Experience as a Visiting Student at KAUST, Saudi Arabia

The beautiful KAUST Grand Mosque

I am back in Portugal after my 4 months of migrations including 2 months at KAUST, Saudi Arabia. Now I am full-time into my core Ph.D. research.

Overall, my experience of 2 months at KAUST was very positive, though a few experiences came as pretty shocking. I list below a few observations I found may be relevant to you as an upcoming visiting student/scholar to KAUST. Several points in this post may not be accurate for you if you are a KAUST faculty, employee, or student.

1. Frequent Apartment migrations

My 1st apartment, all for me!

I was asked to move out of my beautiful apartment after 2.5 weeks of arrival. Upon questioning, I found that visiting Ph.D. students are usually given a room in a 3-room apartment. Since KAUST did not have a room empty for me right at my arrival time, they let me stay in an apartment. Then they still did not have a "regular" room. So they let me stay 10 days in a room in a 3-room apartment managed by KAUST-Inn. I had the master bedroom. There was a  SHARP-brand TV in my room. Cleaning service thrice a week, including the room. Nevertheless, I never let them clean my room, as I find that unnecessary for the 10 days. I also had my own bathroom. However, the other 2 rooms had to share a single bathroom.

My room in the second apartment

Finally, they got a room for me in a regular student apartment - my 3rd place during my 2-month-long stay. The apartment had 3 rooms. I was in the smallest room. But all the rooms had their own bathroom. So we just got to share the kitchen and the living room. I stayed in this room for a month until I left the Kingdom. Even this small room was big enough. We do not have a cleaning service for these student apartments, unlike those managed by the KAUST Inn. It is not necessary anyway for just a month-long stay.

This will be the typical view from your apartment

One would wonder what is the necessity for such a weird migration strategy when there was plenty of empty space. I later learned that it is a resource allocation strategy according to the policy (i.e., they must maximize the time I spend in a shared student apartment). It sounds weird, and especially when this migration plan comes as a surprise to you only days before you really have to move. But that is KAUST for you.

A nightly walk

No one from KAUST has blogged or mentioned about these KAUST apartment migrations before. If you happen to visit my blog, be informed that you may have to switch your apartment in the middle of your stay. My advice - when you get your keys from the SGA (Students Guest Apartment) for the first time, confirm whether you will indeed stay in this apartment during your entire stay, or ask them to give your migration plan (which dates you will be expected to move to a new apartment). It will help you plan when to buy stuff (you don't want to move between apartments with lots of food items). Of course, you can get a taxi free of charge from KAUST for these inner-mandatory-migrations. Also, remember that these apartments are free and registered free of charge for the students with no effort from students' end. Much kudos for that!

The major shopping square

Make sure to bring ethernet cables and a router. There is an Internet connection with several Internet sockets in the apartments. But you will most likely need your own cables and the router. It will help if you bring them with you so that you can connect instantly once you are home in KAUST. Especially if you are the only one in the apartment, you won't even have the choice to ask your roommate for the password of their router.

2. Noisy Open Workspaces

A lonely sunset

I am okay with sharing office space with 5 - 6 Ph.D. students. We do that in INESC-ID. But all the students are silent and do not make random noises. In all my universities of my Ph.D. time, I shared office space with 0 - 5 students. What came as a surprise? KAUST loves open workspaces with up to 30 students. Our open room is on the ground floor. The laborers and security guards love to walk around and even play music without earphones during the weekend (yes, I like working on weekends too). Also, other students in the room like to make calls and do meetings right in the room, making it have a large white noise. It is not a productive environment for students at all.

Uniform apartment buildings

Just like others, I learned to play some music (usually Chinese or Romanian music) in my earphone, so that I do not need to listen to random people (workers and students) speaking in Malayalam, Arabic, Filipino, Chinese, or Russian. Who invented this open workspace for Ph.D. students and developers who need to use their brains? Is it to show the developers are the new blue-collar? I would recommend KAUST to invest some money in making workspaces with smaller (up to 6) number of persons in each room. To give a balanced overview, my friends were okay with the noisy environment wearing noise-canceling headphones. I am not really into headphones or earphones, though.

3. Communication black holes

Line of apartments

There was a guy in SGA. He is like a communication black hole. You give him some requests. He will reply, "Yes, Sir. Sure, Sir. I will make it done soon, Sir", with a big smile. His task finishes here. He does nothing except this kind gesture and a big smile to you. You better send an email to the system - you will get the work done. There are also these stateless support call centers I experienced in many places (not really in KAUST). Every time you make a call, details discussed in the previous calls are lost. You must always start from Ground 0. Actually, sending an email always worked in KAUST (better than dealing with the communication black hole I mentioned).

