The Fuqua Experience

Well, the Dubai residency was certainly a surprise. And in more ways than one! The pace was certainly not as hectic as London, and for the most part the group was able to go out and actually see the city, find time to know more about each other, and ourselves, appreciate some not so obvious things, and welcome if not tolerate some of the more confusing aspects of living an international life. I’ve mulled over a whole lot of new things from the course of that week, and as the whole experience has left me with a rather dense collection of inner musings, I am left with little choice than to split up my next few blog posts.

This is Part 3 of a series of 5

The word “burj” is Arabic for “tower”.

Dubai has a lot of towers, but one of them really stands out – a proper sky scraper. I first saw the Burj Dubai flying in to the city on a stopover to London. It was a magnificent panorama; one large monolith surrounded by what might as well have been Lego pieces. It reached out into the sky, so high up it was kissing the clouds.

As yet unfinished, it was already glittering in the sun. It was magnificent, and resplendent. By the 4^th or 5^th day of the residency however, I started to feel that it was also incredibly out of place. Why build a kilometer-high building out in the middle of nowhere?

This was the Middle East, after all. It’s the land of sand.  Although, the same could be said of Las Vegas.

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