This post is LONG overdue. I was selected to be a teacher delegate by the Dallas Fort-Worth World Affairs Council in January to travel to the United Arab Emirates. The trip was over spring break (March 7-15, 2015) and it was an amazing experience. We spent the first five days in Abu Dhabi and the last three days in Dubai. The UAE is a great example of a traditional culture that has rapidly embraced all things modern without losing sight of who they are and what they value.
The UAE embassy in Washington, D.C. and the Crown Prince Court sponsored the trip and they spared no expense as we stayed in beautiful hotels and ate amazing food. The trip was sensational and I learned so much about the culture, people, and education system. Here are some of my favorite photos from the trip. Heads up there are LOTS of pictures.
Our beautiful hotel, St. Regis...we actually had butler service!
Enjoying the beach
Delicious Thai food
Zayed University
Seeing through Light, a special art exhibit at the Guggenheim
another art exhibit
one of my favorite meetings of the trip. Hedayah is a think tank working on solving the problem of violent extremism.
Traditional Emerati restaurant
the very cool tech city - Masdar Institute
more from Masdar
Can I go back to college and attend NYU - Abu Dhabi?
some of the fun architecture
Sheikh Zayed Mosque
Interiors of the mosque
Our hotel in Dubai
My other favorite stop on the trip the Sheikh Mohammad Center for Cultural Understanding
Dubai at night
view from the hotel
Burj Khalifa - the tallest building in the world
Sunset from the 125th floor of the Burj Khalifa
Sunrise from my hotel room
Burj Al Arab
Falconry show on our desert tour
Driving through the sand dunes
More fun on our desert tour
Final sunset in the UAE
The trip was sensational and I will be posting a link to the completed travel book within the next week, so you can see even more photos and read about some of the things we did. I can't wait to return in the future