journeys

Cinque Terre (May 25th - May 29th)

2009-05-29T17:07:00.004-05:00

GETTING THERE

Genoa is probably the closest airport to fly to, to get to the Cinque Terre region. Florence is another alternative. Rome and Milan are options as well. I flew to Milan, but went to Venice first. So I made my way to Cinque Terre by train from Venice, which incidentally connects in Milan anyways. The time from Milan Centrale Station to Levanto was a little under 3 hours.
Regardless of where you fly to, you will eventually need to take a train, or drive to Cinque Terre. I guess you can go by sea as well, but I haven’t really explored that option and don’t know much about it. Trenitalia (http://www.trenitalia.com) has a great user friendly website one can use to check fares, schedules and make your reservations online.

You can either take the train to Levanto (recommended if coming from the north) or La Spezia (if coming from the south). Both Levanto and La Spezia and larger cities on each of Cinque Terre. You can choose to make these towns your base, or do like we did, just pick a village in Cinque Terre and stay there. There are trains running almost every 30 min between Levanto and La Spezia which stops at some or all the 5 villages. The five villages are all in a 5.28 km stretch, so the train rides are really short (2-3 min) between each village.

For tickets, you can but a single ticket and use it as many times within a 6 hour window as long as you go in the same direction as when you started. (to return, you will need a separate ticket). In anycase, tickets between villages are cheap (€1.40). Also, you have an option of including unlimited train with your Cinque Terre pass. The Cinque Terre pass, allows you on the trails between the 5 villages. It is €5.00 per day. Other options are also available for longer lengths. For more information, visit http://www.parconazionale5terre.it/news_parco_primo_piano.asp?id_lingue=2&pag=1

CINQUE TERRE ACCOMMODATIONS

I read a lot of information about Cinque Terre accommodations – from peoples blogs, to trip advisor, hotels.com, friends who had visited the area – and finally after sending out a couple dozen emails to various bed and breakfasts we decided on our accommodations.

Our first step was to narrow down which village we wanted to stay in. Most of the bigger travel sites (like hotels.com) listed hotels and B&B in Riomaggiore, arguably one of the biggest of the 5 villages. However, my first instinct was to stay in Corniglia since it is in the middle of the 5 villages. I found one B&B I liked, but after reading the review (which now, I can vouch is true) it was not a very convenient spot. After 5 or 6pm, there are no buses. You can take the train between villages. If you choose to eat dinner at Riomaggiore for instance, when you return to Corniglia, you will probably have to walk for at least 20 min to get to your room. It finally came down to a decision between Monterosso al mare and Vernazza.

Monterosso has the best beaches of Cinque Terre, and the most variety and number of restaurants among all the other villages and Vernazza looked just so pretty. Not being able to decide between the two, we decided to stay 2 nights at each place. In hindsight, it was a good decision – I enjoyed both places immensely. Perhaps if I had to choose only one, I’d pick Monterosso – It seemed to have more restaurants and bars. Also, the train station is in the heart of the new town and a short walk from old town, making it convenient to spend a late evening at another village and still being able to make it back to Monterosso late.

At Monterosso, we stayed at the Unico Affittacamere. At peak season, we paid €70/night It is owned by Adriano Rossignoli. I love the room. It was small, but very cozy, charming and clean. The location, in old town was perfect too. I would highly recommend it - this place is a gem. You can email Adriano at unicoscienza@libero.it . Basic information about the room is available at http://www.monterossonet.com/eng/strutture/hotel/da_unico/da_unico.htm

At Vernazza, we stayed at an apartment (without kitchen). The cost was €85/night. The location was fantastic. Just a few blocks from the train station, and steps away from the beach (You have a view of the beach from the bedroom window - See Photo). The only drawback with this apartment was that it can get very noisy till late at night or early in the morning since there are a couple of café/bars next to the apartment. Still, if you keep the windows shut, you can keep the most of the noise out. To make reservations, contact Alberto Basso at albertobasso@hotmail.com

A TOURIST IN CINQUE TERRE

DAY 1
After checking in to our room in the late afternoon, we spent our evening exploring Monterosso, walking in the old and new town. We spent a relaxed evening, eating dinner at the Enoteca Internazionale followed by a glass of wine at a bar just a few steps from our room.

DAY 2
We bought the Cinque Terre Pass for the day (€5/pp for the trail only - €8.50 for the trail + train for the day) … We planned to walk all the way from Monterosso to Riomaggiore stopping by each of the villages for a snack or wine or both. The trail from Monterosso to Vernazza (approx 1.5 hrs) and then from Vernazza to Corniglia (approx 1hr) was the hardest – but absolutely gorgeous as you pass through vineyards and orchards and have spectacular views of the Mediterranean at the same time. Corniglia to Manarola (approx 1 hr) was a straight stretch of road for the most part (other than the steep walk down the paved path towards the train station in Corniglia to get to the train – and the 300+ steps to the trail) – still it was a breeze compared to the hike between the previous two villages. Manarola to Riomaggiore was just a 20min walk – the trail called Via Dell’ Amore (lovers trail) was a pathway hugging the coastline offering expansive views of the Mediterranean. Absolutely gorgeous!

At Vernazza, we stopped at a café for juice and a sandwich. At Corniglia, we hunted for Miele Gelato (Honey gelato - a specialty of Corniglia) and were rewarded at a gelateria with the most delicious honey gelato. At Manarola, I wanted to drink the local wine made with grapes just from Manarola (as compared to the blends with grapes from all regions of Cinque Terre). I wasn’t too lucky. Instead, we settled for the most delicious foccacio’s at a bakery. At Riomaggiore, we stopped for a drink – my first glass of wine that day at La Corniglia. We took the train back to Monterosso and after relaxing and freshening up went to dinner at Al Carugio – a restaurant a block away from our room.

Having spent the entire day getting a flavor of all the villages – we planned to spend the next day in Vernazza (since we were to stay there for the next 2 nights), and then our last day in Corniglia and Manarola.

DAY 3
We checked in at our apartment at Vernazza. Alberto – the owner of the apartment suggested a La Sondra for lunch – an excellent recommendation. After lunch, we explored the village (did not take much time doing that) and then spent an hour at the beach. Dinner was at Belforte – a great restaurant, with an excellent location – overlooking the sea. I would recommend making reservations to make sure you get the table with the best views.

After dinner, we spent the evening with Alberto, his girlfriend Catherine and a couple of his friends. It was an unplanned event – we wanted to see a soccer game on TV and Alberto graciously offered us his living room to watch the game. He was entertaining some friends that evening and invited us to join them. I ate one of the best Tiramisu’s ever – and even got the recipe for it from Alberto.

DAY 4
We took the ferry to Riomaggiore. We wanted to go to Manarola, but due to rough seas, the ferry wouldn’t stop there. At Riomaggiore we explored the area a little, then took the train to Corniglia for lunch. No – I had no intention of walking that day. Lunch was a take away sandwich and some juice to keep us hydrated, and our treat later was the real reason we were there in the first place - their honey gelato. Hmm yummy!!!

We took the trail from Corniglia to Manarola – the only trail that you do not need the Cinque Terre pass. At Manarola, we sat at a bar, enjoying Cinque Terre wine and waited till 6:30pm, so we could eat dinner at Marina Piccola. After dinner, we took the train back to Vernazza and spent our last night with a bottle of wine sitting on the rocks, overlooking the sea, listening to waves crash at the shore. A wonderful end to a wonderful stay in Cinque Terre. The next day we were to head out early on a train back to Milan.

Venice (May 22nd - May 25th)

2009-05-25T17:51:00.010-05:00

VENICE TRANSPORTATION: GETTING THERE & AROUND - SOME TRAVEL TIPS..

I traveled by train from Milan to Venice. It took approx. 2.5 hrs. €53 roundtrip 2nd class. Make sure you get tickets to Venice Saint Lucia and not Mestre (unless that's where you are staying) as Mestre is on the Mainland. When you leave the train station you will face the Grand Canal - It took me a few seconds to completely grasp that this is it - the real thing - not the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas or Disneyworld.

To get to the city center, you can take a water taxi (which can be quite expensive) or a Vaparetto. Two lines (line 1 & 2) run between the train Santa Lucia to St. Marks Square. (One way: €6.50 valid for an hour for a single direction only.. Cheaper tickets available for shorter distances). Vaparetto #1 is a slow service and will take approx 45min to get to St. Marks Square. Vaporetto #2, will takes approx 25min. Plan your return trip accordingly - We almost missed our train as we anticipated 30 min for the journey but realized we took Vaparetto 1, instead of 2.

You do not need the day passes for the Vaparetto unless you absolutely hate walking or plan to visit the nearby islands. You can walk from one end of the island to the other in less than an hour. Most of the touristy sights are within a 20 min walk from Rialto. It is a 5min walk from Rialto to St. Marks Square.

If you are curious and are interested in buying the passes, this site http://www.veniceconnected.com/ gives you all the details as well as an option to buy your tickets online (you get a discount if you buy the passes at least a week in advance)

RECOMMENDED ACCOMMODATION IN VENICE

At first glance, accommodations are expensive in Venice. Even a decent hostel runs to €50 pp/ per night. Hotels.com gave a bunch of options with an average price of €250/night for a Rialto or St Marks square location (which are the ideal locations). After spending almost all day searching for a nice, inexpensive (less than €150) place to stay in Venice, I finally found a gem. Locanda Antico Casin (http://www.anticocasin.com/en/index.htm). Room rates vary according to season. In May, the regular rate was €150/night. Look on their website for specials before booking. I was able to get my room for €120/nt since I was staying 3nights. Closer to my departure though, they has a last minute special of 95E/nt. Note though, this hotel only has 5 rooms, so I would not advise to wait until the last minute to book. Grab your room while you can if it is available. You will not regret it. This place is only a block away from St Marks. It is very clean, modern & comfortable. And even though it is so close to the most touristy place, it is in an alleyway which is very quiet so you will not be disturbed if you want to sleep early or wake up late. (Photo)

A TOURIST IN VENICE
My travel plans involved 3nts (2.5 days in Venice). That was perfect. I was able to see all the sights I really wanted to see and spend plenty to leisure time at café's, bars, and restaurants.

DAY 1, arrived Venice at 4:00pm.
We walked over to St Marks square, just because it was so close to us. Admired the Basilica and the Palace from the outside and then walked to Harry's Bar. (http://www.harrysbarvenezia.com/) A historic (and pricey) bar which invented the famous Bellini (Peach and Prosecco cocktail). I was expecting well dressed people and a flashy interior, but instead it was a small (but nice) room packed with very casually dressed tourists and tired and uninterested wait staff. A Bellini and a coffee and €30 poorer, we headed for a Cicchetteria (pub which serve small appetizers) crawl.

First stop was Ostaria Dei Zemei, It looked nice & casual and had food (I was hungry). Someone had just ordered a pretty looking drink so I asked the bartender to make me the same. The drink, apparently quite popular in Venice, is a Spritz. Mine was a Spritz con Campari. It was too bitter for my taste buds, but I am told there are many variations of the Spritz, and it does not have to be with Campari. In any case, I settled for wine for rest of my trip.

Next stop was Pane Vino e San Daniele (on Calle dei Botteri, Sao Polo 1544), apparently a chain. We were tempted by the sight of a fresh bubbling tomato sauce on the counter with breadsticks. So we ordered a glass of wine and nibbled on the breadsticks. After a glass (or was it two) of wine, we walked over to Al Marca (on Campo Cesare Battisti, near the fish market). This was a small bar without any seating overlooking a square. Apparently a very popular spot with the 18-35 age group locals. It was very crowded. We took our drinks and walked to the canal side and sat by the dock watching the boats sail by. Stuffed with appetizer’s but still hungry for more treats, we made our way to Al Nono Risorto, our last stop for the evening, an inexpensive pizzeria/trattoria boasting to have the best pizza's in Venice. After eating there, I would not be surprised if this claim was true. It was definitely one of the better pizza's I have had. If you want outdoor seating on weekend's do make reservations. This place is very popular.

DAY 2:
Started with breakfast in bed at the hotel. Did I mention how awesome the Locanda Antico Casin is? Well, it is.

We began our exploration of Venice around 10:30am. First we went to the Correr Museum on St Marks Square. (If you are planning to go to the Doge's Palace, your best bet is to buy your tickets at the Correr Museum to beat the line at the Palace) The ticket covers both the Correr museum and the Doge's Palace entry. After visiting the Correr Museum we went to St Mark's Basilica (Photo). Again, to beat the long serpentine queue to enter the Basilica, we went to the Bag check counter (on a small street to the left of the Basilica), checked in our bag (for free) and got a token which let us enter the basilica immediately. Only caveat is you have one hour to visit the basilica and pick up your bag - which really isn't a big deal. Entry to the basilica is free, but there are entrance fees to see the crypt of to go the 2nd floor where there is a small museum besides, the view from the balcony of St. Mark's square, as well as the interior of the basilica, makes this worthwhile.

For lunch we walked over to Sandwich row on Calle delle Rasse near St Marks Square for quick yummy inexpensive sandwiches to fuel us for the next couple of hours sightseeing. After lunch we went to Doge's Palace. The tickets we got at the Correr museum again helped us beat the line and walk right in. After spending a couple of hours at the Palace, we walked towards Friar Church. On the way, we stopped at a café on a square and sipped a Bellini and wine. The church was beautiful. Got to see the tomb of Titian and Canova, two great artists.

A full day of sightseeing done, we treated ourselves to some wine and appetizers at Cantino do Mori (on Sao Polo 429) and another Cicchetteria at Campo Cesare Battisti (near Al Marca). Cantino do Mori, was my favorite because of its rustic ambiance.

That evening, I went Tango dancing. I was a little disappointed with the Tango scene in venice. I guess I expected more. The Milonga was far from the city center (a 40 min walk) in a fairly deserted neighborhood. Not too many dancers. I did not stay there too long. Enough to dance a few tanda's and then returned back to the hotel.

DAY 3
We were woken up by a loud band playing. Today was the Fiesta della Senza. We assumed the band was playing near the canal. We had our breakfast and decided to walk to the Grand Canal near St Marks square to watch the festivities. As we got out of the hotel, we found the band playing right outside our hotel door. No wonder it felt so loud. We took some pictures at the Canal of the boats that were going to race that day. Then we went to the Campanile (the bell tower) (Photo) on St. Marks Square. We got wonderful views of the island as well as of all the boats at the canal for the festivities.

Next stop was to the Rialto bridge for the Sunday market – we wanted to buy some souvenirs. After buying some Murano glass handicrafts and a Venetian mask, we were hungry for lunch. We went to Osteria al Bomba , a restaurant listed in our guide book and while there, we met a group of 6 men who were apparently making their rounds at different bars. One of them was of Indian origin (Photo). He was from Pune, and had been living in Venice for 40 years. He recommended another restaurant close by (Osteria al Bottega) for lunch. It was really good. My ravioli was delicious!

Next stop was Scuola San Rocco, "Tintoretto's Sistine Chapel". Beautiful paintings! As if that wasn’t enough, our next stop was the Accademia Museum. After the museum, we had a quick snack at Pizzeria Accademia Foscarini (next to the Accademia bridge and Galleria). It was good – but not as good as Al Nono. Probably a good thing as we needed our appetite for our dinner. We had reservations at Bistrot de Venice (http://www.bistrotdevenise.com/eng/index.html). Paul had read about it in a book The Conquest of Taste, which talks about the history of spice trade. The Bistrot is one restaurant, which serves meals from the historic era using the traditional recipes and spices. The meal was very good and so was the ambience. A really nice way to spend our last night in Venice.

Comme il faut

2008-12-16T13:58:00.010-06:00

This shop is so exclusive. They do not post pictures of their shoes on their website. They have limited quantity of shoes for each design. Some designs are available only in certain sizes. They have new designs come in everyday (which is how suckers like me end up buying shoes each time we go there). And they are actually comfortable, in spite of the high heels. Sorry guys, this store is for women only.

Some photos of my Comme il faut Tango shoes, so you can see what the fuss is all about.

Last tango in Argentina

2008-12-13T20:04:00.002-06:00

How much can I cram in my last 24 hrs in Buenos Aires to savor every bit of my experience there? Well - the best bet was to focus on the two things I love the most - Tango and Shopping. I started with Tango on Friday afternoon. Actually managing to wake up early enough to make the noon class at Confiteria Ideal. The class was hosted by Diego and Zoraida. It was more a practica (a practice session) rather than a formal class. You dance, if you need help, you ask the teachers. At one point, when I was taking a break and sitting, Diego came up to me and told me that he saw me dancing at the Milonga in Ideal a few days back and that I danced well, so what did I feel I need help working on. It caught me off guard, as I have had previous teachers in group classes show me figures and steps. Still, I took this opportunity to gather up things that I am need work on - Like my posture (I tense my shoulders at time), or boleos in the air (I can't relax my leg enough). He danced with me for a few minutes and then asked me why I suddenly stress in the midst of a dance… and I started saying .."well, I am trying to think …" and he cut me off before I could complete my sentence and said "That’s it - You are thinking. You should not think." And then he went on to show me that the only way I can move at any time in Tango is to walk back, or step forward, or to the side, or pivot and to the side - that is all. So with just 4 possible options for me, there is no need to think. Interesting way to put it. I have heard the "Do not anticipate" line before, and this was along those lines. I now need to work on just feeling the lead, not mentally interpret the lead. I practiced some more and then I got hungry.

I found a Pizzeria mentioned in my guide book. A very humble non-touristy restaurant with a lot of local flavor and character. It's called El Cuartito. I had two of my Argentine favorite - Queso y Cebolla Empanada & a a slice of Fugazetta (A white pizza with sour cream and Onions). I also tried Farina, a chickpea pancake which reminds me of something my mom makes. Suitably stuffed - I was now on to my next stop - Comme il faut. I wanted a neutral color dance shoes that would go with most dresses. I had seen one pair I had liked before and wanted to stop by and pick it up. Ingrid met me there as she had to pick up her shoes that she had bought and given for having suede soles put on the shoes. I went to just pick one pair, but while there, I saw another girl try on this bright black, yellow pick suede sandals with gold heels (yes, I know it sounds gaudy, but its not) I fell in love with those shoes and even though the heel was not as high as I wanted, I bought that too. I justified the purchase by thinking that these will be fabulous with a dressy pair of jeans and can pep up any outfit. So now, in all I have five pairs of dancing shoes from Buenos Aires, not counting the two that I already have at home. With eight pairs of dancing shoes, I now just need more Milongas to go to. I was not the only victim - Ingrid who was there to pick up her two shoes ended up buying two more. Bumped into Zeynep there too, who confided that so far in 10 days she has bought 12 pairs of shoes. It makes me feel less guilty now of my own indulgence.

That evening, Ingrid, Zeynep and I went to the theater for a Tango show at the Cambalache festival. After the show there was a Milonga. We stayed for about an hour at the Milonga but it was not that great. A lot of people, but very few were dancing. Considering it was to be my last milonga for this trip, I wanted to dance. We went to Salon Canning for the Parkutural Milonga instead. I got my hearts desire of dancing. Non stop for two hours until I my feet hurt so much. Towards the end, I avoided eye contact with people as I wanted to sit for a while, but that was not to be. Men came up to me asked me if I wanted to dance, and of course I still haven't mastered the art of saying no I am tired - so I danced some more. Finally when I could feel my feet dragging on the floor I knew its time for me to go home. I reached home at 4am.

