heya VH-JPS - no worries ( it more what I think then an advice). Well yeah it would be cool to get into the cadet ship with Qantas through Swinburne university but its upfront fee of almost $110,000.
Al- ain is not that bad of a place to stay in and over the weekends u can always drive to Dubai .
one thing i UAE is the culture its quite mixed and making friends personally i find quite easy out there then in Oz.