Hello, we're back and we have loads of stories to tell! The past three months were crazy hectic - some good, some not so much. To recap the highlights: * We went on a two-week vacation to the Philippines. * We celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary at Plantation Bay, Mactan, Cebu. * Baby Mira is finally baptized. * I was diagnosed with Acute Vestibular Neuritis on my left ear and spent a good amount of time at the hospital. * The Embassy welcomed Secretary of Foreign Affairs Alan Peter Cayetano (and tons of other hectic activities). * Elise started with (summer) school - yey! * Started planning baby Mira's first birthday - yey again! So yeah, given all those happenings, I didn't have the chance to update our blog since January. Please bear with me as I'm excited and eager to share all our stories. :) * * * Let me begin by telling you about my recent tour of the gorgeous Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University in Riyadh. During SFA Cayetano's visit, the Embassy spouses handled the parallel program for the SFA's wife, Taguig City Mayor Lani Cayetano, who visited with him. One of the activities included a tour of the Princess Nourah University, arranged by the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Being a women's university, not everyone is able to visit this university, our spouses included, so I was thankful to have joined this tour. This University is magnificent and the tour a definite eye-opener. We only had a couple of hours for the tour so our visit was limited only to the Central Library, Medical Sciences Building, and the University Gymnasium. Such a shame that we were only able to visit these three buildings as Princess Nourah spans 800 HECTARES! (In comparison, the total land area of my Alma Mater UP Diliman is 493 hectares so picture double UP.) I read somewhere that Princess Nourah is the largest women's university in the world. First stop, the Central Libray - what can I say, it's a researcher's dream! Upon entering the building, one is greeted with this stunning lobby. No words to describe it, just this: I thought it was a simple tour of a beautiful library, but truly the most impressive part about the tour was the demo on the automated book circulation. From any floor of the 8-storey library, a student can just summon a book with some computer clicks - and voila! And returning it is just as high-tech - with the conveyor belts and all. Throughout the demo, I can't help but compare the library to the "door warehouse" in Monsters, Inc. This library is only one of three libraries in the world with this system. The library can also hold 5 million books and currently has 2 million. Everyone from our group was utterly impressed.
In the University Gymnasium, we saw their Olympic-size swimming pool and indoor track. Interestingly, the lady who conducted the tour of the gymnasium was probably no more around 5'3", and introduced herself as the team captain of their women's basketball team. We even saw them as they were practicing. Honestly, I was amazed to see Saudi women dressed in sporty clothes playing basketball. I would have never pictured them this sporty. While traveling between the buildings, I can't help but admire the sheer size of the university and the beautiful Arabian architecture. Princess Nourah also has an 11-kilometer, driverless monorail inside the campus - whut?! (And there I was, reminiscing my UP Ikot/Toki days.) Due to the limited schedule, we were not able to visit the monorail stations, but I'm sure it must be impressive as well. Driving around the university, I couldn't help but feel jealous that these facilities are available to Saudis only. To make my pangs of jealousy worse, I learned that studying here is free as well. I long for the day when Filipino students can have access to ultra-modern facilities like Hanako and the fully automated Library, among others.
That being said, I still think Filipino students kick ass and are top-notch and can compete in any arena outside the country despite what we are given. Just imagine the possibilities when we have all these at the tip of our fingers! * * * Read: My other articles about our diplomatic life here in Riyadh: Beyond Malls: Exploring Riyadh... with Kids! Pinoy Fiesta in the Kingdom Welcome to the Kingdom The Start of our Diplomatic Journey Also, do check out our Saudi Arabia Gallery for more pictures of Princess Nourah University and from around Riyadh. Thanks!
3 Comments
Raquel Calesterio-Grande
2/7/2019 11:42:54 am
What a beautiful library!
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Andy Cauyan
7/18/2019 12:01:34 pm
Wow Amazing! That fully automated library is the most exciting one. I've never seen such library automation, and this huge and well known women university is terribly amazing.. you are very lucky madam. thanks for sharing your experienced.
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Raina
7/31/2019 04:32:38 am
You’re welcome! Glad you enjoyed reading my article. :)
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