Back to reality

After a fun 30 days, I'm slowly getting back to thinking about my so called B-school journey. I had completely cut myself off from that world for a while, which might not have been the smartest thing to do. I find myself going through all the mails in the mailing list, desperately trying to figure out what the hell people are talking about with their posts on "career assessment" sites and IDs n what not. My admit package, which would unravel these great mysteries for me, lies desolately in a remote locker in a distant land. After calling the IT department at Duke to get my ID and password, I now find myself staring at a June 30th immunization deadline with no documents ready! So last night was spent making frantic calls to the health records departments at USC and my office. The ~12 hour time difference is such a pain! I had to go looking for a fax machine in the middle of the night, which isn't the easiest thing to do in this city...where art thou Kinkos? But at least I managed to track down some of the records I wanted.

Now if only I can figure out my roommate situation, I should be all set. I thought I had that taken care of 2 weeks ago but the guy I was supposed to stay with backed out at the last moment. I have some choice words for him but there's a possibility that this blog won't be totally anonymous at school so I guess I should refrain from dissing a future classmate for now. The shitty thing is that I didn't follow up with the 4 or 5 other people who were interested and now they already have roommates. Oh well, I'm sure it'll work out.

I still have to figure out where to stay for 2 weeks when I get back to Florida. I could stay at a friend's place but that would mean a 1 hr drive to work and I don't even know whether I'd be comfortable staying there for 2 weeks. On the other hand, hotels are really expensive around where I work right now. Hmm.

Finally, I'm dreading going back and trying to sell/discard some of the stuff I still have lying around. The plan was that I'd just take whatever I could fit into my car, but despite giving away all my furniture and a lot of other stuff, I still have way too many things. It's not a big deal, but it just seems like such a lot of work which is so not something I'm looking forward to in my current mood.

I think I'm going to stop thinking about all that and go back to pretending I'm some rich sheikh who can eat, drink, sleep and party all day and all night. Ahmedabad has been fun, Bombay was as amazing as ever, now Delhi, here I come.

Europe recap

As the first storm/hurricane makes it's way towards my city, it feels weird not having to worry about stocking up and being prepared. My car should be fine but I'm a little worried about my motorcycle which isn't in a covered parking. Hopefully it will be fine.

Moving on to more pleasant topics. I thought I'd jot down some of my impressions of various cities I visited.

This post was supposed to consist primarily of pictures (I took over 300 pics!) but for some reason I couldn't upload any images after the first 2. I get the "Done" message but don't see the images. If anyone has any idea as to what the problem might be, do let me know.

London

My favorite city in Europe. A lot of people are surprised when I say that I liked London better than Paris or Madrid or Florence etc. However, I found London to be the perfect blend of old and new. I thought that they have done a fabulous job of integrating their history with the present so that you find yourself making a seamless transition between different eras. There's a lot of touristy stuff that you can relate to or you can completely avoid that kind of thing and still have a great time. Also, contrary to what I had been told, the people were really friendly. And did I mention the women with their cute British accent are hot? Finally, the fact that they speak English was a BIG plus in my book!

As luck would have it, the weather was unbelievably bad (even by London standards) all the days I was there as can be seen from the picture of the famous Tower Bridge on the side. But of course I wasn't going to let some wind and rain ruin my plans so you would find me and my cousin trudging along the streets of London in those free ponchos provided by "The Original Bus Tour"company. Yes, we were too cheap to buy an umbrella or a jacket.

If you're visiting London in the next 6 months and need a cheap place to stay, I recommend The Regent Palace Hotel. It's clean and has a dream location a few steps away from the Picadelly Circus metro stop and the famous Statue of Eros in the heart of London.

My two celebrity sightings in London included Pele and Al Fayed at Harrods. Got pictures of both of them. It's amazing how someone like Pele, who is unknown in the US, can generate almost mass hysteria in Europe.

