An Ode to my Planner

I like being organized. And especially somewhere as chaotic as college, organization becomes even more essential.

Before I flew to AD, I tried in vain to find a planner that I liked. And failed in that attempt. Knowing how crazy things got in high school with my schedule, I predicted (correctly), that college would be worse. I also know from past experience that spiral bound planners get destroyed in the abyss my bag can turn into by the end of the year.

So I came to school with no planner. And they are really hard to find over here, a fact I wish I had known before I got here.

I started out making a planner- getting a notebook and writing all the days in. But there was no good way to keep track of the day/ get to it easily, and it just wasn't working.

Then I tried using my iCal. Which worked for a while, but I don't always have my computer with me, so it became an issue with smaller, weekly/daily assignments.

Next I decided I would make a weekly calendar on Word, and adjust that for each week. But the same issue with organizing assignments came up.

Finally, today, I had had enough.  Tessa and Caroline had found planners at All Prints, a fairly well known store around here that is amazing- books, and notebooks, and art supplies. It is awesome. So Farah (who has lived in the UAE her whole life) and I walked to it from DTC.

Side note- my roommates are awesome :)

We walked there, midday, and while it was hot, the walk was shorter than if we had gone later from Sama, and it is actually nice to get out of the AC at times. I also liked walking because now I know how to find it again.

I have, sadly, not really explored much, so any small chance like this I jump at (as long as it will be a fairly short trip).

And now, planner ^_^ I have one, and it is organized, which makes me extremely happy

<3

Interesting Night

In the UAE, (and primarily Muslim countries in general), the weekends are Friday-Saturday. So last night was the equivalent of a Sunday in Western countries, the day before the school/work week starts. And as such, my classmates and I were studying, and then going to sleep. I had finished a lot of my work on Friday, and I was actually working ahead in the week (things get crazy, fast, here). At about 10:45-11ish I decided to go to bed.

I was almost asleep when I heard a buzzer and an automated voice. It was too short to actually hear what it was saying, but my roommates and I sleepily got up and went into the hallway, along with most of the other girls from our floor. Our RA assured us that it was a false alarm, and that if something was actually going on it would keep going (it didn't even get through the message once). Since we knew that humidity/etc sometimes sets them off and that they were working on the system, we went back to bed.

2 minutes later, the alarm, again. Hallway, again. Once again it stopped, but going through the full message, which is along the lines of "There has been a fire detected in the building. Please standby for further instructions". It stopped for a minute, and then went on again. And kept going. But a call from public safety said that there wasn't an issue. So again, we went back to bed, resigned to the fact of sleeping through a fairly noisy alarm.

Not like we weren't used to this, because if you leave the door to the staircase open too long, it beeps. And continues to beep until someone shuts said door.

But then we got a call from another floor saying that they were evacuating the building. We evacuated, walking down what seemed like endless flights of stairs (While I am only on the 8th floor, there are mysterious floors between 1 and Ground, so it is a lot more).

A general generalizing observation- in the countries I go to outside of North America, it is always too hot with too many people for the time of night that it is. (Probably 12:15AM by this point)

Got to hang out with all of my schoolmates and teachers a ways away from the building. Someone brought a guitar, and I finally figured out how to call the US with my phone!

Fire trucks/police/ambulances arrived, and we just waited for information. What was finally determined was that there had been an electrical fire on the 34th floor. This took a while to filter down to us, and in that time, we ended up (all 300 of us), walking to the down town campus because people were getting dehydrated due to the heat. (Around 1:30 at this point)

I can't even imagine what the locals thought of this parade. It is only a 10 minute walk to DTC, but there were 300 of us, in varying stages of pjamas, at 1:30AM.

By 2:30 we got word the fire was out
By 3:30 we got the all clear that it was safe to go back. You can smell some smoke in the elevators/stairs, but that is the extent of it (thankfully)

So conclusion: No class today (which is how I have time for all of these entries), and only 5 hours of sleep. When they announced no classes, you would think they were announcing something earth-shattering. I guess because there are no snow/ice/cold/heat days here, so things like this don't normally happen. But still. For all the talk that this is the world's honors college, everyone seemed really thrilled for no classes (A combonation of being awake and sugar high and crazy at 3AM with everyone, and the fact that a lot of people were still working when the alarm went off) Although it does mean we are making it up next Saturday.