Saturday, my last day in the city, I spent by going to Recoleta to the Artesan Market. I had some pesos left over and wanted to use them up. And I sure did that - all the way down to my last peso. Not a wise decision, as by afternoon when I got back to the casa, I was hungry and I walked around the neighborhood and realized that none of them accept credit cards. I guess I could have gone to an ATM, but did not want to for just 10 pesos ($3). Instead I went back home, had some fruits and cookies and coffee.

Maria met me a couple of hours before I was to leave and later Ingrid and Zeynep joined me for my final farewell… We sat, talked and joked about our funny tango moments and before I knew it, my shuttle was there to pick me up. (Picture: With Maria)

At the airport, I walked around aimlessly. Like Vegas and Amsterdam have slot machines at the airport for you spend your last few minutes gambling, I was longing that the Buenos Aires airport has a Milonga for a last tango before I get on the flight. Of course that was not meant to be… (But it would be a good idea, right?). While standing in line waiting to board, there was a young American teenager talking in a stereotypical “ugly American” high pitched whiney voice about how she could not stand the Subte (subways) in the city and how Buenos Aires was just so crowded and dirty and had dog poop everywhere etc etc… I felt sorry for her that she was unable to see past those layers into the depths of what this city has to offer. You really do not need to be a tango lover to fall in love with this city. It’s the people, the food, the music, the language the history all intertwined which makes this place so special. I turned on my ipod to my Tango music and drowned out the whiney voice and savored my last few minutes in Buenos Aires.

Getting high on a Tango overdose

2008-12-11T21:50:00.007-06:00

My first milonga by myself was actually a lot of fun. It was called Maldita (damned) Milonga - (Which I found out later is named after a song which the orchestra who hosts that Milonga plays) I arrived there at 8:30pm as I was told thats when they have a group lesson pre milonga however I was the only person there (other than the musicians and the hosts). The lesson started at 9pm, and till then I chatted and befriended Adan, the bass player in the Orchestra. The lesson started with the very basics (majority of the people who showed up were complete beginners). After 20 min of warm up the group was divided into beginners and intermediates. The class was all about Giros (turns). After one hour of practicing giros I was getting dizzy (estoy Mariada.... I learned to say that in spanish). I danced with Adan who could not and does not dance, with Guillermo, who was almost a beginner. They were both from Buenos Aires (one of them a tango musician at that) and still do not dance Tango - Apparently the tango population is not too big here - especially with the younger people.

Talking about younger people, this Milonga had only 3 men with white hair.. meaning it was mostly a young crowd. (Which is why Maria recommended me to go here - and she was right). Even though I was by myself, I did not feel alone. I was seated with a French woman who talked to me about her travels to India. And then I danced some. My first dance (the most critical as thats where the other men judge you) felt good. I was reaffirmed in that I got asked to dance the next tanda by another guy who I had seen dancing before and was a good dancer - He told me that he saw me dance and that I dance Muy Lindo (which I think means beautiful). Unfortunately for him, my dance with him was not too good. Nor was the next two ones. They were not bad - but I could feel that I did not dance well. I do not understand why is it that I am able to connect and dance well with some people yet with others, however good dancers they may be, I am just not able to dance well. I tense and stiffen up at times. I have been told many times to relax. Still, I was able to dance some more. I stayed till the end (2:30am) and Adan was nice enough to drop me back home (as I was worried about getting a Taxi in that - san telmo- neighborhood at that time).

Today... i had three group lessons. One was Tango Nuevo at Escuela DNI which was a good class. In the evening I had another one with Sergio and his partner and there was just one other person in the class, so it was pretty much a private class for me. I enjoyed the class immensely, as I got to dance for 2 hours practicing and improving my dance. Sergio said that for 4mths, I dance quite good and that I must have an excellent teacher to have taught me as well. Incidentally this is the 4th person to have said that and I do agree - Louie has been a great teacher - everything I have learned from him, I hear in all the classes here - His style is as authentic as any Porteno. Infact a few days back at a Milonga, one of my dance partners asked me if my teacher was Argentine. Who would have thought I would get to find a Tango teacher in Little Rock - let alone an excellent one at that. My next class was with Puchu, a really good dancer who I had seen perform at a local show. It was a good class, however only drawback was the class was in Spanish so I missed all that he said, just watched his feet and movements instead. In this class, a woman actually hated me .. (Ingrid said she must have been jealous).. I was standing closest to Puchu so every time he demonstrated a step, he danced with me.. the woman said in Spanish that I am a terrible dancer and that I do not have the right posture and steps and that he should dance with someone more experienced like herself to demonstrate the figures... poor Puchu was put in a spot so he danced with each of the women.

At the end of the class, I was talking to Maria and Susanna about wanting to learn Chacarera (a folk dance) and Susanna got Puchu to show me and Ingrid how to dance it. I love Chacarera. It is a flirtatious dance where the man tries to woo the woman and the woman is all coy and towards the middle of the song she flirts back and in the end they are together. The music is so catchy and the dance fun a lot of fun. Unfortunately I sucked at it. I am no good at being flirtatious and coy. Later Puchu told me that I may not be good at Chacarera but I am very good at Tango and that if I keep on dancing, in one year I too would be able to perform. I don't know if he said that to make me feel nice after the other woman's nasty comment - but it worked - I have been in high spirits.

Below is a video of people dancing Chacarera at La Ideal

The good mood lingered through the night when Ingrid and I went to a Milonga at Club Gricel. We were not there for too long. I had 3 dances and my last one in particular was very good. On that high note we left Gricel and came back to the casa. Now, just one more night of Milonga in Buenos Aires left.... sob!

No longer a tourist - now feeling at home in Buenos Aires

2008-12-10T07:24:00.007-06:00

I am amazed how much Buenos Aires reminds me of Bombay. The buildings, the streets, the senseless traffic, crowds of people walking down the street, crowds on the subway, the weather, the humidity, the rains... yes.. all have a feel of Bombay ... And if I have to compare it to a European city, I would pick an Eastern European city like Bucharest. Here, like Bombay and Bucahrest, you have the old buildings blended in with new construction, the buildings not necessarily well maintained but each of them tells a story of its past if only you stopped to appreciate it. Ironically, I am not the only person who feels that way. Yesterday at a Milonga, I danced with a man, who between songs I learned was from Romania and he told me how Buenos Aires reminded him of Bucharest too.

These last few days I have been very interested in learning about real estate in Buenos Aires. First it was my friend Paula who plated a seed when she said to find an aprtment so that we all can come back and stay here whenever we want. Then I read about how economical it is to buy apartments here and that many Europeans and buyimg apartments as an investment. Someone mentioned that I can buy a 1 bedroom apartment for $60,000. Not bad - if i had that kind of spare cash. Still, I can dream. I talked to Elizabeth about it once, and the next day she told me how her friends Beatrice and Cyrill found an apartment for me. (they have friends in town who are architects). I loved the way she described the apartment. "... your apartment is in an old building which has been renovated... your apartment is on the 3rd floor... your apartment has a balcony..." I loved the way she said "your" she sure knew how to feed my dreams.

This week, I am not taking any private lessons.... instead, I have been going to a few group lessons. On Monday, I went to DNI Estudio where they had a class for Tango Nuevo. I found that a little difficult to get used to, as the styling is quite different than the salon Tango that I am used to dancing. Still it was good practice... also gave me some more elements that I can add to my dance. That evening, we went to Al Aranque (Picture 1) for an early evening Milonga. All older men there (by older I mean men in their 70's and 80's) - Come to think of it, it has been rare occasions that I have danced with young people. Most of those have been at night Milongas. Later at midnight, I went to Salon Canning (Paracultural Milonga). It was half full at that time, but by 1:30am it was packed. I got to dance for 2 hours non-stop... which was great as people were asking me to dance.- I think it was because of my hip new Tango sandals :-) .. After a couple of hours, my feet were sore. I knew I am tired, when suddenly dancing felt more painful than fun. By now, I have learned to call it quits when the going is good. I left Zeynep there as she wanted to dance some more and took a cab home.

Tuesday, I went with Elizabeth to a few shoe shops.. (By now I have been to almost all possible Tango shoe stores). I bought myself a pair of practice shoes (flat - no heels). I thought that would make dancing less painful if I dance for a few hours in flats... (but I later found out I was wrong - Its not the heels that were the problem apparently, it is dancing and leaning on my "Metatarso"(the balls of my feet). I have not been dancing too long, so suddenly 4-8 hrs of dancing a day is a lot. I am told, I will soon get used to it. I used my new practice shoes at my next group class - At La Ideal. I wanted to take Eduardo Saucedo's class, but after I got there, I was told that he will not be in. Instead the class was hosted by a Gustavio. He was good, but he thought extremely basic level steps. (Most of the people at the class were complete beginners). I did not get to learn much, instead I helped the complete novices by being their partner. Later Zeyneb told me, I should have left if I was not getting to learn from the class - "time is precious here" she said - if its not good, go someplace else, or go to a cafe and enjoy instead. True, considering I have only 4 more days left. That evening, I went to El Aranque again with Maria and Ingrid. We all danced for a couple of hours and then got home by 9:30.

That evening, we had a farewell dinner for Elizabeth. She leaves on Thursday. We ordered Empanada's, made salad at home, and had champagne and wine. It was a fun evening - just a small group of us - Maria, Elizabeth, Beatrice, Cyrill, Ingrid and I. After dinner, I planned to go to La Cathedral for a Milonga at midnight - however it started raining heavily and we cancelled our plans. Instead, I went to bed early. (Picture 2: Ingrid, me, Elizabeth, Cyrill, Beatrice and Maria)

Today I spent all day at the Palermo Viejo neighborhood with Zeyneb. Palermo Viejo is an ultra chic area, with nice cafes and upscale stores. I ogled at many (non-tango) shoes, and beautiful designer clothes. I bought myself some scarves (including an orange one to go with my tango shoes). I went to a store called Seco which only sold rain gear - it sounds boring, but was actually a fun store. I found myself a nice jacket on sale - i needed an all weather jacket, and this was perfect. After shopping, we went to a cafe for salad and coffee & juice. (Picture 3: Zeynep at the Cafe)

Now, I am back at home - The evening is still young. I plan to go to a Milonga by myself (have never been to one alone). Its called Maldita Milonga. Maria recommended I go to this one (younger crowd, plus they have a group lesson at 8pm which she thought I may like). Later at night, I will be joining Carina at the "queer" milonga. More on that later, as I have yet to figure out what that would be like.

A tourist in Buenos Aires

2008-12-08T02:43:00.005-06:00

I had an abnormal day today – 24 hours passed with no dancing. Yet, I had a wonderful time. Today being Sunday, there are no Tango lessons at any place and I have no private classes scheduled. In a way it is good as it forces me to be a normal tourist in the city. My agenda was to go to Recoleta (see the famous cemetery where Eva Peron is buried - Picture 1) and then on to San Telmo to the Sunday market.

At Recoleta, they have a handicrafts Artisan market every Sunday and on holidays. I was expecting it to be similar to the one at San Telmo, but this one was a lot better. Nicer handicrafts, and I think cheaper prices. I spent three hours browsing through all the stores and wishing I could buy most of the things I saw – paintings, photos, handmade jewelry, woolen ponchos, crochet tops, mate are just some of the things I longed for. I had to curb my instinct to buy everything I liked – I am way too familiar with my impulse buying habit – It looks great, I get caught up in the moment, buy things and then never use it, or can find something better and cheaper elsewhere. I did get a few pieces of casual jewelry and a beautiful & unique fruit basket for my mother who loves that kind of stuff. (Picture 1: Zeynep and Dave at the Market)

After shopping, I went to the cemetery. It was like nothing I have seen before. There are no tombstones like I was expecting, rather they have small house like structures for families and or individual bodies. Some of them being so ornate. It was quite remarkable.

I did not expect to spend as much time as I did in Ricoleta. It was already 6pm – 6 hrs in Ricoleta later – I was tired. I came back to the casa to freshen up, then went to San Telmo. By the time I arrived there, the market had almost ended, but there were a lot of street artists playing music and dancing. I wanted to go to the Milonga Del Indio at the square at Defensa and Carlos Calvo – I wasn’t quite sure what to expect – a Milonga or a street performance. It turned out to be a performance of a couple of Tango dancers. They were good, but I have seen better at the tango lessons I have taken and at some of the Milongas.

Next stop was dinner. My friend Dave leaves tomorrow for Cordoba and I won’t see him again, so had a farewell dinner. We craved spicy food, so I suggested this Indian restaurant I saw in my guide book called Bangalore (at Humboldt 1416). I thought it would be a hole in the wall place with good food, but I was surprised by how nice it was. It was far better (in terms of ambience and quality of food) than most Indian Restaurants that I have been to in the US. The meal with a bottle of wine was less than $20 per person. I liked the place so much, I think I will go back – maybe take Luis (my tango teacher) and/or Daniela (from the Casa) to lunch as they are both vegetarians too and I think would enjoy this food.

After dinner, I was itching to dance. I had not been to a night Milonga in a couple of days, and had not danced for over 24hrs – so I did go to a Milonga. We went to El Beso (apparently it is “the” place to go to on Sunday nights). We got there at 12:30am, and it was packed. Excellent dancers, a joy to watch them. I danced a few tandas – enough to satisfy my craving to dance. I watched others dance and noticed that not one girl on the dance floor wore closed toe shoes…. All wore beautiful strappy high heeled sandals. I was the only one with the classic closed toe shoes, and suddenly felt so old-fashioned in them. Still, old fashioned or not, they are by far the most comfortable to wear while dancing.

After being content with my little bit of dancing and watching others dance, I was ready to leave for home. Another fabulous day spent in Buenos Aires.

What a wonderful day!

2008-12-06T21:48:00.004-06:00

I woke up bright and early at 9am. I was a woman on a mission. I had errands to run and classes to go to. My first stop was a tailor. I had a dress that I bought in the US and needed to have it altered. Next stop – exchange some money. I am down to my last 100 pesos and need more fuel for my shopping, classes and Milongas. I am amazed what a difference there was in the exchange rates out here and in the US. I exchanged $500 in the US at an exchange rate of 2.89. Here the exchange rate of Pesos to the dollar was 3.43. That is one more pair of tango shoes I could have bought. Next time, I will know better.

From there, I took the bus to Arenales Street to Comme il faut. Yes again. I wanted to see their new stock of shoes – they have new styles coming in everyday. These shoes are so amazingly beautiful – it took me forever to decide on what I want. I finally decided on a simple Orange and Black Sandals. Too bad for the men – they only have women’s shoes.

I took a taxi home and realized I was famished. I went to a local restaurant with Federico – It was good food and so darn cheap. In less than $10 we both had Raviolis each and a juice and milkshake. It was definitely not touristy and geared to the locals primarily.

After lunch, I had my third lesson with Luis. I tried on my new 5-inch stilettos for the first time, and found it quite comfortable to dance with. Today Luis and I danced some more and he made suggestions and comments on improving as we danced, but on the whole, he seemed quite happy with my dancing. That was good.

An hour later, was my lesson with Carina and Carlos. I was a little nervous of taking this class only because I am so self conscious when it comes to my dancing – especially in front of someone who is so spectacularly good. But then, they are teachers and they are there to help me. I started with dancing with Carlos with Carina watching to gauge my level .. I was extremely flattered and thrilled when; at the end of the dance they both looked at each other, surprised, and said that was really good. However to get me down to earth, they also said that most people dance well enough on slow tango songs so they put on a faster paced tango and had me dance with Carlos again. Sure enough, this time I goofed up a couple of times. It wasn’t that bad, but enough to let all my weaknesses show. And Carlos was not going easy on me either. We did planeos, ganchos, enganches (I think I even assaulted him in his calves with my pointy heel while doing an enganche the men at Little Rock better watch out when I wear my new shoes for dancing when I see them next). The giros (turns) were done in double time – three consecutive times. And I almost felt dizzy. He sure knew how to work me out. But in 10 min, I had both Carina and Carlos size me up pretty accurately and give me invaluable feedback.

I learned three main things from them in this lesson. The first and the most important being the tango walk. I have learned this so many times with so many different teachers since I have been here, but Carina’s style is the one I liked best. My tango walk was well, just a walk. Nice but ok. Her walk on the other hand will make people sit up and notice. It was cat like, stealthy movements. Instead of walking from waist down, I learned to walk from hips down. When walking forward to bend my hips very slightly, as if I am sitting down, and then extend one leg.. and continue. I was told that I need to concentrate on walking on a straight line (there should be no light between the legs (from your hips to the knees)- as Carina said, pretend that there is a magnet and it sticks your thighs together. I need to keep practicing to get that perfect, because the next thing I worked on was the sandwich position. When I did it, I had the foot that my weight was on, extended… had I walked correctly, that leg would have been slight bent at the knee…. It made so much of a difference in aesthetics. The third thing I learned to improve was my embrace and my posture waist up. I have a tendency to tense up and scrunch my shoulders which looks terrible. I have to learn to loosen up and relax my embrace. All these are suggestions which won’t work overnight, and instead are things I need to work at and improve. I thought this was the best lesson I have had so far. I loved them both. Carina impressed me a lot. She is so petite and frail to look at, yet when she dances, she was so much energy and strength. Carlos was a little rough on the edges, but a very very good dancer and an excellent lead.

After the lesson, Carina said that today is a tango festival. One of the streets (Avenue de Mayo) was shut down and there, they had stages put up and had live bands playing – plus one could dance tango on the streets. She invited me to go with her and her friends which I accepted.

Later on my way home, I strolled down the street to buy some pants to practice Tango in. Zeynep had bought some for $7 and I wanted to find that shop. I finally found it and bought a couple of pants. By the time I got home, the group from the house had already left for the milonga at Bien Porteno for tonight. I could have followed them, but considering I was to meet Carina in two hours, I decided to stay home and rest a bit.

At 9pm, I went to Carina’s apartment. She had a guest Charlie, a girl from South Africa staying with her who joined us. We took the bus to Avenue de Mayo and then walked around enjoying the music and watching the performances (Pictures 1 and 2). I did not dance at the streets – I had to leave early as Maria was having a live orchestra play at the casa tonight too, and I wanted to get back to be able to catch at least some part of that concert.

I took a cab home and did catch the last 30 min of the concert. I am glad I did, as it was indeed fabulous. The singer, a young 26 year old, had such an amazing voice. At the end of the concert, Maria invited Jesus (the singer - picture 3 - at the left) to sit with us and introduced us (Elizabeth and Me) as reporters from France and India respectively who wanted to interview him. We played along and asked him all kinds of questions. He believed us and so did the rest of the band (who got quite jealous that we were interviewing only the singer). It was fun. Poor kid still believes we are reporters – I guess I am to an extent that I am writing about him on my blog.

The concert ended at 12:30pm, and I really wanted to go dancing to a milonga tonight, but did not know how to reach the others who were already out (at the street fair) so instead I will be making this another early night. Tomorrow, is Sunday – no classes and no shopping. My plans are to go to Recoletta and then San Telmo again to enjoy my last Sunday in the city.

La Boca and a Milonga

2008-12-05T18:48:00.008-06:00

Today, I feel rested. Louie, I took your advice of going to bed early so I will feel energized for dancing the next day. I woke up early (ok, at 9:30am.. but that is early by my standards here) and headed over to La Boca – an Italian neighborhood - (named because of its location at the mouth – boca – of the river Riachuelo and was the main port in the earlier days). It was here that the Italian immigrants first landed and made their home.

