The (non)wearing of the green...

It should come as no surprise, but St. Patrick's Day is not really a big deal here in Egypt. Nonetheless, I was a little disappointed. I think maybe I got my hopes up because back in February Valentine's Day was a lot more celebrated here than I had expected it to be, but alas, the same can't be true of every saints' feast day that's been mainstreamed.

March 17th at AUC was the absolute inverse of what it is at Notre Dame, where we more or less make it a national holiday of sorts. There, wearing green is simply a bare minimum, and many people choose to take their dress for the day above and beyond with festive costumes and the like. I certainly wasn't expecting something along these lines here at AUC, but I was a little shocked that most of the American students chose not to acknowledge the day by wearing a little bit o' green. Maybe they forgot to pack some?

Though apparently St. Patrick's Day wasn't important enough for most people to even alter their clothing for one day, people were, of course, still planning to celebrate in the evening.Given the fact that I'd been up for about 48 hours straight at that point (advice: don't drink Turkish coffee at 10 pm, especially not the night before a mid-term), I was absolutely exhausted, and ended up crashing almost as soon as I got back to my room that evening. Weak sauce, I know.

So with St. Patrick's day come and gone, there really isn't much in between me and my epic Spring Break tour of the Middle East, set to begin on Tuesday (only 5 days!). I'm skipping out of two days of class in order to give me some more time for travel, so this weekend will primarily be about doing the work I'll miss, as well as a 7 page book report that's due immediately upon my return from break.

Another little note. I've applied for a grant from Notre Dame to stay out here and learn Arabic for the summer. I was supposed to hear back yesterday, but an interesting development has occurred. Apparently they are starting a new program at ND specifically for students interested in Arabic that combines language skills with service. There's a lot of money available for this program, meaning a lot more opportunities for applicants. As a result, they're bumped the selection of applicants back to March 24. I'll probably be on a beach in Beirut at the time, with limited (if any) access to the internet, but I'll be sure to let everyone know what goes down as soon as I find out.

PS: I definitely wore green and I even played "Who Threw the Overalls in Mrs. Murphy's Chowder?" on YouTube in front class. It was amusing.