Illustration by Sana Amin/The Gazelle
Students Experience Delays Because of Blizzard
Students studying in New York and Washington, D.C., for January Term experienced the charm of the two cities under a white blanket. But the charm ...
Feb 7, 2016
Students studying in New York and Washington, D.C., for January Term experienced the charm of the two cities under a white blanket. But the charm brought its fair addition of stress.
On Jan. 23, a blizzard hit the East Coast of the United States and shut down domestic and international air travel until the weather conditions settled. The storm inconvenienced many NYU Abu Dhabi students in New York and Washington, D.C., who were due to depart that day.
Freshman Filip Karan, studying at NYU in D.C. for J-Term, experienced numerous delays in catching his flight to Croatia before his arrival in Abu Dhabi.
“I literally had six flight cancellations. I was supposed to fly out of D.C. on the night of January 22 but ended up going home on January 25,” he said.
He also spoke about the negative impact these untimely circumstances had on his academics.
“Flight cancellations were very stressful, mainly because they came at the time when we were writing our final papers and preparing for our final presentations, so this affected our concentration and [ability to] focus on the course, as we had to shift our time to figuring out how to get back home and eventually to Abu Dhabi.”
Freshman Seoyoung Lee, on the other hand, was thrilled to stay longer in New York under the spell of snow.
“I actually enjoyed my longer experience in New York because of the snowstorm,” said Lee. “I had really wanted to see snow before I left, and I got more than enough of it.”
The two NYUAD students also mentioned the staff at their respective NYU sites and spoke of their deftness in dealing with this unexpected situation.
“As for the NYU D.C. staff, they managed to ensure that we have a room to stay in and bought a few inflatable mattresses, which we put in some of the rooms,” said Karan. “[Residential Life Coordinator] Gillian Scott even paid for my transportation to the airport.”
Lee did not share Karan’s sentiments about the staff.
“The staff at NYU New York wasn’t particularly helpful. They just told me to update them about changes to my flight such as whether my flight was canceled or delayed.”
The staff at NYUNY ensured that Lee was able to stay in her dorm until she flew out of New York. However, they provided no assistance about how to deal with flight cancellations.
“The Global Ed staff at NYUAD and Nirvana were much more helpful in terms of flight cancellations. They helped me contact my airline, rebook my flight and replied relatively quickly to my emails,” she said.
The two NYUAD students safely reached Abu Dhabi before the start of their Spring semester.
Warda Malik is deputy news editor. Email her at feedback@thegazelle.org.
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