Welcome to IH Cairo ILI's new Marketing Exec's blog!

The intention of this blog is to give the rest of the world just a little insight into life as an ex-pat in Cairo. Primarily I am aiming it at people who have a vested interest in life and times in Egypt and at International House Cairo, ILI (like prospective students and our affiliated third parties!). However, I am hoping that it can also be enjoyed by anyone who likes a good yarn - even if they never intend to set foot in the country. There may even be some Egyptians who are interested in how a slightly crazy, very verbose, twenty-something English girl views their homeland!

Firstly, I should just explain briefly why I am here. Why Cairo? Well, the very short version is that I met an Egyptian man in February whilst in Sharm El Sheikh. 8 months, a visit to Egypt in June and a lot of Skype hours later and I was sitting on a plane wondering if I was losing my mind! I wasn’t. I found my fabulous internship at IH Cairo ILI and have started to learn Arabic. Things are going fantastically with my man and I’m settling into life in the shadow of the Pyramids; taking the ups with the inevitable downs and knowing it is all part of the experience in this unique chapter of my life.

When I was planning ‘the big move’ it was very hard to find any up to date opinions and information about life in Egypt. I wanted mundane information that not even my boyfriend would know (because he cannot possibly imagine things from the perspective of a girl who is new to a city poles apart from her leafy home in the English suburbs).  There was so much I wasn’t prepared for when I arrived. For example, despite my boyfriend’s protestations, I simply couldn’t believe that I would feel cold in Cairo and I only packed one long-sleeved top. How wrong I was! Winter is pretty chilly; and I am currently borrowing a lot of his jumpers and some of his mother’s pyjamas to keep warm at night! Something tells me a shopping trip is well overdue...

How much it costs to furnish a flat, where I could work and what VISA I needed, what the most effective mosquito sprays are and what customs I needed to know about were just some of the many every-day subjects I was researching before I travelled. All this and more I will explore in the blog so that it becomes an honest and current account of Cairo, not just from my fairly limited perspective but also utilising the viewpoints and documenting the experiences of the people I meet and interact with every day. As Marketing Exec at the college it will sway very much towards college life, but will not exclusively revolve around it.

As I find out new things so you, the reader, will hear about them. And if you have a specific question or concern about Egypt or IH Cairo ILI or anything else relevant (please note I don’t give relationship advice and I can’t predict the lottery!) then by all means get in touch and I will do my best to have a solution in my next blog. I want to help allay some fears and rest the minds of those who are, or will be, in the same situation as me (and the families they leave at home!) Of course, I also hope to entertain you all a little in the process!

So that’s all from me for now. There is just time to welcome in all of the new students for the December round at IH Cairo ILI; they are lucky enough to be here for a Cairo-ho-ho Christmas!

Next week’s blog will be an account of my first month in the city and some of the challenges and successes I had.

For now stay safe and happy travels!

Debbie Hickman - Marketing Executive, IH Cairo ILI