“Ellal leqa’ — until we meet again”

Since joining NYU Abu Dhabi four years ago my life has been an unpredictable adventure. The most beautiful part of this experience is that I was introduced to a group of people who have become my family.

I remember climbing a sand dune in freshman year with my classmates and not coming down until the next morning. I remember looking up at the night sky and thinking: these are the people who would become my family.

Since then I’ve traveled more, learned more and lived more. I left the UAE many times to study abroad but even from thousands of miles away I never lost the feeling of being a part of the NYUAD family — mainly because the conversations that started on the top of that sand dune never stopped. They continued in classes, at mealtimes, on long airplane rides, and often over Skype.

“We share values of tolerance, respect and empathy”

As I packed my suitcase to leave for my freshman year at NYU Abu Dhabi, I gazed over at a photograph of my siblings and me sitting beside the UAE’s Founding Father, His Highness Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, may he rest in peace. The picture has been framed next to my bed since it was taken at an Abu Dhabi hotel in 2003. Intimidated by the thought of leaving my home in Jordan, it stood there as a reminder of the first warm connection I had in Abu Dhabi as a young girl.

Over the last four years, the city has grown warmer to me because of community connections and strong relationships with professors, mentors, classmates and roommates. Looking back on my journey, I’ve become a reflection of the outstanding people I’ve met and the travel stories we’ve written together. We came to the UAE from around the world with different belief systems but we share values of tolerance, respect, and empathy.

NYUAD’s global education has taught me not only how to answer questions, but how to ask the right questions, while valuing the region’s identity, culture and heritage. NYUAD has instilled in me a love of learning and the skills to think for myself – academically, socially, physically and spiritually.

“Home can feel closer than you think”

I have a lifelong relationship with language. I love the different sounds and shapes my mouth makes, and each language offers a different expression of my humanity. For me, service to the community is its own language. People will always understand kindness when it passes through, no matter the culture or background. As a student at NYU Abu Dhabi, my fluency in the language of kindness has grown tremendously through volunteer opportunities on campus and beyond.

In 2013, when the Philippines was struck by a powerful typhoon, we organized a fundraiser to help communities affected by the storm. We put together a concert in the campus dining hall and left a box at the entrance to collect donations. The community’s response was overwhelming and a significant sum was raised to make an impact back home. I’ve also traveled as far as London and Buenos Aires to work on sustainable farming projects and help deliver affordable medical services to low-income communities.

“One of the most enriching experiences of my life”

I still remember the day I fell in love with NYU Abu Dhabi. It was during Candidate Weekend in February 2011. Unfortunately, the customary trip to the desert was canceled because of a sandstorm. Instead, we converted the multipurpose room of the Downtown Campus into a makeshift desert-camp-like setting with majlises, and danced our hearts out. That night, about 100 students from all over the world became friends and learned new dance steps from each other. The last four years in Abu Dhabi have been a little like that dance: an unpredictable experience that has kept me on my toes.

Four years of cross-continent adventures with nearly 150 classmates has been one of the most enriching experiences of my life. Learning from and with so many amazing classmates, exceptional professors, and support staff has been humbling. One of the most important things I will take away from my time at NYUAD is the value of taking chances, whether it’s picking up a difficult academic project or traveling to Egypt with no Arabic language skills. The people here invited me push myself and explore new horizons.

“Re-imagine the possibilities”

One evening last September, a friend and I reconnected after spending several months on different continents. He had just completed a scuba diving course that I took as a freshman. After three years, I admitted, I’d forgotten the basic rules of diving. “They’re pretty easy,” my friend assured, “try to remember.”

I rattled off the ones I could recall: check your equipment, plan ahead, ascend slowly and with control. As I did, it occurred to me that my time at NYU Abu Dhabi has taught me similar rules by which to live and learn: be prepared, execute your plans, take it slow and steady.

But I’ve also learned that not all diving analogies apply to life at NYUAD. For some of us, this place wasn’t in the plan. Most of us had no idea what the future would hold. Instead, NYUAD often embodies the joy of spontaneity, prompting students to re-imagine the possibilities and make plans as we go. We’ve been gifted with the surprise of unexpected travel, new passions, and diverse friendships. And yet these experiences are neither frivolous nor fixed.

The university also bends the fundamental rule in scuba diving to always stick with a buddy. An inevitable aspect of being a student here is separation from friends to pursue summer internships, study abroad, or hide away in a room all weekend to complete a project. Even if we sometimes felt lost in these depths, the experiences asked us to grow independently and focus on our own cultivation so that we could flourish into better leaders and better buddies.