"Dubai?! Tell me about it. What is it like? Dubai is in India, right???"
Okay friends and family, you asked, and we both know I'm not as patient in person with my answers as I'm going to be right here on this digital paper.
After growing up in Dubai for eighteen years, it's fair to say I have a reasonable amount of perspective on this city. Before I catch my flight - adding to the countless departures from here - let's talk about Dubai.
The Basics
First of all, no, Dubai is NOT in India nor is it in Africa. It is in the United Arab Emirates, which is in Asia. This young city was founded in 1833, and rapidly grew (especially during the 1990s and early 2000s) into the city you know today.
Women are not required to cover their hair and they are allowed to drive; don't get us confused with Saudi Arabia.
Alcohol very much does exist here. Meanwhile, drugs are another story.
Lastly, PLEASE: We are not "Dubai-an". Those from here are called Emirati, but only about ten percent of the population here are Emirati; the rest are expatriates (expats for short) who are all here on work visas, tourist visas, or student visas.
Pros
Dubai is a city; the night life is extremely active due to the multitude of bars, clubs, restaurants, shisha (hookah, as Americans say), and so on.
Like I said, only 10 percent of the population here is actually from here. The rest are from around the world. As a result, we've grown up with a variety of cultures surrounding us our entire life.
Traveling is a norm. If we're living here, we probably are an expat and therefore have moved from somewhere. We end up spending holidays traveling to where we came from, where our extended family is, or end up going on trips with our best friends.
Cabs are cheap. Need I say more?
Without any traffic, driving across the entire city only takes about half an hour. This is a pro because no one actually lives "far" away from your place, and the entire city is overall easily accessible.
Whether you are wealthy or not, you will feel rich. Many people here are extremely wealthy and some of those people will be your friends or friends of friends. That means the life they've been blessed with, you will indirectly be blessed with, too. Fancy dinners paid for by your friends, trips on their boats, abundance of good alcohol at their parties, being transported for free by their drivers...It's the life my friend.
Of course, everyone is impressed globally when we whip out that we're from Dubai. Please recall your reaction.
The friends here are the friends for life. Because you will literally be running into them at halfway around the world at the Eiffel Tower unplanned (yes, this has happened to me one summer). Really though, by growing up here, we have all been blessed with a global network.
Cons
So, like I said: Dubai is a city. That means almost everything requires money... Money for transport and money for almost anything that is fun to do in Dubai.
We're so lucky that being amongst an endless amount of culture is completely normal to us. But it's so normal that many of us have gotten phased when moving to a place where the majority of people is from one place or of one race (Hey, UCSB).
This city that sprung from the empty desert had to be built by someone; those someones are workers brought from impoverished cities abroad. Thus, there is an undertone of ubiqituois poverty beneath the richness that makes up this city
We have to alter our stories - such as skipping the part that a particular event actually happened in Egypt or Cambodia or [insert exotic country/city name here] - to those who aren't used to how casual traveling is for us.
Dubai doesn't have addresses. No street addresses and no mailboxes at houses. Good luck explaining to the cab or the delivery guy how to find where you're at. Especially if you don't have a landmark...
It is not a secular city or in a secular country. Take that as you will, but personally I place that in the cons list for a series of controversial reasons.
Pro + Con
The people in Dubai are unlike the people anywhere else. Pro because the people I know here are unique, cultured, worldly, mature, beautiful inside and out, and many more extremely positive adjectives. These people are my family. Con because leaving these people makes it all the much harder.
