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mnms21188
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Name: mnms21188
Expertise: I am good at nothing...
I am passionate about many things in life.
I love flying...
I love being around my friends.
Most of all I love YOU.
HAHA JK... that sounded good right? =P
Occupation: An unemployed pilot
Message: message me
Website: visit my website
Member Since:
3/24/2004
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I really don't know where to start. So much has happened the past 9 weeks that there is no way I can put my experiences into words. I have been staying at the Tagore International House at University of Hyderabad in India for the last 9 weeks and my program is coming to an end. Going home is somewhat of a mixed feeling because I am glad that I am leaving this place but yet there are memories that I know I am going to miss.
I was experiencing culture shock even before I got to India. I was on the Emirates flight from Dubai to Hyderabad and it was full of Indian people. I was just thinking to myself, "What have I gotten myself into... There's no way of turning back now... and I finally understands how a white guy might feel going to Asia." To make matters worse, the plane I was on was very old and my seat did not recline. I thought that India is going to be very poor and I am going to suffer for 9 weeks. Once I got out of the Hyderabad airport, I met up with Brian, another PRIME student. We took this hour long taxi ride to the University and the roads are not paved well and you can see construction everywhere. The first thing that came into mind was "Damn, this is like China 20 years ago."
Ok, fast forward to the next day.. I remember that I was really nervous about exploring, even the hostel. I went to breakfast and there are these Indian guys serving me. They handed me food, poured me drinks and took away my plate. All this service makes me somewhat uncomfortable. The first people that I met are from Sweden, basically just talked about where they are from... normal small talk. It wasn't until later that day that I met all the American girls... seriously all 14 of them at the same time. It was me and Brian along with those 14 girls who went to Santosh for dinner. Meeting new people is exciting and fun, but it can be nerve racking when 1. I haven't settled in, 2. they are already good friends and 3. all of them are girls. Turns out that they are all really good people and I was somewhat sad when they left after my 4th week.
The spring group came during the 4th weekend that I was here. They are from an organization called CIEE. All of them paid a ridicoulous amount of money, something like $12,000 US, to be here for one semester. I mean it's not that bad for private school tuition, but c'mon it's India... things here are supposed to cost 10 cents. I wasn't at the hostel when they all came because I was in Mumbai. So when I got back, the hostel was like a zoo. The hostel got more and more crowded as more people from the ISEP group came. I actually like those people a lot. I can see me being good friends with them if they went to San Diego. I got to hang out with them during meals and weekends. We went out to visit a few places around the city and went out for drinks a few times. I can't really go into any details because this is already getting long... and I don't really like blogging anymore.
Anyways, I traveled to Hampi, Mumbai, Goa and Hyderabad. I will be visiting Delhi and Agra next week, which I am quite excited about. To sum it all up, Hampi has a lot of temples. Mumbai is very dirty and busy. Goa is very tourisy and Hyderabad is a developing city. If any of you want to know more about India, I will be happy to share details with you in person =)
*edit*
This is going to be an edit to my India trip entry. I am on an Air India airbus 310-300 to Hong Kong. The flight is quite empty with the most Asians I have seen in 9 weeks. The kid sitting behind me is playing with the tray table, and I am deciding whether I should go off on him. Since I have about 1 hour to kill, I will do some recapping on my thoughts and experience throughout India.
Hyderabad
Hyderabad is considered one of the most developed cities in India. There are a bunch of new buildings under construction and I can tell that this city is going to be the next big IT central besides Bangalore in India. A bunch of software/hardware, as well as biotech companies, have set up remote sites here. Although Tagore International House is somewhat new, there are a lot of cracks and leaks in the building. To give an example, there was a piece of ceiling in my room that fell off. I am naming some of the bad things here, but it is still the best accommodation on the whole campus and probably among the top in Hyderabad. I really appreciate how nice, relatively speaking, Tagore is after staying at $3 hostels in Hampi.
Working at Center for Simulation and Design (CMSD) has its perks, such as stable internet connection and access to free water/juice. The problem is that it is so darn far away. I have to bike uphill for 15 minutes each morning in the heat, which I basically abandoned the last few weeks and opted to work from my room.
Hampi
This city has so many temples and ruins that I was basically done seeing anything religious after the trip. The designs of the temples are so detailed and intricate that it is truly amazing. The hostel that I stayed at is clean enough and offers all the basics. The bathroom, however, is equipped with squat toilets, which is a terrible idea especially with a bad stomach ache. The restaurants in Hampi have decent food and the food is almost always fresh. The waiter/cook sometimes will go out and buy the ingredients right after the order, but the wait time is usually over an hour.
Mumbai
I was supposed to fly with Brian, Dee and Mehwish to Mumbai. I ended up going with only Dee and Mehwish because Brian simply refused to get up that morning. I pounded on his door, yelled his name and even tried to look through the hole that connects our room, but nothing will wake him up. I thought he drank too much the night before, but apparently he took some sleeping pills too late and got knocked the fuck out. He showed up a day later in Mumbai in front of my hostel with a strange Indian man named Ronnie. The guy was actually afraid for Brian’s safety when he rejoined with us.
