Last Thursday night

I had one of most wonderful nights ever last Thursday night. I went out to dinner with all of my favorite people in Dubai. We amazing burgers in jbr, which is the local expat beach. I even got a gluten free burger! There is nothing quite like being surrounded by good food and great company. I would not trade the friends I've made in Dubai for anything.

After dinner, we went to our favorite hangout destination across the street from the university. We then proceeded back to the beach, where we danced to live music for the rest of the night. Dancing on the beach has easily become one of my favorite things to do. I think we stayed until the place shut down. It was great.

Then we went to subway, which is open 24/7. I felt like such an American for getting fast food in the middle of the night. Haha. I'm sure we were all judged, but enough people must stop in during those hours or they wouldn't keep it open.

Anyway, after an amazing night out, I ran into even more incredible people back on campus before I got to my room. We all chatted about life plans and goals. I know that no matter what happens I'm always going to have the friends that I made in dubai to count on. I am so lucky and blessed. :)

Holly the Homemaker

As I'm sure most of you know, I pretty much don't eat here. My diet consists of eggs, dates, french fries, and hummus. It's very hard for me to find gluten-free foods. Ursinus kids, get this: AUD has Sandella's. No lie. I can't get away from our cafeteria food even halfway around the world! ha. Great news though, I found some gluten-free food!!! While I was at a new grocery store, I wishfully decided to check out the cake mixes. I know... Some of you are probably shocked that Holly, the super feminist, was looking to bake. All I have to say is that you've got to do what you've got do to when it comes to eating on a gluten free diet. haha. A girl needs her baked goods! Let's be real: in the States I could easily find a guy who would bake me a GF cake in a day or two, but here, sadly, it's just not happening. ha.

Now to continue with my story, guess what?! I found a brand called Melinda's that offers GF mixes for Chocolate Fudge Brownies and Apple & Rhubarb Crumbles. You might be asking yourself "What the heck is Apple & Rhubarb Crumble?" To you I answer, I have no idea, but I bought it. hahaha. I bought both of them. Any option is better than the zero options I had previously. Now I need a pan so I can start baking.  I'll have to stop at Carrefour in the mall tomorrow. :)

 Carrefour: The Walmart of the Middle East

On to another happy food story-- My Aunt Kelly and Rose sent me a package, which I am sure will be filled with more delicious treats. I have to go pick it up at the post office, which should be an adventure. I have never been to that part of the city yet. More on that in a few days. Thank you both for being amazing!


Now I guess to balance out my homemaker side, I have to tell you more about my feminist actions over here. I started a Women's Intercultural Dialogue group over here at my university with another study abroad student, Iberia. We held our first discussion last night. I did not have high expectations, so I was pleasantly surprised when 26 ladies showed up. We talked about issues arranging from abayas to abortions.

I honestly learned so much from listening to these women from all around the world discuss intense topics. One of the most interesting things that I learned last night was that in some religio-political groups in Islam, a baby isn't considered a "baby" until 40 days after conception. To them, it takes 40 days for the soul to reach earth and 40 days for it to leave. According to those groups, abortions are okay if they happen within the first 40 days. Who knew? I certainly did not expect anyone in the Middle East to condone abortions. I still have so much to learn. I'm hoping for great things out of these dialogues. We're going to meet once every other week. I'm pumped for our next gathering!

Since this post was all about women, I figured I'd add some pictures of English/Arabic signs around the Mall of the Emirates. Let's stereotype and say that "all women like shopping". Just kidding. :)

Shopping Day

As per my mother's suggestion, I went to the mall to shop around for jewelry to see if I could find something that I really liked before I made my final decision: skydiving or gold. Last night, my watch broke, so today was the perfect day to go shopping. At first, I was hesitant to look at name brand items, but then I found a pretty nice Coach watch that was only $400. I seriously considered buying it. I still might.

After that, I got a little cocky. I started to try watches on without even looking at the price. I went to the Dubai Fashion Dome, which was a horrible idea. At one point, I looked done and realized I was wearing a $5000 watch. It was too much to take in. haha.


