Dubai, United Arab Emirates

This weekend my Dad and I went to Dubai. We woke up pretty early on Friday morning and caught a flight at like 8 in the morning. We were zombies because we didn't really sleep much the night before. Luckily it wasn't that long of a flight and we got to the airport around 9 in the morning. Little did we know but we were getting picked up in a Bentley to go to the Armani hotel that was at the base of the world's tallest building. This was the nicest hotel I think that I've ever stayed at in my life. It was amazing. We had a personal concierge that helped us plan our whole entire day. It was amazing. Here is a picture of the view that we had out of our bedroom window.



After we got checked in and such we went over to Dubai Mall. It's actually on the left side of the picture above. It's the world's largest mall and it has around 1200 stores. It's massive. They have an aquarium in there that has to be about three stores tall and it has to be one of if not the largest one in the world. We also went into the world's largest candy store which was inside the mall. If you haven't realized the trend Dubai is all about the World's largest whatever. Oh we also went to Taco Bell inside the mall just because we desperately wanted mexican food and that was the closest that we could get.

The next big thing we did was we climbed the Burj Khalifa. That is the world's tallest building and let me tell you from the 128 floor observation deck you feel like your on top of the world but in fact your only about 2/3s the way up the building. It's ridiculously crazy and in the same it's awesome. It was a little upsetting though that it was so sandy and because of it we couldn't see some of the other famous parts of Dubai.



We then went and walked around Dubai Mall for a little bit longer before we went back to our hotel which was really close. Then that night we went to the Burj Al-Arab. It's the building that looks like a sail in case you were wondering. We actually got to take a Maserati to dinner that night and when we pulled up there was a Ferrari, Lamborghini, and an Audi R8. Talk about a star studded car display. We went up to the Sky Bar which was really cool inside and got to see a different part of Dubai that you couldn't really see earlier in the day. We then went to dinner at one of the most incredible restaurants ever. I just cant think of the name.



The next day was quite exciting. First off my dad and I decided to not really push a clock at all in the morning which was amazing because we needed the sleep. Then we went out to Atlantis that was on the orignal man made island called the Palm Islands. Honestly the Palm Islands weren't that impressive because they didn't help to generate the way of living like the Pearl does. We walked around Atlantis for awhile were then again there was another giant aquarium that was actually a lot cooler than the one at the Dubai Mall because it looked a lot more thought out and the fish were a lot bigger. We then went to the most important part of our trip On The Border.

It was some of the best food that I've ever had because we hadn't eaten Mexican food in so long. It was great and honestly the only let down was that they didn't have queso which we were craving big time. After that we went to the mall of the Emirates and most famous for there indoor snow skiing in the middle east. My dad and I decided to go skiing and it was incredible. I walked in there in sandals and shorts and 110 degree weather into 29 degree skiing weather. It wasn't the biggest ski slope but it was a lot of fun. It was weird though to see families just riding the lifts up and down like three or four times in a row before getting off.



It was great to go to Dubai and it was wonderful to just relax and enjoy a little weekend get away from life for awhile. But we are back to work now so stay tuned for more work updates.

Work Update

While I'm waiting for my pictures to upload and such I figured I would write an update on my job. This week started my second week and it has been exciting so far. Yesterday and today I got to work in an area called CCTV or Closed Circuit Television. These are basically cameras that are linked back to a single room over the internet. I actually got to learn how the system worked, how they were relayed back into the main control room, the backbone of the system, and then I actually got to sit down and play around with the cameras and the system.

Tomorrow I'm getting to work on the incident management system. It's basically the system that tells the operators were there are fire alarms and other types of alarms. It isn't the most difficult of systems but I've seen it in action once so I'm excited to see the system again tomorrow and actually learn about what makes the system work. It should be a very interesting day.

Stayed tuned for an update about my Dad and I's trip to Dubai.

Work

It's been a few days so I thought I would update everyone on what was going on. First I just wanted to let everyone know that two days ago it was 53 degrees Celsius at one point. Thats about 126 degrees and with the heat index it felt like it was about 145. It makes Texas feel like it's the middle of December. Either way though I'm loving work. It's been a great time so far and I'm learning a lot here that I don't think I would ever learn in the States. I've been able to visit the Command Center that will handle everything on the island when it's all done. There have been some slow times at work but it's ok I've also learned a lot since starting.

This weekend should be fun too cause A it's the weekend and B my dad and I are going to Dubai this weekend. It's bound to be a lot of fun and honestly I cant wait. It's going to be a really fun weekend. We are actually getting to stay in the world's tallest building too. I'm pretty excited about going. Well we are leaving at 7:50 in the morning so I'm off to sleep. I'll post more on Saturday when we get back with pictures of Dubai.

