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
JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH
Directed by: Shaka King
Starring: Daniel Kaluuya, Lakeith Stanfield, Jesse Plemons
Four stars
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
The specs: 2018 Renault Koleos
Price, base: From Dh77,900
Engine: 2.5L, in-line four-cylinder
Transmission: Continuously variable transmission
Power: 170hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque: 233Nm @ 4,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 8.3L / 100km
MATCH RESULT
Al Jazira 3 Persepolis 2
Jazira: Mabkhout (52'), Romarinho (77'), Al Hammadi (90' 6)
Persepolis: Alipour (42'), Mensha (84')
Padmaavat
Director: Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Starring: Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone, Shahid Kapoor, Jim Sarbh
3.5/5
Bharatanatyam
A ancient classical dance from the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Intricate footwork and expressions are used to denote spiritual stories and ideas.
Afcon 2019
SEMI-FINALS
Senegal v Tunisia, 8pm
Algeria v Nigeria, 11pm
Matches are live on BeIN Sports
MATCH DETAILS
Manchester United 3
Greenwood (21), Martial (33), Rashford (49)
Partizan Belgrade 0
Directed: Smeep Kang
Produced: Soham Rockstar Entertainment; SKE Production
Cast: Rishi Kapoor, Jimmy Sheirgill, Sunny Singh, Omkar Kapoor, Rajesh Sharma
Rating: Two out of five stars
The specs: 2019 Chevrolet Bolt EV
Price, base: Dh138,000 (estimate)
Engine: 60kWh battery
Transmission: Single-speed Electronic Precision Shift
Power: 204hp
Torque: 360Nm
Range: 520km (claimed)
THE BIO
Born: Mukalla, Yemen, 1979
Education: UAE University, Al Ain
Family: Married with two daughters: Asayel, 7, and Sara, 6
Favourite piece of music: Horse Dance by Naseer Shamma
Favourite book: Science and geology
Favourite place to travel to: Washington DC
Best advice you’ve ever been given: If you have a dream, you have to believe it, then you will see it.
A State of Passion
Directors: Carol Mansour and Muna Khalidi
Stars: Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah
Rating: 4/5
Europe’s rearming plan
- Suspend strict budget rules to allow member countries to step up defence spending
- Create new "instrument" providing €150 billion of loans to member countries for defence investment
- Use the existing EU budget to direct more funds towards defence-related investment
- Engage the bloc's European Investment Bank to drop limits on lending to defence firms
- Create a savings and investments union to help companies access capital
OTHER IPL BOWLING RECORDS
Best bowling figures: 6-14 – Sohail Tanvir (for Rajasthan Royals against Chennai Super Kings in 2008)
Best average: 16.36 – Andrew Tye
Best economy rate: 6.53 – Sunil Narine
Best strike-rate: 12.83 – Andrew Tye
Best strike-rate in an innings: 1.50 – Suresh Raina (for Chennai Super Kings against Rajasthan Royals in 2011)
Most runs conceded in an innings: 70 – Basil Thampi (for Sunrisers Hyderabad against Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2018)
Most hat-tricks: 3 – Amit Mishra
Most dot-balls: 1,128 – Harbhajan Singh
Most maiden overs bowled: 14 – Praveen Kumar
Most four-wicket hauls: 6 – Sunil Narine
How England have scored their set-piece goals in Russia
Three Penalties
v Panama, Group Stage (Harry Kane)
v Panama, Group Stage (Kane)
v Colombia, Last 16 (Kane)
Four Corners
v Tunisia, Group Stage (Kane, via John Stones header, from Ashley Young corner)
v Tunisia, Group Stage (Kane, via Harry Maguire header, from Kieran Trippier corner)
v Panama, Group Stage (Stones, header, from Trippier corner)
v Sweden, Quarter-Final (Maguire, header, from Young corner)
One Free-Kick
v Panama, Group Stage (Stones, via Jordan Henderson, Kane header, and Raheem Sterling, from Tripper free-kick)
RESULTS
6.30pm: Handicap (rated 100 ) US$175,000 1,200m
Winner: Baccarat, William Buick (jockey), Charlie Appleby (trainer)
7.05pm: Handicap (78-94) $60,000 1,800m
Winner: Baroot, Christophe Soumillon, Mike de Kock
7.40pm: Firebreak Stakes Group 3 $200,000 1,600m
Winner: Heavy Metal, Mickael Barzalona, Salem bin Ghadayer
8.15pm: Handicap (95-108) $125,000 1,200m
Winner: Yalta, Mickael Barzalona, Salem bin Ghadayer
8.50pm: Balanchine Group 2 $200,000 1,800m
Winner: Promising Run, Pat Cosgrave, Saeed bin Suroor
9.25pm: Handicap (95-105) $125,000 1,800m
Winner: Blair House, James Doyle, Charlie Appleby
10pm: Handicap (95-105) $125,000 1,400m
Winner: Oh This Is Us, Tom Marquand, Richard Hannon
Duterte Harry: Fire and Fury in the Philippines
Jonathan Miller, Scribe Publications
The Equaliser 2
Director Antoine Fuqua
Starring: Denzel Washington, Bill Pullman, Melissa Leo, Ashton Sanders
Three stars
The biog
Age: 46
Number of Children: Four
Hobby: Reading history books
Loves: Sports
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-finals, first leg
Liverpool v Roma
When: April 24, 10.45pm kick-off (UAE)
Where: Anfield, Liverpool
Live: BeIN Sports HD
Second leg: May 2, Stadio Olimpico, Rome
The Laughing Apple
Yusuf/Cat Stevens
(Verve Decca Crossover)
'Midnights'
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EArtist%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Taylor%20Swift%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ELabel%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Republic%20Records%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%204%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Fifa Club World Cup quarter-final
Kashima Antlers 3 (Nagaki 49’, Serginho 69’, Abe 84’)
Guadalajara 2 (Zaldivar 03’, Pulido 90')
Pakistan squad
Sarfraz (c), Zaman, Imam, Masood, Azam, Malik, Asif, Sohail, Shadab, Nawaz, Ashraf, Hasan, Amir, Junaid, Shinwari and Afridi