The area of El Caminito (Picture 1) is supposedly the birth place of Tango. It is said, Tango was invented in the brothels of La Boca. I enjoyed being a tourist for the day … clicking pictures happily of the cheery, colorful houses and street side performers dancing tango and some bands playing the Bandoneon (the soul behind the music of Tango- Picture 2). I ate lunch at La Perla, (a former brothel turned café - Picture 3) and soaked in the music, the bustling of the people around me. All in all a fun day of sightseeing and souvenir shopping. (more pictures of La Boca at the end)

This evening at 6pm I went with Maria, Nora, Zeynep, Elizabeth and Ingrid to a Milonga at Ideal. Unlike the last time, today was a good evening – a lot of dancers, and most of them locals. Also this time, I did not slip and fall. Instead, I think I danced my best so far. I barely sat through maybe two tandas – and danced the rest – for two hours. The last four tandas I danced were very good – And I am not just saying it, the Portenos themselves said that to me. Each of them told me “muy bien” at the end of each song. And that I dance very well. This was before I told them that I am a “principiante” (a beginner). I felt their leads well, and did ochos, ocho cortaro, ganchos, enganche, boleos, and other figures that I had not done before – Yes, I faltered at a couple of steps but between my partners and I, we covered it pretty well. I think the positive feedback kept making me dance better and better.

We left around 9:00pm and headed back to the Casa. Zeynep was planning on going to Villa Malcom again tonight and I told her I would join her. But now that I am at home, and back to reality – I realize I have two classes tomorrow afternoon… one with Luis and another with Carina and Carlos and I want to be alert and rested for the classes. I know if I go out at 11pm, I will not be back until 4 or 5pm and that is not a good idea. So now it is 11:30pm and I am getting ready to call it a night. After all, tomorrow is another day.

Has it been a week already?

2008-12-05T01:05:00.000-06:00

I can’t believe how time just flew by – I now only have another week left in Buenos Aires. So far my trip has been just wonderful.

After getting off on a whirlwind start with lessons and Milonga’s, I finally slowed down a little bit. Partly because I was tired and partly because I got a cold due to getting wet in the rain, and the weather change here the last few days.

On Tuesday, I had nothing scheduled that morning so I had the luxury to wake up late. In the afternoon, I went to La Ideal for a lesson by Eduardo Saucedo. All – Louie, Paula, Armando and Pat told me not to miss this lesson, and they were right – It was really good. I got to learn some new styling and figures, plus get to practice a bit.

After the lessons, I made my way to Comme il faut finally. The shop definitely lived up to its name. I was surprised that they did not have any shoes on display. Instead the sales staff just asked for you size and they brought out shoe after shoe for you to try on. After trying some 30 pairs, each one spectacularly gorgeous… I settled on one. Yes, only one – if I had my way, I’d get them all, but I don’t dance as much to justify it. I still have other places to visit so I may buy more shoes elsewhere too…

That evening, I finally met Maria Tango, albeit briefly. I was getting ready to go to the Milonga at Porteno y Bailarena with the guests at the house and Nora (Maria’s friend). The milonga was fabulous. Again, I got to dance a lot – I was very happy. It was a late night again. I was home at 3:45am – and tired.

The next day I had lessons scheduled with Andrea. I wanted her to teach me some adornments and embellishments a woman can add to the dance. After taking the class though, I realized I still have to get my basics more solid before I add these adornments. I was not able to pick them up as fast. I know I need to take it slow and that it has only been four months that I have been dancing, but going to the milongas and seeing other women dance so beautifully with such style and grace and sensuality, I wish to emulate them as much as I can. But I can’t – At least not yet.

Later, I went with Federico to a man who makes hand made customized tango shoes. I had seen his work before as Paula had gotten three pairs made by him while she was here and I know he was good. After spending an hour at his shop I finally decided on a design and colors for my shoe – It is going to be black and silver, with a silver 8cm heel. I hope it turns out well, as the design was kind of intricate. Well, I will know soon.

Besides my class and getting my shoes ordered, I did nothing else. I stayed at home, rested, socialized with the other guests staying at the house. At 7pm, I had a group lesson (which turned out to be a private lesson as I was the only one present) with a young couple Carlos and Carlita. They were teaching for the first time at the casa, and I liked their style and dancing. With two people, I could dance with Carlos and Carlita could comment and help me improve on my steps. It was good. They will take lessons every Wednesday evening – I liked them and will take the lesson again next week.

Later at night, Maria had arranged for a BBQ at the house – a welcome party for all of us. The party was fun – Good food, company and conversations. Maria had invited her friends Nora, Susanna and Luis as well. When I told Susanna I was Luigi’s (that’s what Louis, my teacher is fondly known as here in BA) student, she said that she is in love with him :) Both Maria and Susanna had wonderful things to say about him. I am not surprised – he is indeed a wonderful person. (Pic ture 1: from left to right Luis Argentina), Zeynep (Turkey), Michelle & Ann (Canada), Elizabeth (France), Federico, Maria, Susanna (Argentina), Beatrice (France), Ingrid (Austria), Nora (Argentina), Dietr (Germany) - Quite the United Nations)

That day, surprise surprise – I did not go to a Milonga. I went to bed after the BBQ and got my much needed rest. I woke up the next day feeling fresh and full of energy to start dancing again.

My day started with a lesson from Luis – My second one so far with him. I like him – he is a good teacher. (Picture 2: With Luis) Really focuses on the techniques. Today I learned some styling with ochos and general feedback and comments on improving various aspects of my dancing. After the lesson – I decided to finally do some sightseeing.

Equipped with my map and guide book, I headed to the city center. I took the Subte (the subway) and went to Plaza de Mayo. (Picture 3: Casa Rosara - Argentina's equivalent to the white house). The subte was extremely crowded. It reminded me of traveling in the local trains of Bombay during peak hours. It was just the same feeling. In general, a lot about this city reminds me of Bombay. The buildings, the streets, the crazy driving, the black and yellow taxis… I don’t need to feel homesick – this really feels like home. I spent a few hours at the city center, walking around, enjoying the sights, the people and the weather.

This evening, I again went with the group from the house with maria to a Milonga called Chique (at San Jose 224). This was more traditional and had a lot less tourists than some of the other places I have visited. Primarily Portenos in this place. (Picture 4: Me, Ingrid, Zeynep, Maria, Susanna and Elizabeth at Chique)

A funny story Maria said later – A lot of (married) men come to the Milongas by themselves (typically when their wives are working) and do not tell their wives about it. On Saturday, it is typically a couples night and these same men will come with their wives to the Milonga and pretend they do not know the other women (even though they have danced with them every other day of the week).

After Chique, a few of us went to Villa Malcom. There was a lesson on Tango Nuevo. The lesson was really fantastic. Again, I learned a lot more adornments – I really need to now practice all of this to make sure I remember it all when I go back home. After the class, I stayed for the Milonga for a little bit. Tonight’s milonga was hosted by a group called Soho Tango and it was a very classy ambience they set up – with candles and torches and red table cloths – a world of a difference from the college cafeteria look I had seen at the same place a few days back. Nevertheless, the dancing on both of the nights was spectacular. Tonight, I am calling it a night quite early. I left the place at 12:30pm – yes that is early by Buenos Aires standards. I have to wake up early tomorrow – I am going to be the tourist in the morning and go to La Boca – the area where tango originated.

Another day of dancing….

2008-12-02T05:06:00.002-06:00

My days are all running together. I am losing track of time, and just living by the moment. Today, I danced some more. I met Miguel, my German friend and went to Bien Porteño for a Practica. I have been told by Louie, Paula and Armando that I have to take lessons from Raffael (who teaches at Bien Porteño I assume). I expected the practica to include class, but after getting there and seeing we were the only people there, I realized that the 11am to 4pm was just general dancing for whoever that wanted to use the dance floor and practice, I later found out that the classes are at 4pm. Oh well, I have to go back again. In anycase, Miguel and I practiced for an hour. Our next stop was El Beso, where there was a class on Milonga.

The class was interesting. I have danced the Milonga (Milonga can be a place where people dance or as in this case, is also the name of a style of dance) but have no idea of the technique. Typically, I just follow the lead. At the end of this class, I realized that I am not good at learning figures and steps. If I learn the steps I try too hard to remember it, and in the end anticipating the next move when I am dancing and just mess it all up. In any case, it was good practice.

After the class, I went shoe shopping again. I went to a store called Neo Tango and another one called Tango Lieke. I liked a couple of shoes at Neo Tango, but at 380 pesos for a pair, I decided to wait till I go to Comme il Faut and check out their selection first.

I reached home around 5:00 pm and stayed at the house all evening. I spoke with Carina Mele, a beautiful dancer (http://www.carlosycarina.com.ar/) who Louie (my teacher) speaks so highly of. I have scheduled a class with her and Carlos for Saturday afternoon. As I told her, I need some more time to practice dancing before I meet them as I’d be nervous dancing with them as I am still so new. She sounded really nice and friendly. I like her already.

This evening there is a group from the Casa going to Club Gricel for a Milonga. I did not find out about this until 5pm so I had already made plans with Miguel and Dave to go to another Milonga. We were the late birds and left at 11pm to go to Villa Malcolm. The Milonga at Villa Malcolm was so far the most different than any place I have visited. A very young crowd, very casual atmosphere. It almost felt like I was in a college campus and people were practicing dancing. None of the traditional Milonga rules seemed to apply (like the way people sat and how they got asked to dance). I don’t know how it worked here. No one asked me to dance, I guess because I was with two guys, they did not ask. (People sometimes assume if you are with a friend of the opposite sex, you are a couple and would not dance with others). In any case, it was wonderful watching the others dance. This was more Tango Nuevo, being danced in open embrace, which I haven’t seen so far with the other Milongas I visited. I wonder if my friends visited this place when they were here two weeks ago. I know Armando would have loved it, with all the pretty young girls there :-)

This Milonga ended at 1pm. Since we had barely been there two hours, we decided to go to another one. Salon Canning. (Picture 1)It is rated very highly. This one has a more elegant atmosphere. It has a fair share of young people. At 1:30 am, it was very crowded. We had no table to sit, so we had to dance till we managed to get a table after an hour. The dance floor was very crowded too. Small steps was all one could take here when dancing, but still there the odd few people trying out fancy boleos, ang ganchos (a flicking your foot above the ground) With the 5inch stilettos these girls were wearing, it was very dangerous for the others on the dance floor. I have already been stepped on with that beautiful but brutal weapon a couple of times. Whatever happened to the etiquettes I have heard so much about?

We lost track of time, and were there till 4:30am. I am not a night-bird, but that seems to be all I am doing so far. I do not have any lessons today until 3:30pm, so I know I can sleep in. Time to go to bed now and rest my tired feet.

The good, the bad, and the ugly

2008-12-01T03:59:00.007-06:00

Today, I had nothing tango-related planned. I was scheduled to go to Recoletta with the group staying here and then from there head to San Telmo for their Sunday market on my own, or meet Dave there. I woke up at 10am and it had been raining so I was told the Recoletta trip was cancelled. Instead, I scheduled to meet Dave in 30 min. at the Tango house to go to the market. I waited for two hours and was certain he could not locate the place, but I had no way of reaching him to find. He had a cell phone but I did not. The house-phone can only be used for landline phones. So I learned the hard way that a calling card would have been helpful. I did manage to improvise – I found a headset with mic at the office so used that and skype to track Dave down – He had the wrong address Venezuela 221 (close to San Telmo) instead of 2211. So we decided to just meet at the market. I took a taxi to Venezuela y Defensa cross-section where the market began. (typical rides in a taxi is 10-12 pesos – approx $3-$4)

The market was bustling – surprising busy for a cloudy – rainy day (It is an open air market). Thankfully even though it was cloudy it did not rain. I bought some paraphernalia – people watched and just enjoyed being out. I had been warned to not impulse buy in this market. Walking down the street you may find something better and/or cheaper so wait and look around before you make your purchases. Later, ate a late lunch at Todo Mundo in the same neighborhood. Window shopped some more and then for the first time on this trip – took the subway home. I reached the casa at 9:30pm and made plans to go to a milonga at 11pm. So far – a good day. (Photo: A streetside puppet show. I love how the man and his puppet are dressed in the same clothes)

Sundays seem to be a slow night at Milongas – typically mellow and mostly couples who come together to the Milongas. One thing I forgot to mention… Typically in a Milonga, the women sit on one side of the room, the men are seated on the opposite side – that way they can scan the room and make eye contact to invite the women for a dance. As a woman, if I go to a Milonga with a man, I can be seated with the man but if I do, chances are I won’t be asked for a dance. So even couples who are traveling together but want to dance with other people should sit separately. Now, I have sat with Miguel at the Milonga yesterday but still we danced with other people… so it can be done.

Tonight, Federico recommended La Ideal’s Milonga. I was to meet Dietr, another German guest Maria was hosting, and I invited Dave too. At Ideal, there were just two couples dancing while others (some 50-70 people) watched. At first I thought it was a show, but soon figured it was the milonga and most people sitting were tourists not dancers. It had not even been 5 min since I arrived and I got asked to dance. I did not want to – With only two couples (good dancers at that) I did not wish to draw attention to myself. But I could not say no. So I danced. It was nice – not good but nothing spectacular. I thought the floor was way too slippery. After the tanda was over everyone clapped. (Which they did at the end of each dance – something not generally done at Milongas unless you are watching a performance – and this was not a performance), I went back to my seat slightly flushed an embarrassed by the dance (still had no idea what true embarrassment was going to be).. the night suddenly promised to get worse.

I got asked to dance the next tanda by the same gentleman. I guess I should take it as a compliment that he liked dancing with me and is asking me again – but the realist in me knew that there were just 4-5 dancers in that room. Again, I did not want to dance (remember, avoid dancing with the same man for consecutive tandas) but could not find a polite way of looking away or saying no, so I danced again. Then I danced with a man with really bad breath, and wobbly legs (the wobbly legs could be because of the slippery floors) still, it was not fun. Not even 15 min later, the first person I danced with asked me to dance the third time.. this time I tried hard not to look up, but he walked right up to me and asked me – He was a Porteño – he should no better than that and I on the other hand need to learn to say no. I did not say no, and I danced again. It was not that he was a bad dancer, but it just felt uncomfortable dancing with him. I was hoping Dave would join us at the Milonga, otherwise I would be stuck dancing with these two men all night. Bad. Very bad. Oh, and by the way – the worst was yet to come.

My next dance was with a local who I had danced with the earlier evening at Bien Porteño. He was a good dancer but spoke no English – and by now you know of my phobia and theory. I danced with him. On the second song of the tanda he was trying out a new step with me and I was not sure of what he was leading me to do. I told him No Se, No entiende .. but the man insisted to show me how to do this – in the middle of the dance floor of a non-crowded Milonga with 50 other people watching and taking pictures. If that wasn’t embarrassing enough, with the step he was trying to have me step to his side and lean on him sideways (or atleast that’s what I think he was trying to do.) I told him no, its ok, trying to get him to move on, but he said something in Spanish and pulled me to his side and leaned, I was on one foot … and did I say the floor was slippery? … yes, um… it was … and I slipped and fell flat on my back with this falling down beside me too. Yes – Talk about embarrassment with a capital E!! We stood up, and we continued to dance. I figured he felt sorry or embarrassed to, and I did not want to insult him by walking away, so I continued dancing the next couple of songs with him to complete the tanda. For all you know, I may now be on you tube if some tourist managed to capture that.

Dave did come after all. I danced with him pretty much the rest on the evening. By then the crowd was dying and with hardly anyone around, I could practice Milongas and Tango with him. He is a very good dancer (he was on cloud nine as he had been told by a local woman who danced with him that he danced like a Porteño) and was ultra patient with dancing with me and teaching me.

After the place shut down (at 2:00am) we went and had coffee. I found out that he is an artist. A photographer no less. Check out his website at http://tangoexpressions.com.au/ and send him an email if you like his work. I loved the pictures. He has a fresh way of expressing the many moods of Tango.

Now I am at the Casa and it is 3:30pm. I am still wired up with the coffee.. need to get some sleep now though.

Tango lessons, shoe shopping and Milongas

2008-11-30T03:23:00.002-06:00

After my high of yesterday, I woke up at 8am. I have a lesson scheduled with Luis at 9:30. I have enough time to go upstairs, talk to Tota, the housekeeper and eat my breakfast. The lesson was wonderful. Luis was a great teacher. We went over the basics today – posture, the tango walk, weight changes and the cortaro. Even though I have done this before, he brought out some good points for me to improve on these areas. And as Paula (another tanguera from Little Rock who was here just last week) warned me, I did get to hear my first “do not anticipate” lecture from Luis. Women follow the man’s lead and is not supposed to take any steps (other than adorning the steps that they have been led to) At any point of time, we women have no idea what the next step will be – there are no figures here and we just have to wait and feel the lead and yes – not anticipate what the next move will be.

After my lesson with Luis, Federico (Maria’s son) escorted me to Escuela de Tango where there was a group class for techniches and adornment for women. There were just three others in the class. A couple from Brazil, and a man from Paris. I learned a couple of adornments and practiced some more dancing.

After class, I went window shopping on Florida street, a famous pedestrian strip for shopping. (Picture)I made my pilgrimage to Zara – my favorite store. As my friend Jeff puts it, there has not been any city that I have been to that has a Zara store and I not visit it. Then I met Federico again at 2:00pm outside La Ideal. I have shoe shopping on my agenda and Federico volunteered to be my translator and guide. Yes, for all you people who have shopped with me and know what a pain I am when it comes to shopping, you can feel sorry for him. He had no idea what he was getting into. After 2 hours at four tango shoes stores, I still had not bought shoes. I think ever since I say Herna’s Comme il faut shoes, nothing comes close in comparison. They are expensive – but oh so gorgeous and excellent craftsmanship. I mentioned that to Federico, who offered to go there as well that afternoon (it is in a different neighbourhood). We walked 12 blocks to get there only to find that it was closed. So we headed home. Again, we decided to walk. We had barely started (and I was told it would be 12 blocks to home) it started raining. Not drizziling – but raining – a downpour that got us soaking wet in less than 2 minutes. There were no taxis available, and since we were wet anyways Federico said we could walk in the rain. Later he told me he lied to me… the house was not 12, but 20 blocks away. And in the pouring rain, I walked all that distance. It reminded me of my college days in Bombay where during the monsoons my friends and I would take a walk in the pouring rain at Marine Drive, by the sea shore and get soaking wet and then end the walk with roasted corn on the cob. I mentioned this to Federico, and after we got home, he went to the store next door and bought some corn. So sure enough, we grilled the corn and ate them, Indian style. That hit the spot.

Soon, it was time for Milonga. There are 3 guests from France who arrived today and Nora (Maria’s friend) escorted us to a Milonga at Buen Porteno. The place was beautiful, the dance floor fabulous, but there were not too many people. Maybe the rains kept people inside. I danced some, but danced terribly. So much for my glory the night before. My theory still holds true. I dance bad with people I can’t communicate with. At the Milonga, I met Miguel who knew Nora and sat with our group. I danced with him, and found out he was from Munich – Suddenly I started remembering my German and talked with him in German. It had been so long speaking to someone from that country in their language. It was great. I could talk, and understand him. That was the best dance I had that far in the evening. Sometime later that evening around 9:30pm, Nora and the French people left. I was actually surprised that I was not asked if I wanted to join them home or wherever they were heading. I thought that to be quite rude considering I come with them – Especially after hos hospitable and friendly Bert and Herna had been last night – this group was very distant and well uncaring – or so is the conclusion I have come to draw. Miguel was nice enough to say he would make sure I get home safely. He was an acquaintance of Maria and a really nice person who I knew I could trust so I was fine. We decided to go to another Milonga. Called El Beso. We reached there by 10:45pm and it had just begun. It was not too crowded to start with, but in one hour, there was no room to dance.

