I'm a Foreign Exchange Student? (Oh!)

There are finally people on campus!
The regular summer session began this week, and after almost a full month of living and going to school on a ghost campus, it's nice to finally see some people! It's also very strange being one of only a few Americans in the area. We stick out like sore thumbs, and it's just been that fish out of water feeling for a few days. A girl walked up to Mike the other day and asked him if we were foreign exchange students. Although you would think them to be obvious truths, that's the first time it had really occured to me that we were a) foreigners in this country, and b) students (class has a casual, non-traditional feeling about it). So I've finally realized that I'm a foreign exchange student! Now you may be thinking something along the lines of, 'well duh,' but I'm so used to the idea of exchange students as well, foreign, and it's a new concept for me to be thinking of myself as 'foreign.' And yes, I'm aware of what an American that makes me sound like. I think the fact that we've all gotten on so well here has also delayed the realization. In a lot of ways I still don't feel a big difference between here and home.
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Fun activities of the week:
1) Shopping for Iranian carpets! (and buying them!)
2) Watching the World Cup on Arab television in a room packed full of AUS male students yelling at the screen in several languages. Last night: Argentina 2, Cote d'Ivoire 1. Tonight: Mexico 3, Iran 1.

Entertaining observations of the week:
1) Men at Emirates Mall attempting to bowl in their abayyas (long, white traditional robes).
2) Finding a group of girls crouched around the dorm television watching Maury Povich ("Are You My Baby's Daddy?"). It's amazing what they do and do not censor.