10 Signs You Were Born and Raised in Alexandria

A7e’… if this word doesn’t offend you (or you think it’s the French synonym for a very famous cuss word) then you’re surely an Alexandrian. Whether it’s lunching on Friday at the Greek Club with the family or having a beer at a recycled bomb shelter (also read: Spitfire), here’s why you’re purely Alexandrian:

 

 

1. Traffic means an hour — at most — from your start to end point

 

The thought of having to go to Cairo and get stuck on Mehwar for three hours just suffocates you.

 

 

2. Living in Alexandria is like being on an episode of Cheers (where everyone knows your name)

 

You are one way or another familiar with the person you’re talking to, whether you’ve went to school together, met at a friend’s birthday, or took hot yoga classes at Studio 92.

 

 

3. You always get into a “school fight” when someone says their school’s the best (except when they’re talking about the hot girls who go to Schutz)

 

La ya 3am Kaumeya di beta3et farafeer… La el ALS homa el seya3… Yabny banat Schutz kolohom mozaz… and it goes on…

 

 

4. Deciding where to go isn’t really confusing and doesn’t take much time

 

The options are limited but are all great.

 

 

5. You always get picked on by one racist Cairene for saying “shobak” and “biteshty”

 

 

 

6. Eight out of 10 times you refer to Cairo as Masr and no one knows why

 

 

 

7. You are luckily blessed with a beach year round, which is more special in the winter than in the summer

 

Fayrouz, Starbucks hot chocolate and a long drive on the Corniche in rainy January is considered therapy in Alexandria.

 

 

8. When your foreign relative or Cairene friend visits, you take them out to a fish restaurant

 

And because all the options are great, everyone thinks you’re taking them to the “best seafood place in Alexandria”.

 

 

9. Sweater season doesn’t start until the streets smell like petrichor and wet grass

 

 

 

10. You always feel nostalgic when someone mentions cinema Amir or Metro in front of you

 

Even driving through downtown alone brings back a childhood memory or two.

 

 

WE SAID THIS: Don’t miss Alexandria in Photos: Then and Now.