Crowds hurried through the airport while Candelaria Molano, a senior at the Columbus School, stepped into Dubai for the first time. She saw men in long white robes moving quickly, women in black abayas walking with grace, and the sound of many languages mixing all around her. At that moment, she realized just how far she was from Colombia. “My first impression when I arrived in Dubai was that people were really different from us… It felt like a harsh cultural change between Colombia and Dubai,” she recalled [0:03–0:34]. The heat, the noise, and the rush of people made everything feel overwhelming but exciting. Her first impression was marked by curiosity and a lot of surprise, which shaped her whole experience.
Candelaria’s trip to Dubai wasn’t only about visiting new places. It turned into a chance to learn, taste, and live a completely different culture than what she was used to. She tried foods she didn’t think she would like and saw how everything could stop for religious practices, even in buses or malls. Every day came with something new, innovative, and surprising. Her story shows that this was much more than just a trip; it completely changed her perspective about the world. It expanded her mindset into realizing that there is much more beyond her home, in Medellín, Colombia.
Food was one of the biggest surprises of Candelaria’s trip. Before she got to Dubai, she thought the flavors would be very strange to her taste buds and that she probably wouldn’t like them. “We tried a lot of different foods, mostly… people eat mostly chicken and not really meat because it is really expensive to have in Dubai,” she explained [1:26–2:28]. Hearing her describe it shows that food wasn’t just about what they eat, it was also about understanding how people live, how expensive things are, and what traditions truly matter.
She remembered sitting at the table with plates of rice covered in different spices she couldn’t even recognize, and tasting those flavors that changed from sour to salty to sweet in just one bite, which was completely mesmerizing. At first, she was convinced that those flavors were going to be too much and that she would have to deny the plate of food in front of her. “I thought, like I imagined, that I would not like it, but I even repeated… I really, really liked it,” she said with a laugh. That small surprise ended up being one of her favorite memories of the trip. For her, food wasn’t only about taste now, it was a way to feel closer to the culture and to realize that even the things we expect not to like can become the ones we remember the most.
Another moment that really stood out to Candelaria was how deeply religion shaped everyday life in Dubai. “In Colombia, I know religious people, but in Dubai, everything revolves around religion,” she explained [2:37–3:21]. She wasn’t just talking about church or holidays; faith was the one that led the rhythm of the entire city. She remembers very vividly one afternoon when she was riding a bus and, without warning or hesitation, the driver pulled over immediately. People quietly stepped outside, laid down their mats, and began to pray right there on the ground. For Candelaria, it was surprising, but at the same time, it was moving and powerful, something she had never experienced back home.
Another time, she was walking through a crowded mall when the sound of prayer music filled the entire space. “Everything just like stopped for a minute, and they just started to pray, and it was really shocking,” she said [4:10]. She remembered how the shops suddenly paused, people stopped talking halfway through their conversations, and in just a second, everyone turned their bodies and their minds into prayer. In cultures like in Medellín, religion is mostly private and happens in homes or churches; in Dubai, it was everywhere, on buses, in streets, even in malls. For her, this was one of the strongest lessons of the trip, because she realized that religion can shape an entire community and an entire city.
Candelaria’s story shows how traveling makes you see the world in a whole different way. Dubai wasn’t just about the skyscrapers or the innovative technology; it was about the everyday moments that showed how people live and behave amongst their own communities. Seeing that made her feel more connected to the world, but it also reminded her of what makes Colombia her true home. When she summed up Dubai in three words, “nature, advancement, and technology” [4:37–4:46], she was also sharing how this experience changed the way she now sees the world and people around her.
From the taste of spiced rice to buses pausing to pray, Candelaria’s Dubai trip showed her that difference isn’t something to be scared of. Instead, it’s a way to feel connected, one new experience at a time.