December 11

I started off the day by scrambling to get ready after waking up nearly 30 minutes late. As my host student Yordan and I ran out the door, I grabbed the latte that my host dad had made for me. We hopped into the Uber and headed to the Middle East International School hoping the bus to the day's adventures had not left without us. Luckily enough, we made it on time and began the journey to our first destination, the Museum of Islamic Art. From the outside it was already apparent that this facility was state of the art, just like everything else we have seen so far in Doha. As we entered we were greeted by cheerful museum curators and a cascading spiral staircase that took my breathe away. Past the staircase was a huge window looking out to the water with the best possible view of Doha City Center.

Myself along with MaryAlice and Fatima walked around seeing artifacts such as 1000 year old jewelry, historic rugs, pottery and weapons. We then decided to take a break and grab a bite to eat at the café inside the museum, which turned out to be very good. We sat in front of the aforementioned window and took pictures with the gorgeous views in the background. We then headed outside to take a group shot of all of the exchange students and our hosts.  After that, we headed to our next destination of the day, which was a dhow boat ride.

We set sail from Souq Waqif, a local market place, and headed for our docking location near the pearl, a wealthy artificial island, also in Doha. We sat upstairs on patterned rugs and pillows and enjoyed the passing views of skyscrapers and villas. We ate chicken and rice for lunch and then some of us decided it was time for a swim. We jumped into the greenish blue water and were surprised to find that it wasn’t as warm as it looked.

We then got out, dried off and headed back. Yordan and I went home, got dressed, and went to the pearl for dinner at a restaurant called 1990.  It was here where we met up with everyone else from CGS and their hosts. We had a huge cotton candy hat for dessert.

After that, we went bowling and I did terrible, just barely staying out of last place. Next was karaoke and we were surprised to find that girls and boys were not allowed in the same room.  However, one of the host's parents came with us, so we bypassed that rule. After an hour of singing until we had no voices left, I ubered home and reminisced about that days adventures.

-Colby Mazzoni