Day 17: Completed Site Visits, MEP Lecture, Basketball Championship, and Cheesecake Factory

 Today, the DSLIP 2019 interns attended got treated to an early bus time of 9:30 am! After the interns were done sleeping in, they headed off to two site visits. The first was to The Court Residential Building, where they were able to see what a building looks like in its final month of completion

On the roof of the Court Residential Building.

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The second site visit was to Seddiqi & Sons Headquarters. This project is fully completed and operational. The students were able to look through the indoor garden in the building’s lobby as well as the meeting rooms, and bending museum on the first floor of the building.

Indoor garden at Seddiqi & Sons Headquarters.

After the site visits, the students returned back to the office for lunch from Mr. Falafel. There was also a quiz on within the construction industry. After the quiz, the students were once again on the road, this time to Albonian International Electromechanical Works and Maintenance. Here, the interns received a lecture about the different MEP works carried out in the construction industry and their importance to the civil engineering profession.

After the lecture, the students went back to the hotel to quickly get changed and go to DSLIP’s basketball playoffs. In two exciting matchups, the Bulldozers won the tournament!

Finally, after the exciting basketball tournament, the students were treated by Mr. Abdallah to a dinner at the Cheesecake Factory, were everyone ate entirely too much food. 

Delicious dinner at the Cheesecake Factory!

Day 18: United Precast Concrete Visit, Quizzes and MEP Lecture

Today started with a hot visit to United Precast Concrete, where we got the chance to observe and learn about precast concrete procedures, hollow core slabs, pre-tensioning and pre-cast concrete panels.

UPC visit

 After coming back to the office, we had Lebanese spinach fatayer, chicken biryani and delicious chocolate cake.

Chicken Biryani and chocolate cake

We had three quizzes, one was about our visit to Le Meridien Hotel site, the second was about our visit to One JBR site and the third one was about MEP works.

Later during the day, we attended a lecture given by Mr. Jihad Choueiry. Mr. Jihad highlighted the importance of coordination between the different entities of a project especially between the architect, contractor and MEP engineers. 

In addition, Mr. Abdallah Yabroudi and Mr. Bassam instructed us on how to receive our awards and diplomas at the end of the program. No margin for error! 

And lastly, Mr. Ian Harper gave us a small lecture about how to prepare for our final debate. Hoping it will not be too vocal!

Day 16: Site Visits, Lectures, 3D Printing

Today started out with a site visit to two different buildings. Team 1 went to One JBR and team 2 went to Le Meridien. We learned about the DOKA system at the Le Meridien and about automatic climbing systems. At the One JBR we we learned about waterproofing and how the building had a bunch of different exterior and interior finishes. These were the most developed and close to completed structures we have visited so far and were easily our favorites (especially the views).

Team 2 on the scaffolding at Le Meridien

Le Meridien from the outside

Team 1's site visit at One JBR

After we got back from the site visit, we began studying for what we assumed was coming, a quiz. And before our lecture, like any other day, we DID have to take a quiz but this time on insurance. Afterwards we were going to be given a lecture about BOQ’s and S-curves by Mr. Abdallah Yabroudi. We learned about monthly and cumulative cash flows and how to construct an s-curve, graphs we have seen before but have never constructed ourselves. 

After a long day, we went to lunch. For lunch we had sweet and sour chicken with spring rolls and custard as the desert. No pictures of the food unfortunately, we all ate it too quickly and forgot to take a picture beforehand!

After the lunch, we got ready as soon as we could and went on a site visit to a presentation by structural consultant e-construct. Here they gave us a presentation about the expo 2020 in Dubai along with 3D printed buildings. They went through the design of the expo buildings along with videos of what the structure should look like, some of which we were told might have been classified. By far one of the most interesting and unique subjects we were shown on a site visit.

The room where e-construct held their presentation

Unfortunately no basketball or fancy dinners tonight but be prepared for tomorrow and the basketball finals as well as Josh's birthday!

Day 15: Views and Basketball

We started our 15th day of DSLIP (exactly halfway done!) with site visits. Team 1 went to Le Meridian (a hotel extension) and Team 2 went to 1 JBR (a luxury residential tower). These two sites are some of the most daring and exciting projects that DCC is currently working on, and everyone loved to see the ongoing works and amazing views.

View from the roof of 1 JBR.

Current progress at Le Meridien.

Back at the office, we had two back-to-back quizzes on Cost Estimation and Sustainable Construction. After that we received an interesting lecture on Project Insurance within the civil engineering industry from an insurance broker from Alpha Lloyds.

After coming back to the hotel and relaxing for a bit, we went to a basketball game for the first day of playoffs. The Bulldozers are the current leaders!

