Ian Greer
1-Tell us a little about yourself.
I’m a second year bachelor’s student at McGill, majoring in political science
2-What got you into studying in Egypt? How did you discover the institute you went to study in?
I got the idea to study in Egypt because I had some friends who were going to be there in the summer and they told me a lot about it. Later, it was announced in my Arabic class that there was undergraduate funding available for things like studying abroad, so I applied. I found the school where I studied by searching online.
3-What was your favorite experience there?
My best experience was going to Alexandria for a weekend with a couple of friends.
4-What are some of the biggest misconceptions that people have about traveling in Egypt?
Egypt was actually quite safe, in my experience.
5-What do you feel was your biggest personal accomplishment?
My biggest accomplishment was becoming fully, comfortably conversational in Arabic.
7-If you could talk to your past self, what’s your advice for prior travel to Egypt?
I may have warned myself about a couple times I was ripped off, told myself which medicine to buy ahead of time, and told myself how to avoid the visa problem I ran into later on.
8-Last but not least, what advice would you give to future McGill students seeking to study away or intern in Egypt?
You really don’t need to go to Egypt to learn Arabic. The quality of Arabic education at McGill is very good, and the main benefit you’ll get from traveling to Egypt is the experience of living in an Arab country. If you are going to go, I recommend searching extensively for the right school; there’s a lot of variety, not just in quality, but vibe, community. When you get your visa, try to make sure the Egyptian consulate doesn’t give you a visa that expires in less than the time you actually pay for. The two worst types of people in Egypt are the phone company people and taxi drivers. When you buy an Egyptian SIM, make it very, VERY clear, and repeat yourself, that you do not want a tourist SIM, but a regular Egyptian one. They will still try to give you the tourist SIM but don’t let them. The phone company people are really abnormally deceptive, no one else in Egypt is like them; they will literally make up information about the phone plans on the spot. As for the taxis, never use one unless absolutely necessary; Uber is better in every way and widely available. Don’t use an Egyptian taxi unless you really want a story to tell your friends about how bad they are. Do NOT take pictures, or even point your phone in the direction of ANYTHING having to do with the Egyptian military or police, including officers; they will arrest you on the spot. I had a friend to warn me about this, but they’re serious about it. Do tourist stuff as soon as you arrive because ideally you’ll be doing enough Arabic work to keep you busy most of the time you’re there. Unless you’re hopelessly foreign-looking compared to Egyptians (East Asian, blonde, ginger, etc.) try to look Arab, dress locally; life is just easier if people assume you’re at least Arab, if not Egyptian. Bring an adapter, because they use European plugs in Egypt. Make sure all of your documentation is absolutely perfect before you go so as to avoid ever having to go to the dreaded Mogamma on Tahrir Square, the world’s most cursed black hole of disorganized bureaucracy.
Part II – Questions regarding the application procedure
1- How did you apply to the school?
I studied at a private Arabic school in Nasr City (eastern Cairo) called Fajr Center. I registered through emails and sending a deposit, but honestly I’m 100% sure I could’ve walked in the front door the day I did with nothing of the sort and gotten into lessons exactly as fast as I did with all of that.
2- How was the visa application process? What did you do to get it?
The visa application process was easy; go to the Egyptian consulate, which is close to McGill, bring your passport, a passport photo separately, and the required money, and they’ll give you a visa pretty quick. The one thing to watch out for is that they often give out visas for, say, 3 months, but with an expiry date which is before the end of that three month period. If you go to the airport on your way back to Canada with an expired visa, the police try to shake a bunch of money out of you. If you end up with such a visa, you need to go to the Mogamma as I did and get a temporary residence permit. Despite all this effort to get the residency permit, when I left Egypt no one even looked to see if I had it, despite my legally being required to have one. You can’t depend on this though, and they well could have checked my documents a bit more closely.
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