I danced much better at this Milonga than I did at Buen Porteno. I don’t know why. Since I danced better, I felt better and eventually had a great time. I bumped into David, my Australian friend from yesterday at the Milonga and we danced some tandas together. I can’t count how many people I danced with – some from Buenos Aires, others from Switzerland, Germany and France. Finally at 2am, my feet started hurting and I was ready to call it a night. Miguel, as he promised, dropped me off at the casa. Now I can relax, unwind and sleep. Maybe tomorrow I will treat myself to a pedicure. But first, I will be making a trip to San Telmo where they have a local market every Sunday which promises to be good. David said he was going there tomorrow as well, so I will meet him there and shop for souvenirs.

An Argentine love affair

2008-11-28T23:57:00.004-06:00

What a fantastic day this has been – The best part of it is that this is just the beginning – of my stay here in Buenos Aires and I can feel it - of a long passionate love affair with this city and its Tango!

I arrived BA today at 7:45am. As Federico recommended, I took the Manuel Tien Leon shuttle from the Airport to La casa de Maria Tango (Picture 1). It took me about 45 min to get to the Maria’s. I was met by Daniela, Maria’s assistant - a charming young Argentine woman. She showed me to my room and gave me a brief tour of the guesthouse. I was introduced to Tota (who is in charge of housekeeping). And then over breakfast met Bert and Herna a delightful couple from Holland who have been here at Maria’s for 5 weeks and spending their last night in the city tonight. A quick shower later I met Luis, one of the Tango instructors at the house and have scheduled an appointment for tomorrow at 9:30am for my first official Argentine tango lesson in the city of its birth. I met Federico (Maria’s son) and Stephanie (a young French Student who works at Maria’s) who helped answer all my questions and helped schedule an additional (group) lesson for me for tomorrow mid-morning. Stephanie took me for a walk around the neighbourhood and showed me where the Laundromat, Grocery store and shopping mall is around here. I wanted to buy a sim card for my phone, went to a phone store but the card did not work with my phone. Have no idea why – I will try again tomorrow – if it does not work – no big deal – May be good to be cut off from the rest of the world for a little bit :)

Bert and Herna were planning on going to an afternoon milonga (tango dance) and asked me if I wanted to join them – How could I refuse – isn’t that what I am here for after all – so what if it is my first day here in BA, I have only been dancing 4 months and I have no idea if I am good enough to dance with complete strangers – and true Porteño (that is what the men from Buenos Aires are called). Worse case, I thought I would sit it out. Just soak in the atmosphere and watch the pros do their stuff. However, dance I did.

First – a few milonga etiquettes – some that I was advised of before from Louie and some I learned today thanks to Herna and Bert –
• Never change into your dance shoes in the milonga hall. It is frowned upon. Do it in the ladies room.
• Ask to be seated in the front row – greatly increases your chances of being asked to dance.
• Women do not ask men to dance with them. They have to be asked by the men.
• But they can flirtatiously smile at them to attract their attention to ask them to dance.
• Men generally do not ask you to dance .. rather it is done by eye contact. The man scans the room, finds his target (ok, the woman he wants to dance with), waits till their eyes lock, then he tilts his head sideways slightly – and that is your invitation, Women have the choice to smile and nod (accept the invitation) or look the other way (decline the dance).
• A couple dances 4 songs (a tanda) together. Unless if one of them is a terrible dancer, you can say thank you in the middle of the tanda and sit down .. and never dance with that person again. – Thankfully that did not happen to me today. Though I think I did get close to frustrating one partner close enough.
• Between the four songs played in a tanda, the couple makes small talk for 20 sec – so even if the next song has started, a true Porteño will wait for 20 sec before starting to dance. After 4 songs – you say gracias and go back to your seat.
• I was told that I should not dance more than 2-3 consecutive tandas with the same person – it would indicate a “come on”
• And no, it is not ok to sleep during the Milonga's like the gentleman above is doing.

Ok – so now with the etiquettes in mind – I was ready to be asked. Except it is so unnerving looking at men trying to catch someones eye. Gawd – by the end of this trip I should be an expert in flirting 101. I locked eyes with one argentine looking dude while walking in the milonga. When seated, my back faced him so could not do that flirtatious “ask me to dance” look. Instead, Herna who faced him got asked to dance. At the end of the tanda, she told me he is Australian and that he wanted to dance with me too. I said good. But then she reminded me that I have to look at him to be asked by him – ah this cat and mouse game – ok so I looked and there was the tilt and I nodded – and we danced. My first dance in Buenos Aires. So what if not with a Porteño – it was with an Australian who looked Argentine and sounded very Australian and best of all – spoke English. Oh, and he was a good dancer too. Name: David. That started the evening well. I had barely sat down and the got asked to dance the next tanda by this older gentleman. Small talk time, I dreaded having to say no habla espaniol (my rehearsed phrase for anyone who tries to talk to me) however to my surprise, he beat me to it. Turns out he is from England. So si – he hablas ingles. Another good dancer. Who made me feel like I was a good dancer. I told him I have been dancing 4 mths (like I told everyone I danced with) and I was pleasantly surprised by the compliments I received for my dancing. My next dance was finally with a true Porteño – it was good. I thought my first song/dance with him was ok… but he said he gives me a 10 for it. (I am assuming that is a 10 out of 10 not 100 ). But I guess that compliment went to my head because he downgraded me to an 8.5 by the end of the tanda. But was super nice about it and said I am doing well for just having danced 4 mths. After that it was just a blur of people I danced with. I got asked to dance 3-4 times by David. About 3-5 times by Gernan, another older Argentine man who was a wonderful dancer, and super patient with me and made me feel so good about my dancing, and a couple of times by another argentine gentleman – I can’t remember the name – I think it was Jorge. Anyways, I danced and danced. I did have one terrible tanda I danced. It was with a Porteño who spoke no English. He kept trying different simple steps with me but for some reason we did not connect and I could not understand what he was telling me (in Spanish). Needless to say after that dance with him, when my eyes just passed over his a while later he quickly turned away – Yes sir! Got your message – you don’t want to dance with me. Not that I did either, but still, felt my first rejection – that too by a 70 year old man. Oh, did I say – this milonga had mostly older people. Good dancers but old. Once 2-3 younger people.

David left. Gave me his card if I wanted to dance with him later to call or email him. Hernan too gave me his contact info for milongas.

Then next stop for us was dinner. I just realized, I had not eaten lunch and was starving. We went to X-toxo – a Spanish restaurant with excellent food. They had just one vegetarian entre – a ravioli – which was excellent. A glass of wine, salad, water, my ravioli, and coffee or for less than $15. Not bad!!!!

I was tired with my dancing and ready to head back – but Bert and Herna were planning on going to another Milonga, It was their last night in the city and they wanted to go to their favorite Milonga at Niño Bien a little time. They told me they would go for just a couple of hours. Considering it was just 9pm and still light outside – I decided to join them as well.

This place was a totally different ambience than La Ideal. More dressy, a lot more younger people, and all really good dancers. It was crowded. Very crowded. We were not able to get front row tables, but that was fine with me. My feet were hurting slightly and I must admit I did feel a little intimated by seeing all these good dancers. Still, I was asked to dance right away by an older argentine man who I found out did not speak English and of course I danced terribly again. I wonder if there is a correlation between my dancing skills and a partner who I cannot talk to and understand. I will see if that holds true for the rest of my stay here. After that I was asked to dance just a couple of times by two others.. another nicer argentine man who spoke very little English but was kinder esp. when I told him soy una principiante (or something like that – telling him I am a beginner). Then I danced with a young guy, a very good dancer, from Singapore. Then I just sat and refused to look across the room for more partners, instead just sat watching the people dance – Or rather, to be more honest, I was just checking out the women’s shoes and trying to see what style I like best for when I go shopping for my shoes. I heard of this place called Comme il faut from a lot of people – very expensive (by argentine standards, but gorgeous unique designs and people swear by the comfort and durability of these sexy strappy 5 inch heeled sandals. So I am tempted. But, will check out the competition (Neo Tango, Flabellas, Darcos).. before I make my pick.. or should I say picks, as I sure won’t be satisfied with just one.

Soon it was time to leave. Bert and Herna were ready to go back (as they leave the next day and did not want to be out too late). Even then, it was 11:30pm by the time we got back to the house.

As I said before, not bad for the first day…. If this is what I can expect for the next 2 weeks… I am in for a treat!

On Delta flight 101 somewhere between Atlanta and Buenos Aires

2008-11-27T23:47:00.000-06:00

I have been leafing through magazines (all filled with Tango information) that Louie got me from Buenos Aires and reading my guide book and highlighting places I want to shop at and restaurants I want to eat at. I still have to read about the city and its history and sights, that is, if I can ever get done with reading about tango, shopping for tango shoes and clothes and food :-) I am also trying to memorize some Spanish words and phrases that will help me get by my two weeks in Buenos Aires.

I am going to be staying at La Casa de Maria Tango (http://www.mariatango.com). Maria is a friend of Louie’s and has a bed and breakfast for tango lovers. I can’t wait to begin my journey…..

Tango and Little Rock

2008-11-25T12:43:00.006-06:00

I like to believe that things happen for a reason. My moving to Little Rock is one of them. My visit to Thunderbird school of management to interview for my MBA admissions was another thing. Though not really connected – One (my visit to Thunderbird) aroused my interest in Latin American dancing – Argentine Tango and Salsa. (there was a latin American night the evening of my visit hence I got to experience the dances and the music). I have been in search for lessons to be able to dance like the people I had seen at Thunderbird.

Over the last two years, I have taken some salsa and salsa rueda classes but had not come across Argentine Tango. Imagine my surprise when on my search for dance lessons in Little Rock I came across an advertisement for an Argentine Tango Milonga here in Little Rock. I called the number, spoke with Louie Bianco and then as they say, the rest is history. It has been less than four months since I spoke with Louie and went to his milonga. Since then, I took private lessons from him and completed his “fundamentals of tango” class and totally and completely fallen in love with this dance. Louie has been a fabulous teacher – he is so very passionate about this dance – it eventually rubs off on everyone he teaches.

Just to tell you’ll how passionately I feel about this dance – I have packed my bags and am scheduled to travel to Buenos Aires – the birthplace of tango – in two days, solo, just to learn more, dance to my hearts content and become a tanguera.

Incidentally, this will also be my first trip to South America. This promises to be quite an adventure.

Another semi-permanent journey..

2008-07-26T18:07:00.007-05:00

This time, I have moved - furniture, car and all - to Little Rock, AR. Yes, go on, smirk at it....! I had my doubts about this place before i moved here - but, having spent almost 2 months here, I can safely say that it is a really nice city. It helps that the people here are super nice (as i have found in almost all the southern states i have traveled in), and that i have a fantastic condo overlooking the river and downtown. The most amazing thing about this place is the enormous number of really nice (non-chain) restaurants that exists here in this city. I have yet to have a disappointing meal. Of course, food plays an important role in my life (as you may have noticed from my traveling log.. its all about the food) and that makes LR livable for me.

Why semi-permanent? Well, much as I like this place and can actually see myself living here, I am not going to fight real hard to stay here if (and I am sure I will) have other choices. With the Verizon-Alltel merger, who knows where work will take me. Wherever it does, i hope its good, and it better be permanent! Don't get me wrong, I'd love to travel around and experience different places... but I am longing for a home, so i can finally build my dream kitchen and furnish with all the stuff i have wanted but keep putting off .. (like a home theater with big screen and projector!)

Anyways, below are some random pictures from Little Rock. Picture 1, is the view of downtown from my condo. Picture 2 is taken after my 5K run over the big dam bridge. (no really, that is what it is called!). Picture 3 is with Chad, our Alltel mascot.

Graduation!

2008-05-08T20:38:00.003-05:00

Wow! So much has passed since i last wrote. Or rather, the most significant thing that happened is my graduation today. The last two semesters flew by - a little too fast. These idyllic days will soon be a thing of the past. Who knows when again i would be able to take 8 months and live and travel around in Europe. And be able to take vacations at the drop of a hat (ok, knowing me, thats probably going to happen a lot, regardless of where i am and what i do). But still, not having much responsibility other than getting a job and getting good grades is a pretty neat thing.

I was just thinking that since i have been back from Europe, i haven't done much traveling. Then i remembered my drive to Orlando for a weekend, the job hunting trip to Houston TX, more job hunting trips to Little Rock and Minneapolis, my camping adventure at a state park in SC, the travel to Las Cruces, NM, the week spent in Montreal for a case competition, then St Maarten (don't yet know what about that place keeps making me go back), another case competition in New Orleans, and finally a pleasure trip to Washington DC. I guess I did do some traveling after all! The big one is coming tomorrow - I am going home to Bombay for 2 weeks!

Columbia SC, USA

2007-08-27T14:24:00.006-05:00

A lot of people have complained about me not updating this blog.. (and I thought no one reads this) Well, since I know people are reading, I have more incentive to write. The only thing is, I doubt if I will have any exciting travels to write about for a while. Now that I am back in Cola, and school has started.. both school and my impending full-time job search is going to keep me busy and rooted here in Columbia.

I arrived in the US on Tuesday 21st Aug, late night in Charleston WV. Classes started on the 23rd, so I had to drive from Charleston to Columbia .. a 6 hour drive the very next day after I arrived. Considering I haven’t driven a car for 8months, and that my car had not been driven too for 8 months, it was not fun. First the battery in my car was dead. It was actually funny when Bean, Falguni and I tried to jump start my car.. 3 Indian girls who are clueless about cars other than just driving it (which some people have doubts about that capability too :-) ) (Photo 1: Bean and Falguni at work). Whatever Falguni did, it worked for me to drive my car to the closest Advance auto parts and have them change the car battery. The drive to Columbia itself was not that bad. I had a bunch of CD’s in the car, my I eclectic(which most people would call warped) music collection which I haven’t listened to for months helped make the 6hrs go by fast.

Thursday was my first day of classes. It is awesome to be back in school and meet up with all my classmates and catch up with them on their experiences this summer.. I had classmates returning from their internships & studies from places as far flung and diverse as China, Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Belgium, France, Germany, Spain, Morocco .. it is simply amazing!! It feels strange and at the same time exhilarating to be back in school… again a student. Though I can’t really complain.. the past few months have been very good to me :-)

I took the weekend to unpack and reorganize my apartment.. Now that I have finally finished unpacking and stocked up on groceries, it is now livable once again. It is indeed good to be back home.

Budapest, Rome, Geneva, Amsterdam..
July & August, 2007

That’s what happens when I drop the ball and stop writing- I have so much to catch up on and I don’t even know where to start…

Let me start with Budapest… a city (and people there) that I have grown to love. My last two months of the internship seemed to have just flown by. I guess it was because I was having so much fun. Thanks mostly to my wonderful colleagues. I will miss all of them.. I will miss my friend Ildiko and her great sense of humor - she “mothered” and initiated me to the Hungarian culture and has been a great colleague to work with and was my support system in Budapest. Then I will miss my lunches with Norbi and Gergo with who I have had countless meaningful and meaningless conversations (But I will NOT miss Auchen & Tesco - that's where we ate almost every day). I miss all the others from my team too .. Zsuzsa, Bea, Irina, Judit, Viktor, Marcin, Donna. I even miss the work… I will miss it even more in October when the Dealer Launch event that I had been working on most summer, will take place and I wont be there to attend it and see the fruits of my labor. Oh well… at least I have had great experiences. Below are some pictures from our (Matt, Zack and mine) farewell party. It was an outdoor event and we got rained on, but it still did not deter everyone from having fun and letting their hair down – literally!!!

At the farewell Party at Romkert

GM Crew
At Romkert ... Dancing in the rain

Rome, Italy
July 20th - 23rd 2007

My first trip to Italy! I wish I had more time though in Rome. And while I am wishing, I wished I had traveled to Rome earlier in the year. Yes, it was beautiful and it had an overwhelming number of places I wanted to visit, but it was so HOT!! My advise.. avoid going to Italy in July! Yes, most places are hot in July, but in a place like Rome, you will be spending almost all the time outdoors and walking in the city... And in the heat - how much ever amazing historic sights exists trust me - it is not fun. Still, that does not mean I did not have a good time. How could I not have a good time... I had good company - Logan flew down from Geneva. Monika, my host mom from Tubingen traveled to Rome to meet with me. Jeff, Matt and Emily from the IMBA program flew in from Berlin, Budapest & Lyon respectively to Rome. How could it not be fun! (Photo: Jeff, Emily, Matt, Logan, I, Monika)

Geneva, Switzerland
August 16-19th 2007

I did not realize that Geneva shares the border with France. And I thought my geography was good. I guess it is not.. after all I am living South Carolina, and as our teen representative mentioned some people like such as, in our US America nation don't have maps like the Iraq or South Africa such as ;-)

Amsterdam, Netherlands
August 19th - 21st 2007

This is my second trip to Amsterdam this year. I hated it the first time, and thought I need to give it a second chance. It did not help.. I still do not like it. It is probably the filthiest city I have seen in Europe. Ok .. hate is probably too strong a word to use .. I did not dislike it that much .. it was just my expectations were a lot higher so I was disappointed with the city. However, I must admit the 2 places that I would have enjoyed and perhaps would have make me like the city better - I did not visit - namely the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh museum. I did not enough time.

2007-07-04T07:59:00.000-05:00

I am back!!!! Not that I had really gone anyplace (at least not for too long) ... still work, friends and travel have kept me quite busy. I am still enjoying Budapest, I really enjoy working with my team - its a fun group. The last few weekends I have traveled a bit to the countryside of Hungary.

Eger, Hungary
June 8th - 9th 2007

Really pretty little town (Photo 1) in the wine country of Hungary; famous for the Egri Bikaver (bull's blood) wines; that one can easily visit as a day trip from Budapest. Still, it was nice to be able to spend a night there and enjoy some good food and wine.

Siofok & Tihany (Lake Balaton), Hungary
June 22nd - 24th 2007

Lake Balaton is dotted with small resort towns really popular with Hungarians (even Germans). I visited Siofok which is on the south side of the Lake. Supposedly a party town. I was expecting Myrtle beach type crowds (not that I would really know what that is considering that I have not been to Mrytle Beach as yet - nor have much of a desire to do so... Ok so I am a beach snob and I like the caribbean). In anycase, Siofok was a little town with a "Beach" which is a grassy lake shore area where one can swim/ boat in the Lake (Photo 2). From Siofok, I took a ferry to Tihany. I really loved Tihany - the views of the Lake from the hilly region was spectacular. It almost made me feel I was in the caribbean. It was really nice (Photo 3)

Prague, Czech Republic
June 28th - July 1st 2007

I had been wanting to travel to Prague for over 8 years and now that I finally got to do so I think I am in love... It really is awesome. Prague actually reminds me a lot of Budapest.. with the river in the middle of the city, the castle district, a famous bridge, the architecture in general. Yes, I know my pictures do not do it justice but the lighting was not good (it was overcast for the most part) or atleast thats the story I will stick to - I refuse to admit that I just dont know how to take good pictures :)

Budapest, Hungary

2007-06-02T06:42:00.001-05:00

Remember by the end of my stay in Koln, I was wishing to stay put at one place since I had traveled every weekend for six consecutive weeks. Well, I had my wish come true now with me staying in Budapest for all of one month which included a long weekend and I havent traveled out of the city. Now, I have the travel itch once again. Except, I come to find out that it is so hard to get cheap flights from here to any place. I am planning a trip to Rome in July, but other than that, I haven't found reasonable priced tickets to anywhere. I guess Germanwings has spoilt me while I was in Germany. It sucks too that I work with the largest automotive company here and they do not give us a company car. I need to find out more about the rail and bus systems here and probably make use of that.

