Infinite Brains Versus Finite Beauty
Salma El Saeed
Spotlight Editor
In Maurice Sendak’s storybook, Where the Wild Things Are, Max, a devious young boy grounded by his mother, turns his room with his imagination into a magical forest, where he becomes the king of the Wild Things.
Well, AUCians, I hate to tell you that like most great pieces of literature, this book applies to us.
Let’s face it; AUC is where the wild things really are. From the notoriously loud music in the plaza, to the booths displaying all their clubs’ glory, AUC is a jungle, and we are all adventurers or, in some cases, the wild things.
So whether you come with your books and bags ready to go, or nothing but the clothes on your back, the New Year comes with new resolutions.
Some student’s are learning from past mistakes like Mohamed Abdelgawad, a Mechanical Engineering Senior, who is redeeming himself this semester.
“I’m willing to study harder,” Abdelgawad said. “Like last semester I was so lazy and I didn’t study, and I failed the course, it was so bad. This semester I’m willing to do a great job.”
While Abdelgawad chose AUC to fulfill his quest because it’s “the best university in Egypt”, others, like undeclared Freshman Mariam El Gamal, came to AUC for less optimistic reasons.
Despite viewing AUC as “the best of the worst,” El Gamal still has a solid plan for her future here and beyond.
“I’m planning to take visual arts,” She said. “Then go abroad and do a Masters in Fashion…in Italy.”
To be a freshman with a solid map is a glorious thing, as many freshmen find the directions to smooth sailing unclear.
Lobna Assem, a freshman, is intending to declare Business Administration, despite not having many choices on the matter.
“I was in an IB school,” Assem said. “So they said you either pick engineering, medicine or business, so I had to pick business.”
Assem decided to choose Business Administration because it was the most suitable of the subjects for her. However, if the limitations that were placed on her by others were removed, what would Assem want to do with her life?
“That’s the problem I have no idea,” she added. “That’s specifically my problem.”
This problem seems to be one faced by countless students, as the conflict between societal expectations and ones personal desires for their own life’s adventure can often contradict.
“I was supposed to be in physics but I switched majors because of the career,” junior Bassem Rageb said. “Here in Egypt they never encourage physics majors, so I went into economics.”
With each distinctive fable, whether it be through free will or external pressures, comes a unique story that creates the Wild Things of AUC.
So, with these final words, if there is one thing you should do, it’s enjoy your time and “let the wild rumpus begin!”
Someone I know recently questioned whether AUC is actually as diverse as its catalogs tell us, and my response to that question is definitely a yes. Although we may not have a wide array of races on campus, our diversity comes from the differences in our backgrounds and our future paths. Some attend AUC with big plans to become the next Ahmed Zewail or Naguib Mahfouz, others simply want to earn a degree before joining the family business, and there are others still whose main purpose is to find Prince Charming on campus.
While it’s hardly surprising that there are students who are keen to find their future spouse, the way some of these girls go about it are bizarre – the tattooed eyebrows, obviously fake hair extensions, half a pound o
f makeup, attached acrylic nails; you know the type.
More often than not, these girls are known as ones who obviously couldn’t care less about their education and are subsequently only attending university because they’re searching for a husband.
I’m all for getting married when you feel it’s right but these girls who come to university with the fixed mindset that the only thing they should aspire to is marriage are missing the bigger picture; they don’t see that they can be successful without being married or, even better, be married but also achieve professional success.
I blame society for instilling in girls’ minds the idea that they will only be of value once they’ve landed a husband, because we’re just way past that era. Women are integral to the development of any society but without an education, they just can’t contribute as much.
Whereas a wedding will last one night and the lifespan of a marriage is never certain, a solid education will last a lifetime. Instead of investing their time and effort in their education (which is already being paid for), it saddens me that there are so many girls who think it’s wiser to waste their youth searching for a partner who could leave at any moment.
Whether it’s with their outfit that probably cost more than it does to feed a household or just the way they carry themselves, these girls are so desperate to snag a husband that they completely alter their appearance and their true selves, hoping to make themselves more appealing. They place so much value on landing a husband that they seem to completely forget about the part that comes after the big, fancy wedding. What’s going to happen when their husbands see them for the first time directly after showering (and hence with no makeup or hair extensions or six-inch heels)?
The way I see it, that first shower shouldn’t cause your matrimony to implode, because your personality and the substance of your character alone should be enough to attract and keep a husband. So before you attach yourself to someone and rely on them to give you value, make yourself valuable as an independent person first.