, and longer than the show in Cairo, and we had a lot of fun too :)

Well, that's all to report for tonight folks. Tomorrow night we will be heading to Cairo on another "oh so fun" train ride. So, I will try to send another e-mail, if possible, but don't be surprised if the next time you hear from me is Thursday Night.

Have a great evening!

Wednesday, Jan. 12

Hello all from Luxor!

Today was a great day. The weather was wonderful, we had a nice easy start and had a chance to relax.

Our trip started with an eye-opening experience to an Agricultural Secondary School (a.k.a. an Ag High School). It was very different from anything we have in the States, and is quite a poor facility. The school was very excited, though, since through Raquel's efforts our group was able to donate many shirts, first aid kids, and more.

Afterwards, we went to go visit the farm where the students get their practical experience and learn about different irrigation techniques. We also had a chance to have a quick piece of cake and some soda at the farm owner's villa.

The afternoon was very peaceful since we could do anything we wanted. Most students decided to take this opportunity to hang by the pool, swim, or get a tan. Others went shopping or took a nap. Either way, it was nice to get some relaxation on our very face-paced study tour. Also, many members of our group got a nice surprise when the UI faculty members who we met earlier in our trip showed up in our hotel in Luxor, since they are doing some research here tomorrow.

We had an opportunity to "catch up" with them, and talk about what we want to do on Friday when we see them again.

Right now our group is preparing to leave for our train ride! BOO! Luckily, in about 12 hours it will all be over and we'll be back in Cairo, safely away from the cramped train :)

Well, that is all for now. I'll write you guys tomorrow from Cairo!

See ya.

Readers: We will post more of Adam�s notes in the next few days, so be sure to check back!

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