Macabea's blog

My days go on in the way I’ve become comfortable with: class in the morning at NYU’s downtown campus, working at my Al-Mamoura office for hours, squash at the Sheraton Corniche, dinner in Sama Tower, studying and socializing late into the night, six hours of sleep, and it all starts again.  My weekends offer some breaks to the cycle with meals out with various acquaintances, more time for schoolwork or finding something fun to do in the city . . .  but it is all changing now.  My nights are full of goodbye dinners with colleagues and others I’ve met outside of NYU, classes are slowing as final papers and projects begin, and every day it gets a little bit sadder with my friends.  And today, the remaining ones have hit single digits- 9 days left. 
 
This semester has been my best by far.  I’ve felt constantly inspired and I’ve been endlessly learning.  The city makes very few things stressful- no traffic, cheap prices, clean infrastructure, and lots of cultures to explore.  The people I’ve been around have pushed me to think in many different ways, my NYUAD professors and students, my colleagues at work, and the various others I’ve interacted with, whether briefly or for extended and multiple periods.   Overall, I love Abu Dhabi because there is so much to do, so many issues to think about, and so many people who it is incredibly easy to meet.   Most importantly, I’ve forged deep friendships and established many mentors. 
 
What I’ll miss the most when I leave is just the culture of Abu Dhabi how complicated and unseen it is.  I’ll miss the sights and sounds, the different foods in the air, the Oud, and seeing the fancy cars and beautiful abayas and kanduras.  I’ll also be sad to leave work- I’ve loved the company I’ve been involved with, they’ve taught me more than I would have ever expected and really respect my input.  The hardest part will be leaving my friends.  I’ve made many but have a close group of seven or so that I’ll miss a lot.  Luckily, many will be studying abroad in New York next semester- but the four months between now and then will be sad.
 
I’ve really enjoyed this course because the prompts and the readings have given me an extra layer of reflection on my time here in the city.  I always write about my different experiences, but it has been nice to be pushed to think about new subjects and in new ways.  I recommend this course to anyone studying abroad and I recommend Abu Dhabi- though it isn’t for everyone.  It takes hard work to see its beauty and a strong mind to maintain certain ideals in the face of difficult situations.  Regardless, this semester has been one of great thinking, and I’m sad it will be ending. 
 
Hopefully though, I will be returning to Abu Dhabi when I graduate in December.  I would love to spend two years or so here working and learning about the city in a different way.  It really feels like home.

 
Studying abroad in Abu Dhabi is one of the best things I’ve ever done.  I’ve really come to love this city and have felt closer to my potential here than anywhere before.  Why I think I’ve done so well and enjoyed it so fully is because I’ve popped all of the typical bubbles of a student’s experience here.  The school can seem small, the city- fake, the culture- nonexistent, and things to do- minor.  But those are ALL wrong.
 
One of my favorite things about Abu Dhabi is how incredibly easy it is to network and make connections.  The city is transient, no one stays here for too long, few people put down their roots, and statements like “I’ve known him forever” are only said through stories, and this makes for a fascinating environment where people form relationships (personally and in business) much faster.  Add to that the simple and true phrase, “I’m just an interested student,” and you have every door open to you.  Not only have I attained my most prestigious internships while here, but I also have made connections with wonderful and influential people just by being interested.  
 
A second think I’ve loved about my study abroad here is the amazing people.  I talk to EVERYONE and I learn so much.  I ask my cab drivers questions, I debate with students, inquire with professors, and take advice from my superiors at work.  I do this everywhere I study or travel, but there is something special about this city.  There are so many fascinating stories in Abu Dhabi about every corner of the world, all parts of the mind, the heart, and more.  People live such disparate existences here in Abu Dhabi and come from an even larger variety – and it makes for deep, deep well of knowledge.
 
The third thing I love about Abu Dhabi is how small it feels.  Even though it is a city of around a million people, there isn’t an overload of things for a student to see, places to eat, nightlife venues, etc- but there is still more than enough.   Some of my favorites are Spinney’s for groceries, Ray’s Bar in Etihad Towers for the weekends, the Corniche for walking or running and Chamas to eat until your stomach explodes or maybe one of the obscure Lebanese, Saudi, or Ethiopian restaurants with no name.  The coolest part is that so many things still happen in Abu Dhabi- there are endless amounts of concerts, more and more academic discussions, sporting events come around, and so on.  It is wonderfully full of activity but doesn’t make you feel like you have to try a new place every single night.
 
