“It aimed to not only gather the world but to gather feelings, merge missions, and guide visions.”

On a bright morning of July 8, the plan to visit the Expo 2020 Dubai site was set and I, one of the 18 champions, woke up earlier than usual. I would say this is due to the adrenaline rush and motivation that I had in my since I got to know about the trip.

We arrived at the Expo 2020 site with all other champions with their water bottles to beat the heat. The team quite quickly started chatting and shared the excitement for the see the pavilion of the first and only university at the Expo 2020. It was finally a pleasant day after a long time due to the global pandemic. The trip was immaculately arranged by the Expo 2020 taskforce at the UAE University.

To start the tour, we were provided with the safety gear, helmet and suitable shoes as we all know ‘safety first’ in addition to the COVID-19 regulations that we all followed before the trip.

We started the tour in high spirits and first visited the UAE University’s pavilion that is built on the theme of ‘University of the Future’. I’m short of words to explain the creativity of the designers, the ideas that clearly represented the UAE University. Being a part of the university, I can vouch that we are always guided by our leadership to progress and find our path and think higher than our goals to impact the world. The pavilion’s journey captures that mandate beautifully.

Our next stop was at the Australian Pavilion. The pavilion further increased my level of excitement and we continued the tour and experienced the stories and the images. The design inspiration of the Australian pavilion is from the cumulus cloud, a feature of the diverse Australian landscape. It left us all amazed how all the pavilions brought their dreams to reality.  

We then moved on to the Swiss Pavilion was our last stop. I have to say that their pavilion got our attention with their culture, nature and innovation through their design and not to forget, the panoramic view of the splendor Switzerland green fields.

They say that Expo 2020 Dubai aims to gather the entire world in one place, but I truly believe that they worked to not only to gather people, but to gather feelings, merge missions, and guide visions.

Maryam Aslam Al bloushi