College students from Woodstock stuck in Dubai in midst of U.S.-Iran war

Two college students from Woodstock are trying to get out of Dubai as the U.S.-Israeli air war against Iran continues.

“How is my family feeling? How are they doing and how can I get myself home as quick as possible?” Ryan Rivera-Cabrera, a Northeastern University student from Woodstock, said.

Those are the questions running through Rivera-Cabrera’s mind, and Evan Rhault, a UConn student from Woodstock. They’ve been stuck in Dubai since Saturday after attending a Model United Nations conference. Luckily, they’ve been able to stay in touch with their families.

“The communication is essentially constant, always feeding them updates, trying to reassure them that we’re okay,” Rhault said.

They were supposed to be back home on Sunday, but the initial U.S.-Israeli air strikes in Iran canceled their flight. Now, they’re doing everything they can to rebook.

“Tons of people are doing the exact same thing, lining up for the entire day, and we’re told to call this number, and they’ll call that number, and then every number is on hold,” Rivera-Cabrera said.

For the last few days, they’ve huddled at their hotel, going into an underground shelter when air sirens go off. They saw air defense systems intercept Iranian missiles, but both feel safe despite the uncertain situation.

“We’re very lucky to be given housing and security. The defense system in the UAE is one of the best,” Rivera-Cabrera said.

As model UN students, they were aware of the tensions with Iran before their conference and did workshops on global diplomacy with mock scenarios. They’re seeing the irony with a real war happening not far from them.

“All of these problems are things that, you know, you solve, you pretend to solve. And now all of a sudden, they’re right in front of our faces,” Rhault said.

Both of them say rebooking new flights has been a struggle. They thought they had a flight to Cairo, but they weren’t able to fit in, and the same thing happened with a flight to Germany.