Now life is almost routine here in Budapest. Weekdays between the comute to and from work and the work itself, the day is pretty much spent. I have gone to the gym a few times though after work. Weekends have been quite laid back as well. Last week was a long weekend and I spent that exploring more of Budapest and then just chillin in the city. I went with some friends to Margitziget, an island in the middle of the Danube and spent the hot afternoon at a park. Later cooled down with my new favorite place Pata Negra which has awsome Sangria's. Another day, I hiked to the Citadel and that place has spectacular view to Budapest. It was a little overcast so I did not get good pictures, still it was a nice outing. Actually, a couple of days back a friend took me to the Citadel at nighttime. The view then was simply amazing. That actually was the best moment as a tourist in Budapest. I did not have a camera and so did not take pictures - not that it would do it justice anyways. It was just being there and experiencing it that was so amazing.

Today, my friend will be coming for a visit for a week. (Yay!!! my first visitor). I think I have seen enough of the city to be a decent tour guide. :)

More news from Budapest, Hungary

2007-05-20T14:24:00.002-05:00

Another week gone by. I can't believe that it has already been 3 weeks since I have been here in Budapest. My time here seems to be flying by. I have a sneaking suspicion that August 21st will be here before I even know it. All the more reason to make the most of my time here.

Last weekend I met with the Moore gang.. Matt, Zack, Justin, Demetri and Nish along with some other colleagues from GM (Susanna, Donna, Melinda, Alex) and folks from Bristol Myers (colleagues of Nish, who is an internal auditor with Bristol Myers and was here in Budapest for an audit). It was a fun evening .. started off with dinner at Mandragoria Garden, which has the best food I have eaten in Budapest so far, then to Buena Vista, a restaurant and bar at the most happening address in town List Ferenc Ter (I must say though that Buena Vista was not that good besides it closes at midnight, beats me how a bar could close that early especially at that location. So after Buena Vista we went to Cha Cha Cha, a outdoor bar/club that had just reopened for the summer. The place was not that great (I don't care for Techno music music much) however the company was nice, and the weather great so it made for a fun and pleasant night.

On Sunday, I went sightseeing for my second time. The first time was in the Parliament area which was on the first weekend that I was here. This time I went to the Castle District. The best part of that place was the fantastic views of the city from across the river.. You could see the Chain Bridge, the Parliament the river cruise boats cruising along the Danube.. it was wonderful. (Photo 1: The Danube, the chain bridge and the Parliament in the background). The royal palace now houses a museum (Hungarian National Gallery). I did not go in as yet though I would like to. I will probably go with Spencer, my first visitor here in Budapest. Spencer is an awesome artist (actually you can see his work at his website http://www.spencerkimmel.com/) and it would be interesting to see the art work from a professional artist's perspective :) So Spencer, like it or not, I have already planned one day for you :)

The week as usual just flew by. This week, I attended two conference call meetings. One with GMEurope HQ to discuss the Umbrella brand campaign being planned for later this year. There were proposals from 4 competing agencies and HQ wanted feedback as to what we thought of these campaigns. The other meeting was more specific to the project I am working on - the Launch of the Astra Notchback in October. There is a big Dealer launch in October and this project involves the event management as well as working with the creatives department regarding print and media communications. Anna, is in charge of the ATL (above the line) communications and I have been helping her with her work for the last two weeks. She will be on a two week vacation and I am supposed to be taking over her role while she is away. Besides she is moving to Zurich in June and they still need to hire a replacement for her.. in the interim I fill those shoes. She has been a real awesome support person to me. Introducing me to Hungarian food (my local interpretor for lunch times as I have no idea whats on the menu and what is vegetarian). Also she introduced me to a gym where GM employees can workout and take fitness classes for free. Next week I plan to go visit a Bath with her and some of her friends. That should be fun. She also introduced me to someone at the office who likes Salsa dancing so now i know of places I can go to for Salsa and people who would like to go along as well. Nice! Ildiko is another person who I am working closely with. Both Ildiko and I are in charge of coordinating this 6 day event in October. It really sucks that I will be working on this project but I wont be around to actually see the fruits of this work as I will be back in the US by then. Ildiko did say that she will ask the big bosses if i could be flown in from the US for the event (It is in Turkey) but I know that would be a remote possibility.

On Wednesday night I met some of the "Internationals" from GM out for a drink. We met at the Buena Vista - yes again. Mile from Serbia, Anna from Serbia/Hungary, Luka from Italy, Zack from Croatia/Serbia, Matt from US and I from India/US.

This weekend was very laid back. No parties – just stayed at home. On Friday, I went to a yoga class at 8pm and got home by 9:30. Watched a movie and went to bed by 11:30pm. On Saturday morning I went for a run at Heroes square close to my apartment and then in the afternoon walked by the Danube and went to a Café and the later for Dinner. Evening, again watched another movie, a bollywood one (Dhoom 2) which was quite a lame movie.

Today, I was at home till 4pm.. then I met Mile for coffee. Though instead of Coffee, Mile suggested this place which served Sangria’s so of course I was happy with that. This was a restaurant called Pata Negro – I don’t know the name of the area it is at – but I think I know how to get there. It looked like a really nice area with tons of really awesome looking cafes and restaurants. Definitely an area I would like to go back to again. The Sangria was fantastic – and I am picky about my Sangria so I really mean it that this place was good. After Sangria’s we went to List Ferenc Ter to a place called Karma and met with other people and shared a Chocolate Fondue and wine. Really – if you like good food, great people, and nightlife, Budapest is the place to be. I am glad to spending my summer here.

2007-05-11T09:22:00.000-05:00

Budapest, Hungary
April 29th - May 11th

I think I have almost settled in here in Budapest. Almost, because I still have some cleaning to do in my apartment as well as buy groceries so that I am able to cook. And well, I do need internet service at the condo as well. Hopefully I should have all that sorted out by next week.

So more about my first week in Budapest - I arrived on Sunday, April 29th at around 7pm. I met with my colleagues, Matt Metzinger and Zlatko Custovic for Dinner. Matt and Zack are two other Moore school students who will be interning with GM here in Budapest. We had discussed earlier about sharing an apartment as it would be more economical plus it being a new country and not knowing anyone else, it would be nice to hang out with people we know. Matt and Zack had arrived on Thursday and looked at 4 apartments on Friday but all of them were quite expensive. One which seemed nice was for 1300 Euros.

I had looked at an apartment online for 850 Euros, which the guys went and saw on Saturday afternoon. The condo was not in good shape but the price was quite attractive. With the National holiday on Tuesday apparently everyplace was closed and we were not able to schedule any apartment visit until Wednesday. Since we had nothing else scheduled for Monday we decided to take another look at the 850 Euro Condo since the owners were willing to show it to us over the holidays. On Monday I saw the apartment. It was better than what I had expected (which is not saying much as I really expected it to be a hellhole). Still, it seemed livable albeit with compromises (only 1 bathroom instead of 2, no AC seemed to be the biggest concerns). Zack really wanted this apartment to save on cost, Matt liked the 1300 Euro apartment and I was torn. I really wanted to move in an apartment as soon as possible and before I started work, which did not give much option but to take this apartment. (A decision I now regret).

Only one bedroom was furnished, but the owners agreed to buy bed and closet for the other 2 rooms, a microwave, fridge and washing machine. All that stuff arrived on Wednesday. In the meanwhile, I moved in on Tuesday to the bedroom that was furnished.

Wednesday was my first day at work. We met with Dmitri first who is a Moore School alum and is currently working full time for GM, then we met with Chris Lacey the Executive Director for GM Central and Eastern Europe (C&EE). He then introduced us to each of our bosses. I am working in the Marketing department for the Opel brand. My assignment: Working with the Marketing team for the launch of the new Opel Astra Notchback (Sedan) – The Astra’s have been either wagons or hatchback models. GM is introducing a special Notchback version for C&EE markets where sedans are more popular. My team has a lot of young folks. It has been fun working with them.

Thursday and Friday we had an orientation meeting. This was for all employees hired within the last 2 months. It was interesting – we had presentations from managers of all individual departments talking about their areas and how it fits in within GM.

Friday night we were invited by Justin for dinner. (Justin is another Moore Alum – we have two alums currently working and one more joining in July). Matt and I went to Justin’s apartment and there we met Dmitri and Donna (Who is my boss – Marketing Manager for Opel C&EE). Had a glass of wine first and then headed to a restaurant close by. The food was awesome. After dinner we went to a bar called Oscar’s. Apparently that is an Expat favorite. It was a fun evening. After Oscar’s we went to Donna’s house. We had heard so much about this awesome condo and it really did live up to its reputation. It had a real funky architecture – the building looked like a castle. She had the penthouse condo with breathtaking view of the Parliament and the city. I got home really late that night. In fact I slept through most of Saturday – waking up at 2:30pm.

Sunday, Matt and I went to Margit Island. We plan to be work out buddies and this was our first day; a jog around the island in the middle of the Danube. The track was only appox. 5km. I was so out of shape I could not run too far and ended up walking most of the part. Hopefully by the end of summer I will be able to run around twice - Wishful thinking for now.

This week has been routine. I am at work by 8:30 or 9am and leave from the office around 6 or 7pm. It is a 50 minute commute each way, so on weekdays I pretty much just go to work and then come straight home. After dinner I typically go to the California Coffee house which has internet access so I can check my emails, pay bills etc. It will take another week at least before I have internet at home. That is a real bummer.

My plans for this weekend – since it promises to be a sunny and warm weekend with average temperature of 30C, I definitely wish to spend time outdoors, exploring the city. In the meanwhile tonight, I am going to a Mexican restaurant for dinner with Matt and Zack and later we will meet with the Moore alums for a drink. I hope I don’t wake up at 2:30 again tomorrow ;)

2007-04-30T05:23:00.000-05:00

Budapest, Hungary
April 29th 2007

I can't get over just how nice people here are. On the train I asked a teenager about how to get Metro tickets and what one calls a booklet of tickets in Hungarian. He spoke German and was helping me out when another guy showed up (This is all in the train) and said that he was with the tourist office and he spoke english. He suggested I either take a taxi or the Metro to the hostel and gave me directions with the Metro. At the train station I saw him again. This time he was off work and on his way home and he helped haul my huge suitcase down the stairs to the Metro, explained all the ticket options available and helped me buy a monthly ticket. And then get my suitcases on the Metro. He was indeed wonderful. Apparently he is a philosohy student and had just spent 3 months in India recently so we had a lot to talk about. I had to change Metro's so I said goodbye to him. And again had to haul my suitcases.. but each time I had someone stop and help me carry them up or down the steps. One I reached the street the Hostel is on, I could not locate it and my cell phone did not work. I stopped and asked someone for directions and she called the Hostal using her phone and helped me with the directions. At the hostal after spending 15 min checking in and I was leaving for Dinner, I had a group of people who were staying here invite me to join them for dinner. Amazing! I really love the people here.

2007-04-29T18:12:00.000-05:00

Random thoughts on the EC 25
Somewhere in Köln-Bonn-Koblenz-Frankfurt-Nurnburg-Vienna-Budapest

I am on my 12 hour journey to Budapest. I had tried to reserve a seat with a plug point (apparently one can request for that on the ICE – intercity express – trains on the Deutsche Bahn. I was told that I cannot reserve seats with plug point on this train, so I was naturally disappointed. However, much to my surprise: all seats (at least by the windows) have plug points. Hurrah!! Now I can catch up on emails that I have meaning to write and watch Season 2 of Desperate Housewives (Thanks again so much for the DVD gift Spencer. You are awesome!) However, I should first write the emails as once I start watching the show I won’t do anything else :)

If you are in Germany, definitely try and take a day cruise on the Rhine. I was going to do that yesterday but with lack of information and motivation I did not do it and now I regret it. The reason I think that: Well, I am on the train and this train line runs parallel to the Rhine from the Koblenz to Mainz section and I can experience the cruise sights minus the open air, sunshine, fresh cool breeze and ability to take pictures. But just in case if you are going to take my advice (or if I am back in Germany sometime, I remember what I need to do) here is the info on the best way to do the Rhine cruise if you are in the North-west region in Germany.
* Take the train to Boppard, a small town south of Koblenz.
* Catch the Köln Düsseldorfer ferry from Boppard to Bacharach
* You can get on and off the cruise at other villages in between and explore those areas.
You will get to see at least around 50 castles, churches, old city wall ruins along the banks of the river. Not to mention some vineyards.

So on the train, I meet this one guy who speaks only Hungarian and maybe 5 or 6 words of German. For some reason he wanted to sit with and talk to me. Which is fine, except that there is only so much conversation one can have with a person when you do not speak the same language. So the conversation was like:

Him: Budapest?
Me: Ja.(Yes)
Him: Ungar (Hungary)
Me: Oh you are from Hungary?
Him: (Blank look)
Him: Ungarisch (Hungarian)
Him: Ungarisch?
Me: No… English.. Deutsch.. Hindi.. French…?
Him: No, No.. Ungarisch.
Me: Ok
Him: Café?
Me: Nein, Nein, Danke. (No, really. Thank you)
Him: Wo?
Me: (raised eyebrows)
Him: Wo arbeit? (Where work)
Me: Ah! GM
Him: (Blank look)
Me: GM. General Motors
Him: (Blank look)
Me: Opel?
Him: Oh .. oh ok
Him: North something
Me: (Nod and smile)
Him: Wo?
Me: (How the heck am I to explain to him that this is my first trip and that I do not have a place to stay as yet?)
Me: Hostal
Him: Blank look
Me: Hotel
Him: Ok

By the way this conversation took place over 15 minutes. Then I excused myself and got up. Still it was a little unnerving. I just realized that for the first time I have not been able to communicate at all with someone. Usually every person I have met speaks or understands at least some form of the English, and then with Hindi, German and the French (that by now I cannot speak as my head is filled with only German) I can somehow communicate with people. However with Hungarian, it is a language unlike anything I have heard. I tried picking up a few words but I have no idea how to pronounce it. This is really going to be an interesting experience. After all the German that I have been learning to speak, I need to now try and talk Hungarian. I have to take a taxi, ask for directions, order off the menu, say I am a vegetarian .. all in Hungarian. I am going to feel like such a tourist. I hope to buy a good “Learning Hungarian” CD in Budapest. All I could find in Germany were books that were written in German about learning Hungarian.

Then I started the Desperate Housewives marathon. Oh how I love having the plug point for my laptop. I have no idea how time just flew by.

2007-04-28T16:43:00.000-05:00

Koln, Germany

Towards the end of my stay I realized how little time I have actually spent here in Koln, despite actually living here for a month. I had not yet visited the famous Dom inside or climbed the tower or walked by the Rhine or basically do anything touristy other than the 2 hr walking tour we had with Dietmar on our first week. So, I had to make up for lost time and take it all in, before I leave this city.

Now that my CDC German exam and the ZD (Zertifikat Deutsch Pruefung) is now over, I had Saturday - one day - to visit places I had missed seeing as yet and revisit some of the favorite spots. I woke up too late to take the Rhine cruise I had been thinking of doing. However I had mixed feelings about it. While I wanted to take the cruise real bad, it would involve atleast 8hrs or traveling time: First take the train to Koblenz, then the ship from Koblenz to St. Goar and the return trip. Not sure if I wanted to do all that just the day before I take my 12 hour ride to Budapest. So instead I stayed in town. Actually visited the inside of the Dom, climbed the south Tower there, walked by the Rhine, visited some of the areas of the Altstadt, Drank Kolsch Beer (Photo) - probably for the last time (Kolsch is only available in Koln). I guess now I can say, I have truly been a tourist here in Koln.

Tomorrow starts another journey: To a new country - Hungary, a new language - Hungarian, a new lifestyle - from student to a paid employee (I will begin an internship with GM on Wednesday)

2007-04-25T15:12:00.000-05:00

Düsseldorf, Germany
April 25th 2007

Ok, I guess this is not my typical "travel for fun" excursion. This actually is my second visit to Düsseldorf. The first one however was just a visit to the Hungarian Consulate and back - that was over three weeks ago. This time, the main purpose was to pick up my visa for Budapest. - I will be traveling to Budapest this Saturday, and need a student visa for my internship in Hungary since I will be living there for almost four months.

Düsseldorf is only a half our train ride from Köln, but the roundtrip ticket costs €18.60. Since I was in no hurry I decided to spend the day there. I went there after class this morning. A friend joined me as well, so we were able to but the Dayticket for €23 for 1-5 people so it worked out cheaper. After getting my Visa, we went to the Altstaadt (old city) for lunch. Ate at a nice Italian restaurant. After lunch we walked to the riverside. There were rows of riverside bars and Ice cream shops. We spent the afternoon at one of the these bars. It was really nice. Ok actually it was very hot and I was complaining about it and I dozed off at the bar for a little bit I think but I actually enjoyed being outdoors, by the river, people watching (when I was awake). It seems that I can never dress appropriately out here. The weather has been so unpredicatble. Days that I think it will be warm and I wear a tanktop, it turns out to be so windy and chilly. And then today I had jeans and a jacket and it was blazing hot. However by evening it cooled down. We found a park and I plopped down on the grass there and took another nap. That was so awesome. I love walking and sleeping on grass. I hate the bugs but its a sacrifice I am willing to make :). So yes, besides getting my Visa, I really did not acomplish much today. I did not study for my big exam on Friday and I did not do any sightseeing in Düsseldorf. Instead I was just like any other local enjoying a nice summer day doing nothing for a change.

2007-04-25T15:10:00.000-05:00

Vienna, Austria
April 19th – 22nd 2007

Thursday evening my friend and I took a flight today from Köln to Vienna (Or Wien, as they call it there). It feels so nice to live in a city from where I can take a direct flight to some place. Always, I have had to take a train to another city or change planes. We arrived Vienna at around 8pm. My friend Jeff had booked the accommodations and did not tell me where we will be staying. Typically we stay at a Hostel since they are the cheapest options and quite practical for us. However this time Jeff apparently booked us in a 4 star hotel. He got it at the same price as what a hostel was priced at..or at least that is what he says). We arrived at the hotel by 9pm. My first impression – I was so impressed that I am staying at a hotel, where I can have my own bathroom. However quite soon we had a rude shock. The receptionist at the hotel told us that our reservation has been cancelled and now the hotel is fully booked. Apparently Jeff’s card did not work as he might have mistyped the number. And the hotel gave the room away that morning. The receptionist, Jasmin, said that the manager told her that we do arrive to tell us that there is nothing they can do to help us as our card had declined. Not a good move by the manager. I guess he did not realize that he was going to be dealing with an ex-travel specialist. I ended up arguing with Jasmin who happened to be the duty manager that evening. Strange thing is that while she was the person in charge that evening, she was given no power to make a decision. So I demanded for her to call the general manager of the hotel at his home. She reluctantly did that and he said the same thing that he can’t do anything for us. Jasmin found us another hotel for that night which was more expensive than what we had booked with them. All I asked from the hotel was that they pay for the difference in price and our cab fare to and from that hotel as this hotel could get us rooms for the next two nights and was just sold out for tonight. Sounds like a reasonable request right? Apparently they thought I am asking for the stars. After one hour of arguing with them and making a scene at the front desk, Jasmin finally allowed me to talk to the Manager when I had her call him for the second time. Long story short though, he eventually agreed to my terms, and also offered an upgrade to a suite when we returned the next day. Not bad – but I do not understand why it took them so long to come to that decision. I guess I have worked in the Travel biz and with customers for so long and with a company that values customers so much, that the situation at the hotel seemed so unbelievable. We took a cab to the new hotel, which was quite nice as well. But by the time we checked in, it was 11pm. I was so hungry earlier at the airport and was planning on having a nice dinner, but by then my appetite was shot. So all we did was check in and then sleep.

