• Make sure you have a secure place to keep your passport, money, and other important documentation.
• Plan for the unexpected – pack in your carry-on luggage those items that you will need in case your luggage is lost or delayed (including essential medications.)
• Make sure your baggage has tags with your name, NYUAD, phone number, email, and campus address.
• Make a set of copies of your passport ID page, airline ticket(s), and any credit card(s) you plan to take. Leave a copy in Abu Dhabi (with friends or your RA.) The trip supervisor will also have a copy of your passport ID page and flight itinerary.
• Carry with you and keep handy the original documents required for travel:
  • Valid passport with any relevant and valid visa stamps
  • Geo Blue health insurance card (printed online)
  • Original prescriptions for medications you carry with you
  • Copy of your flight itinerary and emergency contact information
  • If you hold passports from more than one country, make sure you travel with all passports necessary for your trip. For reentry into the UAE, make sure you carry the passport that contains your UAE residence visa stamp.
• Make sure you have important phone numbers with you, such as the numbers of your emergency contacts, immediate family members, friends at NYUAD, and your RA.
• If you have special medical or other needs, please consult with the Health and Wellness Center before the trip.

• Pack as lightly as possible. Never bring more than you can carry on your own. When possible, plan to carry your luggage on the plane to avoid delays in the airport.
• Be sure to bring comfortable, closed-toe shoes that you can walk in throughout the day.
• Bring clothes appropriate for the weather and destination. Be sure to be respectful to cultural norms.
• When appropriate, bring one set of business casual attire for meetings/presentations.
• Bring a hat, hand sanitizer (3oz. bottle), insect repellant, sunscreen, a roll of toilet paper, and a flashlight.
• Bring a backpack that you can carry during the day, and be sure it can be securely closed to avoid loss of your belongings (NYUAD string bags work well). Wear a breast bag underneath your clothes anytime you are out in public and always keep your passport and money inside. Leave valuables (especially jewelry) at home.
• Double-check that any electronic devices you plan to take are compatible with the local electricity and that you have the correct plug adapters. http://www.kropla.com/electric2.htm. We recommend you not bring laptops on short trips unless academically necessary.
• You can get local currency in Abu Dhabi or upon arrival at the airport. Most of your expenses will be covered by NYUAD, so you should only need funds for souvenirs or snacks.

Students attending regional seminars organized by New York University Abu Dhabi assume the duties of citizenry and undertake an obligation to respect the culture, customs and laws of the host nation. This Regional Seminar Standard affirms the expectation that students will be good citizens of their host communities as well as their NYU communities when they study away from their home campuses. Accordingly, students who engage in any of the following behaviors will be considered in violation of this standard:

1. Behavior that represents a serious affront to the culture, laws, or customs of the host community and/or compromises the University’s interest or relationship with the host community;
2. Behavior involving the misuse or abuse of alcohol or drugs in violation of University policy and/or local law;
3. Behavior which is disruptive to the well-being of members of the University community, including, but not limited to, threatening or causing injury to the health or safety of one’s self or others.

Failure to adhere to this Standard, as well as violations of any other applicable University policies or guidelines regarding student conduct, will be sufficient cause for disciplinary action.

Violations of the Regional Seminar Standard may lead to penalties ranging from formal warning and community service to dismissal from the site and the University. In each case the appropriate intervention will depend upon a number of factors, including the nature and seriousness of the offense in light of University policy as well as the laws and culture of the local community; the impact of the behavior upon the campus and local community; the motivation underlying the offense; the behavioral record of the student(s) involved; and other mitigating and/or aggravating factors.

Because the size of the site community and the availability of resources and staffing to address student conduct issues vary, the response to student misconduct occurring at a site necessarily will vary in order to effectively safeguard the interests of the site community. For this reason, students charged with misconduct at a site may be required to return to their home campuses for the resolution of student disciplinary proceedings.

In accepting a place in this Regional Academic Seminar, you acknowledge the importance of being a member of an exceptionally committed and responsible team of student scholars as well as the need for a high degree of interdependence among team members to maximize learning, safety, and health. The seminar is not just classroom sessions while abroad. It is the entire experience – 24/7 from the time you leave for the airport until you return. You should expect to have no free or independent time during the seminar.

Because of the brevity and intensive nature of the seminar, we require your highest cooperation, use of good judgment, and adherence to regional academic seminar protocols. Faculty, study abroad professionals, and local experts have created a fulltime schedule of engagements that require the group to function as a team at all times. Being late, leaving the group to pursue independent activities, ignoring health and/or safety protocols, or being willfully disrespectful to members of the team or local community can create significant impediments to the successful delivery of the seminar. Consider the seminar the equivalent of an extended and important sports match, a game for which members of the team follow rules in order to play or a theater production in which you agree to be a member of the company. You are representing NYUAD at all times, both as an individual and as a team of committed scholars.

We ask that you take exemplary and continuing responsibility for yourself and your teammates by, for example,

1. following the schedule. Being on time and well prepared to learn from each activity.
2. demonstrating respect for other students, seminar leaders, and community hosts. Acting with kindness and caring.
3. bringing mindfulness to each engagement. Preparing for each presentation/activity, being highly attentive, taking good field notes, contributing actively to discussion, and extending gratitude.
4. helping one another learn. Encouraging disciplined observation, intercultural sensitivity, deep analysis, synergy with previous course content, and overall mindfulness that transforms direct experience into understanding the world in more complex ways.
5. following guidance to the team on appropriate dress and comportment in the new environment. Encouraging other team members to do the same.
6. strictly following the health protocols and encouraging all on the team to do so. Taking no unnecessary risks with your health.
7. strictly following team safety protocols including the following as well as those noted in the Predeparture Orientation Handbook:
   1. Not riding non-program arranged vehicles, including motorcycles, motorcycle taxis, tuk-tuks, private cars.
   2. Always staying with the group as scheduled. No independent activities from the group are allowed.
   3. Remaining at the group designated accommodation as scheduled. No independent activities are permitted outside the hotel after the group has returned for the evening.
   4. No consuming of alcohol at any time during the regional seminar.
   5. Taking no undue risk to your safety or that of the team members. Immediately refraining from risky activity when asked to do so.
   6. Obeying local laws, the NYUAD Code of Student Conduct, and the NYUAD Study Away Standard at all times.