My New Apartment!

Probably the biggest change that has taken place in the past 5 weeks has been my big move from my old apartment in Moharem Bek to my new one in Sporting!
My old apartment was a little too far from school and my friends, Mae and Nada, also had complicated living situations. So when they found this gorgeous three bedroom in Sporting, I decided to it was best to make the move with them! Mae is a good friend of mine from the program last summer and also from Maryland (we used to play guitar hero all the time and make tortellini, and she happened to be the one who showed me how to carve my first pumpkin for Halloween!). And Nada is my new friend from Michigan!

So, while we're on the subject of locations in Alex, I'll give you a little visual and show you where everything is here.
Here's a map of the western districts of Alex:



To the very left, you see the bay. That's where the citadel is (Fort Qaitbey) and a really great ice cream place. Now, follow the curve in the coast in the area of the bay, and about half way down the circle is Mohatet al-Raml- Alex's downtown (marked where it says, "Unknown soldier"). This is where are bars are (Mermaid and Spitfire), Mohamed Ahmed, lots of shopping, Halaweyat Masr (our dessert place), and just generally a fun area to hang out, walk around, and people watch. (This is also the area where the synagogue is).
Now keep following the coast until you see a place called Chatby (marked on the map by a little building with a dome). This is the area with the Library of Alexandria, Alexandria University, and the girls dorms (where I lived last summer). Now keep moving down the coast until you hit Ibrahimiya. This is where my gym is and Imbrahimiya is also a great food shopping area with lots of restaurants, street markets, and also good clothes shopping. And finally, follow the coast a little further until you hit Sporting and Cleopatra. That's where I live! Easy access to the tram, the Cornische and it's all within 10 minutes from school! Perfect.

While we have the map in front of us, if you look at the map for "Main Station" and "Roman Theater" (directly south of Mohatet Al-Raml) and then look south of that, close to the blue line- that's Moharem Bek, where my old apartment was.

Everything in this city pretty much takes place along that strip of coastline- on the Cornische, on Port Said Street, Abu Eer, and the street with the tram.

Another little factoid about my apartment: between Mae, Nada, and I, we represent the 3 major monotheistic religions. Mae is Catholic, Nada Muslim, and I am Jewish. Pluralism in action! And it's going great. Lot's of great discussions about feminism, religious identity, and generally how we each incorporate our different backgrounds into our every day lives. Also, Nada and Mae are both Egyptian- Mae's mother is Egyptian as are both of Nada's parents. So we have lots to talk about (and for me, lots of other peoples families to get to know and their food to eat!!)

P.S I pimped up my blog a little and now I'm going to be posted polls so I can get some feedback from you guys. Let me know what you like- what you don't like, what you want to learn more about or hear about. Maybe I'll even make a little trivia game for you all to enjoy!