Last August marks one year since I stood in the airport back home hugging all my friends and family, got on a plane, left home and flew here to pursue higher education.
I get this question A MILLION TIMES: "Why did you come to Texas to study?"
ANSWER: I'm from Dubai and as awesome as Dubai is, the city has more of a business and tourist demographic. High schools are great in Dubai but there aren't a lot of great university established there yet. This is because the UAE (the United Arab Emirates) is still a fairly young country; it's only been around for about 40 years. I guess that makes Dubai as old as UT Tyler! :)
Things I miss most about home:
- My dogs. This is the one thing I miss the most about home. I have 2 pekingese back home that live with my cousins now. I really really miss them!
- My friends and family. I cannot express how much I miss them. All of them.
- The beach. I want to live on a beach one day. The beach is basically my number one most favorite place in the world. And Dubai is pretty much a city on the coast. Wherever you are in Dubai, you are never more than 10 minutes away from the sea. And to be honest? Dubai has some awesome beaches.
- SHOPPING and big malls. I love shopping. I shop here too, but not as much as I do back home. The reason? One word. TAXES. The people of the UAE don't pay taxes for anything. When I buy a dress for 100 dirhams, I pay 100 dirhams. Here, when I buy a $100 dress, I pay $120 with tax. I know, I know... it's all for the greater good and everything. I'm just not used to it. Also, I noticed that all the malls here are pretty small. One mall in Dubai has 1200 stores, which is the biggest mall in the world. Another mall as an indoor ski slope. Literally. Days when it's 100+ degrees outside, my friends and I would make plans to "go to the mall and ski".
- The food. Oh, how much I crave an authentic shawarma. Courtney has blogged about food in Israel when she went to visit. It really is that good.
- Dance competitions and hockey/basketball tournaments. Back home I was in a dance crew as well as in a hockey team and basketball team. We used to go places to compete all the time. I miss that and I miss my teammates.
- Restaurants and shops that close at 1am. There was a time during my first semester when I successfully submitted a paper at midnight and wanted to reward myself with dessert. When I told my friends this, they looked at me and asked "So Walmart or iHop?" because as I learned, shops close at around 5-8pm and the only things open late at night are those two places. Almost all restaurants and shops close late at night back home and I miss being able to go out and have a spontaneously fancy midnight snack.
I could think of a lot more but this list would never end. Let's just say that even though it's been a year, there are days that homesickness just really hits me in the gut. I'm sure a lot of students feel this way too. I'm thinking of writing a blog that talks about how I overcome homesickness. But that's for next time.
I get this question A MILLION TIMES: "Why did you come to Texas to study?"
ANSWER: I'm from Dubai and as awesome as Dubai is, the city has more of a business and tourist demographic. High schools are great in Dubai but there aren't a lot of great university established there yet. This is because the UAE (the United Arab Emirates) is still a fairly young country; it's only been around for about 40 years. I guess that makes Dubai as old as UT Tyler! :)
Things I miss most about home:
- My dogs. This is the one thing I miss the most about home. I have 2 pekingese back home that live with my cousins now. I really really miss them!
- My friends and family. I cannot express how much I miss them. All of them.
- The beach. I want to live on a beach one day. The beach is basically my number one most favorite place in the world. And Dubai is pretty much a city on the coast. Wherever you are in Dubai, you are never more than 10 minutes away from the sea. And to be honest? Dubai has some awesome beaches.
- SHOPPING and big malls. I love shopping. I shop here too, but not as much as I do back home. The reason? One word. TAXES. The people of the UAE don't pay taxes for anything. When I buy a dress for 100 dirhams, I pay 100 dirhams. Here, when I buy a $100 dress, I pay $120 with tax. I know, I know... it's all for the greater good and everything. I'm just not used to it. Also, I noticed that all the malls here are pretty small. One mall in Dubai has 1200 stores, which is the biggest mall in the world. Another mall as an indoor ski slope. Literally. Days when it's 100+ degrees outside, my friends and I would make plans to "go to the mall and ski".
- The food. Oh, how much I crave an authentic shawarma. Courtney has blogged about food in Israel when she went to visit. It really is that good.
- Dance competitions and hockey/basketball tournaments. Back home I was in a dance crew as well as in a hockey team and basketball team. We used to go places to compete all the time. I miss that and I miss my teammates.
- Restaurants and shops that close at 1am. There was a time during my first semester when I successfully submitted a paper at midnight and wanted to reward myself with dessert. When I told my friends this, they looked at me and asked "So Walmart or iHop?" because as I learned, shops close at around 5-8pm and the only things open late at night are those two places. Almost all restaurants and shops close late at night back home and I miss being able to go out and have a spontaneously fancy midnight snack.
I could think of a lot more but this list would never end. Let's just say that even though it's been a year, there are days that homesickness just really hits me in the gut. I'm sure a lot of students feel this way too. I'm thinking of writing a blog that talks about how I overcome homesickness. But that's for next time.
The seven star hotel that's built out at sea.
Currently the tallest building in the world, standing at 829.84 m high.
The Palm. One of the 3 man made islands in Dubai; 2 of them are shaped like palm trees and one of them shaped like the world map
Image from: http://onebigphoto.com/sky-high-dubai-marina/
12 comments:
Omg I really want to visit Dubai now.
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Oh Dance competitions and hockey and basketball tournaments and Back home I was in a dance crew as well as in a hockey team and basketball team but We used to go places to compete all the time. I miss that and I miss my teammates, thanks again
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