University students have returned home for the holidays, and to hear them tell it, they’re thrilled, judging from the status updates with copious numbers of grinning emoticons. Facebook is inundated with gleeful photos of the Burj Al Arab, captioned with hashtags followed by phrases such as “touchdown Dubai”, “look, no jackets”, “about time” and “camel milk”.
Old friends of mine who are at uni are flying back to Dubai from all corners of the world, too, and meeting them was bound to get emotional. The drama of our reunion would suggest that we were long-lost sisters, separated for decades, rather than a bunch of former classmates who’d only been away for three months and messaged each other every day.
It was as if we’d never left, we declared sagely. It’s strange that we’re all at different places now, but probably no stranger than the fact that we were friends – all the way from school – despite coming from different nations and backgrounds – Hungary, Pakistan, the UK, Australia, India.
We’ve got pretty varied courses between us, too. Veronika is at Durham, UK. She is going to be a criminal psychologist, which is apt because we’ve played the role of her patients – or criminals, if you will – for long enough. She’s astonishingly good at analysing our conversations, and sees through us to call our bluffs.
Shanzeh is a future engineer at Imperial College London, no doubt having gained her skills from our masterful physics experiments as lab partners. Sara moved back to Australia, planning to do medicine; it’ll be satisfying to have someone to gripe about anatomy to. Prianka, meanwhile, is at Wellesley in the US and seems to be doing a course with a whole lot of subjects. Maybe she’ll end up as a sort of Renaissance woman.
The girls all appeared much more poised and less giggly at first, which was alarming. The levels of maturity disintegrated quickly enough, thankfully, and we were soon back to safer territory of trying to top each other’s stories of the most disgusting incidents experienced at university. I offered a graphic description of a neighbour who had festering vomit splattered all over his shower for three days, before getting it cleaned up. The account didn’t take the cake, which indicates the level of exquisite “intellectual” sparring I was up against.
Adeela, who used to live on my street, dropped by the other day as a surprise, as she’d done every day for years. She’s an outdoorsy person, and hospitality management at Les Roches in Switzerland would give her plenty of opportunities to prance about in alpine meadows, à la Heidi, if she wanted to.
The jitters of leaving for university have settled, yet being home and seeing familiar faces is comforting. It’s a relief to discover that uni has been as overwhelming, odd and exciting for my friends as it has for me. And even though work will only increase from here on, for now, we’ll enjoy our well-deserved holiday.
The writer is an 18-year-old student at Cambridge who grew up in Dubai
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
UAE%20Warriors%2045%20Results
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What%20is%20Dungeons%20%26%20Dragons%3F%20
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Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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What can you do?
Document everything immediately; including dates, times, locations and witnesses
Seek professional advice from a legal expert
You can report an incident to HR or an immediate supervisor
You can use the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation’s dedicated hotline
In criminal cases, you can contact the police for additional support
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDate%20started%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202020%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Khaldoon%20Bushnaq%20and%20Tariq%20Seksek%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Abu%20Dhabi%20Global%20Market%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20HealthTech%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20staff%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20100%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunding%20to%20date%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%2415%20million%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The specs: 2018 BMW R nineT Scrambler
Price, base / as tested Dh57,000
Engine 1,170cc air/oil-cooled flat twin four-stroke engine
Transmission Six-speed gearbox
Power 110hp) @ 7,750rpm
Torque 116Nm @ 6,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined 5.3L / 100km
Results
2.30pm: Expo 2020 Dubai – Conditions (PA) Dh80,000 (Dirt) 1,600m; Winner: Barakka, Ray Dawson (jockey), Ahmad bin Harmash (trainer)
3.05pm: Now Or Never – Maiden (TB) Dh82,500 (Turf) 1,600m; Winner: One Idea, Andrea Atzeni, Doug Watson
3.40pm: This Is Our Time – Handicap (TB) Dh82,500 (D) 1,600m; Winner: Perfect Balance, Tadhg O’Shea, Bhupat Seemar
4.15pm: Visit Expo 2020 – Handicap (TB) Dh87,500 (T) 1,600m; Winner: Kaheall, Richard Mullen, Salem bin Ghadayer
4.50pm: The World In One Place – Handicap (TB) Dh95,000 (T) 1.900m; Winner: Castlebar, Adrie de Vries, Helal Al Alawi
5.25pm: Vision – Handicap (TB) Dh95,000 (D) 1,200m; Winner: Shanty Star, Richard Mullen, Rashed Bouresly
6pm: Al Wasl Plaza – Handicap (TB) Dh95,000 (T) 1,200m; Winner: Jadwal, Dane O’Neill, Doug Watson