Last Nov. 4, in a small hotel room in Nicosia, Cyprus, I was sipping vanilla-flavored iced coffee while watching millions of Americans cast what CNN called ?the vote that will change the world.? Had I heard that phrase two years earlier, I would not have understood what it meant.

Two years ago, I was a budding entertainment writer and producer for the biggest television network in the Philippines. My life revolved around TV show concepts, thinking up drama plots and cliffhangers and making up fictional characters, while constantly hoping that TV viewers could relate to the characters I was creating. After countless sleepless nights and tiring out-of-town shoots, my greatest reward was seeing my film being shown and hearing my lines spoken by the hottest stars of the season. At 23, with adrenaline flowing through my veins, I knew that I was doing exactly what I wanted to do.

But after the summer of 2007, two of the shows I worked for were cancelled. There was still one major soap opera that I was working on, but suddenly, after three straight years of working non-stop, I had time in my hands. I panicked because I did not know what to do. I felt lost. And I started to ask myself: Is this all what I am about? Is this all of me?my work? I work 24/7 and have no time for a steady relationship. Neither am I earning enough to help out my family back home in the province. Is it really worth it?

The answer came when my sister invited me to visit her in Dubai where she had been working for over a year. I took a leave of absence and told my boss I was taking a much needed break, without stopping to consider that the soap opera I had been working on for the last 18 months was close to being shot.

I liked Dubai. I felt free. I thought it was a place where I could go with the flow of the warm desert sun and start all over again, without feeling trapped by what I thought I wanted to do with my life. After two months of trying to get settled, a trip to Iran, and holding a job I did not like, I found a stable job in a multicultural advertising firm. I started at the bottom as an account executive and tried to learn the ropes like a fresh grad, working my way up and earning enough to be able to send some money back home. I decided to be a sponge, absorbing everything in this new world and making the most of every moment.

Along the way, I met people from different races who helped me discover the world little by little: expatriates from Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Slovakia, Lebanon, Egypt. I worked with Russians and had German and Portuguese clients and a handful of Indian friends. I also found love in Dubai with a Christian guy born in one of the coastal cities of Syria. I began to know the difference between Americans and Brits and decided that the latter are the gentler race. I learned that football is the most watched sport in the world and that Manchester United is the best club in the English Premier League. I learned that Sushmita Sen was a popular star in Bollywood. I discovered that chicken curry comes in different forms, color and taste.

I began to understand Islam through some Muslim friends and was surprised to realize how little my knowledge was of this religion. Was it because the Catholic school I studied in taught me little for fear that my faith would waver, or were my catechism and history teachers simply ignorant? On the contrary, my faith was strengthened even as I learned to respect another religion. I began to discover why some Middle Eastern people are not very enamored of Westerners and how prejudiced the media can sometimes be against the Arab people.

Another important lesson I learned is that discrimination and racism are realities that expatriates, especially Asians, have to live with. I experience discrimination every other day. I get ignored by taxi drivers. I was turned away at the most exclusive nightclubs, and was denied visas to Western countries because I am not white.

Some people tell me to accept it, but I don?t. If I?m in a fighting mood, I raise hell with cab drivers and berate them for their bad behavior.

At the end of every day, I still feel enriched with new learnings and I feel blessed to have had the chance to experience things in this diverse city that five years in the University of the Philippines could never teach me. After one year and eight weeks of living abroad, I think that I now understand the world a little bit better.

Every time I make a new discovery, I wonder what would have happened if I never left. Two years ago, I did not know nor did I care what was happening in the rest of the world. I was focused on making the next episode a big hit. I was living in a world that revolved around the United States, its culture, its TV shows and its people and a world that considered everything American to be right or acceptable. Now I understand a little bit why having Obama as the American president will have a large impact on the wars in the Middle East and affect millions of lives.

I have always known where Los Angeles or New York is on the world map, but I heard little of a country called Sudan. I did not even know that Cyprus is somewhere in Europe until my fiancé proposed and suggested that we get married on this Mediterranean island.

Our wedding took place this November. It was just how I imagined it to be: a private wedding on a sandy beach in Eastern Europe, with me walking down the pebbled aisle, careful not to trip on my high heels.

We got our marriage certificate in an instant and traveled to Nicosia to have it authenticated in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The process took barely five minutes. Authentication in the Syrian embassy took a couple of hours.

Our next stop was the Philippine consulate, so I called to inquire. The guy who answered told me it would take about a month to complete the process. He advised me to just register my marriage in Dubai when I got back there.

One month! I was flying to Damascus the next day, so I took his advice and opted to watch the BBC and CNN coverage on the US elections in our hotel room instead of arguing about how the Philippine system should be improved. I understand the world a little bit better, but this is one among so many things I still cannot comprehend.

Jellyn C. Gueco, 25, works in an advertising and production company in Dubai.