Lastly, I love the travel opportunities from Abu Dhabi.  Not only does the school fund various class trips at no additional cost to the students- I’ve had fieldtrips to Jordan and Oman-, but there are also so many fascinating and cheap locations for weekend or longer trips: Egypt, Lebanon, Turkey, Sri Lanka, India, Kenya, Armenia, etc.  It is almost literally the center of this hemisphere and that makes for a great jumping off point.
Overall, I love Abu Dhabi and I’ve loved my experience here.  I’m even thinking seriously about trying to find a job here when I graduate in December.  For anyone thinking about coming I say that I hugely recommend it, unless you are looking for an intense party scene. My most important tip is to look really deep into the cultures present here: the Emirati, ex-pat, migrant, tourist, student, and all those in between, or such intriguing and overlapping presences here.  The school may be small, but you can get out, the culture may seem shallow but is more complex than anything I’ve ever witnessed, and the city is full of activity and surprises.    
 
All you have to do is pop those bubbles.

Because privilege is so visible here it is easy to think it is commonplace- that everyone lives like I do, or better. My surroundings are almost always higher-class: I stay in our nice clean dorms, work in a prestigious building, and go out to the swankier restaurants, clubs, and stores.   Those are my locales- that is my world, my Abu Dhabi.  But there is so much more that I never see. 
 
This ‘other Abu Dhabi’ hits me anytime I have to walk somewhere.  In my perception of Abu Dhabi, it is not a pedestrian city at all.  I take cabs everywhere I go, because they are very cheap, and the city is spread out.  But on the rare occasion that I need to go somewhere that is only a few blocks away, I am consistently SHOCKED about how many people are out on the street, not taking cabs, but getting to where they are getting on foot!  It isn’t that I’m not aware of it of course, but that I don’t think about it until it is right in front of me, showing me the ‘other.’
 
In classes, my research, here on the blog, and with my NGO- Trail of Seeds, I constantly preach against ‘us v. them’ dichotomies, but it is naïve to pretend that we are not living them in so many different ways!  I think that it is important to accept that we must operate in them to some extent- we can’t reject how life is- but we can work so that we do not perpetuate the negative qualities that go against human rights.  How exactly to do this, I still don’t know and I’m still exploring, but I see that even the simplest change in our own perceptions of power dynamics is effective.
 
The moment of realization that involves this point came last night when I was talking with a group of friends about taking taxis.  I was telling different stories about conversations I have had with drivers and explained that I always ask them questions to try and learn their perspective on Abu Dhabi, which I think is good in trying to eliminate some of this system- by understanding it.  I then said something about how I always sit in the back, and everyone got confused.  The majority of my friends thought that it was hypocritical to try and learn about hierarchies while so clearly sustaining one.  I was surprised to find out that most of my friends, especially the guys, always sat in the passenger seat, the littlest attempt at equality.  Of course we cannot immediately change the system that in Abu Dhabi people from certain countries drive people from other certain countries around.  But by showing mutual respect and interest, we CAN make some positive change.

I’ve written a lot about how Abu Dhabi has come to feel like home.  Throughout my few months here there have been many individuals who have made me feel welcomed and safe in this foreign place: my professors, fellow students, colleagues, strangers, etc. Two people though stand out- my friend’s mother, Sally, and my Emirati friend Hafsah.  
 
Sally and I have an interesting history.  We first met in 2008 in Sydney, Australia, where she is from.  Her daughter was about to start attending my boarding school, and I needed a host for a night, so I called her up!  She hadn’t even set foot at the school but was already a part of the mutual hosting process that characterizes it.  I had a wonderful day there with the family walking around the harbor bridge and the opera house, taking a ferry across to their home, and making pavlova, eating barbecue, drinking Australian beer, and watching the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics.  It was such a nice visit and I was so sad to leave.  So when I came to Abu Dhabi in January and was told that because of Sally’s husband’s job they had relocated here, I was ecstatic!
 
I waited only a week before setting up our first lunch with Sally and a buddy of mine from boarding school who also goes to NYU-AD.  She was just as wonderful as I remembered- a great listener truly interested in what I am doing with my life, and making sure at every moment that I am happy and trying to find ways to help me.  And help she has- Sally is the one who secured my interview with the consulting firm I work here, she and another friend helped me suit shopping, she has taken me to various dinners at amazing Abu Dhabi restaurants, as well as inviting us to her parties for Easter and a social beach party.  All-in-all, Sally has helped me grow my roots in this wonderful city and exposed me to the fascinating Ex-pat community and their lifestyles.  The services at the school are great, but I know that if I ever needed anything, Sally would be the first person I call!
 
