Well - it's been kind of an awful day. I think the boredom, frustration and being locked down in the dorms with the same people for 16 hours a day everyday has finally gotten to me a little. I woke up briefly at 3pm today and blogged and had dinner/lunch. Then went back to bed until 1am. It's 3am now and i'm still tired and will be going back to bed soon.... This has been an adventure and a mentally and emotionally draining experience.
In the latest showing of religious solidarity - Christians held mass in Tahrir today alongside Muslims who stood guard that their service was not interrupted. Pictures have surfaced of a priest and an Azhar Imam holding hands and being carried on men's back through Tahrir to show that Mubarak has failed in dividing the hearts of Egyptians regardless of religion.
The latest news from Egypt is that in the meetings that took place today - the VP has announced that they will have new term limits for the President, will stop arresting protesters and journalists and he openly apologized for the way the administration has handled this situation.
We have been inundated with emails today from administration officials. School is scheduled to start on the 13th. However graduate classes will resume at some later time. They are hoping for the following week - the 20th. This is because we are still under a curfew and all grad classes are night classes at AUC. The one bit of good news (well at least for me - but not for 95% of my rad classmates) is that all grad classes will be held at the New Cairo campus. There are two grad programs that house classes downtown - my two programs - Law and Refugee studies.
The old campus downtown sits on one of the 8 corners of Tahrir Square. The buildings have sustained damage from the rubber bullets and tear gas breaking windows. The day that looters were out and about everywhere (I think that was last Sunday but things have started to run together slightly) they damaged other buildings when they broke through the gates, looted laptops and damaged classrooms and the art gallery among other things. Not to mention Tahrir Square is damaged very badly. Tanks, bullets, rocks, fires and all have the left the roads and sidewalks nearly unusable and it will most likely take a while for the Square to return to normal and usability. I am one of the very few from my program who live on the new campus and so this is very convenient for me. Sounds a little selfish...but it's a bright spot for me in all of this. Sometimes you need a little bright spot.....
No comments:
Post a Comment