The next morning we had breakfast at the hotel (a bonus included with our room) and planned our day ahead. Actually we dint have much of a plan, expect to go to the city center and take it from there. First we went back to the Kaiser Frank hotel to drop our bags and check in there. Then we went to the city center. We visited a Medical museum which was quite interesting and at the same time quite gory. It had wax figures of the human insides. On one hand it was remarkable to see how the human body functions but on the other hand it was so creepy. I felt I was in a haunted house. That museum visit did not take too long. After that we went to the city center and walked and stopped by anything we found interesting. Mostly churches and palaces. That morning we visited the Votivkirche, Minority Kirche, Peterkirche, Michaelkirche and StephanDom. It was ironic that we visited five churches in one afternoon considering that I am a Hindu and Jeff is an atheist. But each one of them was spectacular. We then visited the Rathaus (City hall). On the grounds of the Rathaus there was a fair with local specialties and folkdances. It was fun to spend some time there. (Photo of the fair at the Rathausplatz). Later that evening, we visited a Heuriger (a Wine Tavern) in Grinzing. That was the best part of my trip. I really loved it. It is nothing spectacular, but the atmosphere there is so nice. Heurigers are basically places a little away from the city and they make their own wines. It is typically outdoors and people gather around large picnic style tables with friends and families and share wine food and stories. Definitely a must do if you visit Vienna.

On Saturday morning when we were having breakfast, I had a big surprise. In that room walked someone I know from Columbia SC. My professor from USC, Dr. Tatiana Kostova. She was so surprised to see us too. I mean what are the chances of meeting someone you know in a different country! She was staying at the same hotel and was going to be leaving on Sunday as well to go back to the US. She was in Vienna as a visiting faculty to the Wien University where USC’s IMBA program has a connection. After a day of aimless sightseeing and visiting the Kunsthistorisches (Art) museum we joined Dr. Kostova for dinner. She was so nice, she actually tried to get us Opera tickets for that night but there were only two tickets available. So instead we went to the city, walked a little and got more information from Dr. Kostova who has visited the city so many times that she had all these awesome stories and tips of places to go visit. I wish I had bumped into her earlier. We had dinner at a pizzeria, a casual student hangout place, and then got back to the hostel for an early night, especially since all of us had an early flight the next morning.

On Sunday, we took our flight at 8:55am from Vienna back to Köln. Arrived Köln at 10:30am. Hmm.. a whole day to relax and catch up with emails and perhaps some studying too. :-)

2007-04-25T15:08:00.001-05:00

Arweiler, Germany
April 17th 2007

Today we had an excursion with school to the city of Arweiler. This tiny city is famous for its wines. In fact, our visit today was centered around visiting an old family run wine company and learn how wine is made. (All in German of course, after all this was a “study” tour).

The city itself is located near the banks of the Rhine, between Bonn and Koblenz. It is a charming little town, probably a nice place to spend a weekend – away from the hustle bustle of the city, clean air, great restaurants and cafes, and of course vineyards. We had a small city tour at first, and then we broke out for lunch. After lunch we visited the wine company.

We did not spend much time with the actual wine making process tour. This was a really small business apparently so it took us about an hour to learn about the wine making process. After that – the treat we all had been waiting for – wine tasting! This was no wine tasting; it was bottles of wine and a lot of wine at that. Reminded me actually of the wine tastings we have in school at USC. How I miss those. Anyways, this was just as nice. Sitting in the cellar and trying the different wines. My favorite was a Lieblich white wine which was a little sweet. I found that so refreshing. We tried about seven different wines and were given the whole bottle. Considering that there were 10 of us drinking wine, we all probably had about ¾ of a bottle each. Not bad at all. :-)

Adam, Wes, Andy, Ellis, Josh, Jeff, Me, Abby, Brandi, Jeff and Anna

Maya posing with Fruh Kolsh beer :)

2007-04-22T08:02:00.000-05:00

Amsterdam & Keukenhof, Netherlands
April 14th – 15th, 2007

I had been contemplating whether or not to go to Amsterdam this weekend. I actually really wanted to visit Keukenhof gardens near Amsterdam. I have wanted to go there for at least 10 years, but the problem is that the park is only open for 8 weeks in the spring each year and it had been impossible to time my vacations around that (and that I did not think of going there when I was in the US). Now that I am living only 3 hrs away from Keukenhof and Amsterdam it really is so tempting to go visit it. However, (I never thought that I would say this) the truth is that I have been traveling so much in the last few weeks that I really would like to spend one weekend at home. (By the way, home is Köln at the moment). So on Friday a couple of friends and I decided that we would go just to Keukenhof or the day on Sunday. Anyways that was not meant to be. My friends really wanted to go to Amsterdam as well, so we ended up renting a car on Saturday afternoon at 12:30pm.

I don’t take too many impromptu trips.. especially not to another country. I should have figured this would not be that great an idea. We booked the car, the hotel, got directions to get to the hotel in Amsterdam online. Picked up the car, and tried to get out of the city in Köln, but lost our way. Of course in a hurry, we forgot to get our map. Not that it would have helped much as street signs are not too easily identifiable. We took several wrong turns and asked a few people for the right way. The last couple we asked for directions to “A3”, the interstate that takes us to Amsterdam, they told us we ought to actually follow A4 and that is a better route. So that’s what we did. Not a good idea! We did not have a road atlas and had no idea after A4 what road to take. In any case, a long story short, it took us 6.5 hrs to get to our hotel. (Had we gotten the directions right, it would have taken 2.5 hrs.) So we checked in close to 7pm. The hotel was listed online as being 4km from the city center. Wrong! It was probably 14km from city center and was actually an airport hotel. In any case, we found a tram line close by that took us to the city. We walked around a lot. My first impression was that of amazement. Not at the city itself but at the number of tourists. I learned later that the actual population of Amsterdam is approx. 7.3 Million, but on any given day, the average number of tourists is 15.4 Million. No wonder. I saw plenty of great restaurants and bars all bursting with people. We walked in the sex district (Photo 1:in the sex district) and I was amazed that people brought along their young (read 7ys) kids too there. We got bored quite soon and walked later to find a place to eat. We found a Mexican restaurant which advertised a decent priced menu, but when we sat down it was actually a lot more expensive. So we just had a drink there. By then I was tired. and just went back to my hotel. I must say the hotel was really nice. A 4 star no less. I almost forgot what that is like, having stayed at hostels with most of my travels in the last 4 months. Needless to say, I had a great nights sleep. (Photo 1: Abby and I, in Amsterdam)

The next morning, we headed off to Keukenhof. This time we had all the directions printed out. We got there without any problems. I was simply dazzled by the tulip fields.. rows and rows of gorgeous blooming tulips. (Photo 2: At a tulip field near Keukenhof garden). It was really incredible. We spent about 4 hrs in Keukenhof Gardens. The weather couldn’t have been better. It was 27°C and sunny. I took plenty of pictures. Around 4:30 pm we finally headed off home. This time it took us only 3hrs to get from Keukenhof to home. In all, the day spent at Keukenhof was worth all the trouble and hassle we initially had with our trip.

Keukenhof: A photographer's delight (even for amateurs)

Fuzzy tip tulip

2007-04-22T08:01:00.000-05:00

Bonn, Germany
April 12th, 2007

Wow, just got back from India yesterday and today headed to Bonn for an excursion. The ex-capital of West Germany. I was quite surprised by how small this city is. We spent the morning at the history museum. It was quite informative, even though everything was in German, but Dietmar did a great job of simplifying the stories in understandable German. After the museum visit, we broke out for lunch and then after lunch we had a walking tour of the city. The weather was fantastic, and we really enjoyed the walk. The tour ended at a Biergarten (of course). It really was fun, sitting outdoors by the rhine and enjoying our drinks in the company of friends. (Photo 1: with Dietmar, my german teacher and Abby at the Biergarten)

I had heard that drinking age is lower in Europe, but I did not realize just how much lower :) ...Jeff with his 7mth old daughter, Maya

2007-04-22T07:59:00.000-05:00

Bombay, India
April 5th- 11th , 2007

I had planned this trip for about a month. I have 2 days of Easter break, and I have taken 3 days off from school, to be able to go to India. I figured I haven’t visited my family since a year, my brother and his family would be in Bombay at that time as well, so I could meet with them too (They live in Kuala Lumpur). Besides I have yet to meet my 2.5 month old nephew Keshav, so even if this trip is only for 5 days it would be worth it - And it was.

My first day in Bombay, I spent almost all day at home. It was a full house, what with my mom, my brothers family, my sister in laws mother and I - all 7 of us in one apartment and all of them had just arrived the night before. So the day was filled with excitement catching up with all, and of course seeing Keshav (who is so adorable) and my niece Anchal. (Photo 1: Keshav and Anchal) In the evening my friend Vrinda stopped by. After dinner Vrinda, her husband Kartik and I went to a movie: Namastey London. An 11pm to 2am show. The movie sucked, but I still had a good time. There is something about watching Bollywood movies with my friends - regardless of how pathetic they are we always end up having a good time. Vrinda, do you remember Jo bole so nihaal.. :) ?

The next day, I had a haircut appointment. I can’t tell you all how much I was looking forward to this haircut. One thing I am paranoid about, is having a haircut. The only place that I have been happy with a haircut has been at Juice or Bi Blunt, both in Bombay. I usually avoid a cut (except for occasional trims) until I get to India. As always, I was thrilled with my new cut. It looks so different from my typical straight hair. I now have lots of layers and have still managed to keep it long. I think it looks great.

That evening, I had an engagement party to attend. My cousin Ajay was getting engaged to his girlfriend Ami. Yes, in India we have engagement parties. We have parties for everything, and it is always a big affair. This one had about 300 people attend. I enjoyed the party but hated the drive to the reception hall. It took us 2.5hrs to drive one way from my house to this place. With 7 of us, decked up in Saris and formal wear and cramped in an SUV. How I hate the traffic in Bombay. It just seems to be getting worse each year. Anyways once we got there; it was really nice to be able to meet most of my relatives and family friends. Typically in my short visits to India, it is hard to get to meet everyone; hence these types of events are great for me. In one evening I met people who I probably would not have met for a long time. (Photo 2: Me, with the engaged couple; my cousin Ajay and his fiance Ami)

On Sunday, I stayed at home all day. My brother left for Malaysia that evening. (Photo 3: My brother Shreelal and sis in law Hema) On Monday, I traveled to Bandra (a suburb in Bombay) to shop. There are 2 stores there that I like. It is not too far from where I live (only about 10km) however it typically takes 45min to an hour to get there. The shopping trip makes it worthwhile. I bought some summer clothes as I will need it in Europe now that spring is here. On the way back home, I stopped by to visit my uncle’s family and cousins. That evening I caught up with my friends in a coffee shop.

My friends are really something else. We have known each other since 1988, our first year at Sydenham College (FYJC). While three of them live in Bombay, they are so caught up in their lives that they do not have time to meet each other. Yet when I get to Bombay, we somehow manage to have a reunion. All these girls have computers but are plain lazy to write emails. (Ok they may have other reasons, but personally I think it is all excuses). In any case, in spite of not being in touch for a year at a time, it is amazing how we can just pick up things from where we left off the previous year. I have so many fond memories of my college days at Sydenham. It is amazing to see the changes in each of us since the college days:

There is Vrinda, who hasn’t actually changed much. She looks more and more gorgeous each time I see her. I guess hobnobbing with the Bollywood stars and models rubs off. She works in Event management and has managed shows like the Filmfare awards and Miss India, Fashion shows etc..

Then there is Radhika. A girl who did a complete turnaround from her first year of college to now. She was “Miss Popular” in college. Gorgeous, friendly, loud and spunky she definitely caught everyone’s attention in college. Now she acts so mature – well I guess she would after all she is a lawyer by profession.

And Sunita: who actually has changed a lot too over the years. She is the shy and quiet one (or that’s what it seems in the beginning) but once you get to know her, she has a sharp wit and a great sense of humor. I used to tease her when she got her first job that she would not last there for more than 6 months. I have to eat my words – it has been 10 years, and she is still with the same company handling real estate work.

These are the girls I met in Bombay. (Photo 5: With Sunita, Vrinda and Radhi). The rest of the group consists of : Usha who lives in Surat India and Monica who lives in Hong Kong. Shiraz is another friend who lives in Bombay but I haven’t been able to meet her as often. I don’t want to get started with my “Sydenham days” stories – If I start it will take me a long time to complete this blog. All I can say is that they were the best years of my life.

Tuesday, the entire day just flew by. I had crammed in so many appointments that day, it took all day to finish. A dentists appointment (Going to a Doctor in India is so much cheaper), followed by all the girlie grooming appointments (facial, manicure, pedicure, hair coloring) by the time I returned home it was 7pm. I still had to pack for my trip back to Germany. I had to leave for the airport at 4am the following day. So that night, I packed and then spent my last night at home with my mother, Hema; my sister in law and my niece Anchal and nephew Keshav.

2007-04-16T10:21:00.003-05:00

Köln, Germany
April 1st 2007

My first day at the CDC – Carl Duisburg Centrum, where I am taking Business German classes. I was pleasantly surprised by the agenda that our teacher, Dietmar Vogt, had put together for us. There was very little grammar lessons, more of case studies, learning about German business and vocabulary enhancing classes. Also we have a couple of interesting trips lined up: A day trip to Bonn next week, a day trip to a Vineyad, and today a city tour of Köln. Dietmar has talked to us in German all day, and the strange thing is I can understand almost everything he speaks. I guess he has taught for so long, he knows how to communicate to basic German speakers like me. This seems like a pretty laid back class so I think I should have ample time to explore Köln in my free time. (Photo: The Kölner Dom)

2007-04-16T10:21:00.001-05:00

Tübingen – Köln, Germany
March 31st 2007

This was one long journey. Typically a train ride from Tübingen to Köln takes 2.5 hrs, with just one stop in Stuttgart. However that is on the ICE (fast trains), which costs a lot of money. Actually it was only 80 Euros one way, but heck when you are a student with negative earnings and you are presented with cheaper alternatives, the 80 Euros is expensive. So the cheaper alternative was to take the “Schönes Wohenende” (Beautiful weekend) ticket. This costs 30 Euros for 1 to 5 people to travel all day on the Deutsche Bahn anywhere in Germany. Of course, there is a catch to it: One can only travel on the regional bahns (the slow trains). Travel time from Tübingen to Köln was 8.5 hrs. (I also had to change trains 5 times). No one other than Jeff thought this was a good idea..(hmm I wonder why J ). Anyways, so it was Jeff and I and our 5 pieces of luggage that took this trip.

It actually wasn’t that bad. Just the first leg, from Tübingen to Stuttgart was real crowded with no place to sit, but then we found out that there was a football match in Stuttgart. Changing the trains wasn’t as much as a hassle as I thought it would be. Our layovers were anywhere between 10 to 20 min, so it wasn’t bad. Jeff had tons of movies on his laptop, so we ended up watching a movie. Star Wars IV. And this was the first time I watched the movie, yes I know you all find it very strange that I haven’t seen any star wars movie before. In fact, in class in Tübingen we were playing a game where each of us were assigned the name of a famous personality and we had to ask questions to the others to figure out who we were. I was Darth Vader. Of course I had no clue who Darth Vader was, so I wasn’t able to guess who I was. That’s when Frauke (our German teacher) and the other students ragged me about it and made me promise that I have to watch it. So well, I did watch it, just one so far, but it is a start. And now I know who Darth Vader is.

From a little south of Koblenz, the train ride was so picturesque. The train tracks ran along the Rhine for about 2hrs. The scenery was spectacular. I lost count of all the castles and manors we saw overlooking the Rhine. One day, I would love to drive down that road and stop along at any place that caught my fancy.

We reached Köln at 7pm. Took a taxi from the station to our Hostel and checked in to my room. It is like a dorm room, with 2 twin beds and a desk, refrigerator, a closet and a sink. I have access to shared bathroom and kitchen. I haven’t lived like this, so it should be an interesting experience.

2007-04-16T10:20:00.001-05:00

Tübingen, Germany
March 31st 2007

My last day in Tübingen. The last three months really flew by. I guess I am happy to be moving to a new place, a bigger city, but I am definitely going to miss a few things here in Tübingen. First, my host family who I was staying with, Albert and Monika Petersen and their daughter Hanna and her boyfriend Marcos. We have spent many evenings together cooking, talking about and my day at school, discussing about German social system and politics etc and playing card or board games. Intially we played a lot of card games like 6 Nimmt and Canasta, but one day Marcos got Carcassone (a board game) and ever since then I have been hooked. So much so that the Petersens bought me my own Carcassone set. On my last day Hanna and Marcos surprised me with yet another extension of Carcassone: The River set. That extension is apparently a limited edition and is not made anymore. However you can print the tile pieces online, order blank tiles from the game company and make it yourself. I know you all think I am crazy to be gushing so much about this game, but seriously if you haven’t played it, you ought to try it. Another game I enjoy is the Siedler von Catan (Settlers from Catan). Hmm, I guess I got sidetracked a bit. Well going on to the other things I will miss in Tübingen, my salsa class at Adriana’s, my teachers in Tübingen namely Karen, Frauke and Ursula. (Photo 1: Dawoo, Jeff Dawson, Jeff Poquette, Brandi and Adam in class). I really enjoyed most of my classes. Especially Karen’s. She taught us the “intensive German” which was the last class of the day, and by then all of us used to be brain dead and not really wish to study and listen to more German. But she always found a way to arouse our interest. Actually we used to come up with crazy ideas of things to do and most of the times she actually agreed with us and let us do it. For example if the day was beautiful we asked her if we could have class outdoors, so we ended up going to a coffee shop, or having class with lunch at some restaurant, or playing Carcassone in class and talking in German, or going to her house for lunch and cooking lunch together (Photo 2: Jeff, Karen and Brandi - at Karen's house for lunch). Now Tübingen itself is a beautiful town, however it is a really small town. After about a month the charm wore out. I guess it would be a nice place to live, but when you have only 4 months to stay in Germany, you don’t want to spend 3 months in Tübingen. Anyways I may take back what I just said.. who knows if Köln is not all that nice as I expected (though I seriously doubt it)). In any case I had a great experience here in Tübingen, and made some good friends.

Albert, Monika, Hanna and Marcos

2007-04-16T10:19:00.000-05:00

Ludwigsberg, Germany
March 26th 2007

Today, my class took an excursion to Ludwigsburg, a small town 15 min away from Stuttgart. On the agenda was to visit the Residential Palace and then the Märchen (fairytale) garden.

The Palace was built in 1733, and is the Swabian equivalent to Versailles with its Baroque architecture. It was the residence of the kings of Wuttemburg. The tour inside the castle was in German, and the tour guide spoke so fast that we could barely understand anything. I think after 10 minutes of listening to him, I stopped paying attention. The Palace itself was beautiful with most rooms decorated with the original furniture and upholstery.

