Fun facts about KAUST II

Access to the campus is strictly via invitation and only if escorted by an official employee (taxi driver freelancing for KAUST in my case). As soon as you enter you receive your campus ID card and then you can move freely inside the campus. You can also pay a visit to the nearby town of Thuwal by taxi or go to Jeddah by one of the complimentary buses that run daily.

SAMPLE

The card also serves as a ticket to all the recreational facilities, library and public transport.
Everything except food, diving and cinema is for free.


The gym beneath the mosque




The campus library

Women can drive within the walls of campus and are not obliged to wear abaya, the long black robe absolutely compulsory for women in the rest of Saudi Arabia. That results in a variety of styles and fashion on the streets of KAUST- from miniskirts and shorts to persons that only show their eyes. At the University it is necessary to be decently dressed, which means: no spaghetti straps and short bottoms.
The abaya-free zone at KAUST will come as a disappointment to some of you who warned me about how useless it is to buy shorts and bikini. The fact is that at the airport in Jeddah (a city much more liberal than Riyadh, the capital) the authorities tolerate uncovered ladies. Since you are immediately picked up by car, nobody can see your hair or ankles until you reach KAUST, where strict rules regarding dress code do not apply.

Another way to encourage non-revealing fashion is AirConditioning which set to 22 C everywhere so that after a while you wish you had your socks on. All of the closed spaces (and even some corridors between the buildings at the Uni) are constantly cooled not only because of outside temperature (up to 40 in this period) but also because of humidity which is extremely high.
For example, it is pointless to try and dry your clothes outside- they stay damp and start smelling- you have to use a drier in the middle of desert.

There is virtually no crime on campus and the bicycle stands serve only to gently lean your bike against.
There is no religious police and even the "regular" police has to have a special permit/valid reason to come in, all the rest is taken care of by campus security. Since there is no crime there is also no jail but, should you decide to offend the rules/law, the solution is pretty simple: you will receive a one way ticket out of the country and the period to pack your things depends on your ranking: from 1-7 days.