The second person who helps me feel grounded in Abu Dhabi is my friend Hafsah.  She is an Emirati girl who I met in New York when she was traveling there as a Sheikh Mohammed Scholar and I was asked by John Sexton to meet with them, as I was then in his Religion and Politics class.  We hit it off and have continued a bit of contact over Facebook, so when I came here I knew I had to meet up with her- especially as she could give me inside information on Emirati life. 
 
Unfortunately with our insanely busy schedules and different local customs, we’ve only been able to meet once, but we’ve also talked on the phone half a dozen times- and each time for an hour or more!  Our conversations basically consist of me bombarding her with questions about Emirati culture, customs, and how things work in the nation.  She is extremely intelligent and I respect her thoughts so deeply.  I’m glad I’ve been able to hear her perspective because it has added a great deal to my experience here.  I only wish we could meet up more!
 
Though these two wonderful ladies stand out, there have been countless people who have helped me feel happy here in Abu Dhabi.  I have learned from each and every person, place, and experience that I encounter (which is my life’s mantra) and I hope that my last month here is similarly filled with activity and joy!
 
 

 
I had a wonderful Spring Break.  I spent eight days in Bangkok, Thailand with one of my closest friends who I hadn’t seen in over a year, and then spent three days relaxing alone in Sri Lanka.  However, the best part of leaving Abu Dhabi was coming back and feeling at home. 
 
I realized it almost immediately, as I walked out of the plane and into the terminal of Abu Dhabi airport.  The smell of oud hit me and I saw women in abayas and sheilas, and men in their kanduras.  I breathed out deeply and thought “ahhhhh, finally- I’m back!” 
 
When I got into the taxi and told him to head to “Sama Tower near NMC Hospital on Electra Street” I had the biggest smile on my face.  No more traffic jams like the ones I experienced in Asia and no more crowded street corners or shabby buildings.  I looked out over the never ending desert to one side and the Arabian Gulf to the other.  There was space!  And not just horizontally.  As we got closer to the city I began to see the tall buildings, the vertical expansion of this wonderful country.  Though nothing like Dubai’s, the skyline of Abu Dhabi is a fantastically organized and beautiful site.  It is a kind of comfortable synthetic.  Everything is manufactured: the five lane roads, the huge sculptures on the highway, the wasteful fountains, and even more abstractly, the social system.  Yet I’ve grown to love it all and I feel happy to call it home, it all feels right. 
 
This comfortable synthetic extends into my living space too.  The furniture is still dorm-like, but higher quality than I am used to, and I keep my room spotless and bed constantly made- just like the manicured strips of grass and the nearly spotless streets outside.  Abu Dhabi feels put together as well as dynamic.  It is ever changing, new initiatives are being introduced in every field or space imaginable, but the foundation is still this ‘comfortable synthetic.’ 
 
This atmosphere has pushed my productivity through the roof and it motives me and I thrive in it.  Though I loved and enjoyed Spring Break, I felt drained and separated from the actions here.  I get so many stimuli from the incredibly different local culture, the various foreigners, my internships, and NYU-AD’s classes and my friends.  I feel like I am constantly progressing and learning and for someone with so few geographical roots like myself, that feeling is what makes a ‘home’.

“Abu Dhabi: Oil and Beyond” by Christopher Davidson was really interesting to read because it highlights and discusses one of the questions most consistent in my mind this semester: “What does ‘developed’ mean?”
 
As I go around this city, I see wide streets, tall buildings, fancy everything (like the fountains in the picture), and healthy, educated people.  For most measures of ‘development’ Abu Dhabi and the UAE are doing not just fine, but spectacularly.  However, in many ways the country is not up to par, and has not prepared itself well for the future.  One main point that Davidson points to is diversification, and another one that I often encounter at my internship, is human capital.
 
For the first point, the economy here is based significantly on oil, which makes up nearly all of the country’s revenue and exports.  The huge wealth in this resource has provided many great things to Abu Dhabi, but has also made it heavily reliant. With oil prices being volatile- changing daily based on external factors the UAE can not control or predict, the government is fearful that it can be at risk of too many fluctuations.  So one of the main goals of the country is to diversify the economy and introduce new industries.  Exploring these opportunities shows that a beautifully designed infrastructure funded by oil is really a façade to a society that knows very little what else to do.  In this sense, Abu Dhabi is not very developed.
 
