The Program Day 1

Monday morning we met Nicole and then headed into the market for some shopping. We had a great morning and found Kurtas- the tops we have to wear for super cheap which was great! After a little exploring we headed to the coffee shop to meet up with the other people from the group who had arrived early.
The frustrating part is that we found out that people were flying in through 10pm that night so there were no plans for Monday...
I wish I had known before because I would have not flown in as early, or spent more time in Abu Dhabi, or done more research on what to do etc.
We ended up walking to the office, dropping off our stuff, walking around town, having lunch, sitting in a coffee shop for hours.
Then at 8:30 we ended up going to the office again and hung out on the roof. More and more people kept arriving. We had a pizza party on the roof which was fun and the pizza was good. Got to spend time talking with Nicole, Katelyn - who went to africa with me, and her friend Elise. They are all so awesome! Also Kelsey who is from New York and found thisnplace through Chelsea a famous Instagram and photographer.
Around 10:30 we started loading the buses and began the journey to the shelter.
We arrived around 11:30 and found our room assignments- not really sure why we were assigned rooms and couldn't pick them but such is life. The shelter is an old hotel so our accommodations are much better than I expected. We have a bed and about 5 ppl in each room with a bathroom and an all be it cold shower; a shower.
As soon as I was about to walk into my room- massive spider on the curtain. Another one in the corner. One on the floor. Another bug on the pillow. Um. My freak out started and has not stopped.
I couldn't sleep last night bc I was so terrified every time something itches or touched me. I think I literally have arachnophobia. It's consuming my entire mind, it literally makes me cry, heart beat fast and is an irrational fear.
That morning- biggest spider I've ever seen in my life right in front of my foot. Webs in every bush with giant green ones, webs in ever corner with fat FAT round ones, and the worst kind the super juicy big ones... always near our door. I'm miserable. I know it seems so stupid and I hate even writing it bc I have so much to be grateful for but I want to go home. I've never felt like this in a country and I don't know what my issue is. But I will tell you I despise spiders and this is my worst nightmare. I know it could be worse, I know I should suck it up and deal with it and I know the reason I'm here but that's why this has got to be a phobia- it's all I focus on. It's literally disgusting.