View from my 11th floor window
(spire at the very top is the tallest building in the world)
Well as I sit here starting the first of many Dubai letters I am looking out of my hotel that over sees much of Dubai and a skyline that includes the tallest building in the world (to be completed in December).
Wow, I can't believe I'm here.
Here's a little recap of my trip. I left St. George early Thursday morning and jumped a shuttle to the Vegas airport. When I got to the airport the baggage check in line was REALLY long, but ended up only being about a 20 minute wait. It helped to solidify in my mind however that I am HORRIBLE when it comes to picking the line that is going the fastest. Whether it is waiting for gas at Costco, trying to pick the fastest lane in a traffic jam, or in this case trying to pick the fastest line to check in your bags, I cannot do it. I ended up being in line about 10 minutes longer than the people I started standing next to. When they went to one line, I chose the other and bingo bango bongo their line picked up speed and my line came to a complete stop.
Once I went through security, I went to my gate and realized I still had 2 hours till takeoff which was now going to be 3 hours till takeoff since my plane was delayed. As I was sitting down, I heard my gate making its final boarding call for the 9:58am flight to Atlanta. I decided to give it a shot and see if I could jump that flight so that I could just wait longer in Atlanta instead of waiting forever in Vegas and then rushing to catch my connection once I got to Atlanta. The lady was really nice and switched it for me really quick and bam! I was on to Atlanta. I was happy I got an isle seat especially since I was like the last person on the plane, but that was about the last thing I was happy about on that flight until it was over.
The flight ended up being a smaller plane with two columns of 3 seats to a row on each side of the plane. Apparently, this little fact happened to be more than the lady seated next to me could handle and as soon as I sat down all she kept mumbling to herself was how bad this sucked, how she couldn't believe she didn't charge her ipod, and best of all (from a ridiculous standpoint) how she was panicked that this plane wasn't one with individual TVs on the back of the seats because then she couldn't watch movies and it meant we were in an older plane and in her mind, older planes are more likely to crash. WOW! We actually talked for a little while once we got into the flight and she was a really nice lady, but I couldn't believe how panicked she was over such a little thing.
Once I landed in Atlanta, I found my way to the terminal that I would be flying out of and I got something to eat. Then I sat down and did some studying for a while. I had about a 4 hour wait and considering how long that is, the time actually went pretty quickly. Before I knew it other Duke students starting showing up and we chatted and as we were boarding we ended up finding out that there were 10 of us on the same flight.
My biggest hope for the flight was that there wouldn't be anybody in the middle seat next to me so I could have a little more room. Luckily there wasn't. I watched 2 or 3 movies and a few TV shows. I slept for about 30 minutes on three different occasions, but every time I woke up my back would be KILLING me. I'd then have to get up and stretch it out, walk around and then sit down and watch something else. The biggest annoyance on this flight was the guy on the other side of my row. He decided that since the middle seat was empty he would use that for his personal bed and was laying across both seats so his head was right next to my leg. "Um, excuse me sir, but you are severely breaking the unwritten rule of personal space."
We arrived in Dubai at 7:45pm local time which is about 9:45am Utah time. Needless to say, an hour and a half of sleep over 24 hours wasn't really enough so I was excited to get to the hotel.
We are staying at the Emirates Tower Hotel and this place is AMAZING! I am staying on the 11th floor and as you saw from the picture at the first there is a pretty good view. The rooms are really nice and spacious and the desk space is going to be really nice for studying.
Even the towels on the ground are very plush and soft.
Notice the toilet in the back on the left and behind it the bidet :)
Notice the key placement of Rubber Ducky compliments of the hotel ;)
This is the cabinet behind the mirror above the sink. All the canisters have complimentary items titled sewing, shaving, dental, shower, beauty. And a water bottle with a jogging map and a hotel embroidered wrist band.
After all the excitement, checking in, unpacking, and some ironing, I got to bed around 11:45pm.
Day 1
I woke up about 6:45am and slept pretty well for the first night. Breakfast is at one of the hotel restaurants (there are like 5) and it was really good. I ate pretty quickly so I could be ready in time to take our cultural visit to a Muslim Mosque here in Dubai.
This tour was awesome. It is made for those unfamiliar with Muslim traditions and cultures so they were very open to people asking questions, they showed us why they pray the way they do, why they dress the way the do, etc. It was a lot of fun and very interesting. I'm including a couple videos below. The first one is a demonstration of a prayer and then second is part of the explanation of what each part is. (couldn't get the videos to load, I'll have to add them later.)
The rest of the day was the beginning of Term 2. We had Decision Models class first for two hours and then Managerial Economics class for two hours. I actually think I am going to enjoy most parts of both classes so I am really looking forward to this semester, but I was also REALLY tired during both classes. I obviously haven't fully adjusted yet and classes were going on between 2am to 6am Utah time so hopefully I will get better in sync with the time here by tomorrow.
Tonight the Dean of our program was at dinner with us. We were suppose to network with him I guess, but I only saw him for about 30 seconds. The food so far has been fantastic, but some of it is a little too fancy for me. I've gotten plenty to eat, but I have also noticed all my meals so far have had a lot of food left on my plate because the food is just above my simple taste.
Now, my goal is to really focus and hopefully do some more studying for the GMI exam that is tomorrow.
Love you babe,
Brock
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