Richie Frohlichstein (C’11)
Before studying abroad last year, Richie Frohlichstein (C’11) had never crossed an ocean. Over the course of six months abroad, he added fifteen countries and three continents to the list of places he had been.
Frohlichstein, a Spanish major with minors in Arabic and philosophy, spent the summer of 2009 in Barcelona and then the following fall semester studying in Cairo. In the time between his two study abroad programs, he traveled throughout Europe by train, equipped with only a Eurail pass and a list of cities that sounded interesting. Along the way he saw Pamplona’s running of the bulls, touched the Great Pyramids, watched a leg of the Tour de France, and floated in the Dead Sea.
“These are things you’re supposed to do before you die, not before you graduate,” Frohlichstein reflects.
Yet Frohlichstein’s time abroad was more than just touring sites; it was a chance to grow as a student and as a person. With his interest in foreign languages, Frohlichstein opted to spend just a summer in a Spanish-speaking country and full semester in Egypt where he concentrated on improving his Arabic language skills. At the American University of Cairo, where the official language of instruction is English, he took Arabic language courses, as well as classes in history, political theory, and even war correspondence. The classroom, it turns out, was actually one of the few places he spoke English while in Egypt.
In Cairo, a city he dubs “a New York City or Paris of the Middle East,” Frohlichstein integrated himself into the region’s culture as much as possible. He spent time in neighborhood coffee shops and joined a local rugby team. In the process, he picked up colloquial Egyptian Arabic that he continues to speak at Georgetown with friends and professors from Egypt. He met Middle Easterners who were baffled by the notion of an American wanting to learn Arabic, and others whose own friends were overseas studying at Georgetown. Through it all Frohlichstein embraced the bustling city without missing the comforts of home.
“I think Georgetown prepared us very well in a way that other schools didn’t,” says Frohlichstein. “I went into it with this mentality that everything was going to be a learning experience.”
He says that rather than trying to adjust his American mentality to Cairo, he jumped into novel experiences in order to gain an entirely new perspective. “I went to Cairo to get Cairo,” he says. “And I did.” 
Though Frohlichstein is happy to be back at Georgetown, where he serves on the GU Student Association Executive Board and as adviser for The Hoya, he admits that he is already eager to travel again. In the future he may want to return to Cairo, where he made many new friends who left their door open to future visits.
For the time being, however, Frohlichstein is living in the moment with an eye on the future. He is focused on getting the most out of his Georgetown experience, both on campus and abroad. From visiting the top of the Eiffel Tower to chatting with Georgetown professors in Arabic, he wants to continue expanding his horizons for now and for the future.
“The opportunities are here to do great things,” he says. “Why wait?”
—Kara Burritt
Profile photo by Charlie Nutting. Photo of Richie in Giza courtesy of Richie Frohlichstein.