My favorite part of the trip was the Märchen gardens. We only got to spend 15 min in the gardens, as the tour inside the Palace took a lot longer than we had anticipated. In anycase, we saw the Frog Prince’s seat (Photo), Rapunzel’s and some other cool stuff. I liked it now, but I would have totally loved it had I been younger when I read all those fairytales. It really was quite cool.

2007-04-09T23:38:00.000-05:00

Freiburg, Germany
March 24th, 2007

We had an excursion today with SIT (my language school) to Freiburg, a university town on the southern tip of the Black Forest that is considered to be the sunniest city in Germany. We drove down from Tübingen through the Black Forest to Freiburg. Unfortunately the sunny city was not sunny at all. In fact it was cold and it rained all day. A tour guide in Berlin had once mentioned that statistics showed that it usually rains on weekends in Berlin. I think the same is true for all of Germany. So far, except for Heidelburg, all the rest of my travels in Germany had cold weather and rainfall.

The drive through the Black Forest was spectacular. I do wish that the bus had cleaner windows as it was hard to appreciate the full beauty of the landscape through the dusty dark windows. Perhaps sometime in the summer I will be able to retrace this journey.

In Freiburg, we had a short city tour in the rain, which ended in front of the impressive large cathedral (Muenster unserer lieben Frau) in the city center. I climbed to the top of the tower, but that area was under renovation so we were not able to get a good view outside. So when all else fails, one thing always works out.. the restaurants, cafes and bars. I had lunch at a real nice Italian restaurant, and then joined the other group from my class who were at an Irish pub. In a way it was good, as I was able to watch the cricket world cup match between Australia and South Africa at the pub. It has been so long since I have seen cricket, I really enjoyed. Of course the other people in my group dint seem to care too much about it, and not being able to understand how people can enjoy watching a game that lasts for 8hrs. Tough! They don’t know what they are missing out on. This match was in St Kitts in the Caribbean, and my friend Spencer was actually at the stadium watching the match live. Lucky guy! Hope you enjoyed the match Spencer :)

At 5pm, it was time to drive back to Tübingen. It was a two-hour ride. Upon reaching Tübingen, I went out with Cecilia and Jeff to Schoss Café for wine and a game of Carcassone. The rest of the group joined us an hour later to celebrate our last Saturday night in Tübingen.

2007-04-03T16:32:00.000-05:00

Spain (Madrid & Seville)
March 9th – 13th

A friend from USC was traveling to Madrid over spring break and I thought it would be a great place to visit as well. I haven’t traveled out of Germany since January (that was the time I first arrived here ). I have been to Madrid before in September 2005 and loved it there, so I am was really looking forward to this trip. We stayed with friends in Spain, Jesus and his fiancé Christina. I haven’t seen better hospitality than that which we got from Jesus and Christina (Photo 1 - in a Tapas bar with Jesus and Christina). They were really awesome, and took care to make sure we had a great time, which of course we did.

I flew with Lufthansa on a special advertised fare from Stuttgart to Madrid. I met Jesus and Roy at the airport in Madrid. Jesus had arranged an apartment for us to stay at. It belongs to his niece Barbara who was traveling out of town that weekend and let us use it in the meanwhile. Also, I got to learn that Jesus who planned our stay in Spain, had ncluded a couple of days in Seville in this visit. So, we ended up spending 2 nts in Madrid, and 2 nts in Seville.

In Madrid, the only thing I really wished to see which I had not been able to the last time I was there, was the Prado museum and the Reina Sofia Museum. I did not mention it though as I did not think that the others would be interested in spending a few hrs in a Museum.. however much to my surprise, Jesus himself recommened that we go to the museums if we have any interest in art. He said that he enjoys art and will go back. So, on Saturday we went to the Reina Sofia. I did not know much about this museum, but It was incredible! I particularly loved Picasso’s Guernica.. <Photo 1> (I am not necessarily a big fan of Picasso, but this work was really awesome.) I was quite awestruck with the painting.. I never did study or look at the painting closely before but now, looking at it in such close quarters I could see all the different elements of the painting. Also in an adjoining room were all the sketches he had made before the painting ended up in the form it actually is. It really is a must see if one is in Madrid. The other section of the museum I really enjoyed was seeing Dali's works. I have been a big fan of Dali since I was a teenager, but as yet I had not seen any of his original works. I did not realize that the Reina Sofia housed his paintings, and it came as a real pleasant surprise. The paintings were a lot more magnificent than I had imagined. The colors so bright and vibrant… it looked like the painting was just recently completed. Well, yes.. just my day on Saturday would have made my trip worthwhile.. but there was more. My experiences actually just got better every day.

On Sunday, we visited the Museo del Prado… I wasn’t too familiar with most of the paintings in the Prado, but of course the collection was incredible. There was no way we could get to see even a fourth of that museum in half a day. We spent the majority of our time looking at Goya's works. It was really interesting seeing his paintings and especially the radical changes in his painting style with the “black paintings” .. the ones he painted when he was going blind .. and probably insane. Again, it was one of those things that I hadn’t heard of before, so it really was great to be able to see all these masterpieces.

After the Prado, we hopped on the ACE (super fast) train to Seville. The train ride was fun and extremely comfortable. The trip took 2.5 hrs. Can’t believe in such a short time we were in the south of Spain.

Seville is something else! The two days spent there were absolutely perfect! Surprisingly, that also includes the weather. (If you have read my previous blogs you will understand why I am so happy about this great weather) Jesus and Cristina live in Seville.. Actually Jesus just moved to Seville recently even though he still spends some time in Madrid during the week. Their apartment was beautiful. The building was an old monastery that was converted into apartments. (Photo 3: View from the terrace of Jesus's apartment). The rooms, the décor the old rustic furnishings was all so pretty. It really made me wish I had a house too.. gosh how I would love to decorate that! Anyways, back to Seville.. the night we got there, we ate Tapas at a Cerveceria in the square in front of the apartment. (Don’t think I can travel to someplace and not mention food somewhere :). I got to drink my first Sangria in spain in this trip. I had been craving it in Germany, but couldn’t find a place that knew how to make a good one. This was not too bad. However the tapas, those were fantastic. This place had so many vegetarian options for Tapas.. We ordered about 8 different kinds of dishes and they were all so good. Well, that started the Tapas tradition. Every meal after that night was at a Tapas bar, and I got to have Sangria a couple more times. There is just something about the Tapas bars and the “cerveceria’s” of Spain that is so unique.. I think it is the atmosphere more than anything else. It is hard for me to describe it in words.. it just needs to be experienced. Besides food, Seville is still an awesome town. There is an enormous cathedral, supposed to be the biggest in Europe.. (which Jesus said that Sevillians generally think that everything is bigger and better in Seville) however in this case I do think that they were right. It was a huge cathedral. Because we had limited time, We did not go inside the cathedral, but walked around the old city, soaked up all the sunshine as I had been craving for that for weeks. The city is so incredibly charming. Tiny passages, cobblestoned streets, old houses with lots of flowers hanging from the baconies and windows, small gardens and squares.. it really was awesome!. We also walked towards the newer part of the city which was nice but not as spectacular as the old city. I did enjoy the Place de Espana though, as well as the walk by the river.

On Tuesday I had my flight scheduled from Madrid back to Stuttgart. This was the only downfall of my trip. I am embarrassed to even write about it in my blog, but it is also so funny when I look back upon it. I wanted to book a flight around 7pm from Madrid and thought that it was exactly what I booked with Lufthansa. So, on Tuesday morning we were shopping in the city, we came home at 1pm to collect our luggage and take the 2pm train from Seville to Madrid which would get us in Madrid at 4:30pm at the Atocha rail station. I looked at my Lufthansa flight itinerary to see what terminal my flight leaves from and to my horror, I read that my flight is at 17:00 and not 7pm. Being in Seville there was nothing I could do. The first train I could take was in 45 min .. at 2pm. And getting to Madrid station at 430 would not help as the train station was about 30 min away from the airport. Anyways I did end up taking the train, and then going to the airport. I was hoping that Lufthansa would perform some miracle and I could take the next flight home. Jesus and Christina were in Seville and Roy and I went to the airport together. Everything was all right with Roy’s flight which was at 7:45pm so he checked in and was able to travel. With my flight, I came to find out that it was the last flight to Stuttgart. There was nothing available until the next day. I know from experience that I would have had to buy a new one way ticket to get to Stuttgart as this was entirely my fault, but I also know from experience (and being a travel agent at one time) that nothing is impossible at the airport. So with some sweet talking and a little tears I was able to get the girl at the Lufthansa counter change my ticket to the next morning without charging me anything. Jesus in the meanwhile was so wonderful too. He arranged for me to stay with a friend (actually a friend of a friend) that night in Madrid. So eventually it all worked out. I flew home the next day. It sucked that I had to miss another day of school, but really it could have been a whole lot worse. I guess I need to learn my lesson .. watcj out for the military clocks and the am pms..:) Anyways in spite of the bump at the end of the trip, it still turned out to me by best travel in Europe this year.

2007-03-06T14:22:00.000-06:00

Berlin
March 2nd – 4th, 2007

I just returned from a fascinating trip to Berlin. I flew on Friday morning with Germanwings. I bought real cheap tickets online. Only € 60 for a roundtrip ticket from Stuttgart to Berlin! I had been looking forward to this trip from the time I made the reservation. I had only 2 days in Berlin and a lot of places I was interested in visiting. Unfortunately we had really terrible weather and that cut my days of sightseeing down to one.

On Friday, it rained all day and it was very cold. I wanted to see the Berlin wall, the Bradenburg Tor, Reichstag, checkpoint Charlie, some museums.. however I was drenched in the rain, miserable and cold and did not care to do anything at that point except find a nice warm café and drink Latte Macchiato mit Karamel which is what I ended up doing. Drinking Coffee, then a couple of Mojitos.. hmm I love those.. and then went to an Egyptian bar where I got a Sheesha. That warmed me quite well.

Saturday, I had to make up for the lost time. Sebastian, Jeff and I went first to the longest remaining section of the Berlin wall. (Photo 1 and 2) That is close to the Ostbahnhof. There was a small souvenir shop where the owner claimed to be able to stamp your passport with the checkpoint stamp for €1.00. We didn’t have our passports so we could not do it. After walking in that area, we went to Unter den Linden where the Brandenburg gate is. We had heard of a free 3.5 hour walking tour offered everyday at 11am or 1pm which had been getting rave reviews and wanted to try it out. It definitely lived up to its expectations. (Photo 3) Our tour guide Nikolai (an American) was very entertaining. Plus we got to see a lot and learn a lot about this city in a relatively short time. Ideal for us, as we had limited time. We visited the Bradenburg Tor, Reichstag, Hitler’s bunker, Berlin wall, Checkpoint Charlie (Photo 4), the Berliner Dom, Holocaust memorial, Museum Island and more. For anyone travelling to Berlin, I would highly recommend this tour. It was really good. And yes, it indeed was free (Though tips are gladly accepted). Check out the company at www.newberlintours.com. Apparently they make their money on the paid tours offered. All of them seemed very interesting but unfortunately we did not have the time to take one of those. This tour itself lasted from 1pm to 5pm.

After the tour all of us were famished. We proceeded to find Dada’s falafel place, a place I had read about in guidebooks as having the best falafels in town. It really was super. At least the best one I have eaten so far. Even better than Lashish in Detroit which until Dada´s was my best falafel place. After dinner we went to West Berlin to see the Kaiser Wilhelm cathedral. It is a very impressive looking Cathedral which had been bombed during WWII. It had been heavily damaged and has not been reconstructed. It serves as a reminder of the horrifying repercussions of war. (Photo 5).

In the evening, we went to a bar on Kurfürstenstraße (The Champs Elysees of Berlin). I tasted my first Berliner Weiß mit Schuss. (Photo 6). It is a white beer (sometimes known as the champagne of beers) to which fruit cordial is added (raspberry or woodruff) which gives it a very sweet and fruity flavour and a bright red or green color depending on what flavour you pick. It is actually a summer drink.. but for a non beer drinker like me – this was perfect - for any occasion. I wish I can find one in Tübingen.

In all Saturday was a fantastic day. Even though the weather was not much better, we did get out and explored the city. I am sure I will go back to Berlin. There are still the museums I need to visit ….

2007-03-01T15:08:00.000-06:00

Ok, You all probably knew this, but I just figured this out. You can click on any of the pictures on this site and you will get to see the enlarged picture. Great! Now you can see that I am not that bad of a photographer. Though I must admit, I am not too happy with the pictures I have of my travels so far. The places I have visited are far more prettier than the pictures depict. However the pictures of Tübingen and Heidelburg are nice. Do click on it to see the beautiful town I am living in.

2007-03-01T10:13:00.000-06:00

München, Stuttgart, Heidelberg, Konstanz and of course, Tübingen
February 2007

I am finally able to appreciate my German lessons as now I am able to talk, read and understand some German. In fact, I have completely forgotten my French (I don’t know if that is a good thing). I was trying to talk to Sebastian in French, who is a colleague at SIT and is from France, and I could not get one sentence correct. Actually I could not even remember the most basic French words. Frauke, my teacher at SIT says not to worry, it will all come back if I am in

France

and actually trying to use it.

This month, I have joined a couple of Salsa classes and an Aerobic “strip ’n move” class. It has been awesome so far. It is really a great way to meet some locals and also to practice my German as all the classes are in Deutsch. I have a beginner level Salsa class on Sundays at 6:00pm, another Salsa class (Beginner level II) which is on Wednesdays at 8:30 pm and the aerobics class which is on Thursdays at 9:15pm. I had signed up for another Salsa class which was scheduled to begin on March 2^nd, but I think I have too much on my plate now, so today, I went over and cancelled that registration. I probably will cancel the aerobics too. I am enjoying the Salsa classes so much, especially my Wednesday classes, I think I will stick with those. Besides with all the traveling I am planning for the next month I will be missing classes so no point registering. Right? So what else have I done in the month of February? Traveled!

München, February 10^th, 2007

SIT arranged for an excursion (a day trip) to München. It is a 3 hr drive from Tübingen. We traveled by bus. München seemed like an awesome place.. seemed because unfortunately I did not have enough time to see most of it. We had about six hours in all. We walked around the city center, and saw the Rathaus (the old and the new one) and visited the Frauenkirche. After that Cecilia, Adam, Sebastian, Yunwoo and I went to Lunch at a German restaurant. I really wanted to see the Deutches Museum, but that is easily an all day commitment which I could not afford, so instead we went to the Hofbrauhaus. The (in) famous brewery. Today, I had my first beer in Germany. Yes, can you believe it… the country’s famous for its beers and I hadn’t as yet had any. But I do not like beer. However, the Germans have interesting beer mixes… like the Radler (what I had) which is beer mixed with lemonade, or the Diesel which is Beer mixed with coke. Later we went to the Olympic Park, and climbed the TV tower. Got some good pictures from there.. before my camera died down later :)

Neues Rathaus, and the city skyline

BMW Headquarter in München

Stuttgart, February 14^th 2007

Today we had only 1.5 hours of class today. At 10am we left from SIT towards Stuttgart to visit the Mercedes Benz museum and one of Daimler’s production plants. The museum was great. The building was pretty impressive (the cars too were, of course). The factory tour was interesting. We got to see the production on the Daimler engines for one of their product lines. Later, we went to the city center. This my third visit to the city center of Stuttgart, so for once I did not shop (I was tempted as my favorite store Zara is in the pedestrian mall there) Ok Ok.. I did go to the store .. but only for 10 minutes. Unfortunately (or fortunately.. as I do need to save my money), Zara did not have a good collection.

Heidelberg, February 17^th 2007

There are many special tickets one can get on the Deutsch Bahn (German trains). One of them is the Baden-Wüttemburg ticket. This ticket costs 27 for up to 5 people to travel on any one day to any city in the state of Baden-Wüttemburg. So we decided to take advantage of this awesome low price and took a daytrip to Heidelburg. Only, we were 6 of us. Still, more the merrier! Adam and Jeff from the IMBA group, and Sebastian (from France), Cecilia (from Sweden) and Yunwoo (from South Korea) all traveled to Heidelberg. It was awesome. The weather was fantastic. Adam had been to Heidelberg before so he led the way. We went to the Altes Brucke (the old bridge) then to the Heidelberg Schloss (Castle) and later walked around the city center. (Photo 1: Crazy hair day in Heidelburg - at the Altes Brucke overlooking the castle - with Yunwoo, Cecilia, Adam, Jeff & Sebastian). Typically in all cities the city center has the Rathaus (the town hall), and a lot of old buildings, cobblestone streets, a couple of churches and some shops, cafes and restaurants. In the evening, Adam and Yunwoo went to a concert at a Church.. I was tempted to go as well, it sounded quite interesting.. “From Beethoven to Beatles..” is what the sign read. However we only had a couple hours before we needed to head back to the train station to get back to Tübingen. I decided to use that time romping in the city rather than staying indoors. Did I mention the weather was spectacular today? Probably the warmest it has been since I have been here in Germany. So, the rest of us took the trail of the Philosopher’s Weg… a trail that leads up a hill, across the river from the city center and the Castle. The view was spectacular from the top of the hill. The castle was all lit up.. (it was getting dark). Too bad my pictures don’t do it any justice. All that walking made us hungry.. we had dinner at a Thai restaurant. The food here in Germany is typically a little bland, so I asked for “mehr scharf” (more spicy). Bad Idea. It was so hot, I could barely eat. My taste buds went numb after a while. I guess I ought to be careful of what I ask for the next time. We were able to catch our train on time, and reached Tübingen at 12:30am.

With Cecilia, Sebastian, Yunwoo and Adam at the Heidelburg Castle

Konstanz, February 24^th – 25^th 2007

Since our group had such a good time in Heidelburg, we planned to travel together again. This time, an overnight trip to Bodensee. Bodensee is the largest lake in Germany. The lake is bordered by 3 countries: Germany, Switzerland and Austria. Konstanz, actually is a town which sits on the border of Germany and Switzerland.

We again took advantage of the Baden-Wüttemburg ticket to travel. It is such an awesome deal, especially with a group. The two day trip cost only 14 Euros in traveling expenses. Yunwoo and Jeff could not make the trip, so it was just Adam, Sebastian, Cecilia and I who went.

We stayed at a Youth Hostel there. It was the cleanest hostel I have stayed at. It was even better than a couple of hotels I have stayed at. (It is amazing how your expectation lowers when you are on a shoestring budget). After checking in at the hostel, we ate lunch at an Italian Restaurant (I think it is called Rustica Trattoria) that Adam recommended (He had stayed in Konstanz for a month a few years back). The food was awesome. The weather was terrible. It rained 80% of the time we were there. We had expected the weather to be real nice so we did not carry umbrellas. Bad decision! Still, we made the most of our day, walking (in the rain) exploring the city and spending time in cafes if the rain got too bad. In the evening, we went to a Mexican-Italian restaurant bar. I was pleasantly surprised to see they served Sangria. I haven’t seen many restaurants or bar offering Sangrias. Yes, I know people here prefer beer. Well, needless to say, we ordered Sangrias.. 2 pitchers of it. It was actually quite good. Though still not as good as the one I had at Lola’s. Lola is a Pizzeria in Charleston WV, and believe it or not, they have the best Pizzas and Sangria I have ever had. And trust me; I have traveled to a lot of places and I love food. I should know. Lola’s is really good. Well, back to Konstanz, we finished with our Sangrias and later walked to Switzerland. Yes literally strolled there. It was very boring though. Apparently the people from Switzerland-Konstanz come over to the Germany-Konstanz for nightlife and restaurants. On the way back we missed our bus to the hostel, and instead of waiting for ½ hour for the next bus, we walked. I did not realize it would take us an hour to walk back. It was after midnight by the time we got back to the hostel. But it had stopped raining, and the walk actually was quite pleasant.

