Day 156: Expat Baby Phenomenon

Day 156: August 29,2020
Global Cases: 25, 157, 524; Deaths: 845, 981
Egypt Cases: 98, 497; Deaths: 5, 376

Maya Saad
Freshman Student

I am an expat baby in a very big world.

After growing up abroad my whole life, far away and very detached from home and family, I am set to return to a country I have never lived so that I may begin university.

I would have never thought a day would come where I would live in Egypt and certainly not for university.

To me, Egypt was always something my parents discussed and reminisced over their childhood at the dinner table or where I had to call back every Eid to congratulate my family. But over a few rather depressing months, my life transformed.

Egypt was no more this hazy daydream, it was now my new life. This has caused a lot of mixed feelings to form inside me.

As uncertain and anxious as the expat baby phenomenon makes me, the coronavirus pandemic certainly did not help. My dream future I had planned ever since I was 12 has been ever so swiftly crushed in the hands of the pandemic.

I had heard about and applied to AUC prior to the pandemic but I always regarded it as a “what-if” or safety situation. It was never the intended purpose to end up where I am today.

I would be lying to say I am not frustrated by my current situation.

After all, losing a very planned-out future due to a pandemic is certainly not a cheery thing.

However, I see a very promising bright side to this! Moving to Egypt means I get to experience stability.

For once, I am able to not worry about the continuous turnover of friends or the impending doom of leaving the country at some point. I am able to feel secure.

That being said, I am very excited about starting a very important chapter in my life at the AUC.

I love the bond the AUC community embraces and anticipate being a part of this community. I am keen on socializing and I look forward to making friends that will last me a lifetime.

I enjoy the liberal arts focus the AUC has with all its majors. As a very involved and social person, I look forward to joining the co-curricular clubs and contributing and giving back to the AUC community.

For The Caravan‘s previous diary entries in Arabic and English go to our COVID-19 Special Coverage page.

Fortunately, this struggle I speak of is quite easily credited as a privileged one.

I am beyond lucky to be an expat baby.

I cannot begin to imagine how my life would be if my parents didn’t drag me around the world ever since I was conceived.

That being said, living a normal life is my favorite daydream. I get to experience that now.

I am certainly very excited for my first year at the AUC and I hope that we will resume on campus very soon.