To go back to my comfort zone, I put watches aside and started to look for jewelry. Oh, that was even a worse plan. If you've ever gone jewelry shopping with me, you'll know that I am extremely particular and have an expensive taste. I just thought "Eh, what the heck?!" and went into ridiculously glamorous stores. I'm talking about the kind of stores where there is a worker whose sole job is to open the door for you.

I started off looking at the modest pieces, but then I couldn't take it anymore. I tried on anything and everything that caught my eye. I tried on pearls the size of marbles, diamond rings that cost twice as much as my car, designer topaz sets--everything. It got so bad that at one point I found out I was wearing a 115,000 dirham ring (or about $32,000). I had to stop. I came home. Crazy day. :P

Racism in Dubai

Last night I discovered that Dubai is an openly racist city. Unlike in the United States where racism still exists, but only in subtle ways, Dubai can be overtly racist. Upon arrival at a concert-like venue, I was immediately asked to skip to the front of the line by the bouncer, passing about 10 Asian men. I attributed my preferential treatment to my sex. However, later in the night, I was informed that the bouncer also discriminates based on race. He charged two of my male friends 100 dirhams each because one was Keyan and the other was Egyptian. My white male friends, on the other hand, were allowed in free of charge. Apparently, there are no laws against racism in the UAE, so a bouncer can literally point to you, you, and you in a line and ask them to pay, while the others can go in for free. How ridiculous is that?!

I guess I could see underlying racism in Dubai before I was told about it, but I had no idea how prejudiced people could still be in the 21st century. I mean, I'm in Dubai, which is a pretty developed city. I guess policy hasn't modernized as fast as the buildings have. In the Northeast, we always have to be politically correct. We are taught to censor our speech at a young age so that we never offend anyone. Here, people straight up say whatever they are thinking. Even my European friend loudly makes racial comments and politically incorrect statements all the time. I am not used to this. At Ursinus, we're correct for misusing "black" instead of "African American". Here, anything goes. haha.

Anyway, I just wanted to post about the difference between the US and the UAE. I know I'm really behind with pictures, so tonight I think I am going to go out and capture the city in photographs. I should post some soon. :)

The Resort City

Life in Dubai has been fairly surreal. Everyone here is a tourist. It has been so weird to be treated like I’m on a vacation by all the workers in the city. They are overly nice and welcoming every time I walk into a hotel or a nice store. Most people come here to drop money, so priced are marked up. I don’t know how expats live here. I guess if they can afford rent, they can afford to keep up with the Dubai lifestyle. I know everyone has their own maid-- I even have a maid! Labor is so cheap that many people probably have their own cooks. Otherwise, I bet residents here just go out to eat. There is really only one supermarket, Carrefour, and the selection of food is limited (compared to my Wegmans, of course). Gluten free options are virtually nonexistent, so I have just decided not to eat this semester. No big deal. ;)

Another aspect of living in this resort town is dealing with actual locals. They assume that everyone else is a tourist. Many men, then, hit on women, looking for a week-long fling. This is not okay with me. I do not appreciate the staring, honks, or awkward pickup lines. And I thought only Americans were so rude.  I guess boys will be boys wherever they are… but where are the men?! Anyway, the most uncomfortable situation I’ve encountered thus far has been with a man in the supermarket. As I was checking out, he causally started to chat with me. When I got to the register, he refused to let me pay for my items. He told me that as a welcoming present to Dubai, he was going to pay for everything. Of course, with my luck, I had the most awkward basket of stuff ever—feminine hygiene products and two bars of chocolate. Haha. Lesson learned: never talk to strangers!