The next day it was still raining. We really wanted to take a ride on the Bodensee. So in spite of the bad weather we took a ferry to Meersburg. Meersburg is a small town built on a steep vineyard right by the lake. It is a delightful town with quaint old buildings a very interesting castle and spectacular views of the Swiss Alps. Unfortunately with the rains and fog the view of the alps was there only for fleeting moments. It is definitely a place one should visit in the summer. I imagine it would be fabulous then.

We had time to stop by and have lunch before we boarded the train back to Tübingen.

2007-02-04T10:17:00.000-06:00

Tübingen, Germany
January 5^th – February 4^th 2007

Time flies! It has already been one month since I arrived in Germany. Ein Monat und ich habe nicht so gut Deutsch gelernt! Oh well... maybe by the end of my four months here I will be able to speak a few sentences (correctly) in German.

I am living in Tübingen with a host family, the Petersen’s. Albert and Monika Petersen are in their mid-fifties. Monika works at the Tübingen University and Albert is a pharmaceutical councilor of an Institute, which is involved in health promotion and health care in third world countries. I couldn’t have asked for a better family to stay with. They are so friendly, kind and helpful and have made me feel at home from the day I got here. Their daughter Hanna (22) and son Jan (25) both live and study in Stuttgart (40kms from here). However, I see Hanna often as she usually spends her weekends here in Tübingen as her boyfriend Marcos, lives here. They are fun to spend time with. I have spent many evenings’ playing cards or board games with them.

As for the reason I am here in Tübingen… I am taking German lessons (34 hrs a week) and I will be here for 3 months (till March 30^th). I remember feeling so frustrated with trying to understand the grammar and the basic rules. Nothing made sense. And after 2 weeks when I started to think that I am finally able to make sense of the German grammar, we learn of the multiple exceptions to the rules that we need to memorize. The thing I am struggling most is learning the gender of the nouns. All nouns are Masculine, Feminine or Neutral. Though I am really curious as to how they decide what the gender of a noun is. Now why is a carpet masculine, and a Camera feminine, but a girl is neutral? Maybe one day I will be enlightened. By now, I have learned that I should not apply logic to language. After all, isn’t English one of the most illogical languages?

And about Tübingen.. It is one of the oldest University towns in

rmany. It has still retained its old charm, especially around the city center – It is beautiful - with its cobblestone streets, old church, a castle, old houses and of course the Rathaus (town hall) and Marktplatz. The Rathaus has a webcam that over looks the Marktplatz and one can log on to www.tuebingen.de and see what is going on at the city center. The Neckar river runs through the city center. The pictures here are of the houses on the Neckar river, and the other one is of Neckar Muller, the beer garden (a brewery) which is one of the hangout spot for us German Trackers.

Now having spent a month in Tübingen (and taking a few day trips to the surrounding cities/ towns of Stuttgart, Reutlingen and Metzingen) I am ready to get out and explore places which are further away. On the agenda is a trip to the Bodsee (Lake Constance) a beautiful resort where Germany, Switzerland and Austria share its borders, then I wish to visit Heidelburg, Freiburg, Munich and possibly travel out of the country to visit Rome, Vienna, Prague. Now it all depends on if I can get a real cheap airfare to one of these countries. Germanwings flies out of Stuttgart and has some real cheap flights for less that €70 to some of these places. Until then, I will continue to explore southern Germany.

Istanbul, Turkey

2007-01-05T21:53:00.001-06:00

I loved this place. I liked everything about it. The sights no doubt were wonderful, but the best thing I liked was the various cafes we visited. I think I enjoyed that more that the sights. I had the best teas (cay, as they call it in Tukey) and I even had a nargileh (hookah) once - The nargileh is very popular here, and almost all the cafes and restaurants had them. The food in Istanbul was awesome too. I don´t think I have eaten one bad meal here. Ok, so it is not all bout food and tea.. the Topkapi Palace, the AyaSofya and the Blue Mosque were amazing. Though there is one thing I did not like. Tourists!! They were everywhere. The Palace had such long lines for some of the exhibits, it really got aggravating after a while. It was almost as bad as Disneyworld. Really! I guess that is why I chose to do the non-touristy stuff and spend time with the locals at the cafes. On the last two days I took the ferry over to Besiktas and to Kadakoy. It was a very short ride, and an enjoyable experience.

On my last day in Tukey I went shopping to the infamous Grand Bazaar. Everything I had heard about it was true. That place is quite something else. I had walked in with barely any money and absolutely no intension or desire to buy anything. I walked out that afternoon $300 poorer but with a nice leather jacket and ummmm... ahem.. a Nargileh! Yes I know.. It will be a nightmare trying to haul that all over Europe for the next 8 months. But I succumbed to the very persuasive sales person. Seriously, one should take a lesson in sales and marketing from these people.. they are naturals!

Another highlight of my trip was the Turkish Bath! I had to try that. And what better day than on my last day in Istanbul, after shopping all day at the Grand Bazaar and before taking the midnight bus to go to the airport. (My flight was at 4am on Jan 5th from Istanbul to Stuttgart). The bath was quite an experince. Nothing like I ever imagined. It was awesome. I had a massage after that which was great too. I realised later how wonderful it was.. especially since I was going to be up all night because of all the traveling.. going to the airport, the wait there, the flight and the drive to Tübingen after that.. it was a looooong night!

At the Galata Bridge

Bucharest - Bulgaria - Istanbul

2007-01-01T21:25:00.001-06:00

Jeff, my travelbuddy, is not too happy today. After having as much fun as we all did last night with Adrian, Anand, Alina, Andrea and the gang in Bucharest, he really wants to spend New Year´s eve in Bucharest with them. They are going to a party in town which sounds like it would be a lot of fun. Still, we have our tickets, so go we must. Adrian, Anand and Andrea met us at the apartment and drove us to the train station. Since we got there half hour early, we stopped and grabbed a bite to eat at the station. And boy am i glad we did! That was the only meal of the day for us. After we got on the train, we soon realized that this train did not have a dining car. So much for champagne at midnight, we had no food and just one bottle of water. The train did stop a few times, but they were only at the borders and by the time we got to them, there was nothing available to eat as all the stops were at very small stations which had no restaurants or stores. By evening I was so hungry. My only alternatives were to groan and complain about how hungry I am - but considering Jeff was in the same boat (ok train), - and that i made him miss his dream new years party with the hot Romanian girls to take this train, i figured he has more reason to complain. So I did the next best thing - Sleep. I thought I could sleep through my hunger. I remember hearing fireworks in my sleep (which Jeff told me later, he saw when we crossed some village, somewhere in Bulgaria at midnight). Of course I wasn´t too lucky with sleeping either.. I was woken up 7 times.. a couple of times before and after we crossed each border. They stopped once to check our passports and stamp them. Another time to check our tickets. Three borders - so three times, the same process! I was not too happy having to wake up at 1:30am and having to get out of the train in the cold and get a visa when we entered Turkey. Anyways, they say every dark cloud has a silver lining.. we had ours as well.... We had a reservation for 2 seats in a 6 sleeper cabin. When we got in we realized that there would be no way we could fit our luggage and accomodate 4 others in that cabin. Thankfully we did not need to. the train was practically empty. I think there were just 5 other people in the entire carriage that we were in. We got talking to a couple of our fellow travellers and they were so generous to us when we arrived Istanbul. We did not have local currency yet, and did not know how to get to our Hostel. One of them bought us a tram ticket and told us where we needed to get off. The other person actually carried my big, heavy suitcase all the way from the train to the tram and helped us load our luggage in. It was I guess a small gesture on their part, but it felt really nice to have help in an unfamiliar territory. We found our hostel after asking a few people for directions once we got off the tram. It wasn´t too easy since not one person we met spoke English and of course we do not speak Turkish. Still we managed to find our way. I did not realize this at the time of making reservations, but our hostel is within a 10 minute walking distance to the 3 most famous sights of Istanbul.. the Topkapi Palace, the AyaSofya and the Blue Mosque. Nice!

Bucharest again

2006-12-31T01:06:00.000-06:00

Today was a relaxing day. I woke up late. I had already seen most of the sights in Bucharest, However today I planned to visit the Village museum. It is an outdoor museum which has old houses from Transylvania and other parts of the country displayed in a very realistic setting. I took a lot of pictures but unfortunately none of them turned out that great. I went to a park and saw an EU flag hoisted.. and realised that today is the first day that Romania is officially part of the EU. There are big celebrations planned for this event on the 31st, in combination to the New Year´s eve party. Yesterday, I bought my train ticket to go to Istanbul. I am leaving tomorrow, December 31st. I guess I will be having my celebration somewhere in Bulgaria with Champagne.. after all they join the EU as well today.

This evening, Adrian and Anand return to Bucharest. Jeff and I met them after dinner and went to an Egyptian Cafe. Adrian´s friends joined us there as well. Adrian chose that place as it is one of the few places in Bucharest that serves the Nargileh, and all three of us (Adrian, Anand and I) enjoy that. After the cafe, we went to a club aptly called Downtown. Adrian said that I have to experience Romanian nightlife. It was a lot of fun. We had a blast. In the photo above are Alina, Adrian, Anand, Me and Jeff.

Sinaia, Romania

2006-12-29T22:57:00.000-06:00

So I heard that if I really wish to experience Romania, I ought to travel away from Bucharest, to the mountains. They have some beautiful mountain resorts and gorgeous countrysides. I really would like to go to Brasov, however I have too much luggage to be hauling around, so I need to keep my travels to a minimum. - Hey! Before you roll your eyes and think "Women!", let me tell you that it is not easy to pack 8 months (including three seasons) of clothes in one suitcase!

I read about Sinaia in the `Rough Guide` book for Romania and it sounded like a nice place. It is 1.5hrs away from Bucharest by train, an easy day trip. It was cold, and I saw my first snow of the season in Sinaia. It is a beautiful town, albiet a bit touristy. Still, I enjoyed seeing the 17th century Sinaia Monastary and the Peles Castle which was the summer residence of King Carol I, the first king of Romania. We were told that this was the first castle in Europe to have both electricity and central heating. Interesting!

Peles Castle

Outside the old chapel in the Monastary grounds

There were ski lifts one could take from there to the mountains. I had planned to take a hiking trail to some caves, but when I got there I learned that all trails are closed during the winter. That was a little disappointing. So instead, I had a late lunch at an Italian restaurant, later walked around the city, and then spent some time at a pub till it was time to take the train back.

More Bucharest - Day 3

2006-12-28T21:25:00.000-06:00

Went to Gara de Nord again this morning. Tried to find bus companies that offered trips to Istanbul. I visited 2 bus companies and they both had buses leaving on the 29th and then on the 3rd for Istanbul. The cost was 125 Leis. The schedule was not good as I wanted to leave Bucharest either on the 30th or the 31st, So Jeff and I decided to go by train. We bought our tickets for the 31st for Istanbul.

Then we searched for a restaurant called Don Taco, a Romanian Mexican restaurant which we read about in one of the city guides. I loved the food there. I had a tortilla soup which was the best soup I have eaten. Yummy! From the restaurant, we went to the House of Parliament. On the way we stopped at a park which had an ice skating rink. It looked like fun, but it was too cold for me to want to try it. The house of Parliament in Bucharest is supposedly the second largest administrative complex after the Pentagon. Unfortunately when we got there we learnt that it was closed until January 3rd. So we did not get to visit it. We walked again and reached the city center. Found a very neat coffee shop which overlooked the bustling street. Enjoyed a cup of coffee and relaxed a bit.

Bucharest

2006-12-27T22:20:00.000-06:00

There is a Metro very close to the apartment. We took the Metro today to go to Gara de Nord, which is the main train station. We wished to find out information; schedule and cost for trains from Bucharest to Istanbul. It was Jeff’s first time on a Metro. I am sure it must have been an interesting experience for him. Had coffee and Rolitas Vegetal (similar to a veggie patty) at a café at the station (CoffeeRight). Also found out that trains run everyday from Bucharest to Istanbul. It leaves Bucharest at 1:35pm and arrives in Istanbul at 8:30am. The cost approx. 150 Lei’s for a 6-person sleeper car. We are not sure if we should take the bus or the train. Need to find out information about buses still. Also we have not yet planned a departure date from Bucharest. We do have a flight confirmed on Germanwings from Istanbul to Stuttgart for January the 5th, and I really would like to spend atleast 4 days in Istanbul so it seems like either the 30th or the 31st of December should be the best time to leave for Istanbul.

We walked over to the historic quarter of the city. We walked into a bookstore..(we saw many bookstores and found out that almost all of them only sell books in Romanian). One bookstore had a book on underground restaurants in Bucharest and it mentioned one called Hanul Manuc which looked really quaint and interesting. I wanted to go there after seeing the pictures but had no idea where it was. We were talking about this restaurant and walked into a lane, and were very surprised to find the hotel and restaurant right in front of us. We had our lunch at the restaurant. The ambience was just as nice as it looked in the book. The food was all right. It turned out to be a lot more expensive than what we anticipated. The menu had a set of prices and we but our bill was for twice the amount. We did not try to ask the waiter for clarification as they did not speak English and we dint want to bother with it.

After Lunch, we walked to the City center and spent time at a park, visited the theater, the Athenaeum. Got home by 6pm and called it a day. We did try fast food restaurant called Emmi’s across the street from the apartment. Tried a falafel which was quite interesting.. it had fries along with ketchup and mayonnaise along with the regular stuff. Actually it tasted quite good. Went to bed early.

Bucharest, Romania

2006-12-26T21:41:00.000-06:00

After 13 hours of traveling, I have now made it to Bucharest. I am very excited to be here, since this would be my first visit to an eastern European country. My classmate, a fellow German tracker, Jeff Dawson, will be traveling with me for the next ten days till we get to Germany to begin school for language training. He arrived in Bucharest two hours after I did. We met at the airport and then took a taxi to the apartment that we had reserved. The apartment was a stroke of good fortune. Adrian Rusu (another classmate) is from Romania and is in Romania at present. His friend Andrea is renting her 2 room apartment to Jeff and me for €40 per night.

Andrea met us outside the apartment to let us in. She is awesome. Jeff and I of course had lots of questions about what to do while in Bucharest, how to travel around, how to get to Istanbul etc etc… Thanks to her patience and advice we had a good start to our trip. She offered us her cell phone to use while we stayed in Bucharest, so she could communicate with us and make sure we are all right and for us to contact her and Adrian. She had some other friends join us (Adrian, another one.. not Rusu.. and Alina). Since my friend Adrian Rusu is currently not in Bucharest, she became our host, and an excellent one at that. We later went to the mall to get a SIM card for the phone as well as some food. Tried my first Romanian food. It was Polenta with cream and cheese. Was good.

With Andrea and Adrian at dinner

Charleston WV USA

2006-12-25T10:40:00.000-06:00

I don’t know how I did it. I din’t think I was ever getting out of Columbia. There was so much to pack and put away and loose ends to take care of. I finally made it to Charleston by 9:30 pm last night. Spent a few hours with Falguni and her family, had a really awesome dinner. Went to Lina’s house later. She has just recently moved and I wanted to see her new house as well. It was absolutely beautiful. I could see Lina and Penu really excited about their new apartment. I enjoyed chatting with them. Too bad I did not have more time, as one hour was way too short. I hope they are able to travel this summer to Bulgaria. I would love to visit their country while they are there. I have heard so much about Bulgaria from Lina and Penu. Today, I have just taken things easy. Everything is packed and finally in place, and I am heading out to the airport soon.

Columbia SC USA

2006-12-24T19:39:00.001-06:00

I am in a frantic scramble to get packed up. In my over enthusiasm to travel, I have booked my trips so close together that I barely have time between them to recuperate. I arrived Columbia from St Martin at midnight on the 22nd and spent all day unpacking, doing laundry, packing my suitcases for my BIG Europe adventure of 8 months and emptying out all personal belongings from my apartment so that I can rent it out while I will be away. I am leaving tomorrow to Bucharest, Romania and my flight leaves from Charleston WV. So in a few hours, I will be on my way to Charleston – a 5 ½ hour roadtrip. It will be nice to spend Christmas eve tonight with my friends Falguni and Ashish as well as Lina (whose Birthday it is tonight)!

St Martin / St Maarten

2006-12-22T12:23:00.002-06:00

Hurrah!!!! It is vacation time. I just took my last final on Friday, December 15th and now to de-stress and rejuvenate I am in the friendly isle of St Maarten. All I have done since I have been here is go to the beaches.. (Mullet bay, Cupecoy beach in the Dutch side and Plum Beach on the French side) and eat some good food (Pineapple Pete’s, Taboula’s Mango, St Germaine’s were some of my favorite restaurants). The penthouse suite at the Towers at Mullet Bay is awesome as well. We have fantastic views of Simpson Bay and Mullet beach.

No Internet connection and no cell phone signal here makes me feel disconnected with the rest of the world, but then I guess that is what R&R should really be about right? Ahhh… this is life!

2006-08-12T11:18:00.002-05:00

So I needed to get away from USC and books and have decided to go to Charleston for the weekend. No not Charleston SC! You know there is another Charleston, which happens to be the capital of West Virgina. Well, its bad enough that people do not know about Charlie West.. but whats worse is when they do not know about West Virginia. Recently I got carded when entering a bar, and when i presented my West Virginia driver's license, the guy scoffed at me and said "If you're going to use a fake ID, you could at least use a real state!" Seriously!!!! It is a state! And by golly I am going to take pictures this weekend to proove it!

2006-08-07T18:07:00.001-05:00

Its amazing how perspective of time changes. Last week flew by. We had a Decision Analysis Mid-term, Accounting Quiz, a team project of case analysis due on the Mondavi wine company for the Global Strategic Management Class and a paper analysing the AIDS crisis in Africa and the role of the Pharmaceutical companies. Needless to say, it was a stressful week. However, it wasn't as bad as i had anticipated it to be. In contrast, this week so far has been so slow. I do have one paper that is due on Thursday, but can't get motivated enough to start working on it. I haven't studied for 4 days, and now find it hard to get in the groove.. Amazing how i can work better when I am stressed.. atleast i manage my time better.

I have a new class starting this week, which seems quite promising. Global Entreprenership.. did i spell that right??? The grade in this class is based on a team project, of coming of with a viable business idea and how it can work. The team with the best idea, will not only get the best grade but $500 as well. Hows that for an incentive. Anyways, regardless of the money, I think its a great opportunity to apply some of the strategy skills we've been learning. I am meeting with my team on Thursday, and we will each discuss our business propositions and choose which one to pursue.

2006-08-04T12:33:00.002-05:00

My first blog! I owe this to my class mates who's blogs i have enjoyed reading... It got me excited about starting my own. Besides, the REAL reason is, that this sure beats writing the same emails to every person I know who wants to know how I am.

OK, lets get the one thing straight. I know my blog name and email id is kaviitaa... but that is NOT the way i spell it. Nor is it Kavitha (thats for my south indian friends)... It is just Kavita. Plain and simple. Why did I choose the funny spelling then for my email and blog id? Because "kavita" was taken, and second, a numeralogist suggested that i change the spelling of my name to "kaviitaa" to bring good health, happiness and wealth. (I am serious!) Hmmm.. so lets see, I am healthy and happy..... however the wealth is down to zilch thanks to the tuition at school. So i guess I got half of what i was told, and i suppose thats because i use kaviitaa only half the time. (Any correlation here?)