Finally Here!

Greetings from Dubai!

I landed around 8:30 a.m. local time this morning, and have since gotten to AUD and settled in. The only hiccup was actually my first flight, which was supposed to go from Lancaster to D.C., but was fogged out. I couldn’t afford to wait for the next one, so the airport called a taxi and I was driven down to Dulles. Despite the horrendous rush hour traffic, I still made it comfortably for my next flight. I flew straight from D.C. to Dubai on Emirates Airlines. Seriously, if you ever get the chance to fly Emirates, please do so. Everything is incredible- from the food to the service, I was treated like royalty! Heck, I was even given a warmed, moist washcloth to dab my face after we took off. I could go on and on about Emirates, but I’ll stop there at the sake of keeping this post at a readable length.

I got a taxi to take me to AUD, and since the airport and university are at opposite ends of the city, I got to see most of the city on my ride there. Dubai really is a place of superlatives. There were more luxury high-rise skyscrapers than I could possibly count, and about halfway through my drive I passed by the tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa. Writing about how tall it is really doesn’t do it justice, but trust me when I say that it looks like it reaches halfway into the sun.  Then on my right we passed the Burj Al-Arab, the famous hotel that is perched out into the ocean and that has the distinctive sailboat design. Oh, it’s also the world’s only seven star hotel. Talk about a superlative, right? The last thing that I immediately noticed was heat. It’s no joke, it’s downright smokin’, and it’s not even summer yet.

The American University of Dubai, like the rest of the city, is beautiful. It consists of tan buildings that are clustered together in a gated area, and they are quite modern on the inside while being classical on the outside. Fortunately, each building (including my dorm room) has air conditioning, something that I am currently taking advantage of. There is a large athletic field in the corner surrounded by a track, outfitted with soccer goals and even some stadium style seating. CNN’s Dubai headquarters are right across the street, and I’m a few blocks from the ocean and the famous palm tree islands. Hopefully I’ll be able to explore the latter in due time.

As for tonight, I plan on going out and purchasing a few items that I need, and then finding something to eat. After that, I’ll try to go to bed. I committed the cardinal sin of jet lag prevention this afternoon and napped, so I hope I can sleep tonight. Sleeping on the plane was impossible due to numerous toddlers and babies that were quite loud, and to not sleep on a 13 hour flight takes its toll. Tomorrow, I might be going to one of the famous malls with a group of people, but we’ll see. That’s all for now!

With love,

Andrew