I am sure now how much an internship outside Europe would have opened my eyes! Now I understand all of you who advised me to do so! But then as well it might not have been what I needed now for myself.

Anyway, let’s not switch subjects. Let’s stick to my trip in UAE. This week spent here has been absolutely charming! I’ve had the possibility to grow personally and professionally. I am not only the owner of a great overview on how an office of a multinational is being run from the HR perspective, but I also got the view on this region, its business, its strategies to attract foreigners to work and invest here. I had a “professional guide” in Nader (HR manager for ALU UAE and Qatar), who has talked enormously to me about the country and the region, the problems on the market, how the crisis affects them, why he is doing HR and what can you learn out of it! Wow, it has been amazing to work at such a high level with a great professional!

I’ve also had the chance to get close to Jinane, a French-Palestinian girl who lived all her life in Saudi Arabia! She studied in France for 5 years and now she is married, has a sweet little kid and lives here! It is amazing how much energy and personal approach I could get from her! I also understood better the people in the region; we’ve had talks about religion, life in different parts of the world, future goals, food, weather, books, etc. It is also incredible how fast we got close and how helpful and supportive she was.
















More than this, I had the chance to see 2 amazing cities. Abu Dhabi is more like a “family city”, pretty quiet and relaxing. It is also rather small, just a few streets, “locals” would say (“locals”=10-20% of the population, as majority of UAE inhabitants are expats, mostly from Pakistan, India or Philippines). On the other hand, Dubai is extremely “posh”, high-class, extravagant and fancy. I’ve had the best guide ever in Dubai and I’ve enjoyed seeing “another world”. Tops on my list of best things I’ve seen in UAE: Emirates Palace Hotel (a huge and beautiful hotel built to imitate a real palace; Durj Al Arab (the most expensive and famous hotel in the world); Atlantis (probably the second best hotel in the world, designed all around the aquatic theme); Durj Al Dubai (the highest building in the world – not yet finished, but it has more than 900 m high); Dubai Mall (the biggest mall in the world). As you can notice, Dubai and UAE is all about being the best and the first…mostly in hotels and malls! If you ask anyone what you should visit there, it would be out of these 2 categories! No museums included :)…well, the country only exists for 30 years and has been built by foreigners!

















I had so many a-ha moments in this trip that I can’t believe it has been only a week! So many things happened that I found it hard to catch up and arrange my memories in little “drawers”! In any way, it has been a beautiful journey teaching me about breaking barriers, breaking thoughts, thinking behind the line, asking for comfort and accepting differences! I have challenged again my view on my next choices and new criteria are getting in the picture.

And no matter what, the feeling I have now is: “mda, I could live there!” :)
Enjoy the pictures and be sure that I brought sun with me to Europe! We need it to be sunny and smiley each day! So, have a “smiley day”!


















LATER UPDATE:
Burj al Arab is the hotel and Burj al Dubai is the tower, building, highest in the world! Thanks Dragos :) I knew I mixed them up!