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CMU-Q building opens

  • Feb. 24th, 2009 at 10:56 AM
CMU
Sunday was the official inauguration of the Carnegie Mellon building in Education City. When I moved to Qatar in 2004, I never dreamed I'd be here long enough to see groundbreaking on our own building, let alone the celebration of its completion -- but here it is 2009 already, and there I was at the celebration!

I loved all the videos, and watching the emir and sheikha joke around with the students while waiting for a photo op. Most of all, perhaps, I loved the chocolate-covered ice cream balls. Mmm.

Media coverage:


Update, 15.3: official news release here, with all the videos here.

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Comments

( 4 comments — Leave a comment )
[info]y_pestis wrote:
Feb. 25th, 2009 02:24 pm (UTC)
"flanked by students and alumni"... you've been there long enough for there to be ALUMNI! How weird is that? So was my favourite royal, Sheikha Mayassa, there?
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[info]qatar wrote:
Mar. 2nd, 2009 12:51 pm (UTC)
The alumni weren't even invited on stage -- they just went for it. :-D

I don't think Sheikha Mayassa was there... alas!
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[info]gustavolacerda wrote:
Mar. 17th, 2009 05:18 am (UTC)
wow, 5 years!

I'm really wondering what your life there is like...

I don't imagine liking such a place. What's keeping you there?
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[info]qatar wrote:
Mar. 17th, 2009 07:14 am (UTC)
Well, some very mundane things keep us here: Justin's advisor is here, so this is where he needs to be to finish his dissertation. He could have switched to another advisor and moved back to Pittsburgh, but then I'd have to give up a job I enjoy.

It's fun being part of the creation of a new university campus. There is a lot of freedom that comes with starting a program and deciding how things should be set up without being restrained by red tape or administrative inertia or (let's face it) budget crunches.

Doha is a fun place for me socially because every semester interesting new people circulate through, and we tend to make friends quickly since we only have each other. In contrast, I never did establish a social circle in Pittsburgh -- nonstudents who move there tend to have a very difficult time making inroads socially.

Doha itself is not all that exciting and we desperately miss the green of Pittsburgh. On the other hand, living here provides travel opportunities that simply aren't possible in the States. Two days ago we decided to go to Thailand next week -- you can't do that from Pennsylvania. :-) So even though Doha itself is not the kind of city I'd ideally want to live in, it provides access to things I really love.

Edited at 2009-03-17 07:15 am (UTC)
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( 4 comments — Leave a comment )