Myth-
There is no time to rest during the conference.
KINDA
It was on and off. Our schedule was full enough that I couldn't take naps or go between the college and the hotel, though it was maybe a three block radius. But I never felt rushed. We really did take our time between things.
All right. Well. It was crazy. Our last day! Yikes!
We met in our Orange Group one last time and talked for a while. We weren't too busy on too much but it gave us time to do some hanging out and discussing how the entire event had gone.
Eventually we gathered to return to the multipurpose room for the speakers. Like the day before, our three planned speakers were unable to be there but the night before they were able to ask several professors at the women.
They didn't have that much time to prepare, but they worked hard and it was very impressive. All three women talked about their growing up. It was they, themselves that demanded the right to education and sought out their Masters degree after their Bachelors. They were willing to do what it took- move away and live away from their family, into other countries- to get the education they wanted all bad.
I haven't been able to find my notebook with the names, but the final speaker was absolutely incredible and she was quite inspiring. She pointed out such a thing:
You may think that one person may have little influence and cause little change. But what about when there is one mosquito in your room. Doesn't that mosquito make a difference? And if it can, can't you?
So think about that next time you're scared to make a difference, think on that. WE CAN DO ANYTHING.
And then it was lunch time. Our final lunch there, awwwww.
When lunch was over, there were awards. Lots of awards everywhere, everyone getting pieces of papers and so on. I'll skip over that. It was super nice (plus a mike session where people sang and we were in tears so obviously I can't do that) and grand and quite the nice closing to such an amazing adventure with these women.
Then, we had about a three hour break. why?
TO GET READY FOR THE GRAND FINALE.
A dhow cruise down the river.
The first was a fun boat ride. This was a dinner cruise, my friend, a lovely little dinner cruise. We all got dressed up and pretty for the evening. Of course it all took us a while. It's always the theme of cultural dress, but not everyone does that nor do they need to. Some were fairly casual, others really dolled up.
Main thing, it was awesome.
We all got in buses and drove for a while down towards the river. We all met up and obviously had to stop for lovely pictures on the little red carpet up to the boat, where they handed us lovely dates on toothpicks (didn't taste good but looked good).
Of course most ladies headed straight up to the second floor (there was two of them), but I knew that would get crowded fast and besides, I saw food on the first floor so I figured that would work. There was only about two tables of us ladies full for the downstairs, and that was just fine for me.
I sat with some girls from Boston and their buddies, and it was great hanging out with them. They had so much to share and I wish I had had the opportunity to hang out more with them during the conference. We enjoyed chatting and trying the different foods they supplied. There was also a delightful juice, but we were only given one cup before it was all gone.
Oh, and of course we needed one more incident on the trip:
One of the employees helping put out the food dropped one of the burners beneath and the floor caught fire!
Luckily, it was contained fairly well. Granted, it did give us enough time to stand up, spread and scream a little. But we flipped it over, got the flames out, and the employee ran off with the burner to safety. Things were fine, nothing was damaged- not even the floor.
The food was good. There was even dessert- fruit, some strange rice pudding, and cream puffs! Those ran out really fast. But some of the food was good and we had fun trying some of the different sorts. It was small collections of exotic dishes- none of which were amazing, but they were edible and it was fun to try them!
When the food was gone, there was music! Mostly on the top floor. And holy cow that got them going fast and hard. The floor- our ceiling- was shaking and shuddering and part of me wondered if it would hold. I wouldn't have been surprised if it had collapsed on top of us.
I went up there for a short while to say hi to everyone, see how they were, start exchanging snapchat and instagram usernames and the like. Taking a few pictures, dancing for half a second but then leaving back downstairs because it was so hot.
The night was lovely and it was so nice.
And suddenly we were back at the dock, piling out and realizing we were most likely never going to see each other again. People were taking pictures, grabbing hug over hug over hug, again sharing information on their mobile devices, and so on. The leaders had to tell us and beg us over and over to get going because the buses didn't want to stay there forever.
