I was granted the opportunity to go to Dubai as part of the interview process for a program called Executive Track at the business school Hult that I have been accepted to. I've been accepted to the London campus which would be a fantastic adventure! This less than well known school has 5 campuses cross the globe; Shanghai, San Francisco, Boston, London and Dubai. The Executive Track program is a mentoring program for those lucky enough to be accepted. Dubai was the final evaluation.
I left Seattle at 1pm on Friday, arrived in Washington DC at 845p and left for Dubai on a 777 at 10pm. It was a long 12.5 hour flight, but I kept busy with movies (RED and Unstoppable), my book (Through Painted Deserts), sudoku and sleep (but not much). Sadly I arrived at about 10pm so I couldnt see the fabulous island designs as we landed. We were staying at the Holiday Inn by the Mall of the Emirates and it was really nice. There was a beautiful rooftop pool and nice rooms. My roommate was a wonderful lady from San Fran (originally India) but sadly, she had come down with a nasty cold. I did a little exploring of the hotel (I could see the sail hotel from the roof) before hitting the hay and getting some rest before the big day.
I wont go into the details of evaluation day other than it was a mix of individual and group activities and it left me wondering if I want my business career in the hands of this particular school. By the end of the day I was feeling my jet lag and feeling the onset of a nasty cold.
Monday we had to ourselves, so after breakfast and the realization that I couldn't afford to go up the worlds tallest building, my roommate and I ventured out and over to the Mall of the Emirates. It was a pretty impressive, expansive and expensive!! But I must say it was pretty darn cool to see the infamous 'Ski Dubai', an inside ski area. Possibly the most interesting thing you could have in the middle of the desert.
After exploring the mall, we decided to try to venture to the creek front where there were supposed to be markets and lots to see. We took the metro system which was pretty nice and easy. The only fault was that I was turned around at the exit so it took a little bit longer to find the creek. By the time we found it we were hot, tired and needed to get back to the hotel to check out. On the way back we stopped to take pictures of the worlds tallest building. It is pretty impressive, and reminded me somehow of the Empire State Building in NYC.
Back to the hotel we found ourselves exhausted and ready to go home, but with about 8 hours left before our flights. We spent some time on the roof (taking naps) and in the lobby (chatting and drinking tea). But eventually we just gave up and went to the airport. I was sad to go without doing more but when you're sick there's only so much you can do.
The airport was quite the experience. I think my luggage was scanned 3 times before being searched at the gate....I won't be complaining about US security for a while. I did get a chance to write postcards before leaving though :) And it is quite a pretty airport with palms and gorgeous decor.
It was a long trip back to the states, but I was glad to be back so that I could recover from my cold in comfort. Now I have some very cool passport stamps and a new experience.
