I was invited to the United Arab Emirates in November, 2011 as a participant of the World Robot Olympiad. I was proud of myself because I was selected as a member of  the Russian National Robot team. My adventure started from the flight departure in Moscow. We took off at 1:00 a.m., but I didn’t want to sleep at all because I was persistently thinking about the competition. Before the landing in Dubai I was lucky to watch a gorgeous sunrise! There were no clouds and the red sun was rising from behind the Persian Gulf. I was happy and thought that the sun was greeting me.

What is your idea of an Arab country? As for me, I imagined endless and uninhabited desert, camels, Arabs in white and black national clothes, etc. But in fact I saw  high skyscrapers, expensive cars and perfect environment. I met polite and well-educated people. That’s what attracted me in the Emirates. It became the country of my dream.  

Many exotic things impressed me in the UAE and the first was the smell of perfume. This sweet and fresh smell was everywhere but I liked it very much. Also I was impressed by beautiful waterfalls. You may think: ‘Stop! Are there any waterfalls in the desert country?’ And I tell – yes! There are lots of big artificial waterfalls! They make the feeling of cool, fresh air, so it isn’t hot anywhere at all. To be honest, it was very cold inside some buildings and my friends even went outside to warm up. Chicken is the key ingredient of local cuisine: chicken sausages, chicken cutlets and shaurma. As for me, I found Arabian shaurma and chicken sausages very delicious.

When my friends and I moved to Dubai from Abu Dhabi, I had fallen asleep in our bus before we set off. One hour later I woke up and noticed that our bus was moving on the road crossing the real desert. It was very unusual, because in Russia you always see fields and forests between cities and I hardly believed that forty years ago Arabs lived here in small villages, surrounded by sands! Everything changed as soon as we arrived in Dubai. It was full of skyscrapers! I’d never seen anything of the kind! I felt  like an ant among giants. And the main "giant” was Burj Khalifa – the highest skyscraper in the world.  At night we went to its observatory situated on the 124th floor and saw a breathtaking view. The city was full of lights, cars on the streets looked as a stream of running fireflies and I could see everything for miles away! It was fantastic!