Going along with diversification is human capital.  The Emirati citizens make up only 10-15% of the residents of the country and receive fantastic benefits strictly for being such.  They receive free education, money for getting married, high starting wages, and enormous discounts on social programs.  They get all of this for doing very little, and because of how pervasive and lucrative oil is, there are few other industries that they see worth joining themselves, instead they let foreigners do it all.  This again causes the country to lose control of its own trajectory.  But to take back control the citizens need to have incentives to form an entrepreneurial spirit and make profit from good ideas.  Although most of the citizens now are educated, they still do not use this to forward themselves or the economy as much as other societies.  This similarly is not a ‘developed’ characteristic.
 
With these two points of how Abu Dhabi still has a lot of development to do comes the interesting fact that the country must also address many other problems of ‘development’ that are further down the line for other nations.  For example, Abu Dhabi is running out of water and food, and is in need of alternative energies.  The unique combination of these needs and the vast wealth means that the UAE can approach, and possibly solve, these ‘development’ issues before the other countries have to.  This puts them into a fascinating position.
 
Lastly, Davidson also points out some societal developments such as migrant labor, censorship, and the creation of tourism.  How to deal with these issues is part of the every day discourse here and involves human rights, inclusive growth, and cultural essentialization.  All of these factors are very pressing here in the Emirates and the approach to them can help forward development around the world.
 
In conclusion, my semester in Abu Dhabi and reading Davidson’s book has forced me to reconsider my perspective on my major, development.  It is not a process with an end, but rather continues for each society as new issues arise and they feel like they can further improve upon themselves.

Once again, I find it hard to answer the prompt through my experience here in Abu Dhabi.  Of the eight location categories listed above, there is only one, bars, that I’ve gone to here, and even then there is only one bar that I’ve gone to more than once!  My life here is centered very heavily around only a few places: my two internship locations, the dorm (where our dining is as well), the ‘Downtown Campus’ where classes are, and two or three grocery stores.  I guess that I am also pretty familiar with the terminal at the airport as I’ve been in it three out of the past four weekends.  However, this is not to say that I feel trapped or really in a bubble here in Abu Dhabi.  In fact, it all feels just right- I’m nowhere too much, I interact with lots of different people, and I constantly feel motivated and inspired.
 
So thinking of a “great good place” for my life here in Abu Dhabi, two come to mind: my room and the dining hall.  A huge percentage of my social interactions take place in both, and each is a hang-out spot for my friends and me.
 
Because I work everyday until 5 or 6pm, I always have about an hour to chill and decompress in my room before dinner.  I normally go with the same group of people and we sit for a little over an hour talking about our days, some topic or debate that came up, and it is always a good time.  We then usually separate for a few hours to do some work and then slowly convene again in one of three rooms, mine included.  Mine is nice because I have a single made for two- meaning it is large, we aren’t bothering a roommate, and I always keep it very clean and stocked with fruit or candy of some sort.
 
The idea of my own personal space, or that of NYU being my “great good place” in Abu Dhabi only reaffirms my belief that we students are forming a new fifth culture of the city.  There are the Emiratis, the wealthy ex-pats, the migrant workers, tourists, and now us.  Each of the other four groups has their locations, and sometimes I go to them, but I don’t list them as my “great good place” because they don’t feel like ‘mine’ or ‘ours.’  We aren’t really sure where we fit in around here, but we are welcomed nonetheless.
 
This prompt also makes me realize the huge difference between being at NYU-Abu Dhabi for one semester and being here for four years.  For a few months it is nice to have my room as my main hang-out, to always convene in the dining hall, and occasionally escape into other various Abu Dhabi locales, but to do the same thing for too long would be monotonous and tedious.  Many of the students, especially the second years, feel a little cabin fever.  Granted, I already have more internships and get out more than most of them because of those, but still- I can understand why four months is enough for this structure.
 
That said, increasingly everyday I fall in love with Abu Dhabi, and as I graduate in December, I think more and more about the possibility of looking to return here for work.  I guess that then I will venture into the status of “expat” and probably then find a new, more concrete and real “great good place.”

When I read the prompt for this week I got nervous because I hadn’t been to any art museum in the Emirates!  However, I quickly realized that this was because there are none.  I double checked online, and yea- the only museums (and there are like two tops) are largely cultural and focus on development.   We have to take into account that only 50 years ago this was hardly even a town, and the people were not really well-off enough to spend time making much art.  Also, a lot of art focuses on religion, and Islam prohibits the prophet Mohammed’s image from being drawn, so. . . yea, not much art around here. Though there are plans to open a Guggenheim and a Louvre in Abu Dhabi and some other art museums in Dubai- but still, nothing really yet.
 