So finally, we parted ways. The international girls in one bus, locals in another. Some of us ladies talked on the way back, but we were all pretty tired. It was hard to believe that the trip was coming to an end. I wouldn't be seeing these girls again. How strange time and life is.
Anyways, it happened. We parted ways. I went up to my room, and made sure I had everything packed up (which yes, I already did because it doesn't take me three hours to get ready for even nice events like a dinner cruise).
My really cool roommate Chiara was flying out early in the morning, so we parted ways and I dozed on and off after that. But I had to be out of there around 4 AM so that limited my amount of sleep. I was up every twenty minutes, making sure my phone was still charged with a working alarm.
Then it was time to go! One of us SUU girls' alarms didn't go off right away, but luckily we were prepared and out by the deadline or else we would have lost our bus to the airport. We got in all right, fortunately, with a little more than we had arrived with.
We were exhausted, but we survived. It was a fun trip coming back- that's always refreshing. More movies when I was restless- I dozed off every time I tried to study so I finally stopped trying to work on all the homework I desperately and terribly missed out on (3+ tests, etc).
It was also fun because right before our flight back into the states was one of those duty-free shops! With souvenirs and such! Which was incredibly fun and awesome and I spent the rest of my money there which was definitely worth it.
It was a fun, beautiful trip home.
We reached Vegas late, were picked up and went to a hotel. Just something I'd done about two weeks ago, actually, for spring break... Anyways, we ran back out for burgers before showering and calling it a night.
In the morning, we stopped at a local Indian shop for food he was going to do a presentation with for school in the coming week. It was fun seeing the food we had just eaten, as well as the ingredients to make everything! That was pretty awesome.
Then we were on the road again, and heading back to town. I rolled my stupidly big suitcase down three streets and was home. No one was there to greet me, ehm, but overall, it was good. Things went well and it was a good trip.
I would go again. It was worth it. Granted, it was essentially free. I spent about $70 getting everything ready and about $100 in shopping (if I had more time, I would have spent more), so that was all I had to spend on an exciting trip to Dubai.
I learned a lot, both good and bad about cultures, people, humanity, and women. But that's the thing- there's always two sides to everything, to every story. I saw history and beauty and met people who made an impact on me. Parts of the trip were ridiculous (and personal), but I learned to deal with it and try to work it to my advantage. And you know what? That doesn't always happen, I'll admit. But I'll take every bit of hardship I've had to experience all the good that I've had.
Dubai was incredible, and if you get the chance: go for it.
There is no time to rest during the conference.
KINDA
Normal breakfast of fruit, pancakes that didn't even need syrup, fish, pasta and flaky rolls.
All right. Well. It was crazy. Our last day! Yikes!
We met in our Orange Group one last time and talked for a while. We weren't too busy on too much but it gave us time to do some hanging out and discussing how the entire event had gone.
Eventually we gathered to return to the multipurpose room for the speakers. Like the day before, our three planned speakers were unable to be there but the night before they were able to ask several professors at the women.
They didn't have that much time to prepare, but they worked hard and it was very impressive. All three women talked about their growing up. It was they, themselves that demanded the right to education and sought out their Masters degree after their Bachelors. They were willing to do what it took- move away and live away from their family, into other countries- to get the education they wanted all bad.
I haven't been able to find my notebook with the names, but the final speaker was absolutely incredible and she was quite inspiring. She pointed out such a thing:
You may think that one person may have little influence and cause little change. But what about when there is one mosquito in your room. Doesn't that mosquito make a difference? And if it can, can't you?
So think about that next time you're scared to make a difference, think on that. WE CAN DO ANYTHING.
And then it was lunch time. Our final lunch there, awwwww.
When lunch was over, there were awards. Lots of awards everywhere, everyone getting pieces of papers and so on. I'll skip over that. It was super nice (plus a mike session where people sang and we were in tears so obviously I can't do that) and grand and quite the nice closing to such an amazing adventure with these women.Then, we had about a three hour break. why?
TO GET READY FOR THE GRAND FINALE.
