Hey Rana!
Nope! GENERALIZE it! at least on me. well here's my story! its pretty much as urs but with a sequel! it was August 2003, just got back from dubai, my magmoo3 got me into tanta! what a mess! i didnt even know where this place was untill i got there. my parents left back to emirates & im home-alone spending my very first year in egypt not even in cairo but in tanta. my uncle booked me a room in a hotel for a year. damn i get goosebumps whenever i remember it! u c i got robbed there: my t-shirts, cologne even my toothpaste. there was also this wacko next door who kept screaming all night long! not to mention the weddings they held downstairs...my room was in the 2nd floor. the bass out of the speakers wud knock you off ur bed!!! ma3aleina i only stayed there for 6months. and for the next 2 1/2years that i was travelling in trains back & forth between cairo & tanta. abt 1-3X a week (it was bless! far less straining)
i really didnt make alot of friends except for the 2guys who travelled wid me. eventho ppl there were very nice, i just cudnt relate to them. we wud chat in campus, might even go out but i never felt them as true friends. Sometimes (in my early days in egypt) more than a month cud pass by without goin out for even a single weekend! (i wud talk 2 myself!, sometimes even cry!) but al7amdullah that was over long ago. At this moment, all your questions started to pop in my head! is this how im spending the best years of my life, thats what you call a college experience?!, Education here even sucks! why didnt i get into AUD (AU of dubai) next to my friends & family?!
IS IT WORTH IT?! the answer is YESS
Transfering from akaleem to Ain Shams & Cairo Medical faculties is allowed after ur 2nd year but i actually stayed for 3years in tanta! Y???!!!
coz tanta = awanta!! indeed in akaleem, med skools in akaleem med skools just give away marks! we didnt study all year long accept for the month just before out finals & midterms. its super-easy to catch-up in akaleem. u dont even have to stay there, no attendence records in university unlike ain shams where u have to be in university every single day just pay em a visit once or twice a week. as for Minya, its like 400km away (im an expert wid all EGYPTs akaleem now hehe!) so u cant do wut i did. instead u can take private tuitions both (theory & practical) "there are complete bodies lying in these centers to study anatomy on" wid AinShamsians in NasrCity & heliopolis or in Tahrir & maadi if u live on the other side of the city & stay home-sweet-home. there r only minor differences in the cirricula & make sure u have a friend back in Minya who gives u all the news. + ur bonus: u get better grades + the same medical knowledge for less effort than any other med skool in the capital. u only have to be there for ur exams. i got gayid gedan all 3years in tanta, i also met a guy in ainShams who transfered from Minya. he got imtiyaz in all 3years! Unlike most of the guys in AinShams who struggled. just make sure not to live in Minya because all the guys i know from cairo & alexandria who lived in tanta thinking they'll save time & effort failed! & had to retake the exact same subjects for another year
DON'T STAY IN MINYA. i've been there, it will never work out!
As for the Lazy mowazafeen, when they r just laying there chattin, sipping their tea, eating their falafel b4 it goes cold & not giving u any attention & u wanna just choke them! draw an innocent lost look on ur face preferably like the cats look in shrek 2 & ull work ur way through them. it has never failed me! u might even throw out a joke but make sure they r in a good mood
So other than the easy grades are there any other advantages?
ofcourse, all the ones u just mentioned
1. FREE med skool!!! u r out of med skool DEBT-FREE!
2. Egyptian Experience: u can now tolerate all the dirt, laziness, stupidity & anger!! u now knw how to deal with all of this smoothly & calmly. i guess what doesnt kill you makes you stronger.
3. U r now more grateful & thankful to god than ever b4. u saw how other ppl lived. I once saw a lady picking up leftovers in a garbage dump in tanta. ppl sleeping in streets wid flies allover them. i can now say al7amdu lil alah & really mean it
4. even with the presence of outdated equipment & shortage of new tech, u still get the one advantage ull only find in Egypt: the best hands-on clinical experience ever
5. there's no such thing as Medical Malpractice in Egypt!
6. Finally, some Animal Planet: i saw RATS as big as cats in tanta! those well-fed field rats!!! Cows & donkeys in Campus!
But Most importantly always know that nothing else matters as long as you are doing what you love. Just think of all the future potential awaiting you & it'll pass by like a breeze inshallah
hope this helps
GOOD LUCK!!!
& EID MUBARAK to all of u!
Ahmed