To get away from this unrealistic city and out of my vacation mentality, I have tried to focus a little more on my classes. Unfortunately, almost all of my classes are covering the same material. I’m in the process of getting a certificate in Middle Eastern Studies, so all of my courses here, whether dealing with Islamic politics, architecture, or history, all start at the beginning of Islam and work toward the present. Today I mentioned to one of my professors that I am bored with all of classes due to the endless repetition. I don’t even bother studying for quizzes, because I’ve likely heard the same thing enough times to at least get a B from just listening during lectures. My grades don’t transfer back to Ursinus anyway. He was distraught to hear about the course overlap and how little I was being challenged, so he asked me to present the reading to the class on Tuesday. I’m actually a little excited. I finally have some academic work to do!

Wow, I guess the old Holly is back. I need academia. I’ll never get away from it. I thought I could run away from it for a short time, but I can’t. I belong with books and research. Beaches and the Radisson can’t satisfy me for long. I am Holly Smith. Did I actually believe I could be happy with myself not getting A’s? haha.

Today, I am going to leave a question. For my birthday, should I spend $500 on a piece of jewelry for myself from Dubai (which I will have forever) or on skydiving at the end of the semester (which is a once in a lifetime experience)? I’m honestly looking feedback! :)

The Real Dubai

In contrast to my last post about on-campus activities, I thought it appropriate to write this post about my life off-campus. First, let me say that my university is in a pretty awesome location. I am within walking distance of a few cool food places, one of which has amazing hummus! I am within a 10-20 minute taxi ride of basically everything else important. Over here, taxi rides are ridiculously cheap. The fare starts out at about $1 USD (3 dirhams) and then does not often get over 30 to 40 dirhams (or about $10USD). As you could probably assume, gas in Dubai is extremely cheap, as the city is in an oil-producing country. A liter of water and a liter of gas are about the same price. Isn't that incredible??

Since transportation is so inexpensive, I leave campus every other day, many more. Just this past week, I felt like going to the beach after class, so I put on my bathing suit, hailed a cab, and watched the waves of the ocean for a few hours. It is so unreal that I am able to go sit in the sand, surrounded by palm trees, whenever I feel like it. The beach, JBR, is free, too! The trip cost me under $10USD, and that price includes the generous tip I gave both my driver there and back.


Other days, I'll go to the mall. "The mall" doesn't do it a justice. There are probably 20 malls in Dubai, 10 of which I can likely get to by just taking the Metro-- which is even cheaper than taking a taxi. I normally go to the Mall of the Emirates, which is about 1.75 times the size of the Cherry Hill Mall and A LOT higher end, if you can even imagine... haha. The Dubai Mall, the largest mall in the world, is just 4 or 5 metro stops more. When you exit the Metro Station and turn left, there is an unobstructed view of the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. The first time you see it, it is breathtaking. Just thinking about how workers risked their lives to build a building half of a mile into the sky-- it is unbelievable. Anyway, the malls are all wonderful. Dubai certainly puts in 110% effort into making one's "Dubai experience" an over-the-top, lifelong memory.

There is still so much more to do and see! I am in the process of talking to my friends about going skydiving over the palm island, as I believe I already mentioned. I also want to spend a day in Abu Dhabi (yes, ladies, that is where Sex and the City 2 took place). In October, there is a pretty large music festival of some sort taking place at a resort in Dubai on the beach. I am definitely trying to go to that. In November, an International Film Festival is coming here. Basically, I am at no storage of things to do--I haven't even traveled out of the UAE yet!


Before I forget, I want to tell you one amazing story. So the boys here are slowly teaching me about cars, since the cars in the small AUD parking lot are probably worth no less than 30 million combined. Last night, one of the boys just dropped his jaw and pointed at a car leaving the place I had just left. I saw a Bentley with the license plate "10". I stared in amazement. No more than 10 feet away from me was a car full of UAE royalty. In this country, the fewer the digits in your license plate, the more important you are. The plates with the numbers 1-10 cost a few million dollars each. When you have one of those numbers, rules on the road don't apply to you. I think most recently, someone paid the equivalent of 14 million USD for one of them.

