Monday, September 5, 2011

I’m in Dubai! (Written 9/2)


I wish I had been able to say goodbye to my mother and grandmother properly, but oh well…

I was supposed to arrive in Dubai 7:25 pm, but my plane was delayed in D.C. for about an hour and a half so I arrived around 9 or so.  I bought Marhaba’s Standard Meet and Greet Services, so I could have a Du SIM card when I arrived (totaling $39 USD). When the Marhaba representative gave me the SIM card, which was already paid for, she told me it would take 24-48 hours for it to be activated.

After the Marhaba representative took me through customs, we went to Du’s store to see if they could activate it any earlier. They could not. So I bought another one ($13 USD). I told my family I would call them when I got to the airport, and my plane was delayed and I didn’t want any of them to have a heart attack. I do not understand why Du could not activate the other card, since it was identical to the first one I bought at Marhaba. If each SIM card didn’t come with a 20 AED calling card, I would have been extremely upset!

Anyway, I would extremely recommend Marhaba. The Standard Meet and Greet was awesome. Even though the signs are in English and Arabic, it is easier to just follow someone who knows where they’re going. She even helped me find my luggage and a cart to use and I didn’t have to wait in the long customs line when I was with her. She followed me throughout the airport until we got outside to the taxi que (now, that’s customer service!)
AUD dorms

It took about 20 minutes to get to AUD. When I arrived, my roommate was asleep, but she had been there for a day alone so she was ready for some company. She’s Nigerian, and she’s a sophomore so she knows her way around the city. She also knows where I should go to get a relaxer. I don’t think I could have had a better roommate!

4 comments:

  1. Hi Lara,

    Just read this today. Glad to see you made it, hope you can get along with your roommate.

    When I first came to AUD, I was assigned an Iranian roommate. She was very shy, and as a result made me feel very shy too, so we didn't talk much. But we have remained friends to this day nonetheless...fond memories.

    My second roommate was a Nigerian girl, like your roommate, and without going into detail, it turned out to be one of the most degrading experiences of my life.

    Well, hope it's a good one, if you ever wanna talk about stuff, I'm all ears.

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  2. Beth,

    I love my roommate! She is exactly what I needed. I'm so grateful to have her. I was very surprised. I never thought I'd be so lucky. Random roommate assignments are a gamble.

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