"Life as a foreign student in Egypt" [Writer's contest 2]

Well, where shall I begin? When my dad told me to gather my things that we were leaving for Egypt I didn’t really bother to check what the weather was like, or what kind of food they ate. I just knew that it was an Arabic speaking country and that I would be seeing a lot of pyramids, camels and mummies everywhere. And also since Egypt is in Africa, it wouldn’t be that much different from my home country Nigeria but I was terribly wrong.

I used to hear about people that travelled to other places experiencing culture shock; I knew it was a matter of time before it happened to me too. The first one of those experiences was during the first week of university when a guy tried to kiss me on the cheeks, I would later discover that this was normal. I still feel sorry for punching the guy in the face. How was I to know that Egyptians tell you “khalliy” which means “never mind” when they don’t really mean it! I knew this when a taxi driver chased after me to pay him after telling me “never mind”. In Nigeria smoking is not that common but here everyone smokes, one of the first few words I learnt was “walla’ah” which means lighter. So don’t be surprised if you see a 6 year old smoking, maybe his father gave it to him.

Just like the how the Hausas interchange the letters p and f or how the Yorubas do with h and o, the Egyptians also interchange the letters b and p. Please do not expect to be understood when you say “Pepsi” here we call it “bebsi”. In Egypt we don’t care how hot it is, tea shall be drunk at all times with “sukkar ziyada” oh please! Who needs mugs when we can drink tea with tumblers?

As a foreign student in Egypt, expect to pay double price for anything you want especially cab fares. Also don’t get angry when you are made fun of by the uneducated people on the streets. You would come to realise that indomie is a life saver and that the delivery people take forever to bring your order and when they finally do, don’t expect them to give you your change. Expect to hear the phrase “kol Sana wa enta toyyib” a lot but also know that people here say it for tips.

Please don’t be surprised when you are asked by an Egyptian what it’s like growing up in Africa. I know strange right? Or when they ask you if you ride elephants at home or live in trees. As if we aren’t in this together. Or when you go to a shop and they are like “welcome to Egypt” each and every time even though they’ve seen you a hundred times.

With all that been said, Egypt is a wonderful place to live, in fact a place like no other. So don’t get the wrong idea, if I could go back to chose a place to do my first degree I would definitely chose Egypt again.

NAME: Muhammad Mubarak Abdulkarim