Over fall break, I stayed with locals in Al Ain through “couch-surfing,” which isn’t something I knew about until I came here. The couple that hosted me were expats who teach at a private school in the city and just talking to them over dinner, in the car or just watching movies, I learned so much about Emirati culture and quirky things about this area – I think that’s one of the best parts of being here – the little bits of information I learn each day, which I wouldn’t know anything about unless I ran into people from all these different countries.

Rachel Elizabeth Maillet, Study Away student from NYU Polytechnic/Tandon (New York)