Scenes from basketball.

Later that night, some of us got yummy Ethiopian food! Everyone also spent some time studying for upcoming quizzes.

Ethiopian food! Yummy and cheap.

We are all excited to see where the second half of DSLIP takes us!

Day 14 Work Life Balance

We started off the day with a nice breakfast at the hotel, we were served some delicious crepes.

Then we headed to the office where we got our midterms exams back and enjoyed “Work Life balance” lecture presented by Mr. Paul Jaoude  who gave us tips on how to delegate and manage our time properly.

We had some delicious hotdog sandwiches and chips, and a nice fruit salad for dessert.

Then we headed back to the hotel and we worked on our midterm reports and studied for the upcoming quizzes.

We had dinner at the Form Hotel’s Restaurant from the menu prepared specially for us.

Day 13: Enjoying the Day Off!

It’s the 21st of June!! Do you know what this means here? Flaaaaaash Saaaleee!! 5 of the girls headed to City Center Mirdif and spent the whole day shopping for themselves and their family. They also stayed safe inside the mall during the sand storm.

Stylish !!!

What do I choose?

The rest of the group went to the Jumeirah Public beach to go swimming and enjoy fresh juices on the sand. After, we relaxed inside the hotel during the sandstorm then went to Royal Budha for unlimited dim sum! in the evening, we all met up at the Dubai Opera for Fete de la Musique. We admired the beautiful opera house and music from local groups. 

Mango slushee by the beach

First plate of dim sum!

Night out at the Opera!

                                      

The first classical music performers.

Day 12: Midterm Presentations & Sustainability & Dinner at Bosporus

Thursday was maybe the busiest and most interesting day of the internship yet. It was the day of the midterm presentation. After long hours of preparation and hard work, it was finally time to present our work and show what we have learned from the internship so far. We woke up early to prepare ourselves. Everyone was formally dressed, with shirts and ties for the guys. At breakfast, when everyone was recalling their part in their heads, we met Mr. Paul Abou Jaoude, a friend of Mr. Yabroudi who is planned to give us a lecture on Saturday.

Getting ready for the midterm presentation

We arrived to the company at about 8:30, with the presentations starting at 10:00 am. In that time, we had the chance to do a mock presentation in front of Bryan (the teacher assistant) who gave us constructive remarks and tips to make the presentation as good as possible and avoid any mistakes.

The two teams presented in front of Mr. Abdullah, Mr. Bassam, Mr. Paul, Dr. Sam, and Ms. Sarah who all gave us comments on how to improve the presentation. We all took the notes into consideration and will employ them in the final presentation.

The teams "Sky Skrapers" and "Ceders of Liberty"

Time to present 

Later that day and after taking a small break and having lunch, we had an interesting lecture about Sustainable Construction by Miss Yara Matar. The lecture drew our attention to the important environmental aspect of construction.

Heading to the dinner 

The day ended in the best way possible with a delicious dinner at the Bosporus restaurant. The Turkish restaurant was a great experience for all of us as we were introduced to several types of Turkish dishes.

That is how we ended the extraordinary second week of the internship. This day and the free day on Friday will get us excited and ready for the eventful week ahead of us.

Dinner at Bosporus Restaurant

Day 11: Ready Mix Beton visit, midterm exam, and movie!

The day started with a lot of hectic studying for the upcoming midterm exam later that day. Everyone had their notes out at breakfast, and studying continued in the buses on the way to Ready Mix Beton. Ready Mix Beton is a concrete plant that supplies ready mix concrete to a lot of major projects in Dubai. Upon arriving, we were given an explanation and history about concrete in Dubai, it's uses as well as what the concrete consisted of. During the presentation, they provided a bunch of food for us.

All the food

After the presentation, they took us on a tour of the plant. It involved the testing facilities, one of their five batching plants where the concrete is actually produced, and a briefing on the management side of the company. Team 1 got to see a slump test performed.

A batching plant

A slump test being performed

Afterwards, we headed back to the office to have a quick lunch. Lunch was a Mediterranean salad and four different sandwiches. Everyone ate super quick to get in some last minute studying before the midterm exam. A lot of us were super confused with the first question, and so the exam ran a little longer than planned for clarification purposes.

Later in the evening, we went out to go watch a comedy movie named The Hustle. There were mixed feelings about this movie.

The start of the movie

Day 10: More Lectures And Quizzes + Basketball!

Today we woke up, had our usual breakfast at the hotel, and headed to the office at 8:15 am knowing we will be having a full, long day of lectures and quizzes!

Upon arrival at the DSLIP office, a nice quiz about Yotel Hotel building and Farid Tower 2 was waiting for us, and as usual, we nailed it.  

