So here it comes again… ANOTHER post to tell you about my frustrations of Cairo… I would really love to write a post about how amazing Cairo is treating me… But unfortunately it is overpopulated with super disgusting people who are compulsive liars, and for some reason im a magnet that attracts them…
In the space of a month I started a jewelry course, and stopped! It was supposed to be a four-month course… I checked several academies here in Egypt and everyone was saying that this one was the best… The Italian Fashion Academy in Dokki (sometimes it’s located in Mohandeseen, depending where you check their address: website, facebook page, yellow pages… It varies also according to what person you speak to at the academy… ) Anyways I called them a thousand times but someone there obviously doesn’t know how to answer the phone, so I had to go there… I enrolled in a jewelry course… I was supposed to do a few courses but because im not Egyptian I was told I have to pay a foreigners price which was in Dollars and quadruple the price of an Egyptian… So I ended up deciding to take one course at a time, I mean I could have bought a Lamborghini instead of taking the three courses I was looking at, that’s how sick the prices were!
I think the situation with this academy has been the tip of the iceberg… After I started I installed a battery disconnector, those things you can get installed in cars that disconnects the battery.. Yeah I got one of those installed, and have disconnected everything to my brain… I can’t live in this country with my brain connected… I will have an overdose of hateful feelings… I will become a walking bomb, and who knows when I will explode… Just too dangerous to connect it again… Maybe when Egypt becomes a civilised country… By that time the disconnector button is probably rusty… Anyway back to the Italian Crap Academy… I’m trying to figure out how to tell you about all the insane things I experienced at this academy without making this post super-duper long… So ill tell you the basic issues I had with the place…
I paid the money through a bank transfer… I was told they would call me when the money had been received, and this is when I could start the course… Three weeks passed and they never called me… So I called them and they rudely replied you are supposed to start your course a long time ago!? HELLO!??! Okey…. Lets breathe, and just let this stupid misunderstanding go…
I came the first day… The teacher was 45 minutes late… Lets breathe again.. I mean my time is not important… let me just pay loads of money, ill come here on time, and whenever the teacher feels like she wants to come, then come… I’ll be waiting…
Every other sentence coming from the teacher was a: WHY DONT U SPEAK ARABIC!?? AHHHH this is soo annoying… This was something I mentioned when I applied… YEAH of course the teacher speaks English, this is not a problem at all… Hmmmmm…. The teacher didn’t agree with this NO PROBLEM!!! It was a BIG problem!
The course was once a week on a saturday… The academy was on the other side of Cairo, which meant that saturday was the only reasonable day I could go to the course… It was an hour of non-stop driving on a saturday morning, with hardly any traffic, because many people in Cairo still have off on a Saturday… Coming back in the evening was about an hour and a half…
The second week I got a message at 7 in the morning that the teacher would be one hour late… I went to the academy one hour late… the teacher arrived 50 minutes later… That means the teacher was 1 hour and 50 minutes LATE! Again lets just take a moment to breathe, because my time means nothing, and im paying for the course, but its the teacher that has all the power… She comes when she wants to, full stop.. No FREAKING problem…
So the third week… THREE STRIKES AND YOUR OUT!!!! I get a message the night before the course that they will be changing the day of the course from saturday to sunday, and also changing the time of the course, from 9-4 to 10-4…Is this ok?!? OKAY… BREATHE… ONE, TWO, THREE!!! AHHHHHH…. I am paying a LAMBORGHINI FEE for this course, I should get some respect back… I have no say at all… The teacher does what she wants… and the students does flop along and beg her please can you teach me something… This would NEVER EVER happen at any other respectable academy… You cannot suddenly change the schedule of the course… The problem is that in Egypt everyone works on Sunday, so it would take me more than 2 hours to get to the course in the mornings, and going home could take up to 3 hours… Should I have to spend up to 5 hours driving to a course, that lasts one hour more!?!??!
BOOOOOOOOOM!!!! I exploded… I went to a garage installed a brain disconnector, and switched my brain off… Because I knew this was going to send me into another world of anger, frustrations and negative emotions… So this was it… I was not going to accept this camel crap from anyone… I called the academy and told them im not a shit magnet, and will not accept this type of shit.. I want my money back and im DONE…
This is when the shit REALLY started and the whole truth and nothing but LIES revealed themselves…
So this post is turning into a super long one so I will split it into 2!!
Here are some pics of jewelry I made with no help or thanks to the Italian/Egyptian Fake Academy… Haha, wow I sound bitter, but you know what? I am, they took my Lamborghini money… No I have to ride in my fiancée Mercedes instead!
Femieshe 
I know this reply might be a bit late – but I couldn’t help but comment. They’re horrendous!
I’ve been trying to find a decent fashion styling course around Cairo and whenever I mention that in front of anyone they say the Italian Fashion Crap is the best. Was actually considering applying until I read a job post where they were looking for instructors. The post basically wanted anyone with “an interest in art” and it didn’t require a degree in art or fashion or whatever! So basically my 5 year old niece can apply because she “has an interest in art”! It’s preposterous!
HAHA oh my god, i saw that job post too on thei facebook site… I also know of someone who applied who has never actually been interested in fashion, until she suddenly needed a job and found this job available, and no she does not have ANY qualifications regarding fashion, teaching, etc… Hopefully they have an age limit so your niece cant apply, lol! some kind of criteria they must have… Thank God i found someone else that agrees with me, everyone else thinks this place is gods gift to the fashion industry in egypt! Thank you for checking out my blog!
Wow. Okay I’m so dissapointed right now. I’m from Belgium but i decided to take fashion courses here in the italian fashion academy because it seemed to be a great place. I must admit that the prices are VERY high. But I said it will be worth it because it’s a good academy. But reading this am like oh hell no… so I really dont know like should I apply try it out or no?…
I think your situation was exactly my situation! I thought it would be good as it’s the only ‘international’ one here and so expensive for just being an academy. Of course maybe the fashion course is better than the jewelry course I took, but with Egypt in general, everything is home made! If you have money you can open what you want… it was though several years ago now, they might have changed…. but I definitely wouldn’t go all in and pay for a full course without trying it out… maybe a short small cheaper course would be a good test run… hope this helps and good luck! Thank you for reading my blog! ❤️