Crossing more than the Sinai Desert 

 

 

Originally from Normandy, France Maryse Mijalski, French lecturer and Academic Coordinator for the Department of European Languages and Studies at the University of California, Irvine, shared her story about her trip to

Egypt. According to Mijalski the country that stood out to her

among her travel experiences was Egypt. 

 

Being married to someone culturally different has opened her

eyes to experiences she might not have considered. She stated,

“My husband is from Egypt...I spent a month in Egypt and that was

probably the most different and most interesting place in terms of

language and lifestyle I’ve visited.”

 

She realized that although her expectations were not as she

imagined, she was surprised by the various differences. According

to Mijalski, “It was a big culture shock because when you travel

a lot you think or assume you won’t be easily shocked by

different cultures.”

 

Although her cultural experience is closely tied to her husband’s

roots it was evident that after spending a month there it was

still an eye opening experience. In fact Mijalski said, “It was far from

anything I had ever experienced in terms of the language and the

lifestyle.” She emphasized that aside from being an amazing

experience it was in this trip that she discovered a part of the

world that she had no idea about.

 

Among her experiences she described crossing the warm sands of

the Sinai desert by car as “being in the middle of nowhere.” Taking

a car from Cairo to the Red Sea and seeing camels running wildly were experiences that she knew she could never experience within the confines of our westernized world. In fact taking interest in food expanded her palate and had her appreciating even the simplest of meals such as eating ful which Mijalski described as a “bean breakfast.” 

 

Apart from the food and the environment it was the locals that struck a chord with her knowledge of cultural awareness. “When you travel you can meet people. I was fortunate that my husband is from Egypt. So instead of going on a touristic tour, I had the opportunity to immerse myself in the culture.”