But, then I started to think back to the extremely meta required course in the IB (international baccalaureate) “Theory of Knowledge.”  One of the sections of the syllabus, which is uniform for all IB students, is “What is art?”  Is art just creation? Or is it just expression in visual form?  Or does it have to be high-class painting, sculptures, prints or the other usual things we see in art museums? 
 
Well, the more that I thought about it the more I realized that there is a lot of art in the Emirates- most noticeably the urban development.  There are beautiful walking paths along the coast, awe-striking skyscrapers, variously shaped man-made islands, and dozens of fountains.  Inside these buildings we have elaborate elevators, chandeliers, rugs, and even toilet seats.  There may not be a huge presence of “art” in the traditional or usual sense in the Emirates, but everything is for show in one way or another, and to me at least, that is art.
 
So for my favorite piece of art in the Emirates I would have to say the Burj Khalifa.  I know it is a bit cliché to say that the tallest building in the world is my favorite, but seriously it is INSANE.  To put it in perspective, it is more than twice as tall as the Empire State Building.  Just stop for a second and think about what that means. . . it is ridiculous.
 
The first time that I saw it was at night, and because of its black color it took me quite some time to realize it was there- I legitimately thought that the blinking dot on top was a plane.  It towers above the other buildings in Dubai, and yet they are all astonishingly tall as well- including the Burj, there are 9 buildings in Dubai that are within 100ft of the Empire State Building (only two are taller).  It is astonishing, and though I know in New York we make fun of tourists who can’t do anything but look up, with the Burj Khalifa you can’t help it.
 
In the end, I love that studying in the Emirates has made me rethink so many things like: culture, language, wealth, identity, globalization, human rights, development, and now art. 

A Diamond in the Desert by Jo Tatchell was exactly what I wanted to get out of a book about Abu Dhabi.  It touched on all of the relevant issues: development, Islam, culture, money, women, migration, and more, and did so by combining anecdotes that juxtaposed the past with the present, as well as historicizing the changes that took place.  Tatchell grew up in Abu Dhabi as a British expat, and the book is about her journey back to “see what changed.”  She meets with old friends and gets a feel for the city’s vibrancy while reflecting on her memories of what once was.  Most poignantly, reading the text furthered my realization of Abu Dhabi’s complexities, and the role I play in it. 
 
Living in a city that is so focused on the future makes it easy to forget that a past ever existed. We all know that Abu Dhabi has changed insanely fast, that it was nothing only 50 years ago, but it was nice to be taken through the process from somebody who has had her foot in both eras.  It also gave a depth to the city beyond oil and skyscrapers, the book forced me to analyze all that is around me, the workers in my buildings, the expensive cars, the huge hotels, and the call to prayer five times a day.  Her stories gave me access to parts of the city and lives here that I will never know, but their presence in the atmosphere is surely part of my experience.
 
Of course, what the book most gave me a glimpse of was the wealthy expat community.  Yea, I work with some, am taught by others, and dine next to them too, but being a student in Abu Dhabi is a weird middle ground that only partially entitles me to the expat lifestyle.  I enjoyed her citing familiar restaurants, locations, and clubs, but it reminded me that it isn’t the life that I am living here.  We have a dorm, a dining hall, and a big majority of my social interactions are at NYU-AD. 
 
We live in a bubble, but it isn’t necessarily one that I want to pop.  Abu Dhabi allows for many cultures to take root and be formed here.  Of course there is the Emiratis, the expats, the migrants, the tourists, and they all grow and develop very quickly.  Now more than ever, I see that in addition to those Abu Dhabi experiences, there is also us, the students.  NYU-AD together with the couple other foreign universities here makes us number less than 1,000, but nevertheless we are carving our own lifestyle into the framework of this fascinating city, and it is letting us.
 
Realizing this makes me less upset about how hard it is to access certain parts of Abu Dhabi life, because I see that my abroad experience is not only about cultural exchange, but also cultural formation.

Authenticity and Abu Dhabi are not put into the same sentence very often.  The opposite combination, Abu Dhabi and fake, however, is very commonplace. People like to discuss how the Emirates, or the Gulf region as a whole, “has no culture.”  Or at least, no “traditional culture.”  They always cite the figure that only 10-15% of Abu Dhabi residents are even Emirati, point to English and Urdu as more used than Arabic, and talk about how drastically life has changed since oil was found 50 years ago, to show that Emirati culture has been pushed aside. Yet I think that this ever-prevalent discourse is a bit unfair, and I have two things to say to it:  first, that the Emirates have created a new, international and cosmopolitan culture, and second, that many aspects of pre-oil Emirati life are still to be found, just not shoved in the face of outsiders. 
 