I still can't get over how I was hanging out at the same place royalty was chilling last night! What is even more amazing is that I saw "3" on the highway on my ride home! He was texting while driving-- not safe. :)

AUD Campus Life

AUD Campus Life... Wait. Does that exist? As you can tell from my sarcasm, American University does not have much happening on campus. At Ursinus, a college probably 1,000 students smaller than AUD, I received 30+ emails a day notifying me of campus activities, club meetings, off-campus trips, etc. Here, I may get an email to my AUD account every other day. I am certainly okay with not being bombarded with useless information all the time, but the lack of student involvement is just so strange to me.

I have no idea how AUD students occupy their time. (It's certainly not taken up by the amount of studying they do, but more on that later.) Once, on a Friday afternoon (equivalent to US Saturday), I walked from my dorm all the way across campus to the Metro Station and didn't see a single person. These kids must all have friends or family who live off campus. Where else could they be?

My roommate, for example, doesn't live here. She doesn't even have sheets on her bed! I saw her for the third time ever today while walking to class. She informed me that she was going to Lebanon for the week and might move some stuff in the week after that. So far, she's dropped off a giant tv, which basically takes up all the space on her desk. That's it. She seems like a really nice girl though. Don't get me wrong-- I'm not complaining about the situation. I love being independent and living on my own. I just don't understand why she's paying for housing when she can live somewhere else for free. haha.

Now back to AUD students and classes. Earlier I alluded to the lack of studying that goes on here. I was honestly a little appalled at the behavior of many students and teachers my first few days here. Professors know that students don't do anything, so they don't push. I'll be assigned 5 to 10 pages of reading for the next class. At first, I thought we might have been starting slow but were going to gain momentum throughout the semester. Nope. It looks like this semester is going to be more of a vacation than I originally imagined. Today I was assigned a "research paper" that has a 1,000 word limit. I asked my professor to clarify what he meant, thinking that there might have been a language barrier or something. Seriously, he told me he'd lower my grade if my paper went over 1,100 words. As the other students groaned about the length of the paper, I sat back in my chair and thought "Yesss, this is going to be a good semester!"

Today, I'll leave you with a question.
Q: What three things are essential for female students at AUD to carry at all times?

A: 1. Your Blackberry (gold plated is better!)
2. Your Marlboro cigarettes
3. Your current season Louis Vuitton bag

On a serious note, I'm serious. haha. I'd go so far to say that 85% of women carry Louis Vuitton bags, maybe more. Everyone has a Blackberry. Everyone smokes. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is life at AUD (and, let's be honest, life anywhere in Dubai).

Week One-- check

I can't believe that I have only been here for a little over a week. I can use the Metro and hail a cab like it's second nature. I know the surrounding area (kind of) and already have close friends. There are some things about Dubai that I don't think I'll never fully get used to though, like the Middle Eastern sense of time and stopping at two to three security check points on campus before getting to my room.

I have certainly enjoyed myself here. I love the other visiting students. Friends are everything. They can really make or break your experience, so I am so lucky to have awesome ones here. We all have similar interests, too, which is amazing. I can always find someone who wants to go on some specific adventure with me in the city. My group recently talked about going skydiving. There is this one company that drops you over the palm island. How incredible would that be?? I mean, skydiving would be cool anywhere, but in the US, you're falling over some farm. Here, islands shaped like a map of the world and a giant palm! You can't beat that...

Anyway, another thing my friends and I share is a cell phone model. We all purchased the same phone from Carrefour because it was on sale and came with some minutes already on it. It's a cheap little Samsung phone. Honestly, it looks like a burn phone. You know those Nokia phones with that snake game that everyone had ten years ago? Yeah, my phone looks like that. I'm sure by the end of the semester, I'm totally going to accidentally switch phones with one of the other ten people carrying this bad boy.

On a completely different note, I was going to write a separate post on firsts, but I think I'll just throw them in right here. As I'm sure all of you know, I'm pretty serious about my studies, but get this-- I've spent an entire week here without going to the library. I don't even know where the library is! This is such a first for me. I don't think I've gone three days without going to the library since I started college. While we're on the subject of school, I might as well throw in there that I only am using three notebooks for five classes. I've never had fewer notebooks than classes, until now that is. Do you know what is even crazier? I don't even carry my planner around! Going wild in Dubai...

