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:
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
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