Dubaï - introduction

In this post, I want to introduce Dubaï. Why? Cause this city is very incredible. I think it shows how far sometimes humans can go, and how crazy some ideas can be. But everything is not perfect. At first sight, the city looks great, and beautiful. But it has a cost. And this is not just about money…

Dubaï is one of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This is also a town. As you can see in the picture above, the city is located south of the Persian Gulf, between Sa udi Arabia, Iraq, and Iran. Its area is about 4,000 Km2, but a large part of it is a desert.

Still, this places Dubaï as the 2d largest territory by area (of the UAE). Its population is about 2,000,000. Dubaï as we currently know it is born in 1971, when United Arab Emirates was formed. In the past, dubai was under the protection of the UK. The location of the town was very attractive for trades at the time (~1900). After WWI, and then the Great Depression in the 30s, the town was kind of dead, and people were moving out. But, as we all know, countries located in this area have oil, a very important ressources nowadays. So people started to move in. As a funny anecdote, the city’s population grew by over 300% between 1968 and 1975 !

My London Experience: Conclusion

I’d never lived in a big city before this experience. So I don’t know if it’s that or the atmosphere that made me really love being and living in London. I enjoyed walking the streets, hanging out in the Tube, rambling near the Thames, ordering and being delivered pizza via the Internet (though you can now do so in La Rochelle, as well), coming across leashes of foxes in the streets or in the garden when coming back home at night... Maybe I’m the kind of person who appreciates all of this, or maybe not, but the only way to find out would be to try another city. And that’s another story...

My London Experience: Recreation

While in London, I didn’t have a lot of time to go out and visit monuments and museums, because I was working and because it was way too hot. All I did was go out for a barbecue with pals from the English course, go out in two random clubs (Zoo Bar & Club because it was free, and Metra Bar & Club because they offered a free shooter of alcohol at the entrance) with pals from work, and go out with them again in two of the most famous clubs in the world: Ministry of Sound and fabric.

I don’t remember a lot of things from inside the first one, except that I lost myself. And in order to come back home, I got on a typical London cab that brought my as close from home as possible with the money I had left. I ended up by foot, and encountered a leash of foxes, which made me quicken my pace. This club left me mixed feelings, contrary to the second one: fabric. Once I got inside the premises, I didn’t rest for the next 7 hours, and kept moving on the minimal techno beat till past 7am. It was an amazing experience and should be a must-go for every electronic music fan. When I got out, it was daylight, and I got accosted by unofficial cab drivers. It was quite funny because I knew what they wanted, but I couldn’t hear anything: my ears were buzzing after 7 hours of very loud music. Unfortunately for them, this time, I went back home by the Tube and by train. And unfortunately for me, I got on the wrong direction Tube train.

I don’t remember how, but a friend of mine when I was in high school contacted me. He was working in London for an Internet security certificates company and invited me for a few drinks. Indeed we had some, and this time, I tried to come back home by bus. Unfortunately again for me, the driver didn’t see me and I had to wait for a very long time. And when I finally got on a bus, I pressed the button way too early but I didn’t notice until I was on the street, and had to walk for more than an hour and a half to ultimately find my bed.

At this time, my sister was working au pair near Guildford (45min from Waterloo station by train). So from mid-July to mid-August, I paid her a visit during the weekend, two or three times. I met her friends and her boyfriend, we had some drinks and sometimes went downtown in clubs or bars. It was quite cool meeting her, because I hadn’t done so in almost a year.

My London Experience: My Work

Actually, I didn’t start working immediately. I first had to attend some English courses for one week at the English center, in Lewisham. It was quite boring but I met a few people with whom I had some drinks and a meatball barbecue. Then truly began the working experience: I had an internship job in a company selling discs, disc replicators and printers. It was located in Greenwich. I didn’t have a specific post, and handled random tasks such as answering on the after sales online forum, helping the webmaster transfer links from the previous website to the new one, fill in product descriptions, etc. At the end, we received a mini printer and I had to write a review about it (the article can be found here).

The working atmosphere was kind of cool, because we were 5 interns on a total of 9 employees, but it wasn’t easy to speak English all the time, as 4 of us were French. Our boss was relatively young so we had fun, even with him! Besides, every Thursdays, after work, everybody was going to the nearby pub to have some drinks and chill out.

Amid all this good time, there was all the same a negative point: lunchtime. We had the choice between a salad from Somerfield or Sainsbury’s, some McDonald’s burgers or some Asian takeout. I personally had a preference for the latter one, but we only had a one-hour break and didn’t really have enough time to relax.

My London Experience: The Departure

During Summer 2008, I had nothing planned with my friends or my family, so my parents asked me if I’d be interested in going abroad, in internship. One week and a phone interview later, I decided to go. As a matter of fact, it would be a nice opportunity to pay a visit to my sister, and of course to get some experience in another language.

The whole stay was being organized by a kind of organization for students who took in charge the search for a half-board host family, and for a company. I just had to go by plane and find my way.

So I boarded at La Rochelle - Laleu Airport at the very end of June, and landed in Stansted, the North London airport. It was the second time I went on a plane, but actually the first that I could remember, and takeoff was pretty cool, I must say. I then had to go to my host family in Lewisham, London, which I did, even if I sort of lost myself at one time. Unfortunately, they weren’t aware that I was allergic to dogs and the next day, I had to move to another host family, this time in Sydenham (Later, at the end of July, I had to move one more time, to Beckenham, because there wasn’t enough room for new students. In fact it didn’t bother me, it gave me a chance to live in a new neighborhood).

Crazy Singapore

Marina Bay Sands

Developed by a company from Las Vegas, Marina Bay Sands is the world's most expensive casino with a cost of 8 billions dollars.

It has a shape of boat with on top a giant swimming pool, the longest in the world at this altitude.

Three buildings support the boat shaped roof, the Casino which is located at the center and the two other buildings are hotels.

This construction is part of a big plan of investment in order to attract tourists in the city.

Sentosa island

Sentosa, which translates to "peace and tranquility" in Malay, is a popular island resort in Singapore, visited by some five million people a year.

Attractions include a two-kilometre long sheltered beach, two golf courses and two five-star hotels, and the theme park Universal Studios.

Singapore, what?

Singapore is a tiny island-country of 5 millions inhabitants (very densely populated), located in Southeast Asia, 137 km north of the equator.

It was a British colony during 200 years till the independance of 1965 and the birth of the Republic of Singapore.

The main language is English, but Chinese is commonly used due to the large amount of Chinese in the population.

The island has a very constant climate with temperature around 30 degrees and humidity around 90% all year round.

All religions are present but Buddhism is the dominant religion (42% of the population).

Singapore economy is one of most prosperous in the world and considered by the world bank to be the easiest to do business. The unemployment rate remains stable around 3%.