Paris

I'm sure the French are lovely people but the first thing that comes to my mind when I think about Paris is "The city is beautiful but the people are really rude". That seems to be the universal opinion and now I can say from experience that it's true. They just don't seem to like tourists. The lone exception is if you make an honest attempt to speak their language.

There are tons of things to do and see in this beautiful city. Despite being maligned by some as being pretentious and not that big a deal, the Eiffel tower is a truly magnificient sight. The Louvre is a place where you can spend days on end without getting bored. I recommend getting the audio tour for the permanent collection. I don't recommend getting the "Da Vinci Code Tour". If you're into that stuff, it's waay more fun finding the spots on your own! A lady I met at the Vatican told me about how she even found the restroom from which Sophie throws the tracking device onto the truck. She even had a picture.

The Champs-Elysees (aside: one of the highlights of the trip was me finally figuring out how to pronounce that damn word! metro riders in Paris are probably still wondering who that crazy dude was who insisted on repeating the station name every time it was announced on the PA system) is the place to go if you want to party into the early hours of the morning. I was out on a Wednesday night till 4 AM and the place was more crowded than the wildest Friday/Saturday night in the US. One day, as I was walking down the road, I noticed a club that had a line that went around the block and seemed like it was the place to be. The girls were cute and everyone was quite nattily dressed. So of course I decided to go there. Had a great time for the first few hours but then around 3 AM, the number of guys in the club seemed to increase exponentially and I was getting this weird vibe. I later found out that I had just visited the premier gay night club of Paris. The only reason there were so many women around that night was that it was ladies night and women drank free.

While waiting in line at the highly recommended Musee D'orsay (make reservations if possible! do NOT go on a Tuesday afternoon), I met a fascinating lady. She was a 65 year old retired art teacher. She wasn't all that rich but she had managed to start up and help support two orphanages in Africa and a school in South-East Asia. After 2 years of looking after her mother who had had a stroke, she had decided to go bagpacking alone and rediscover some of the art she loved so much. I was struck by the enthusiasm and zest for life she had and how she seemed to have found a way to do things she enjoyed while simultaneously finding time to do things that she believed in.

Finally, of course I had to go and get pictures of the infamous Moulin Rouge. Did not attend the show since I had been told it's a complete waste of time and money.

Madrid

Madrid is a walking city by day and a party city by night. If you enjoy shopping, you will love Madrid. There are miles and miles of streets that are packed with stores, big and small, cheap and expensive, shady and classy. And there seem to be thousands of people everywhere. Walking. You can start at the Puerta del Sol and spend hours/days exploring the streets originating from there. The road connecting Gran Via metro station and Sol is notorious for the hookers so avoid that if you want. Between all the walking, you can take a break and enjoy some Tapas and Sangria at the Plaza Mayor or at one of the million sidewalk cafes (look for one on one of the sidestreets for great authentic food).

Be sure to set a day aside for the amazing Prado museum and the Thyssen-bornemisza.

While standing in line at the magnificient Palacio Real, I met a couple of Canadian girls who were travelling across Europe. After chatting with them for a while, I found out they were of Indian origin which took me completely by surprise since the language I had overheard and thought to be Spanish was actually Punjabi! They were equally surprised to learn that I was Indian. So after an hour of chatting, we exchanged numbers and agreed to meet up for drinks in the evening.
I kept running into these girls at the weirdest of places for the next 3 days! Turned out that we were even in Paris on the exact same days and came to Madrid by the same train. To top it all, when I took the bus from Madrid to Segovia, they were on the same bus! A bus leaves for Segovia every half hour and I had planned on taking the 9 AM bus but ended up on the 11:30 bus and there they were! Weird. Even weirder was their behaviour. Their attitude seemed to have gone through a weird transformation and they were acting really odd. Anyway, I introduced them to the guy I was travelling with (the BCG consultant I mentioned in my previous post) and all four of us hung out together all day in Segovia. Unfortunately, it ended with me getting into a big fight with one of the girls (for the record, I did not start the fight. I just questioned her stats when she said that India has a male to female ratio of 1000 to 750 and she got all upset) and she walked off and dragged her friend along with her so that was the end of that. Pity. The other girl was really sweet and very cute.