Everyone is safe, and we got an extra day to relax/study. And we made the local news http://www.thenational.ae/thenational/news/uae-news/fire-forces-evacuation-of-nyu-abu-dhabi-students-and-staff

<3

Recap: Week One of Classes

Because of an interesting night that I will detail in another post, I got 5 hours of sleep last night. Which for me, really isn't that much. So this week will be recapped in list form.

• NYUAD has lots of reading
• Though that might have something to do with my classes...
• Which I switched halfway through the week. Goodbye Instruments in World Music Culture, hello Faith in Science Reason in Revelation (which, judging by the first classes of each, was a really good choice for me)
• Even though it means a lot more reading. And a lot of it overlaps in ideas, which will both be helpful and confusing
• I am enjoying all of my classes, and am invested in all of the topics
• Arabic, while difficult, does not seem impossible
• Getting out of Sama is a Good Thing. 
• Especially after reading for over 6 hours in one day.
• I have gone ice skating more in the past 2 weeks than the past year. The Abu Dhabi sports complex has a bigger rink, with fewer people, but it was really hazardous at first because it was too slippery
• The syrup in the dining hall is 2% maple syrup. The Vermonter in me cries. 
• Our microwave is scary powerful- if I put in a mug of water for 2 minutes, there is a 50/50 chance that it will boil
• I don't speak too quickly- which is the 2nd time someone has commented that they can always understand me, even if English isn't there first language. 
• I look Scandinavian, sound Canadian, so the only potential issue for traveling is my passport country :)
• Did I mention there is a lot of reading? And that getting out of Sama is good? 

<3 Week One of classes- pretty darn good :)

First Day of Classes... Just Kidding!

Today is Sunday. Which, in the UAE, is the equivalent of Monday, and was the first day of classes. But I had an interesting day.

I woke up earlier than my alarm, which was nice- I figured I would have a nice, relaxed breakfast and then get to the Downtown Campus for my 10AM class. But I checked my email. And I got a syllabus for my Arabic 101 class, which meets Monday-Thursday. Yet the syllabus I got said that the first class was today, the 4th. I had a moment of panic and got down to the DTC as soon as I could, where I found out the syllabus was for all of the Arabic 101 classes, some of which did have class.

Then 10AM rolled around- Government and Religion. Now, this is an odd class, because it meets all year, and not on every Sunday. Since this was the first week of class, we all assumed we had class. And then, like what sometimes happens when you put smart people in a room, logic goes away. We waited for 40 minutes before calling one of the assistant professors only to find out this was one of the Sundays that we didn't have class.

And then I got lost. Judy and I were trying to find the stationary store to get school supplies, and because it was really hot and we were told the store was far away, we took a cab (cabs are really cheap here- one reason- cheap fuel). But we didn't know the street intersections (they don't use numbers much here). We knew the name and one of the streets. Which wasn't enough. So we ended up going to Marina Mall, to a store called Carrefours- like Wal-Mart. Never found the stationary story. Moral of the story- know the street intersections or directions before you go!

<3

Following my Passion

"Use art to turn the world inside out" -JR

Already a week into NYUAD, I have almost surely decided to change my major to Visual Arts, minoring in Social Research.

Some background. I want to change the world, if only in a small way. That is one aspiration that I share with all of my classmates. Right now, after college, I plan on volunteering and working with NGO's and non-profits abroad, while developing my portfolio to become a photojournalist. Now of course, that could change completely- this university offers so many amazing opportunities that it would be a waste to not consider them.

That being said, I came to NYUAD thinking that I was going to major in Social Research and Public Policy- a broad degree encompassing things like politics, economics, and international affairs. That is what would be logical. Safe, in a way.

During Marhaba Week, we had many speeches given by our outstanding faculty and staff. A common thread in all of them was following your passion. Which started me thinking (it really didn't help matters any that I see the quote above whenever I walk to or from my room)- I care about social research and volunteering, and I will most likely end up working in the field at some point. But my passion is art, and using art to change the world, and people's perceptions of the world.

Every long term project I have completed has had to do with art. My junior year, you need to write an extended research paper in English. I changed my topic over 5 times, the final change being from something on the social sciences (which had evolved over 4 changes), to a completely new topic- music education in schools. (Note to students- not the best idea to completely overhaul a paper when you are over halfway through. You can do it, it just isn't easy).

