This is the last post I’m writing from Cairo – I feel like the time has flown by, just like everyone always says. On Friday I’ll be flying back via Rome armed with some great memories, my new, highly questionable, beard and some gifts for family and friends for which I suspect I may have overpaid. It has been a great few months and I feel like my Arabic has improved a decent amount. Egyptian people have almost always been great and Cairo, while being about as crazy as it is possible to be, has been amazing.

These last few days I’ve done quite a lot of the tourist stuff, showing Tom the sites and so on. It has made me think about the differences between visiting and actually living in the city. I reckon that Cairo might be fairly overwhelming if you came here on your own as a tourist – especially if you don’t have the protection of a tour group and those air-conditioned buses that flock to the Pyramids and the National Museum. Certainly there are a myriad ways to be parted from your money at the Pyramids and I was glad I had the Arabic to say ‘no’ in at least a couple of languages.

In general though, if you keep a smile on your face and accept that you are going to get a bit of hassle you can have a great time at places like the Khan-al-Khalili market. I’m not sure I ever completely got the hang of crossing the roads, which are fairly crazy, but at least I began to get used to them. A little bit of Arabic can also help in negotiations with taxi drivers and in generally appearing like you know what you’re doing, however much you are confused/terrified. Actually, Cairo is incredibly safe and people will always be helpful, although the tourist touts will be hoping for a bit of ‘baksheesh’ in exchange.

I am of course looking forward to being home and seeing my friends and loved ones. We’ll have a couple of weeks down south before I head up to Edinburgh with Megan to start the second year of the course. I’m excited for that – we found a little place through the university, which we can hopefully make very nice. I will of course keep you updated about all that, as well as how I cope with the plunge back in to academia. Thanks so much for reading about my stay!

Tags: Cairo, Edinburgh, Egypt, khan al khalili, pyramids, touts