Rome

Teeming with Americans! They're everywhere! By far, the most popular tourist destination for people from the States. Also, by far the most tourist friendly city that I visited. And everyone speaks English!

The trip started on a sour note when after standing in front of the luggage conveyer belt for half an hour I finally realized that I was facing the first snag in my trip and that my baggage had probably been misplaced. After half an hour of running around and dealing with incompetent groud staff and making calls to Madrid, I had to face the reality that there was a very high probability that I would never see my bag again. Being stuck in an unknown city at 11 PM with essentially nothing except the clothes I was wearing was quite unnerving. The first thing that I was worried about was my contact lenses. My glasses were in my bag as was my lens cleaning solution and container. Without my lenses I would be basically blind! I had to find some way to store my lenses over the night. So as I wrestled with that dilemma and tried to figure out how to validate my train ticket on the weird maching, a guy and a girl were standing by the next machine looking equally bewildered. The guy starts talking to me and after collectively solving the great train puzzle, we get on the same train and sit together. Turns out the guy is from Canada and his girlfriend is from Philly (Aside: I have known a lot of pretty women. I know actresses and models. This girl was one of the most gorgeous woman I have ever met...and she was super nice). Upon finding out about my problem, the girl very graciously offered to lend me some of her cleaning solution and I went with them to their hotel. The guy was Colby Armstrong from the Pittsburgh Penguins and we ended up hanging out together.

The city itself is a tourist's dream with tons of stuff to see. The Italians are super nice people always willing to chat. One of the highlights of the trip was the "audience with the pope" where I got to see and take a picture of the pope from a distance of around 5 feet.

I did throw a coin into the Trevi fountain. In fact I threw two. And although I didn't fall in love in Rome, I did develop a crush on a cute English girl I met at the Vatican if that counts.

Florence

Florence is another city inundated with American tourists. The Duomo wasn't that breathtaking but Michaelangelo's David is a true masterpiece that even a layman like me could appreciate.

Amsterdam

What happens in Amsterdam, stays in Amsterdam.

Hello, bonjour, hola, ciao, hoi and namaste

So as I sit here enjoying my vacation, blissfully oblivious to the "mba world", people are already working on resumes, attending workshops and such??? Hmm....

Well I did run into that consultant from BCG in Segovia. And I did introduce him to the cute Canadian girls I had met. And I did hang out with him for most of the day listening to his boring stories. Talk about some hardcore networking right there!.....That's just me convincing myself that the summer hasn't been a complete waste from a professional standpoint. Not that I care.

The vacation has been absolutely amazing so far. It's been all that I expected and more. I shall upload some pics in a couple of days from each of the cities I visited and also talk briefly about my experiences in and impressions of each city. And then there are the people. I think one of the most interesting things about travelling alone is the people you meet. The people I ran into and spent time with were as diverse as a 65 year old retired art teacher, bagpacking across Europe all alone, an NHL player vacationing in Paris with his girlfriend, a guy who was writing a 3 part book on "the subcultures of bagpackers, bikers and S&M enthusiasts" and many many more. Shall talk more about these folks in my next post.

Of course there were the occasional hiccups. Vueling Airlines losing my bag on my flight from Madrid to Rome and leaving me with nothing except a jacket, my passport, my wallet and my "Let's go, Europe" book wasn't excatly my idea of the ideal first day in Rome. Then there was the fact that one of the engines on the plane taking me from Turin to Amsterdam decided to die on us right as we were preparing for take-off, leaving me stuck in that tiny airport for 6 hours. But these things just add to the experience and every thing turned out fine ultimately, so it's all good.

I have finally arrived in the motherland! It's unbelievably hot and the sheer number of people around me always takes me some getting used to. And of course, every time I go out in my car, it's like I'm entering this video game in which people, vehicles and animals can come at me from every direction and if I lose, I die....but this is home and I love it!