Hello.
My apologies for the delay in this 'I'm home' post - I've been both busy and uninspired.
Firstly, I should finish up Dubai. It was a failure. I couldn't find the supposedly awesome Big Bus. The guy on reception at the hostel assured me that I'd find it just up the road, but I think really he didn't understand and didn't want to admit it. Instead I found a metro station, and figured I'd try and find a couple of places that I could remember the bus stopped at. Not that easy though, is it?! Once you get to what you think is the right metro stop, there's no way to find the place that's supposedly near by. The few people I asked had no idea what I was on about. By the time I realised that the best thing to do would probably be to go back to the hostel and check online exactly where I needed to go, and then get a taxi, the majority of the day had gone, so it didn't seem worth it, and I was starting to feel very tired.
I rode the metro a bit more and looked out of the window at the different buildings. A lot of the flatter areas gave the impression of big spaces, and then suddely there were huge towering buildings. It looked a lot like sections of different cities around the world had been beamed up and dropped together to form a new city. It was grey and dingy and I can't say that I liked it much. No doubt the tour would've given me a totally different view; if I ever have a random day in Dubai again, I will make sure to find it. I bought rice and chicken from a deli counter in a 'hypermarket' just down the road from the hostel, smuggled it back into my room, put something in English (can't remember what; some random film) on the TV, panicked about the alarm I'd set on my phone because I'd had to do time conversions as my phone was on English time, and then fell asleep. Woke up at 4am Dubai time, got dressed, got into taxi, arrived at airport, went through security, had bag searched, extension cable confiscated, sat by walkway surrounded by indoor palmtrees, and eventually boarded my flight home.
Things I've done since arriving home:
Eaten McDonalds. Bad, but good at the same time!
Watched an awesome show (Spymonkey's Oeidipussy) at the theatre. On the day I arrived home. Great way to knock jetlag on the head and get back into UK time.
Unpacked all my things, and made piles of presents for various people.
Had a job interview for a temping job due to start next week. Mixed feelings - be good to have something to do, and some money coming in, but was sort of looking forward to a couple of months' freedom as well.
Caught up and had lunch with Net.
Paid a surprise visit to my mum for the day; had roast dinner and watched christmas tv and all the episodes of Spooks that I missed.
Bought some boxes to keep all my India memorabilia in... they currenlty have Marilyn Monroe on them, but I plan to cover them in photos from my adventures.
Travelled to Liverpool to pick up my little sister from university for the easter break.
Constantly been reminded that it's easter soon - my mental calendar is still catching up!
Done some laundry, cleared out wardrobe.
Been laughed at because the weather is mild for this time of year and all Brits are enjoying it, whereas I'm freezing...
That's about it really. I know that I need to write a proper post to close my adventure, to explore what I've learnt, how I've changed etc. I'm not quite ready for that yet. The weirdest things about being home is that it doesn't really feel very weird at all. The closest I got to emotional was when I read Net's post about us all finishing our terms- so I recommend you read that for now, and I'll think about writing my own version.
TTFN
My apologies for the delay in this 'I'm home' post - I've been both busy and uninspired.
Firstly, I should finish up Dubai. It was a failure. I couldn't find the supposedly awesome Big Bus. The guy on reception at the hostel assured me that I'd find it just up the road, but I think really he didn't understand and didn't want to admit it. Instead I found a metro station, and figured I'd try and find a couple of places that I could remember the bus stopped at. Not that easy though, is it?! Once you get to what you think is the right metro stop, there's no way to find the place that's supposedly near by. The few people I asked had no idea what I was on about. By the time I realised that the best thing to do would probably be to go back to the hostel and check online exactly where I needed to go, and then get a taxi, the majority of the day had gone, so it didn't seem worth it, and I was starting to feel very tired.
I rode the metro a bit more and looked out of the window at the different buildings. A lot of the flatter areas gave the impression of big spaces, and then suddely there were huge towering buildings. It looked a lot like sections of different cities around the world had been beamed up and dropped together to form a new city. It was grey and dingy and I can't say that I liked it much. No doubt the tour would've given me a totally different view; if I ever have a random day in Dubai again, I will make sure to find it. I bought rice and chicken from a deli counter in a 'hypermarket' just down the road from the hostel, smuggled it back into my room, put something in English (can't remember what; some random film) on the TV, panicked about the alarm I'd set on my phone because I'd had to do time conversions as my phone was on English time, and then fell asleep. Woke up at 4am Dubai time, got dressed, got into taxi, arrived at airport, went through security, had bag searched, extension cable confiscated, sat by walkway surrounded by indoor palmtrees, and eventually boarded my flight home.
Things I've done since arriving home:
Eaten McDonalds. Bad, but good at the same time!
Watched an awesome show (Spymonkey's Oeidipussy) at the theatre. On the day I arrived home. Great way to knock jetlag on the head and get back into UK time.
Unpacked all my things, and made piles of presents for various people.
Had a job interview for a temping job due to start next week. Mixed feelings - be good to have something to do, and some money coming in, but was sort of looking forward to a couple of months' freedom as well.
Caught up and had lunch with Net.
Paid a surprise visit to my mum for the day; had roast dinner and watched christmas tv and all the episodes of Spooks that I missed.
Bought some boxes to keep all my India memorabilia in... they currenlty have Marilyn Monroe on them, but I plan to cover them in photos from my adventures.
Travelled to Liverpool to pick up my little sister from university for the easter break.
Constantly been reminded that it's easter soon - my mental calendar is still catching up!
Done some laundry, cleared out wardrobe.
Been laughed at because the weather is mild for this time of year and all Brits are enjoying it, whereas I'm freezing...
That's about it really. I know that I need to write a proper post to close my adventure, to explore what I've learnt, how I've changed etc. I'm not quite ready for that yet. The weirdest things about being home is that it doesn't really feel very weird at all. The closest I got to emotional was when I read Net's post about us all finishing our terms- so I recommend you read that for now, and I'll think about writing my own version.
TTFN
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