Dubai is definitely making me less of a control freak. I got in trouble (pseudo-trouble, don't worry) for the first time... ever. The school says they don't have the letter I sent for a curfew extension, so I got demerits for arriving back to the dorms too late. It's not a big deal though--the housing manager says she'll take them away once she gets another letter saying that I don't have a curfew. This all, of course, happened on a Thursday (my Friday equivalent), so I won't find out until tomorrow if she got the letter. After I first found out, normal Holly would have stayed in her room all weekend to make sure she was in the clear. Dubai Holly, however, decided that the school was going have the letter by Sunday, so it'd be fine to stay out past curfew, get more demerits, and get all them removed on Sunday. So out of character. Overall, I am happy with my choice. I was out every night this weekend with my friends having fun, so it was/is totally worth it.

My last first, for now, is running into my professor at a bar. He might have felt a little uncomfortable, but it was his own fault-- he was in AUD territory. haha. I don't blame him for being there though. We were at the Radisson, the bar I wrote about earlier, and they have been having a 33% off special until, sadly, tonight. I think that means I'll be cutting back for a while. :)




Well, I'll leave you with the wise words of my favorite artist, Frank Sinatra. "Alcohol may be man's worst enemy, but the Bible says love your enemy."

Dubai Update

I honestly feel so blessed. The people I have met here are amazing. We all get along so well. Other than while on campus, we are always doing something. It's tough to do things on at the university though, because guys and girls can't hang around in the same areas, with the exception of sitting together outside. As I type this, it is currently 107 degrees outside. It only gets hotter. To be outside is to suffer. Hence, we find fun things to do in the surrounding area.

A couple of the other study abroad students and myself are becoming regulars at a hotel bar across the street from the university. We go whenever our favorite bartender, Sam, is working. In Dubai, tipping is included in the bill, but it's next to nothing. Our group, however, finds it necessary to add a little extra cash when we pay. Sam, after seeing our tip on night one, brought us out a free round of shots to show his appreciation. What a guy! We will now only be served by him. Don't worry, I won't go out too often. Alcohol in an Islamic country is incredibly expensive. The cheapest drink you'll find at the cheapest bar is 35 dirhams, or about $10 USD. Luckily, drinks at the Radisson, the hotel across the street, are on the cheaper end.

Besides drinking, we go out all the time for other activities. I've been to the Mall of the Emirates half a dozen times. I feel like I'm already starting to know my way around that mall. I've been to Carrefour, "the Walmart of the Middle East" as I've dubbed it, way too many times. It seems like I am remembering things that I failed to pack daily. Fortunately products at Carrefour are dirt cheap. For example, my comforter costed as much as one cheap drink, 35 dirham. I'll take that. Eggs cost no more than a few cents.

Mom, since I'm sure you're one of the few people who actually will take the time to read this, you would be so proud of me. I started to cook! I, Holly Smith, purchased a pan, spatula, plate, and fork with the intention of making my own food. So far I have made eggs a couple of times and kafta once or twice. Nothing too fancy yet, but you just wait and see... Eh.. don't hold your breath though. haha. I'll probably continue to make my breakfast throughout the semester, but let's be honest, I don't belong in the kitchen. I'm sure in no time I'll find someone who loves cooking and enjoys some cash to do basic cooking for me. It has been difficult to find gluten free food here, so it will likely be necessary for a lot of my food to be cooked in the dorms.

Speaking of college, the reason I am here, classes started today! I only had one, Introduction to Middle Eastern History. It does not seem challenging in any respect. The professor informed us the purchasing the class textbook MAY help us understand the material better. I've never had the option to NOT buy a textbook. Anyway, I'm sure I'll learn some useful information, even if it is just from doing my own research over here.

Tonight I think I am going to head over to the beach. I still haven't really seen it. It's too hot to go during the day, but I'll see what I can do. :)

Made it to Dubai!

