The word “adversity” is often thrown around loosely to describe trivial hardships we face on a daily basis. We struggle to maintain our busy schedules and keep up with school work. But adversity can take on a whole new meaning when basic human rights are challenged, something of which we sorely take advantage.
In 1919 Americans founded the American University in Cairo, which combines “education and community service in the Middle East,” according to the school’s website. It is an English-language school, but only about 10 percent of students are from other countries, while 90 percent are Egyptian.
Hatem Hassan, ’12, has lived his whole life in the United States but his family is from Egypt and he was born there as well. However, this did not make the decision to study abroad in Egypt an easy one for him.
“To be honest, I was thinking about studying abroad in several other countries prior to the events that led to the resignation of President Mubarak,” he said. “The political developments that occurred after January 2011 actually became the impetus to study abroad there.”
“My mother was raised in Cairo,” said Hassan. “But the Cairo that she experienced, more than two decades ago, is not the one we see today. I studied abroad in Egypt to witness a moment in transition, and to try to understand how the country has changed, socially and politically, since my mother had lived there. I thought, maybe I could get a glimpse of a pivotal moment in the country’s modern history.”
To experience even more of the country’s heritage, Hassan chose to live with a host family instead of the campus dorms.
“I stayed with a cousin that was only two years older than me,” he said. “Thankfully, my choice was a better one, considering the cultural immersion that I experienced during the four months.”
While at the AUC, Hassan was not only able to gain insight into the culture, but also studied Arabic intensively, meeting for class five days a week reaching a total of 20 hours of class time.
“My classes were divided into Modern Standard Arabic (written, spoken, and grammar), Arabic in the Media and colloquial Egyptian Arabic,” he said. “I chose Arabic classes because I thought that it might help if I wanted to continue my interest in social movements and Middle Eastern studies. I also found it culturally essential to learn the official language of my home country.”
Even coming from an Egyptian family, the transition to a different style of life in the country was not entirely easy for Hassan.
“While adjusting to food was relatively simple, the slower pace of life and relatively flexible work schedules was definitely a challenge,” he said. “At first, I found it threatening to my work ethic, but surprisingly learned the benefit of relaxing every now and then.”
Yet, Hassan found many aspects of Egyptian life to be very similar to those of the United States.
“The younger generation of Egyptians is beginning to look strikingly similar to us in terms of their use of technology,” he said. “I remember counting the number of iPads, iPhones, and iPods on the university bus on the first day. Whether you see this as a positive or negative is irrelevant to how true it has become. Perhaps this is the reason why some are beginning to refer to this group as the ‘Twitter generation.’”
“If I learned one thing during my trip to Egypt, it was that the media’s depiction of the situation can be strikingly different from the realities within that country,” he said.
When one imagines Egypt, there are many different images that may come to mind. However, Hassan paints a new picture of the city of Cairo that others may not initially imagine.
“One of my first experiences was sitting at a street café and overhearing children talking about politics,” Hassan said. “I thought this is probably the only time I will be a witness to such a bizarre event. Just then, I saw two army tanks pass by the café. Citizens in Egypt are full of pride, and their political rhetoric is indicative of the hope they have for the future.”
