September 27, 2007 Luxor, to Cairo

Daniel Sorenson
Religion 303
Professor Ludlow
09-27-07
After waking up and eating breakfast the first thing that we did was ride to the Karnak temple on the horse drawn carriages. This was an interesting experience as the drivers often raced each other. After arriving we began our guided tour of Karnak, which is one of the most impressive building complexes that I have ever seen. I was constantly amazed at the skill that it took to build this momentous buildings with the tools that the Egyptians had at the time. One of the most amazing things to me was how nearly every surface was covered with carvings and pictures. This attention to detail is a lesson that we could all learn from in our lives that are often centered on expediency. While there we also discussed how different people have different takes or “spins” on the same events. Our discussion was based on the Assyrians coming to Jerusalem and being defeated with the Lord’s help. On this one story, however, the Egyptians, Israelites and Assyrians all had differing accounts of what happened; something that should be remembered as we continue to read and learn in school.
After Karnak we went to the Luxor temple, which again was just an amazing building. Unfortunately Stefi was sick and had to return to the hotel, fortunately she got better over the next few days. After that we had some free time, which many of us spent in the pool. People also went out into the city. My group left and visited an open air market in town, which was a very enlightening experience. It was both interesting and sad to see how the common people of Egypt live firsthand. The poverty that abounded was one of the most striking features that I will remember from this fieldtrip, and on this day I saw it closely.
That night we had a nice dinner by the pool, followed by a very short flight later that night that got us back to Cairo. We were all tired after our eventful day, and we were grateful that we would be allowed to sleep in the next morning before starting the day.