So today didn’t go exactly as planned.  Upon arriving at the Dubai airport I immediately looked for signs pointing me toward baggage claim. There were tons! Unfortunately they pointed in every direction. You have to understand that the Dubai airport is easily ten times bigger than any airport I have ever been in. I thought my best bet of going in the right direction was following a guy who I saw on my flight. He moved quickly, which I liked. Ten minutes into my stalking I realized he was rushing because he was in fact on his way to another flight. I was then forced to resort to my fail proof fallback plan—flirt my way through. It worked.

Once I got my passport stamped, I was determined to quickly notify my parents that I was alive and well in Dubai. Of course, the airport didn’t have wifi. Tired and hungry, I figured I’d cut my loses and just move on to the university. On a brighter note, the taxi ride went really well. I barely had to even hail the cab. It was just there. Haha.

I was very pleased when I got to the university and got let into my dorm building right away. I did not, however, get let into my room promptly. No one was in the building but cleaning ladies who barely spoke English. They kept reassuring me that someone was going to get my keys soon. I waited for about 30 minutes before getting antsy. I made up some excuse about needing to go to the bathroom to get away from the cleaning ladies.

As I feared, there was NO toilet paper. Worse—no soap. All I wanted to do was wash my hands after touching plane stuff and the sweaty hands of my taxi driver. What a pity.

Eventually someone gave me my key, my admissions packet (a little late, if you ask me), and a welcome bag of food. Naturally, everything in the bag contains gluten. Wonderful. It’s currently taunting my empty stomach on my desk.

 My room is huge. It is the biggest double I have ever seen. It is on the fourth floor, and the ceiling must be 15 to 20 feet high. I am quite pleased with it. Also, I have my own bathroom. There are two toilets (?), a shower—without a curtain, a sink, and a decent size mirror. The view from my room is great—lots of pretty palm trees.

As I started to unpack I noticed that my suitcase smelled unusually delicious. As I’m sure you can guess, my shampoo broke open. So did the bag the shampoo was in, the only bag of liquids that I didn’t double bag. The mess wasn’t too bad, thankfully. I went to go rinse the stuff effected in the sink, and it started bubbling. Normally that would totally make sense… but the bubbles weren’t just going down the drain. They were coming up from the drains in the floor. Only in the Middle East. Haha.

So many things are odd and out of control that I just have to laugh. At first it wasn’t so funny, but what am I going to do? I am the ONLY STUDENT HERE so far, so no one is prepared. The bus that takes people off campus in the morning left a 9am. I was here at that time, but no one else was except the cleaners. Ha. Anyway, I am SO hungry. I need to buy a lot of other stuff, too. For example I need an internet cable. Currently even the campus wifi doesn’t connect to my computer for reasons unbeknownst to me. Don’t worry—the housing manager says that IT will be back on campus on Saturday, only 3 days away. I surely hope I will have the internet before then. I’m just typing this in a Word document, but I’d love to post it online.

Ah! The adapter that the housing manager said I could have isn’t actually a fit. I just noticed that my battery is running out. Great. Haha. Alright, that’s all for now. I need to save the power I have left.

Ready For Departure

I'm starting this blog so that while abroad I can notify friends and family-- mostly family-- of what I am doing in a uniform fashion.  If I were to send individual messages, I would surely be unable to keep an accurate, updated account of my travels with each person. Over this blog, however, I will be able to inform everyone at the same time, so no one will feel left in the dark.

To begin, I will tell you about the preparations that I have made for my journey. Starting 3 days ago, I began to alter my sleep schedule in an attempt to avoid too much jet lag upon arrival in Dubai. I am currently sleeping from 2:30PM to 11:00PM. Is this actually going to help me? I do not know, but at least I am trying. :) Of course, I have packed. I planned out what I wanted to bring a month ago. I am Holly Smith, after all. Lastly, I read a few hundred pages on Dubai. You can never be too prepared, right?

Anyway, I'm going to stop writing here, because I have nothing interesting left to say. You'll hear more from me once I arrive in Dubai!