Jordan Gerard/Winonan

Nour Greiss, 19, of Cairo, was excited to finally arrive at Winona State University after a long, obstacle-filled trip from her home of Egypt to Minnesota.

Greiss arrived on campus on August 17 after struggling through a delay of her original flight, curfew hours, making her connecting flight to Amsterdam from Cairo and having to stay overnight in Amsterdam.

The conflicts were due to violence in the city of Cairo.

When the former President Mohammed Morsi was overthrown on June 13, the Muslim Brotherhood was very angry, Greiss said.

They staged a sit-in protest at the Rabaa Mosque on June 30 and Cairo became very violent with attacks on churches and government buildings, mostly located on the main roads of Cairo.

The curfew was put in place August 16 from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m.

“It wasn’t a major change when the curfew was put in place, but we did not use public transportation or go out after 7 p.m. We were extra careful when going somewhere,” Greiss said.

Her original flight was delayed 12 hours making her new flight August 16 at 3:25 a.m., but since curfew was announced it made her unable to make the flight, so her family stayed in a hotel room near the airport.

Greiss said the airport was very chaotic because a lot of people had to find a different connection flight, and many people had slept there overnight.

Long lines and five hours later, she arrived in Amsterdam at 8 p.m., but was not able to make the flight to Minneapolis

because there were no flights from Amsterdam after 5 p.m.

“I wasn’t sure where I was going to stay that night or where to find food,” Greiss said. “Luckily, the airport gave me a voucher for a hotel room and meal, I was very happy about that.”

The final part of her journey was obstacle free, finally arriving at 10:25 a.m. the following morning at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and made her way down to Winona later that afternoon.

“I was very relieved,” Greiss said. “It felt like I would never get here.”

As for her family back home, she is not extremely worried about them, as they take precautions and do not go out after the curfew.

“I did not realize how big America was,” Greiss said.

She wanted to visit her friends from Egypt who go to school in Virginia and California.

“They told me, ‘Do you know how far we are from each other? Like days drive.’ And then I realized that America was much bigger,” Greiss said.

Griess thinks Winona State is very nice and enjoys the extracurricular activities.

“The comedian an

d hypnotist shows were very good.” Greiss said.

Contact Jordan at [email protected]