Doha, Qatar

Yesterday was a very long day of travel but it was a good one because it meant that I was coming to Qatar. We left Florence at around midnight and then took a three and half hour bus ride to Rome. We then got to just wait in the Airport until your flight got to leave. At least my flight was pretty early. Austin and Eli's flight didn't leave till around 6:30 in the afternoon Italy time. Either way I finally got here to Doha around 9:30 at night and stepped off the plane into 95 degree weather.

Today was my first day of my month long internship. It was actually really pleasant. I started at around 8 o'clock in the morning and got done around 5 in the afternoon. It was a semi busy day but it was like anyones first day and it was pretty slow. I'm looking forward to the rest of my time here and I think that I'm going to be able to learn a lot. It's a pretty slow day posts wise but I'm excited to be here and there will be more to come as my time here goes on.

Trent

The End of a Great Trip

Well today is the last day we have in Florence. In 12 hours we will begin to get on a bus and we will start our very long and very early journey to Rome so that we can be dropped off at the airport in time to get the first person to their flight at like 6:30 in the morning. Luckily mine isn't to far behind it at 8:50. Either way, it's just weird to leave a place that you've called home for the last two months and move on to something completely different. Eli and Austin are going home which is what I was going to be doing as well before I got my internship. So instead of going home I still have another month which I'm actually really excited about. There is something about leaving a place and just going to meet up with your dad in Doha that is exciting and honestly I'm really excited about going. Leaving Florence will be hard but I'm ready for the next chapter of my summer and that chapter begins in a little over 30 hours. I might post again before I leave tonight but we'll see.

Busy Day

So yesterday was a great day but it was also a very busy day. Austin and I woke up really early in the morning and we climbed the Duomo. It was really awesome. At one point you get to walk in the dome of the Duomo and you can look down at the whole inside of it. Also all of the stairs are just inside the wall. When you get to the very top you get to walk out and look over all of Florence. It's kind of a pain to climb down though because everyone is climbing up the same stairs at the top. It was cool experience and I'm glad that we got to do it.

After that we went to class and then when we got out of class we went to see the Statue of David. It is one of the most incredible things that I've ever seen. This time is was all three of us that went and we literally just stared at for about 15 minutes. There is just so much detail in it. Also the fact that just one easy hit and the whole thing could have been ruined. It's amazing. After we went to the Academia (Where the David is) I went to get a haircut (Thats just for you mom).

It's weird to think that we have two more days before we leave. We got the email today telling us that we have to meet at 11:30 at night at the train station. It's going to be a different experience going from a Renaissance city like Florence to a much more Modern one like Doha. But honestly I'm actually kind of excited now to get there even though it's going to be a little weird starting work but it's going to be great to be hanging out with my Dad. Either way three more days and I'll be in Qatar and only about one more month till I'll be back in the states.

Thats all for now.
Trent

Verona and Lake Garda

This weekend was our last weekend in Italy. Our program we came here with, ISA, planned a trip for all that wanted to go that went to a place called Verona and Lake Garda. To be honest I had never heard of Verona before but apparently it's where Romeo and Juliet supposedly took place. We took a 3 hour bus ride from Florence to get there. After that we checked into our hotel and as usual it was Eli, Austin, and I in our room. We also had a bus tour of Verona. Then it was time to try to find the Spain vs Paraguay game so that we could see who was going to play Germany since they crushed Argentina. We also got to see the Juliet house where the people write all of the Letters to Juliet.

We also went to a lake that next day called Lake Garda. We didn't really do much there other than take a ferry around the little town that was there. We then just all hung out in the water and on this little so called beach that was actually just a bunch of rocks. All in all though it was a good place to spend the 4th of July.

It's weird to think that this time next week I'll be starting or rather finishing up my second day of work at UDC. I only have four more days here in Italy before I head out to Qatar. It's a little bitter sweet but I'm starting to get ready to be in Qatar and to just spend time with my dad before heading back home to start my senior year of college.

Thats all for now,
Trent

Disappointed

Today, was a very disappointing day. Austin and I tried to go to Venice today for the second time in about the last two weeks but instead we weren't able to go. We felt very defeated this morning. We went to the train station to try to reserve a seat on the train to Venice this morning but instead we found out we weren't going to be able to get there till about 3 this afternoon. It wasn't going to be enough time to see Venice and we didn't want to be rushed either. It was a sad day, because we realized that we will probably not going to be able to see it while we are here. It just means that we are just going to have to come back some time and see Venice.