Carl in Cairo

  Well, nearly two hundred blog posts and over nine months after starting my stint as an Ambassadorial Scholar here in Cairo, I am leaving for Germany tomorrow and continuing onto the US the following day.  Even though I'll only be away from Masr for the summer, it feels more final and more bittersweet than I'd anticipated.  Though a lot of the closer friends I've made here will be here when I get back in the fall, others will have left Egypt for good.

  Three months seems longer as it draws closer and I'm both ecstatic about it and sad about it.  I'll miss spending time with my friends here, but relish in the possibility of picking up where I left off with friends and family back home.

  I have most things wrapped up here and am more or less ready to begin my thesis research.  Grades have been posted for two of my three classes from this semester and in both of those I earned As.  I'm satisfied and feel like I'm leaving on a positive note.  

News:

Much riding on Thursday's Obama speech in Cairo

Dozens of foreign students arrested by Egyptian authorities

American delegation enters Gaza, Egyptians turned back at border