My first Egyptian all-nighter...

It's 5:20 am and I'm awake.

My bizarre, nonsensical sleeping habits are the stuff of legends. At ND, I routinely pull NARANs, no-apparent-reason-all-nighters. That is, sometimes I stay up all night for absolutely no reason. Literally, ALL NIGHT. Another appropriate term for it is one I just coined while wandering around the bathroom at 3 AM, and that is "unproductive insomnia." This one is especially apt, because not only am I up all night, but I don't do anything worthwhile. No reading, no studying...usually just aimlessly browsing the internet and writing up stupid blogs.

Well anyway, I am in the midst of my first all-nighter on this side of the Atlantic. Certainly, a contributing factor to this all-nighter is the fact that I woke up at about noon. For some reason, when I've slept recently (slept in, took a nap at 5pm, etc) I find it extremely difficult to get to sleep. Ironically, the less sleep I get, the more likely it is that I take a nap the next day. If I take a nap the next day, I am more likely to stay up very late that night. If I stay up very late that night, I am likely to take a nap the next day. If I take a nap the next day, the more likely it is...

It's an irreversible cycle of death.

But believe it or not, I actually have a good reason for pulling an all-nighter tonight. You see, back at ND, resident assitants for the 2010-2011 school year were selected tonight. And when I say tonight, I mean 10 pm tonight...Eastern Standard Time. Which translates roughly to 5 am here in Cairo. Any way, I had applied back in January and was so anxious about being accepted or not, that I couldn't sleep, and figured I might as well just stay up all night.

Now, for some of you, getting so worked up about something as silly as RA selection may seem a little bizarre. But RA at Notre Dame is a really unique position. Because we have no Greek life, our single sex dorms often take on many of the qualities that a frat or sorority would have. I.E. each dorm has its own traditions, its own history, its own personality, its own colors and mascot, its own chants... really, you're residence hall on campus defines you collegiate experience. The dorm itself is more of an encapsulated community, and the guys you meet inside usually become your best friends. That's why it's no surprise that over 50% of the student body stays on campus for the duration of their Notre Dame careers.

Anyway, all of this makes the RA position extremely important, an integral part of ND experience. It's also something that I've really wanted to do since I was a freshman. So there I was, sitting in my room in downtown Cairo, awake in the wee-hours of the morning, waiting for an email from halfway around the world. I took a half hour shower at 4 am to ease my nerves, came back, and stared at my computer. At about 4:55 am, I got an email from Paul Doyle, rector of Dillon Hall. I'd been accepted.

It's 5 am and I'm stoked!

Actually, the fact that I'll be an RA next year is highly significant for my plans this summer. You see, I'd really like to stay in the Middle East after the current semester concludes and attend a language institute to really kick my Arabic into overdrive. Besides being contingent upon a grant from the ND Center for the Study of Language and Culture, this would only be a possibility if I could somehow make a bunch of money this summer-- or, owe a bunch less.

Enter RA. RA's at Notre Dame get their room and board paid for. That's nearly $12,000 that I don't have to worry about next year. I told you RA was a big deal.

Being selected now opens the door for me to do something this summer and not worry about making money for school. Now I just have to make sure I can pay for whatever I end up doing...