The following summer I went to a leadership retreat where you make a vision plan for creating change. I created a proposal for a series of photographs portraying modern global, social, and cultural issues. This plan morphed...

Into my Capstone (senior project), which entailed write ups, actually taking the photographs, and then hand printing them (using a darkroom).

Art has always been close to my heart. So with all the talk about following your passion, I decided that I would explore what my major would be. I am taking a class this semester that is required for Social Research, and I will take a class next semester for Visual Arts, and decide from there.

But right now, even though it isn't the most logical decision, it looks like I will be majoring in Visual Arts.

So far, following my heart and my passion hasn't steered me wrong. And there are a lot worse philosophies in life. I am going to use my years at NYUAD to explore, discover, and hopefully understand. Being brave enough to follow my heart and passion even when it isn't the choice that most would make is the first step in that journey. <3

Coffee

Before coming to NYUAD, I had never even tried coffee.

That has definitely changed now.

My first venture into the world of coffee began at the Dubai Mall, the largest in the world. I had been wandering for a while, and, with my collegiate mindset, decided to stop at one of the numerous coffee shops. What I discovered was that while the taste of coffee isn't horrible, I really don't like lattes. Of any kind (back at home I had tried a chai latte, and even though I love chai, I disliked the latte).

Then the next day comes, and one of my unofficial roommates, Remi, (like stated in an earlier blog, we have a quad, so people visit us a lot :) ), made ice coffee (she has a blender). And that was really good.

Now add onto this the fact that I have an 8:30 class Monday to Thursday, and you get this: 

Nescafe Mocha. I also tried the original, which wasn't as good, but Al Safa (the nearby supermarket- which has EVERYTHING, and is only 3 buildings away from the dorm, so it is awesomeness), has run out of the mocha. But I have enough for the first week :)

<3

I'm Leaving on a Jet Plane

Well, in reality, I left over a week ago.

I left Vermont on Aug 25th, and after a flight to NYC, then another to Abu Dhabi (13 hours), I arrived on the 26th. Went through some visa processing, got my eyes scanned, and then waited with a bunch of other NYUAD'ers for other flights of our classmates. Eventually we went outside, (going from air conditioning to a wall of heat that you just walk into- happens a lot here. Sometimes accompanied by my glasses fogging up), and went to Sama Tower, my home for the next 4 years. Got settled in a bit, met my roommates (who are awesome), and slept.

Now, here is the funny thing about time zones and traveling. They mess with you. But not always in a negative way. For the first few days of Marhaba (Welcome) Week, I was naturally waking up at around 7, with the light. But alas, I did not magically turn into a morning person- as the week progressed I began to sleep later and actually need my alarm.

Marhaba Week was awesome. It was a whirlwind, but one that was at the same time both fun and useful.
Some highlights:

• Iftar meals. We arrived during Ramadan, which is the Islamic fasting time. An iftar is the meal that breaks the fast after the evening call to prayer, and we attended two at really nice banquet halls. 
• The school library. Awesome books, that you loan on a semester basis :)
• A discussion on following your passion and intercultural intelligence (more on those ideas in another post)
• Dubai! I figured out that my foreign travel curse is to be on the bus that breaks down. It happened in India when we got a flat tire, and it happened on the way to Dubai when the AC broke. But Dubai was amazing. Got to see the Burj Kalifa, the tallest building in the world, and went ice skating :) A nice reminder of home. 
• Kayaking eco tour. Even though I had to wake up at 5:45AM, it was completely worth it. We kayaked through the mangroves, learning about the environment. But what was really amazing, (I need a thesaurus), was kayaking on an inlet of the Persian Gulf, seeing the sun rise, the skyline of the city, the horizon, and feeling a cool breeze for the first time since getting here. 
• Participating in the wandering journal project- an artistic endeavor in the UAE to bring about a renaissance by printing journals and passing them around, getting the people who live here to make a page, and then sharing those to show the diversity and creative talents of the residents.
• Making the dorm room feel like home was fun, and is still an evolving process (my desk is now ready for class)
• The realization that here, you can truly be yourself- I don't know if this is true for all US colleges, but here, there is very little judgement and since we are all figuring out where we fit, everyone is really friendly. And it is so inspiring to be in an environment with talented and driven students. 

<3