As for the newly formed international culture, this is one of the parts of living in Abu Dhabi that I have appreciated and learned from the most.  Looking out my window I can see food shops from half a dozen countries, I walk outside and hear multiple languages, and upon meeting new people one of the first things asked is, “where are you from?”  Granted, the same things can be said for New York, but in Abu Dhabi it is vastly different.  Most importantly, because people are here long-term, there aren’t just a lot of tourists from all over, but people from every nation imaginable are residents of Abu Dhabi, and the city is theirs (though citizenship is nearly impossible to attain).  Furthermore, there is little assimilation in Abu Dhabi; when you move here you do not take on many Emirati customs, but instead become a part of the hodgepodge of internationality that is the Emirates.  Almost everyone here is a foreigner and we take weird comfort in that.  You can feel the pulse of the world in Abu Dhabi, as you can in New York, but here you realize that something more than the “West” exists.  That said, things are very different here for the migrant workers and the ex-pat businessmen and us students, and while I’m not privy to the inner-workings of the former, in my experience, the world has never felt smaller.
 
Considering Emirati culture itself, I think the main mistake people make when criticizing ‘culture’ in this region is to think that it is something frozen and immovable overtime.  However, Abu Dhabi shows how dynamic culture can be, how it involves more than praxis, but attitude and outlook as well.  Yes, young Emiratis do not live the Bedouin lifestyle of their grandparents’ childhoods, but the attitudes and values of family and society, the love for traditional dress, food and religious practice, and faith in their leaders remains strong.  It is true that foreigners do not easily access Emirati culture, and it is largely clouded in mystery, but the separation alone highlights that there is still a difference.  Numerous things that I have learned about the culture from research and discussions with Emirati friends are fascinating and inspiring to me, and though rapidly changing in many ways, I feel its presence and appreciate it.
 
In the end, it is hard to think about ‘authenticity’ in the Emirates, because the essence of the place is hard to assess.  Abu Dhabi is authentically international and Abu Dhabi maintains authentic or traditional attitudes.  These things can not be observed solely by the ideas of ‘front’ or ‘back’ space that MacCannell suggests, because Abu Dhabi is so multi-layered and dynamic, more so than any other place I’ve ever known.

Every day here in Abu Dhabi I make a list of all of the things that I need to do.  As the day progresses things get added, accomplished and crossed out, and if any are left at the end of the day I delegate them to other times in the week.  I usually do the same thing in New York and I would consider a busy day to be 10 or more items.  Today the list had 23.  Needless to say, my life in Abu Dhabi is hectic.  But I love it.
 
In general, I wake up at 7:45 to grab a quick breakfast before I have class for a couple of hours.  When my courses end I head straight to hail a cab so that I can be punctual to my new internship at a high-level consulting firm. I stay there for five or so hours doing tons of research and sitting in on incredible meetings, learning constantly.  I then head back to NYU and go straight to either the gym to lift weights and run, or to a nearby hotel to play squash.  I’m training for a ten-person 242km relay race that NYU-AD is sending a team to next weekend in Jordan.  We are running all of the way from the Dead Sea to the Red Sea- in under 24 hours.  I honestly don’t know if I will make it back alive.  When I’m finished working out I head to dinner with some friends and usually hang around a bit to talk with various people.  My nights are then filled with readings for school, research for my second internship I go to once a week at the German Government office, writing grant proposals for my NGO, applying to summer internships or preparing case studies for the interviews, and emailing teachers and family back in the states.  Sometimes I throw in a friend or two- just to insure I’m not a hermit.  I try to get to bed, with the entire list finished, by 2:00am and look forward to the next day where I’ll do it all again!
 
Obviously this intensity can be exhausting, but I really thrive off of it and it has all enabled me to gain so many interesting insights on Abu Dhabi and the UAE- Academically, politically, economically, and occasionally the culture will sneak in.  The weekends also tend to be more relaxed, but with a fieldtrip to Oman this weekend for my Anthropology class and then the race in Jordan next weekend, I don’t think I’ll be able to take a breath until the second week of March.  Luckily, Spring Break will come soon after that and I think my itinerary in Thailand and Sri Lanka will be the perfect combination of craziness and relaxation to allow me to rejuvenate. 
 
