Now i know these are late but the trip went so quick and we were all so tired the rest of the holiday just flew by before i could write this. But now exams are over and i can finally relax and catch up on everything i have to get done!
The second day of our trip started with a sleep in and a slow morning, i even had my hair curled for the first time with it short and i loved the change!
We went up to the shops and had a look around in the morning and stocked up on food for the rooms. It was so deserted! I mean here the shops are buzzing all the time but it was empty which made the staring we got a little more obvious at times.
This night was the first night of the Globcom experience and it started by having my named called out by numerous people in the foyer and car park of the hotel. It was so weird everyone recognised me and i felt terrible because i wouldn't have been able to recognise them all- i said this to Sarah and she pointed out it was probably because i was the only one with bright red hair! A lot of them said that i have a unique style too which stands out- i pride myself on being different so its always nice to hear that people like them your style and it stands out! it was so good to meet the team we had been working with online for months with. Everyone got along really well too!
We started the evening with a tour of the university in Abu Dhabi. Its amazing. The architecture was so unique and they have two of everything, one for the female students (approx 2,000 students) and one for the make students (approximately 300 students). There was a mini shopping mall including a flower shop, two libraries, a room of PC's with the plastic still on! and a gym. It was amazing and its all funded by the Government. It was an amazing experience to have a tour by a student from the uni to and get to ask them all about the culture and lifestyle. We got to speak to one of the art students on our walk through and she explained the purpose of their work; there is a large amount of misconnection of the area and its culture and religion. The purpose of the project was to explain the real culture and move away from the association of camels and sand dunes with the area. It was inspirational and it taught me a lot about other cultures and misunderstandings. I mean i am normally a cautious person and don't like stepping out of my comfort zone but this experience was very out of my comfort zone and while i was away not nice did i get worried because i learnt most the time what we are scared of is simply what we don't understand. Our tour guide was so sweet and adorable! We truly met the nicest people while we were away!
The tour and the dinner was a chance for us all to get to know each other and spend time as a group. Surprisingly i found out that my accent isn't that Australian and i was commonly mistaken for being from the UK! It was a long night though and we all collapsed in bed after!
The rest of the trip to come. . .
