Thoughts and Words: Disasters in the gawazat and six week orientation

Well, hello there, everyone.
I haven't made a real post in a while, but that's because, until now, there wasn't really any significant news to tell.
So, I'll start from this past Wednesday:
On Wednesday I went to the gawazat (immigration office) with Regina, her host father, and Melanie to renew our visas. They had almost no problems with theirs and were finished quickly.
However, mine had some kind of complication.
Since I'm studying here, I need to have a student visa, and in order to have a student visa, I need proof from my school that I'm studying here. I had a letter from them to prove this, but it seems that they neglected to put some kind of necessary stamp on the letter.
So first, we went to this weird place called the idara, that I didn't even see, because we were told to stay in the car, then to the other branch of my school to get the stamp, then back to the idara, then back to the gawazat. But when we returned to the gawazat and showed them the stamp, it STILL wasn't what they wanted!!!!!!! >:(
So I had to go back with my host mom the next day, but thankfully we managed to get everything sorted out. Now I just have to go back next Saturday for one quick thing, and I'll be all set until June. :)
But, the funny thing was that I ended up having to miss both days of school for this whole visa fiasco. xD

Then, on Friday morning, I was given a ride to the Hotel Kaoun, on the Corniche, to the AFS six week orientation! However, it was only for those here on the student program, so it was just me, and Carson and Annika, who came up from Cairo with a very nice AFS volunteer named Dalia Sherif, who went on the two-week Cairo-Stuttgart Sistership program (Cairo has a sister city called Stuttgart in Germany) and a summer community service program in Paraguay.
Fatma and Takey oversaw the orientation along with her.
The first day, we pretty much just stayed in the hotel doing different activities relating to our experiences so far - family, language, school, good things that have happened, bad things, so on and so forth. Luckily, we had several energizers in between; mostly the game called ninja, in which I ALWAYS AM THE FIRST ONE OUT. >.<
Anyway, for lunch we went to an absolutely delicious seafood restaurant in a neighborhood near the sea (and also near Qaitbey) called Bahari. Afterwards, we headed back to Kaoun to conclude the orientation and then went all together to a Massar Egberi concert, where we met Youssef, Regina, and several other AFS related friends! :D
The trouble was that we lost them very quickly in the crowded concert space. :(
But then we also ran into Loay and several of his friends, who also attended the concert! :) He gave us all a ride back to Kaoun, and then for a while we just sat in the lobby, talking, before eventually getting tired and going up to sleep.

Then, on Saturday we pretty much were tourists. xP
We went to Kom el-Dikka, which is a site of ancient Roman ruins. That was really incredible; the thousands of years of this city's history, and the glory it enjoyed in ancient times, felt so real in that little enclosure of Roman buildings.
Then, we also went to the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, and saw the actual library part for a change. AND IT IS HUGE. :D As one who very much loves to read and to learn, the Bibliotheca Alexandrina is nothing short of a little corner of Heaven on earth to me. ^_^
I've gotten some contrasting answers on weather or not it's possible to actually take out books from it, but I plan on finding out and setting up an account to do so if possible.
Anyways, all the rave about the size and amount of books aside, it's a pretty interesting structure from an architectural point of view as well - it was built in a way to allow the maximum amount of sunlight into the library as a power conserving mechanism, and parts of the ceiling are blue and green, which are apparently very beneficial to your eyes.
We also got to see a few art museums located inside the Bibliotheca.
After that, we went back to Bahari to eat our lunch, this time in a different restaurant called Tikka Grill, where I selected a very tasty sheesh tawook.
Then, Dalia, Annika, and Carson went back to Cairo, and Takey and his sister gave me a ride home.
Since it's so beautiful and a trademark of Alexandria, I'm sorry for Carson and Annika that they didn't get to see Qaitbey. Oh, well, hopefully there will be a next time for that. :)

SO, this brings us back to the present day.
Not much to tell about this week so far. Just school and business as usual.
Actually, speaking of which, I'm going to post a couple of pictures and go now, since I have an overdue French project to finish.
BYE!