This morning in one of my classes a friend looked at my list and asked me about my plans for that day.  After my exasperated explanation she asked, “Are you Superman?”     I wish.

Question: What is the most spoken language in Abu Dhabi?  Answer: English. 
 
Question: What is the second most used language in Abu Dhabi?  Answer: Urdu
 
Before coming to the UAE I had one semester of intensive elementary Arabic.  Even though that means I can only engage in general greetings, single clause phrases, and negotiating prices, I thought it would at least help me.  Yet, I’ve never once even thought “Ahhh!  I wish I spoke more Arabic!”  Other than the random “inshaallah” (God willing) and “yalla” (Let’s go) I haven’t had a single moment of Arabic language necessity. 
 
This goes to show how international of a city Abu Dhabi is.   Only 10-15% of the people are actually Emiratis- UAE citizens.  The rest are either rich expat Westerners or South / Southeast Asian workers.  In fact, I’m sure that I’ve more often wished that I spoke Urdu, Hindi, or Tagalog than Arabic, by far.  Especially in taxis, because you never know quite for sure if the driver understands.  It is true that all signs are in both Arabic and English, but most often the Arabic is just transliterated English.  Since I can read the letters it is always fun to sound it out: “Mi-ku-du-nul-dz. . . . ohhh McDonalds!” In general, English is the way to go.
 
What has been fun though is how many languages are spoken around me, not only on the streets, but also at the school and my internship.  I’ve had conversations in all of the languages I am familiar with: German, Italian, Spanish, and Swahili- and it is fun to think that in my four months in the Gulf my other languages will get better.  I’ve also made close friends with a Russian student and so I’ve been exposed to a lot of Cyrillic writing and cool little Russian sayings.  I have another friend who is constantly on skype or her phone with family in Turkish- though I have little desire to learn much of it, and another one who sometimes uses Norwegian phrases. 
 
Language has definitely been a part of my experience here, as it has my whole life, but in a way than I didn’t expect.  It was similar in Tel Aviv last semester. I didn’t take Hebrew there, and I never felt like I had to learn much of it.  I’m sure that being in countries where English is heavily understood provides me with a different kind of abroad experience than others.  Maybe it makes these destinations less ‘exotic’ in the way that De Botton discusses, but language familiarity allows me to more deeply explore other cultural, political, and economic issues that interest me and assist my education. 
 
However, when I do finally return to the states- after my 14 months away have ended- I’m sure it will be nice to relax and understand everything going on around me.

Normally when I get to a new city I pay close attention to specific landmarks so as to orientate myself and remember where my host lives.  Sometimes the “landmark” is a famous building, a funny sign, or something natural like a tree. I always get a public transportation map and often draw my own to remember a location I might go to more than once (a grocery store or train station).  This is a necessary process as most often I get around new places on foot and with buses or trains.  I would like to think that I am rather good at it, as well- I can’t think of a time I couldn’t make my way around a city. However, Abu Dhabi has been different.
 
I’ve been here for three weeks now, but I could not tell you what part of town I live in.  I have no idea which way is North, South, or East.  I occasionally figure out which way is West when I see a mosque or someone praying facing Mecca.  In general though, there is only one method to the madness of getting around Abu Dhabi – taxi. 
 
In most other places I’ve been in the world, private taxis tend to be very expensive.  In New York for example, I only take them if the subway is down and I’m with enough people to make splitting the fare reasonable.  However, taxis here in Abu Dhabi are incredibly low-cost.  When I go to my internship at the German-Emirati Chamber of Commerce, a 12-minute ride, it costs me 10 dirham, or $2,75.  Heading to our favorite nightspot, 10- minutes, 8 dirham. 
 
It is fantastic, and the drivers know almost every location in the city.  Even though there are no addresses, and therefore no GPS really possible, we just refer to a big landmark, or a hotel or mall nearby.  Getting back to the dorms the phrase is always “Sama Tower, by NMC Hospital- It’s the really tall one.” 
 
Adding further to my lack of Abu Dhabi directional knowledge, NYU- Abu Dhabi shuttles us everywhere.  To start, we have a bus that leaves every 10-15 minutes for the classrooms and offices at DTC (Downtown Campus).  For weekly activities like squash practices and such we get picked up in cars, and for school-sponsored events or dinners we take a mini-bus.  I’ve already been taken to the HSBC Golf Tournament to see Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy and to 2-hours to Dubai for rockclimbing with the 2-time World Champion speed climber.  Clearly, having no sense of location has not prevented me from going places.  If it isn’t NYU itself, a cab is an easy option.
 
