I found that being born and raised in Dubai provided me with a new lens on the world. Growing up in an environment that was intrinsically multicultural and ever changing shaped my thoughts and views on the world in many more ways than one:
Multiculturalism: Dubai and the UAE has a population of over 90% expats, housing people of every nationality and background, enabling me to immerse myself in different cultures and experience different viewpoints on the world
The way of living: Due to Dubai being a smaller emirate in the country, the ease of transportation and living enabled me for an extremely busy lifestyle, filling my day with school, transport, work, dance, gym, and more work. This lifestyle prepared me greatly for the busy London life
The political system: the UAE is an oligarchical dictatorship, meaning that the political affairs are handled by the royal family and locals without any form of democratic input from the public. Thus, this meant that people were more politcally curious and minded in the absence of local politics, as well as through the research of international politics and economics.
Travel: Dubai is an epicenter for travel, having one of the largest and busiest airports in the world. This meant that the ease of traveling to other places was immense, and I was able to visit many places over summers, including my hometown in Dublin.
Education: Once again due to the multiculturalism and numbers of expatriates, there was a multitude of school systems such as British, American, French, Emirati, and the International Baccalaureate. While I was there I attended British schools, going on to complete A levels in a different continent to the UK.
Thanks for sharing, lots of amazing influences and life experiences to bring into the CMC course. Nicola