The first was a fun boat ride. This was a dinner cruise, my friend, a lovely little dinner cruise. We all got dressed up and pretty for the evening. Of course it all took us a while. It's always the theme of cultural dress, but not everyone does that nor do they need to. Some were fairly casual, others really dolled up.
Main thing, it was awesome.
We all got in buses and drove for a while down towards the river. We all met up and obviously had to stop for lovely pictures on the little red carpet up to the boat, where they handed us lovely dates on toothpicks (didn't taste good but looked good).
I sat with some girls from Boston and their buddies, and it was great hanging out with them. They had so much to share and I wish I had had the opportunity to hang out more with them during the conference. We enjoyed chatting and trying the different foods they supplied. There was also a delightful juice, but we were only given one cup before it was all gone.
One of the employees helping put out the food dropped one of the burners beneath and the floor caught fire!
Luckily, it was contained fairly well. Granted, it did give us enough time to stand up, spread and scream a little. But we flipped it over, got the flames out, and the employee ran off with the burner to safety. Things were fine, nothing was damaged- not even the floor.
The food was good. There was even dessert- fruit, some strange rice pudding, and cream puffs! Those ran out really fast. But some of the food was good and we had fun trying some of the different sorts. It was small collections of exotic dishes- none of which were amazing, but they were edible and it was fun to try them!
Taking a picture of the river and lights!
When the food was gone, there was music! Mostly on the top floor. And holy cow that got them going fast and hard. The floor- our ceiling- was shaking and shuddering and part of me wondered if it would hold. I wouldn't have been surprised if it had collapsed on top of us.
I went up there for a short while to say hi to everyone, see how they were, start exchanging snapchat and instagram usernames and the like. Taking a few pictures, dancing for half a second but then leaving back downstairs because it was so hot.
The night was lovely and it was so nice.
Me and Cookie from the Orange Group. She's such a doll, very smart, and from China. Which kinda seals the deal.
So finally, we parted ways. The international girls in one bus, locals in another. Some of us ladies talked on the way back, but we were all pretty tired. It was hard to believe that the trip was coming to an end. I wouldn't be seeing these girls again. How strange time and life is.
Anyways, it happened. We parted ways. I went up to my room, and made sure I had everything packed up (which yes, I already did because it doesn't take me three hours to get ready for even nice events like a dinner cruise).
The stupid keys that never worked.
My really cool roommate Chiara was flying out early in the morning, so we parted ways and I dozed on and off after that. But I had to be out of there around 4 AM so that limited my amount of sleep. I was up every twenty minutes, making sure my phone was still charged with a working alarm.
Then it was time to go! One of us SUU girls' alarms didn't go off right away, but luckily we were prepared and out by the deadline or else we would have lost our bus to the airport. We got in all right, fortunately, with a little more than we had arrived with.
It was a fun, beautiful trip home.
We reached Vegas late, were picked up and went to a hotel. Just something I'd done about two weeks ago, actually, for spring break... Anyways, we ran back out for burgers before showering and calling it a night.
In the morning, we stopped at a local Indian shop for food he was going to do a presentation with for school in the coming week. It was fun seeing the food we had just eaten, as well as the ingredients to make everything! That was pretty awesome.
Then we were on the road again, and heading back to town. I rolled my stupidly big suitcase down three streets and was home. No one was there to greet me, ehm, but overall, it was good. Things went well and it was a good trip.
I would go again. It was worth it. Granted, it was essentially free. I spent about $70 getting everything ready and about $100 in shopping (if I had more time, I would have spent more), so that was all I had to spend on an exciting trip to Dubai.
I learned a lot, both good and bad about cultures, people, humanity, and women. But that's the thing- there's always two sides to everything, to every story. I saw history and beauty and met people who made an impact on me. Parts of the trip were ridiculous (and personal), but I learned to deal with it and try to work it to my advantage. And you know what? That doesn't always happen, I'll admit. But I'll take every bit of hardship I've had to experience all the good that I've had.Dubai was incredible, and if you get the chance: go for it.
I also got Pinkberry at the airport. I put it on my bucketlist a long time ago, though I don't even know why. But I can cross that off!
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