Life is returning to normal and optimism is spreading for a peace deal at the campus of Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence in Abu Dhabi, the university’s president, Eric Xing, said Friday at Semafor World Economy in Washington, DC.

The MBZUAI president said that while there have been no direct hits nearby, some students opted to leave for a few weeks as the Iran war started to impact countries across the Middle East, before eventually returning to campus.

“Psychologically, there is an impact because people are anxious about the uncertainty when the war is going to be over, and [whether] the economy is going to be hurt,” Xing said. “But in terms of daily life, your work, you don’t actually need to change too much.”