After the quiz, we went to the classroom and had the first part of the Commercial management Lecture with Mr. Chris Battle. We learned about the different parties of contracts, types of contracts and contract payment methods in a fun session full of interaction and jokes.

After the first part, we took a 15-minute break, then headed back to the classroom to learn about project acceleration with Mr. Abdallah Yabroudi. It was a short and easy lecture.

For lunch, we had kibbeh as a starter, rice, and fish as the main course and orange cake for dessert.

Today's lunch

Right after lunch, we continued part 2 of our first lecture with Mr. Battle where we discussed the types of contract to be used in different case studies.

After a long day t the office, we went to play basketball. It was the last practice before the official games. We had so much fun and got to relieve the stress and this time it was injuries-free!

The Shovels VS The Bulldozers 

Afterwards, we headed back to the hotel, showered and started studying for tomorrow's midterm.

Day 9: Lectures and Quizzes!

Today we arrived in the office bright and early for our first quiz on Financials and Accounting in Contracting and Construction.

Directly after, we continued our lecture with Mr. Naim Mohamed, the Chief Estimator at DCC. He taught us how to complete the unit rate analysis and uplift sheets for the structural and architectural drawings, which we will have to do on the mid-term exam. We were all happy to finally see some math in our lecture content!

Katie excited to learn about Cost Estimation and Pricing!

For lunch, we had chicken and meat shawarma and backlava.

Our delicious lunch!

After lunch we took our long-awaited quiz on Construction Planning and Scheduling. After, were given time to work on our mid-term presentations. We were also happy to hear we won't have any more quizzes on lecture material before the mid-term.

Students working hard in the office after lunch.

Back at the hotel, we were able to relax a little bit at the pool before studying for our two site quizzes tomorrow. Some up us ended the night with ice cream and crepes, while others had dinner at the hotel restaurant.

Day 8: Farid Tower Visit, Estimation Lecture, Basketball W/ SALT

Cedars of Liberty and the Skyscrapers both visited the Farid Tower 2 Project. This residential building mix will have 2 basements, a ground floor, 19 floors of apartments and a roof level with a technical floor. First, we got a tour of the site office; then, we went to the meeting room with Mr. Mazen Hallak who detailed the process from start to finish. Mr. Hallak spoke to us about the building’s exterior façade, the pool, finished and the snag list. We took a tour through the building to evaluate the different sized apartments that were almost completed.

The site visit today was the shortest one so far since it was really hot inside the building we got to go through. Afterwards, each group was allowed to work on their projects with their own teams, with the Cedars of Liberty having a small spill and the cleaning button being used for the 1st time! 

The lecture that we were shown today was about cost estimation and pricing with, Mr. Naim Muhammad who is the Chief Estimator for DCC but we only got through half the lecture for today, the other half being done tomorrow.

Another Sunday, another day for basketball practice! The teams faced each other head on for another day, getting ready for the tournament that will happen in the near future but, around 4 people got injured today during the practices.

After the basketball practices were over, Mr. Abdallah decided to take us to SALT, a restaurant but there was no inside seating so we made our way to Buffalo Wild Wings instead. We were too hungry from the practice and ordered way too much food. Much of the food was left over and taken back to the hotel. Thank you Mr. Abdallah!

Day 7: Half Day Adventures

We started day 7 of our adventures in Dubai by waking up for an 8am site visit on a Saturday morning! After the desert adventure yesterday many of us had a tough time waking up but we all managed to get to the vans on time. Today, all of us visited the Yotel Hotel site where we saw some exciting features like the curtain wall installation, reinforcement for the pool, and hotel room finishing. Some of us were able to lay a CMU brick wall with the help of the workers on site.

Yotel Hotel, with curtain wall installation on right.

Team 2 posing before laying a brick wall.

Brick that Michael cracked.

On the way back to the DCC office, many of the students passed out from the exhaustion of the past week's activities!

Katie catching some zzz's. 

Michael and Jamie getting in a power nap.

At the DCC office, we were relieved to find out that there was no quiz today. Instead, we were able to receive an informative lecture on financials and its pertinence to the construction industry, specifically financial statements, bonds and equities.

After eating a very American lunch of lasagna, pizza, and Jell-o, we were able to go home to the hotel early! Some of us took a half-day trip to the Atlantis Aquaventure Waterpark on the Palm Jumeirah, where we rode some fun water rides and took in the amazing views of the Persian Gulf. 

Atlantis Aquaventure Waterpark.

After returning to the hotel, some of us got Thai food for dinner while the rest went to Festival City mall to eat dinner and catch a fountain show. All in all, a fun and tiring day!

Yummy Thai food at Go Thai.