Fall Break Diaspora

Trip Start Sep 07, 2008

148

Trip End Dec 09, 2008

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Flag of Greece Athens, Attica, Greece
Sunday, October 26, 2008

It's the first weekend of fall break, and all the students have scattered. A few have ranged into Eastern Europe, touring Bucharest, Budapest, and Vienna. Others are backpacking through Italy and France. Some young women are hitting Rome to Florence to Venice. A couple students are staying in Greece, visiting islands like Mykonos, Santorini, Delos, and Rhodes. Two or three separate groups are headed for Egypt, one group scheduled for a week-long ride down the Nile on a cruise ship. One student is even flying to Taiwan. A handful are being joined by their parents and/or their betrothed on their travels, showing their guests the wonders of Crete and Aegina.

Planning fall break was a bit of drama for me. Before I came to Greece, my fall break idea was to lounge on a beach on the island of Naxos. The problem is that this late in October, the weather might no cooperate with beach lounging or even ferrying to Naxos, and many of the tourist attractions have closed for the season

Click and Blink Blink

. So I had to scrap that plan.

Then suddenly my dance card was full with an abundance of plans with friends. My friends Globetrotter and Ghengis Kahn were going to join me from Macerata, Italy, and my friend Godiva was thinking about flying in from Colorado. And we all four would have gone island hopping together. But due to special circumstances that are nobody's fault, first Godiva postponed her visit and then Globetrotter and Ghengis dropped out. I went from having a full plan to again having nothing.

And then of course I was doubly disappointed because I was missing the Bear. If he were here, it wouldn't matter where we went for fall break because we would be together. But I knew he couldn't come. It was difficult watching everyone making plans to go off in groups together, knowing that whatever travel I ended up booking, I was going to be yet again without him.

It was at this point that poor Click very innocently stepped into the minefield, asking me after class one day where I was going for fall break. I broke down in tears. Unbeknownst to me, Click went home that night to her roommates Wreath of Roses and Blink Blink and had a long talk

Wreath of Roses

. The next morning, they extended to me a heartfelt invitation to join them in Egypt for fall break. How do you thank a student for that kind of compassion?

So we're going to Egypt! In a way, it makes sense. It's only a two-hour plane trip from Athens. And we'll be following in the footsteps of many Greeks, especially Alexander the Great who of course founded the Egyptian city of Alexandria, and Cleopatra, the last of the Greek Ptolemaic dynasty.

I'm having a hard time wrapping my mind around the thrill of it. I never imagined that I'd get to see Egypt in my lifetime. I'm also cautious. Going into a country where I don't speak a word of Arabic, where I haven't done any research on the history or the art, and where I'll be a woman unaccompanied by a male escort in a Muslim culture is daunting. But if there's one thing I came to Greece to learn, it's how to "feel the fear and do it anyway."

I wandered through the shops of the Plaka neighborhood yesterday to buy some head scarves. They're not real hijab, just neck scarves I'm going to pin to my head, but hopefully good enough. Fortunately, all the floor-length skirts and t-shirts two sizes too big for me that I packed will be coming in handy in Egypt where women are expected to wear loose clothing and cover their skin.

We know we'll be going on a day excursion to the Great Pyramids at Giza, and I'd like to see the Egyptian Antiquities Museum and perhaps the legendary fabrics, perfume, and jewelry of the Kahn al-Kahlili bazaar. But mostly I'm going tabula rasa and just embracing the idea of experiencing Egypt with three exceptional young women.

Salaam!