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Notes from RIT Dubai
Greetings from Dubai! I will try to recount my experiences here for the next few days. As you may know, I was honored to be chosen to represent the Saunders College (along with Colleague Dan Tessoni) to teach at RIT’s newest international partner, RIT Dubai. Milagros and I travelled together to this “Sudden City” by flying to New York, and then using Emirates Airlines to get to Dubai.
First impressions: The waiting area for the flight was filled with a great diversity of ethnicities, including westerners and lots of others. Once we booted the belligerent woman in front of us to her proper seat, all was terrific. The overnight flight was not too full with some empty seats in the rows in front and behind us (but not ours sadly). The airline has high customer service! Good food, a nice toiletry bag with slippers and an AMAZING in flight entertainment system. It was a comfortable way to spend the 12 and a half hours, with two good meals, several movies (No Country for Old Men is fairly violent!), a great companion and nice people to work with us.
And once we landed, it is remarkable. Everything is in English. Everyone is helpful. It is very easy to navigate customs, baggage claim, and the Hyatt people even gave us a drink while we waited for the car. When it arrived the nice attendant walked us out of the airport and WHAM-the heat hits you. It is 7:45pm, dark outside, very hot and humid. We walked through an active crowd only to encounter a BMW 740LI for our transportation. Nice car!
The Grand Hyatt hotel is nothing short of beautiful with a massive rainforest inside to frame the 8 or more restaurants you can choose from. The staff are friendly and the rooms are spacious and luxurious. Thank you RIT for my 5 star hotel!
We ended up eating at Wox the first night because by the time we decided everything else had closed! It was tucked away in the corner of the rainforest, with just a few people eating.
More to Come!
