- I grew up in Dubai but moved to New York for college in 2022.
- New York and Dubai are bustling metropolitan cities, and surprisingly, they share many similarities.
- But I miss my friends and family, my go-to food spots, and the beaches.
When most people think of Dubai, they picture towering skyscrapers, glittering lights, and people decked in designer clothes. While that’s true to some degree, for me, the city has always been about community get-togethers, roadside shawarma chats, and weekends by the beach.
I was born in India but moved to Dubai when I was 4 years old, and I have called it my home ever since. In the late 20th century, when the city launched multiple transformative construction projects, South Asian construction workers and other skilled expats moved to the region. As of 2023, the Dubai Statistics Center reported that 3.3 million expats reside in Dubai.
Some people might think it’s strange to consider a place where you’re not a citizen as home. Still, many expats — like me — who live there or have lived there consider this city home simply because of how it embraces you, even as an outsider. For every year that my family renewed our rental lease, the feeling that living there was temporary disappeared a little.
That was until 2022, when I moved to New York City for my master’s degree. I’d never been to the US before then, but I had a vague idea of what life in New York would be like from TV shows I’d watched growing up. And when I landed in August 2022, three suitcases in tow, the city was just as dreamy as it looked on Netflix … but only momentarily.
In the beginning, setting up my apartment, navigating the subway system, meeting new people, and attending my classes kept me busy and distracted.
But, as days turned into weeks, the excitement of living in a new place began to fade, and the dullness of routine replaced it.
Two years on, I’ve come to love New York City and its many quirks. It may not have shawarma shops where I can hang out with my friends late at night, and the closest beach is an hour away by train, but it does have the most beautiful parks and piers.
Ultimately, like the 1.5 million other international students who left their countries to study here, I have found myself a new home on this 2-mile island. For now, I exist between missing parts of Dubai —especially around the festive season — and loving parts of New York.
Here are five things I miss about Dubai and five that I love about New York.
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