Lebanon This Week!!!

Wow, it seems like time has been flying. In the past few days I've had McDonalds twice and Subway once so I'm getting plenty of America here. I am starting to miss home (and America) a little bit.. I imagine it'll get worse later on. Besides missing the usual suspects like friends and family, there are small things that I miss. Even in Dubai, one can be grateful for what America has... such as blazing fast internet (compared to here). While it's not dial-up, the internet here is so slow... loading a youtube video takes longer than the actual length of the clip (if it even loads at all). One upside to Dubai is the quality of service here. Let me rephrase.. the QUANTITY of service is definitely crazy... quality can be iffy. But anyway, anywhere you eat you will have your food brought to you.. even at McDonalds. You leave your trash at the table for them to pick up. Some of it clashes with the American in me, specifically the whole southern gentleman part, but I try to find a happy medium.

Most exciting thing to note for this week is my Lebanon trip starts on Wednesday! It's going to be a lot of fun, but my hopes of travelling to Petra and other places look to be floundering. The logistics don't seem to be working out so I may just have to confine myself to Lebanon and see if an opportunity to go to Jordan arises later on in the semester. I'm still excited though and know this will be a great experience. I can't wait to get off campus and out doing something. AUD isn't really conducive to social interactions.. or even learning for that matter. I've been really surprised at the quality of students here. That might sound mean, but it's been my observation that many students don't know anything and probably wouldn't be able to make it to college in the States or other Western countries. However, I think some (not all) of it may have to do with American students keeping their mouths shut and not saying every single thing or question that comes to their brain. If they did, I might not be as surprised.

Anyway, it's late here so I'm going to try to sleep before 3am for once. Good night all!

Quick Update

Hey all, sorry for not updating in awhile. Things have picked up here with more activities and school kicking into gear. It still seems like I am meeting new people every day. I always forget their names though... no bueno. I went to the mall again recently (the one with Ski Dubai) with some friends and had a pretty good time. I didn't pack any flip flops which I need in order to cure my white feet syndrome. I also need to buy some nice sunglasses primarily to look like a cool kid, and I suppose they would help protect my eyes against the sun too. I still have a lot of exploring to do... I haven't even seen the beach yet!

I bought a ticket to Lebanon the other day. A group of study abroad students are going and it looks to be a pretty awesome trip. I'm hoping I can see some of Syria and Jordan as well, especially Petra which is my top priority. A swim in the Mediterranen Sea appears to be in order. We're going for 7 days and will only miss 2 (maybe 3?) days of classes because there is a holiday while we're gone. It's the holiday that happens when Ramadan ends so I'm sure there will be some pretty interesting stuff to see and do during the holiday. We're leaving the 16th and coming back the 22nd... I can't wait!

That's all I can think of right now. Hope things are going well!