Having lived in the UAE for nearly 14 years now, it has suddenly dawned upon me that I have, in fact, been living those 14 years in a dark cave.All this time, I have viewed the UAE as the pinnacle of living simply because I had nothing else to compare it to.

The past twenty years have seen Dubai grow from a swirling desert into a metropolis of skyscrapers - it has grown too fast. The culture of the United Arab Emirates is lagging behind its international image - it is almost non-existant when compared to the major cities of the world.

In addition to this, the major complaint most people have when criticising the UAE is that the night-life is total bollocks, and this is rather true unfortunately. Dubai, the true capital of the UAE, is not much fun once you’ve exhausted all the pretty restaurants and monotonous parties. As for the other Emirates such as Sharjah… heh, well, don’t even get me started on the restrictions in Sharjah. There are ‘women’ (or ‘men’ for you girls) restrictions, alcohol restrictions, pork restrictions (placed in increasing order of annoyance obviously) and anyone living in Sharjah (namely me) wishes he were in Dubai (and anyone living in Dubai wishes he were somewhere else after the first few years).

This sudden realisation does not come without consequence. I am in the middle of my ‘last’ year (there’s an optional year that follows) in school and, being a complete idiot, have failed to apply for the fall semester of a university and the deadlines have now past. My reasoning for staying was sound at the time, but - I have to be honest - I do not want to waste another year of my life here.

Like a little child, I have still not shed dreams of adventure and exploration. There are so many places in the world that I have yet to explore, so many things I have yet to do, and I have exhausted my time here in the UAE.

I’ve got to get out of here, and I intend to somehow by the end of this school year.