Submitted by Boris Manjic on the 2022 winter session program in the United Arab Emirates sponsored by the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering…
The second week in Dubai was somehow even more fun than our first week. It started with the entire group enjoying a meal at a Syrian restaurant that our TA, Waleed, recommended. Here, we ate a “mixed meat grill” and the best hummus I have ever tasted. On top of the great food, the service was impeccable. I am not exaggerating when I say the second I put a napkin down, the waiter came to pick it up immediately. It was the absolute best service I have ever received and probably will ever receive. The following day, Dr. Small took us on a nature tour in the Green Planet Indoor Wildlife Reserve. Here, we saw over 30 species of birds, monkeys, and even bats. The enclosure was beautiful and I have never seen anything like it before as even the temperature/humidity was mimicking a real rainforest.
On the 14th, I had the best time of my life. Dr. Small took us out to the desert, which was a complete change to the extreme city life of Dubai I have been experiencing. We started by getting traditional Emirati clothing, kandoras and ghuṭrahs, and prepared to go in 4×4 vehicles. We stopped at the top of a sand dune and stayed till sunset. There, we got the most beautiful views of the terrain and had a wholesome experience as a group. Right after sunset, we went to a camp where we got to see fire dancing, belly dancing, and the traditional tanoura dance. Once the dances finished, we had a buffet which had the most traditional food we’ve seen so far. Everything included rice and some sort of meat/sauce.
On the 17th, Dr. Small took us to a camel race. This was the most unique event we attended since I haven’t even seen any camels prior to this program and now we got to see well over
200. The event was sort of like a horse race, but instead of human jockeys there were robots controlling the camel’s speed. The race was also extremely long and the average time to complete one was fourteen minutes. This was a once in a lifetime experience only available in select countries.
Finally, on the 18th we went to the Sheikh Mohammed Cultural Center and learned cultural differences between the U.S, and the UAE. For example, sons/daughters get married by the decision of their parents and not by the choice of their own will. It is widely accepted in the UAE, but was a culture shock for me. After we finished, we went to the Miracle Gardens, where there were the most species of flowers I have ever seen. They even had a life-sized model of the A380 plane completely covered in plants. It was such a pleasing experience and I wish we had more places like this in the United States
Overall, the best week of my life and I hope next week can live up to what we did this week.