I guess that my wayfinding is institutionalized.

I will always be a huge proponent of travel but recently I’ve been rethinking it as a concept.  I am interested in other cultures, most of my family and friends live abroad, and I study economic and culturally sustainable development- so moving around the globe has become more of a necessary norm rather than something eagerly anticipated.  The more I do meander across the map, the smaller it gets and the more familiar each place seems.  Even though I rarely stay in hotels or take part in tourist activities, which tend to be pretty normalized, I still notice that everywhere in the world is kind of the same.   Globalization has taken its toll, and my lifestyle is a clear product of that, I’m not yet sure whether I find this homogeneity to be something bad or good.  I’m sure in various ways, it is both.
 
What inspired this line of thinking was a quotation in the de Botton piece, “the destination was not really the point.  The true desire was to get away- to go.”  The more I come to truly identify with the cliché term “global citizen” the more I feel that I am losing the ability to “get away.”  It has become too commonplace to get on a plane every few weeks, take shoddy transportation, have communication troubles, and try a new cuisine. I think that maybe I’ve been “getting away” for so long that I’ve actually ended up somewhere characterized by being everywhere- the cosmopolitan interconnected world.
 
Now don’t get me wrong, I love so much about travel, I wouldn’t be living this way if I didn’t, but I feel increasingly eager to “get away” to somewhere stationary. I graduate in December and I often fantasize about living somewhere for three years or so.  I dream of having a nice loft, feeling at home, and knowing that the friends I make will be around indefinitely.  I’m excited for that chance to get away from constant movement and settling down. 
 
So why then, when I feel this stress, did I decide to study abroad a second semester?  I guess that though I feel I’ve gotten to a point where traveling is no longer “getting away,” I’m not quite done yet.  Personally and academically I think I have more to learn in Abu Dhabi than in New York, and first and foremost, I am a student and preparing for the future, is what I’m supposed to do.  It is nice though to sit here and look around my new room, hear my new friends outside, and feel “at home, “already more so than in Israel and more and more every day.

Deciding to take a second semester in a row abroad was not easy.  It was sad to tell all of my friends that I wouldn’t be coming back, my family was upset to go an entire 12-months without seeing me, and I knew that I was taking risks by not being in New York, the academic hub of my field- development, and the location of countless opportunities.  However, when I saw that NYU- Abu Dhabi was opening up to students from New York, I knew it was an experience I should not miss. 
 
Abu Dhabi appealed to me because I was already in the Middle East, studying at NYU- Tel Aviv, and I wanted to see the other side of the regional coin.  I learned a lot about one of the main issues: Israel / Palestine, and was interested in learning about some of the others, such as, oil and cultural sustainability.  I was also eager to come for the semester because I knew that the demographics of the student body here would make me feel at home. NYU-AD is largely international, which reminded me of my boarding school experience at the United World College.  There we had 200 students representing 85 countries.  Here in Abu Dhabi there are 300 students and 70 nations.  Furthermore, of the 300 students here, 10% are from the United World College movement and so I knew I would immediately have a group of like-minded peers.  My biggest reservation to coming was the fact that we would be the first group of study-away students on the campus.  The admissions and administration produced no façade that we seven students are a test group, the guinea pigs.
 
In some ways I’ve felt the insecurity of being trailblazers for the program.  To the faculty and staff, many questions are left unanswered, and often it seems that no one really knows what to do with us.  The students however, have welcomed us with open arms- excited to know what the “real NYU” is like and eager to integrate us in their activities and friend groups.  That said, for the first time in my life I feel like the new kid.  I’m unfamiliar with how the campus runs, who does what, where things are, and how to situate myself within it. 
 
Unlike Tel Aviv where we were all only there for one semester, understood life back on the square, and knew we would return there, here in Abu Dhabi it is an entirely different NYU.  The people, the traditions, the expectations- are all altered. . . at least for the NYU-AD students.  We study abroad guinea pigs lie somewhere in the middle, but no one knows where.  That is what we are going to figure out in the next four months.
 
It seems strange that I’ve been in Abu Dhabi for five days and the main cultural difference I’ve focused on is comparing the NYU I know in the States and the infant campus here.  In some ways that speaks to how strong of a bubble this campus is, but more importantly, it shows that culture goes beyond political borders, languages, and religion.  This semester will be a huge exchange and cultural experience for me, both learning about the Gulf region and the many problems it must address, but also understanding the interactions and similarities between the United World College, NYU- Abu Dhabi, and NYU-  New York.