Submitted by Ryan Kahn on the 2024 Winter CIEG program in Dubai…
On January 3rd, I touched down in Dubai, honestly not knowing what to expect. After being here for only 1 week, I can safely say it has been one of the most incredible and life-changing weeks of my life. As a program, we have already done so much as well as learned so much in the classroom through our two courses; Engineering Project Management and International Construction. For this first blog, I want to talk about 3 excursions that really stood out to me during this first week of being abroad.
The first excursion I want to mention is more so of an exploration. Coming into this trip I was expecting Dubai to be a lot of dessert and not as much water. I knew there were beautiful beaches, but that was what I thought the extent of water was going to be, boy was I wrong. In between all the beautiful buildings, the Dubai Marina runs through the majority of the city. The Marina allows boats to dock at buildings and restaurants, in addition, the marina has walking paths along either side. Exploring the beaches and Marina and looking at all the incredible buildings along the way has been an awesome aspect of my Dubai experience thus far.
My second excursion from my first week was being able to see and explore the Dubai Frame. The Dubai Frame is a spectacular feat of engineering, but also has a really interesting meaning. The Frame is just under 500 ft tall and is literally a giant frame. As you can see in the picture, the top of the frame has a glass floor in which you can look down below, which was pretty scary. The frame is placed in between old Dubai and new Dubai. So when you are on the old side of the frame you can look into the future, and when you are on the new side of the frame, you can look into the past, which I thought was a really cool concept. Overall though, the building is incredible to look at and I am so happy I got to travel to the top and take in all the beautiful
views.
My third excursion that stood out to me was going to Dubai’s Micale Garden. This was one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. The park is filled with massive sculptures made out of flowers and greenery. It smelled incredible and everywhere you looked I had to just take out my phone for a picture.
Overall, I had an incredible first week here in Dubai, I highlighted 3 activities in this blog, but the list goes on and on of all the incredible places and things we have done thus far on this trip. I can not wait for the next 4 weeks and to share more of my experience! (Submitted on January 9, 2024)