My initial impressions of this program were that it was very well thought out and had a very meticulous itinerary that I personally enjoyed. Also, I think they did a great job with the pacing of this program, because they know everyone is busy with classes during the semester we would only meet for zoom calls every month which slowly got more frequent as we got closer to departure. Once we arrived to the UAE, we visited many different culturally significant sites that provided us with amazing experiences such as the royal family palace of Abu Dhabi, The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, and the Louvre Abu Dhabi. All of these locations served as representations of the Abu Dhabi culture. One of the main differences that I realized was the dominance religion has all across the country. In the U.S. sense we are a melting pot of different cultures there isn’t one per dominant culture that you see everywhere. Compared to Abu Dhabi the vast majority of citizens practice Islam and this is seen everywhere. For example, many locations have separated accommodation for men and women such as prayer locations, bathrooms, and gymnasiums. Another thing that was very surprising about Abu Dhabi was the amount of construction taking place within the city. The entire country has greatly expanded within the last two decades and they have many more projects underway that are very exciting for the future. Another thing I found very interesting about Abu Dhabi was the attention to detail they have when it comes to infrastructure. The entire city has many lush green parks, numerous sidewalks / bike lanes, very clean streets, even the medians between the streets are covered with flowers and greenery. Another thing is that this is consistent throughout the whole city of Abu Dhabi even far outside of the main areas the infrastructure stays the same. I’m very excited to see what the other parts of the UAE has in store for us for the rest of the trip.
