What an amazing experience. I am still receiving friend requests and emails from women that I met at the conference. I am still editing the almost 1200 pictures I took while in the UAE. And I am still suffering from sleep deprivation.
It is a curious thing, jet lag. You are told ways to avoid it, and people tell you what it is like, but you never really know until you experience it. On the way to Dubai, I switched my watch to UAE time and stayed awake during that time. I stayed awake on the flights there, so that by the time we arrived, I was ready to sleep according to the UAE time. It worked rather well. On the way home, I decided to set my watch to Minnesota time and sleep according to that. It seemed to work pretty well. When we returned on Friday night, I seemed to have plenty of rest. But the week back in classes after the trip was rough. Not only was I still catching up on laundry, and homework and class notes that I missed, but my body was also struggling to catch up. For the first few nights, I would fall asleep fast and early, and wake up at various increments through out the night. 3 am. 4 am. 6 am. Alarm clock goes off at 8 am. It is a tough cycle to break... especially when the birds outside your window don't allow you to go back to sleep. In talking to other women from the trip, I have heard similar stories.
With that being said, I do not regret it in any way. It was an amazing experience that I will cherish forever. I am so thankful to all of the hard work behind the scenes that went into helping us on the journey. I want to go back as soon as possible and continue learning about their unique culture and world perspective.
Lindsey Gideon
Class of 2013
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