Dubai —> Nairobi
Hey everyone!
So I have some time to update you all on what I’ve been doing since leaving Texas. Currently, I’m sitting next to my friend Rusty on our flight to Nairobi, Kenya. Guess what? Drinking age on the plane is 18! :)
So yesterday, I was lucky to have an overnight layover in Dubai with some of the other DukeEngage interns. We arrived in Dubai after a long 16 hour flight, and pretty soon, we were on our way to check out the awesome city of Dubai. In my hotel, I actually ran into Loren, so that was really serendipitous. (We had previously planned to meet each other somewhere in Dubai because she was going to arrive 2 hours after me). Another lucky thing that happened for our group was that the hotel offered to drive us to our destination for free! Burj Khalifa, here I come!!!
First, we visited the Dubai Mall, which is the largest mall in the world. As I entered the mall, I realized for myself how many different cultures our world had, and how amazing it was that I could witness this for myself. There were so many stores, and everyone was dressed so nicely! And they even had Red Mango in the mall… (throwback to the BC).
One of the people in our group realized that the fountain show was going to begin very soon, so we were able to watch that. What a beautiful show! There were so many lights and we were all mesmerized by the music and water coordination. The background of the water show was actually a beautiful cityscape of Dubai, and behind us was the Burj Khalifa. The Burj Khalifa is actually the tallest building in the world, and we took many pictures with it. To the outside world, we were complete tourists :)
After more exploring, it was time to go back to our hotel… and sleep. Except jetlag didn’t really help with that, so after a few hours of sleep, I decided to explore around our hotel at 5:30 am… I felt like an actual Dubaian (is that a word? Not sure) because as I walked around with my camera, I saw several people walking around the neighborhood and exercising. Because I woke up so early, I even got to see the sun rise, and let me tell you, watching the sunrise in Dubai is a completely different experience. It was surreal.
After a very big breakfast (5-6 plates?), I travelled back to the airport en route to Nairobi. At the airport, the majority of our DukeEngage participants finally met up. All of us are so excited for Kenya! We met a Kenyan named Jeff who was really helpful in teaching us about what to expect and telling us his life story. He even taught me some Swahili!
Anyway, I think it’s time for me to take a nap. It’s afternoon here, so I get to say this to y’all. Habari ya m’chana!!
DC
[somewhere over saudi arabia]
{06.13.2014}