Goodbye Summer...Hello Classes

Yesterday marked the official end of 'summer.' While that in itself is a little depressing I would rather think of all of the amazing things I was able to do this summer and I am super satisfied moving on to classes knowing I did all I wanted to.

We did get a little bit of summer chillin' yesterday at Jumiera Beach. It is so strange that in Sharjah we can't show our knees or shoulders but in Dubai at this private beach we could wear our bikinis. It was strange at first but we got over the feeling of being naked (swimsuits feel like nothing compared to what we have been wearing) and it was such a beautiful and relaxing day. The water is so incredibly salty as well so you can essentially float without any effort. We left the beach at around 6pm because once again we were all super hungry. We found an Iraqi restaurant up the street where we sat down for a super nice meal. The food was great and I am sure I would have enjoyed it even more if I wasn't sitting across the table from the guy who ordered half a goat's head. He also found it necessary to describe each organ and piece as he ate it which despite my once steel like stomach, I could barely handle the commentary. Exhausted, full and still covered in sand we went upstairs in Starbucks as we waited for the bus. Believe it or not we really went to starbucks to use their wifi to watch the kick-off of the Nebraska football game. There is another student here who is orignialy from Nebraska (small world much?) so we were desperate to watch the game since we were able to with the time change. It is super difficult to get American TV channels streaming live so we watched a lot of it on the SportsCenter App on my phone (The Lord's gift to sports fans). Once we got back to campus we went to the student center and watched the rest of the game. Despite the fact that the Huskers fell apart and lost, it was a great way to end the summer and head into another semester of classes.

The one picture of the beach I was able to take. No cameras were allowed but I snuck this one in.

Our group (still wet and covered in sand from the beach) at the nice Iraqi restaurant.

To the right is the half head of the goat...you can see the skull and parts of the brains. It was repulsive to say the least.

Today was great, even with it being the first day of classes! One of my favorite evenings since getting here but I will get to that after classes. My first class I walked into about 5 minutes until class started. I sat three rows back and waited to see if anyone would come in as well. Over the next 10-15minutes 30 or so boys joined me. Yes, my first class was 30 boys and me. All of the boys sat behind me and none of them sat next to me so it was me and then an entire room behind me. Thankfully the professor was a woman so there was a little more estrogen in the room. The class is about Arab and Islamic Civilization and Society so I am really excited to see how the class turns out especially with the gender imbalance. My next class was all exchange students since it was an Arabic instruction course. It is Media Arabic and we will spend a lot of time working with news articles and reports and learning to understand the media in general. The professor is actually American but is fluent in Arabic so that is really cool and his accent was super easy to understand. Tomorrow I have Introduction to Translation which apparently is taught by one of the leading translators in the peninsula. I also have Politics of the Arabian State which is taught by the Deputy Prime Ministry of the UAE (Casual). I am so excited for class tomorrow! I was going to be taking a pottery class but no longer am able to...but it is ok, it is for a great reason! (Keep reading)

Now to the best part of my day...I had spoken with the volleyball coach earlier this week and she asked me to come tryout. I showed up early and tried to remember how to function on a volleyball court when the coach showed up. She asked me to simply pass against the wall and within a few minutes she pulled me aside and started running me through drills: passing, setting, serving, hitting. All of this happened in about 20 minutes and then she said, "We have practice at 5pm if you would like to join us." I of course agreed and thanked her thinking I had maybe made the team but not totally sure. Lucky me it is preseason which means conditioning and straight up running/circuits. I thought I was out of shape but I totally held my own. We then transitioned into drills and the coach wanted to see if I could play different positions so I played in EVERY drill. I had to internally pep talk myself to keep pushing and it actually turned out pretty well. At the end of practice the coach came over to me and said she would like to put me on the traveling team and that she needs my passport and visa copies. She then tells me that the travel team is going to Rome, Italy in November for a tournament. ROME! FOR FREE! TO PLAY VOLLEYBALL! I could have died of excitement! I thanked her so much and informed her I spoke Italian which she replied with, "that is great! You can help us! I knew you were a keeper." I left the gym ear to ear smiling because I was so excited! My two worlds have collided! Trip to Rome for free is just crazy! And to top it all off, the girls on the team were so nice and were exactly what I hoped to find. Since I was not particcularly successful at finding friends in class today (they were all boys so friendship isn't really an option sometimes) I was so happy to find a big group of girls who I can get close to (and I am sure I will, we have a lot of practices). And that is why I am no longer taking a pottery class because it is during practice but I don't mind...I would trade pottery for Rome and volleyball any day!

Life is good...very good! If it weren't 120F today it would have been perfect but I have to say it was a great way to start the semester. Fall 2013 Here we go!