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Your first real summer (or winter) abroad — how did the climate hit you?

Siobhán O'Connell 🌱 Newcomer
18 Aug 2026, 08:13

Second summer in Abu Dhabi and I'd like to formally complain on behalf of my Irish body, which was built for fourteen degrees and drizzle. Last year I thought I'd adjust. I have not adjusted. I have simply learned which shopping centre has the best air conditioning and I now plan my weekends around it.

It's not just the heat, it's how it rearranges your whole life. Nobody walks anywhere, the beach is for 7am or not at all, and my students think I'm insane for saying I miss rain.

What was the climate shock for you? Heat, cold, darkness, humidity, the damp that gets into everything? And did it ever stop feeling like a daily fight?

5 replies

Kwame Mensah 🏆 Community expert
18 Aug 2026, 16:35

Fellow UAE survivor. It gets easier the year you stop planning anything outdoors between June and September and just treat it like winter somewhere else.

Sophie Dubois ⭐ Helpful member
19 Aug 2026, 14:01

Canada went the other way for me: my first real winter. Nobody prepared me for the sound the snow makes when it's that cold.

Siobhán O'Connell 🌱 Newcomer
20 Aug 2026, 19:30

"Treat it like winter somewhere else" is going on a post-it, Kwame. I've started doing my grocery shopping at 7am like a pensioner.

Ben Carter ⭐ Helpful member
22 Aug 2026, 09:53

Speaking as an actual pensioner who shops at 7: welcome to the club, the aisles are empty and the bakery staff know your name within a week. For us the summer was lovely and it's the winter indoors that caught us out. I've been banging on about cold houses in the Housing section to anyone who'll listen.

Grace Kim 🏆 Community expert
26 Aug 2026, 11:15

My first heatwave in France without air conditioning taught me to respect shutters.