Submitted by John Kaminski on the 2024 Winter CIEG program in Dubai…
My second week in Dubai was another action packed week, full of excursions and awesome new experiences. Beginning the week with a breathtaking dinner cruise where we were able to travel up and down the Dubai Marina, seeing all of the surrounding skyscrapers lit up with dazzling LED lights. The week continued with a trip to the Dubai Camel Racing Club, where we were able to experience the traditional Dubai sport of camel racing for the first time. Another excursion that we took this week was a trip into “Old Dubai” where we were able to see what Dubai looked like before all of the urbanization. During this excursion we visited the Sheikh Mohammed Centre for Cultural Understanding, where we learned more about the Emirati culture and etiquette, and also experienced the Dubai souks, which are huge markets filled with all types of regional goods. Following the excursion to “Old Dubai”, we took a trip to the Museum of the Future, which is an amazing and iconic structure dedicated to showcasing innovative and futuristic technologies that Dubai looks to implement within the next 50 years. We finished the week off with a quick trip into Downtown Dubai, where we briefly explored the Dubai mall, which is the largest 2nd largest mall in the world, and also got the chance to check out the outside of the Burj Khalifa, which is the tallest building in the world. This week featured a lot of truly unbelievable experiences, and I am excited to continue on with week 3. (Submitted on January 22, 2024)