Plainfield native Hillery Roach landed in Brussels late Thursday to wait out the violence and tear gas that enveloped her Cairo apartment for the last week and a half.
Roach, 28, a graduate of the University of Northern Iowa in political science, has been getting a real political education in Egypt while she works on a master's degree at the American University.
She's been watching the unraveling of President Hosni Mubarak's government for the past two years. But only in recent days has the view been screened by tear gas, the silence interrupted by gunfire and concussion bombs.
Roach's apartment is a block and a half from Tahrir Square, translated Liberation Square, a central point in the efforts by Egyptians to end Mubarak's rule.
It's been a noisy and eventful education.
"Friday the 28th was the worst," Roach said, referring to last week.
"They tear-gassed the whole city," she said via Skype. "It was awful. In the apartment, everywhere you went there was tear gas. For part of it, I was on the roof taking pictures. It was choking everyone on the 12th floor.
"There were police everywhere. Riot police were attacking protesters who were just peacefully walking down the street."
Roach knew this day was coming. She has studied the country for five years, learning Arabic along the way. And she had heard talk for months that a major protest was in the works.
But she didn't think the violence would happen while she was still half a globe away from her homeland in northeast Iowa's Bremer County.
"Usually the government would just come in and crush it and it would end," she said. "This time, there were more people out. The government allowed people to get to the square. People were free of fear at that point."
Roach celebrated her birthday on Jan. 31 in Cairo as some mobs called for Mubarak to resign and others supported his reign.
Roach obeyed curfews. When protesters asked which side she supported, she waffled.
But there is no doubt where she stands.
"Definitely, Mubarak should resign," Roach said. "Things would calm down considerably."
The problems are many, in her view.
"Egypt was extremely safe before it started. But there were high levels of corruption. Being an Egyptian in Egypt was almost like being a criminal. Police would take bribes from people just walking down the street.
"Election fraud is a huge problem or was in the past," Roach said. "The past election was completely rigged. There were cases of torture. There were thousands and thousands of political prisoners."
She fled from Cairo after most U.S. Embassy employees left.
"I left because there was a massive evacuation of the embassy officials," Roach said. "I didn't want to be stuck in Cairo without emergency services."
Egyptians had provided good security since the police left, Roach said, but she wondered what would happen if she needed help leaving the country. She bought a ticket to Vienna a day in advance and arrived to find the flight canceled.
Then she found a flight to Brussels and arrived late Thursday.
Today, she plans to fly to Italy to get closer to Egypt in hopes of returning for the delayed start of second-semester classes on Feb. 13. They were supposed to start Jan. 30.
Roach's master's program at American is in Middle East studies, with an emphasis on politics. She's one class and a thesis short of finishing her master's degree.
"If the semester is canceled, I'll come home," Roach said. "But I intend to return to Cairo."
Additional FactsUpdate on Iowans in Egypt
Here are some Iowans who were in Egypt as protests escalated against President Hosni Mubarak. They have since left the country:
UNIVERSITY OF NORTHERN IOWA: Five UNI students landed Friday at the Cedar Rapids airport after they were evacuated Sunday during the protests in Cairo. They traveled by bus to Sharm el-Sheik on the Sinai Peninsula and then flew home via Saudi Arabia, Germany and Chicago. The five had planned to spend the semester teaching at the American International School of Egypt. The five are Marco Trujillo of Webster City, Colton Marshall of Adel, Anne Sarafin of Eldridge, Megan Tasler of Churdan and Jennifer Pelleymounter of Cedar Falls.
CEDAR RAPIDS TEACHER: Lauren Scheldrup of Cedar Rapids flew from Cairo to Istanbul, Turkey, after being evacuated Monday. The University of Iowa graduate had been teaching at a private school in Cairo since August.
BAND MEMBERS: Nine Iowans attending Augustana College in Sioux Falls, S.D., most of them band members, returned from Egypt after a series of concerts was cut short by the protests. They left for Egypt Jan. 9 and returned Jan. 30-31.
DRAKE UNIVERSITY: Three Drake University students who planned to study Arabic left Egypt this week. They are Amina Kader of Urbandale, Ashley Crow of Truro and Ian Weller of Waunakee, Wis.