4. Queue Jumpers

Queue jumping is quite the norm in many Asian countries. KSA is not an exception. Be prepared to face the person behind you counting their chance to jump the queue when possible, especially outside the university, such as the airport.

A Magnificent View

5. Stipend and Reimbursements

You are going to get the stipend or scholarship in cash, by default, as a visiting scholar. I don't think you are going to open a local bank for such a short period.

Initially, I asked KAUST whether they can send the money to my bank in Portugal. They were willing to. But then I checked with my bank and found they are going to charge me for incoming currency exchange fees. Also, my actual funding was from Belgium while I was in KAUST (my case was a bit more complex than a regular case). So what KAUST had to give me was just the visa fees and some travel expenses I incurred. So it was not huge money, and I chose to get it in cash.

 

6. Currency Exchange

Line of date palms

The airport gives you the best transaction rate (I know that is unbelievable). Saudi Riyal (SAR) -> USD is fixed at 3.75 -> 1 always throughout the country. So getting it in $ will be the best. But even Euro, although fluctuates, gives the actual transaction amount, rather than a reduced amount other airports give. I just exchanged all my remaining SAR into Euro in cash at the airport before flying back to the EU. Just make sure to exchange all the money before you leave the country to Euro or USD. SAR is useless outside Saudi Arabia. The airport offers options to exchange money from SAR to a wide range of currencies, including several Asian countries' currencies, which are typically unexchangeable outside those countries.

 

View from our lab building

You can get excellent currency exchange rate between SAR -> USD, as USD -> SAR is fixed at 3.75. At the airport, you can get 3.72 SAR for 1 USD, and buy 1 USD with 3.77 SAR. However, the USD often runs out for a smaller amount. Remember, it is the best deal in KSA to convert back and forth between USD and SAR than from another currency. The time I left the country, the money exchanger at the airport had only 100 USD notes. Not the small notes. Same for GBP. However, he had 20 Euro notes. So I got 20 Euro for 91 SAR. Not a bad deal either. So exchanging money at the airport is a great deal at Jeddah airport compared to many other airports in the world. Airport money exchanges in the US and the EU eat your money. 

7. Expensive Local Supermarket

View from the canal bridge

Things were quite expensive in the Tamimi supermarkets, the only supermarket chains in KAUST. Almost all the things were imported from the USA. I heard from my Saudi roommate that the 800 g dates I bought for 89 SAR (around 20 Euro) can be bought for 5% of its price (for 1 Euro) outside KAUST (in Thuwal or Jeddah).

8. Clumsy Airport
The Jeddah airport is clumsy, dirty, and nasty. The need to put the electronics into the checked-in luggage for the flights to the UK gives an additional overhead. The flights are booked by KAUST (thanks for them to manage this and pay for the flights). However, that also means they will book you the cheapest of the flights, understandably. I could have transited through any other airports to arrive in the EU/Brussels. But they chose British Airways (BA)/London LHR for me, making to go through this painful exercise of placing the computer, tablet, and digital camera into the checked-in luggage. Regardless of my previous bad experience, British Airways did not damage or delay my luggage. My electronic items were safe, also thanks to my careful packing (I placed my laptop between two pillows!). The airport was chaos, with lots of clueless pilgrims (it serves as the primary airport for the Hajj pilgrims going to Mecca) wandering around and jumping queues. Probably the airport will remain the worst part of the visit to KAUST.

9. Lots of Savings $$$

The Red Sea

There are, of course, lots of freebies from KAUST, including accommodation and transportation - including flight and ground transportation. Your money is just for your food. 3.5 $ for lunch or dinner from the canteen, which probably gives the best canteen food in the world (I have tried university canteen food in around 10 countries, including, Sri Lanka, France, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Germany, Belgium, Croatia, and USA. ;)) Assuming you have both lunch and dinner from the canteen, and some cereal for breakfast, your daily expense would be 8 $. 240$ is sufficient for your food. You can watch movies at the cinema! Very cheap - 5 SAR or 1.50$. 300$ is adequate for you for a comfortable life there. Remaining money you get from KAUST is for your entertainment or savings. Your choice.

Sunset in the Red Sea

There were times my friends and I were watching several movies at the cinema there (they even show Indian movies, and change the movies every few days) - because it was very cheap! We did bird watching and fine dining (for a low price and often free with the professors when we welcome faculty candidates or visiting professors!). There are many good aspects of KAUST that you won't find anywhere else in KSA or elsewhere. I was in KAUST during autumn to winter. KAUST winter was equal to the Portuguese summer. Enjoyable weather. One day it rained and flooded Jeddah city. No big damage in KAUST, though. We also encountered a minor sandstorm one day.

If you have read until the end, most likely, you are considering to visit KAUST yourself as a visiting student. Go for it. It is a pleasant experience overall!

Further Reading: 
[1] My arrival at KAUST.
[2] My research at KAUST.