Anyways, my hotel was another budget hotel and needless to say there were many half naked men. My room had a window, but it was literally just a hole. Well okay the frame was still there, but rain would fall on my face throughout the night. My bed also had a few bugs because I squished a few during my sleep and I remembered feeling itchy. Other than that everything was alright.
I visited all the tourist hotspots in Mumbai around the Colaba and fort area. I saw the Taj hotel (where Hilary Clinton stayed during that time), Gateway to India, some mosque, St. Thomas’ Cathedral, the courthouse and Elephanta Island. I tried going to the slums but I ran out of time and it was a bit tricky. You can’t go in with the mindset like you are going to the zoo. It would be totally wrong and disrespectful, because people actually live there in really, really bad conditions.
Goa
Pretty nice and tourisy area. Very beachy and tropical. It wwould have been a lot nicer if it was the tourist season. There would have been 24 hour beach party and bunch of raves. What I saw instead was Indian people standing around at the beach. There was also a lot of trash and none of the shops were open.
Agra
Taj Mahal was incredible. It was absolutely amazing. The hostel in Agra was nice too.
Delhi
Again very busy city. New Delhi was quite developed and has a nice subway system. There are areas where it still had lots of trash though.
*Note: You can see how everything gets shorter as I get more and more impatient. I just have so many thoughts about India going through my head that I really have to brainstorm in order to write a coherent blog. India is really amazing, but I am ready to go home.
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| Here is a glimpse of my new project. I will be working on this in India.
Basically just receptor and ligand binding stuff
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|  As I thought nobody uses xanga anymore, I logged on and saw quite a few new entries in my subscriptions. What once popular online blog is now over dominated by facebook. I guess the only reason I am blogging is because winter break is over.. again.
Again? I don't know how that's possible, but it just makes it sound sadder.
Anyhow, I had a lot of fun this break. I don't really want to go back to San Diego and school. It's going to be a lot of work. This sad feeling most likely will go away like usual. Probably from the side effects of studying called emotional dumbness.
Let's see... the few things that I did this break:
| Painted my laptop lid | | Repair row of walk lights | | Hang out with different people | | Christmas party | | Fishing (more watching than fishing...) | | Snowboarding | | Kings game | | SF/Berkeley |
Oh and side note:
Blimp Project
I was somewhat fascinated by the blimp that drops coupons in a Kings game. I really would like to build one if people don't have anything to do over summer (not likely). I have a simple design thought out.
Team:
Electrical Engineer
Aerospace/Mechanical Engineer
Spectators (Just to cheer us on)
Design:
Motors (all RC controlled)
2+ non-geared motors for lift (Differential voltage to control amount of lift)
2 servo-motors to control angle of the non-geared motors
1 non-geared motor in the back for propulsion (Differential voltage)
Body
Regular blimp made possibly by wire
Covered with possibly beach ball material
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| ISV - International Student Volunteers Team: Barbwired Bandits
Andy, James, Naomi, Kirsty, Claire, Jen, Laura, Beca, Shelly, Ema, Perry and I Australia! What a trip. It was a pretty amazing experience and I do miss it. I left for Sydney 8/21 basically knowning nothing about the trip. Read some material on what I would be doing and the environmental status of Australia. Basically land is being destroyed and animals are dying off.
I arrived at Sydney late because of strong winds and the plane had to divert to Brisbane to refuel. Once I got to Sydney, I didn't see any ISV sign because we were late. I was thinking.. "Uh-oh. We are late.. or maybe this was a scam the entire time." But luckly they were just sitting and waiting on the side.
Our project leader, Rosie, took us to Lithgow where we worked on Australian Ecosystem Foundation Inc. projects. They are restoring land at Wollem Valley to build an environmental friendly hotel which will lead tours around the Australian outback. We planted trees and took down barbwired fences that seperated the land that the company owns. The other project we worked on was path restoration/maintanence at Secret Creek. Secret Creek is a wildlife sanctuary with many endangered animals. They also have lots of cute animals like dingos, kangaroos and emus. The fun part: Adventure Tour 
Cairns Scuba dived/snorkeled at The Great Barrier Reef. It is absolutely beautiful. I didn't get a chance to see sharks or turtles, but I saw clownfish, giant clams, lots of corals... White water rafting at Tully River. That was such a rush and so much fun. It has grade III and IV rapids which a lot of ppl fell out of the raft. Bungy jumped from 164ft on the free day which was so much fun and scary. Went to Tjapkai (aborignal) cultural center. Tossed some boomerangs and spears with almost zero success. Airlie BeachOcean rafting: basically a big speed boat with 2 V8 engines. Took us out to sea to snorkel. Relaxed and played football at White Haven Beach. It's the most beautiful beach I have ever seen. I just kept saying wow. Fraser IslandBiggest sand island in the world. Did mostly just sight seeing. Ran down a sand dune into a green lake. Washed and exfoliated at Lake Wabby. It has pH 4.4-4.7 and the cleanest white sand (~99% silica) which makes your hair really soft. Hiked up Indian Head where we tried to spot some marine life. Saw a whale, sting-ray and turtle. Basically just giant shadows in the water. The hostel was crap tho. The bed was slanted and the sheets were all sandy. Byron BaySpent two days there. I surfed both days. Got some instructions from the surf school. I can now stand on the board. The waves were brutal in some areas where you can hardly paddle out. SydneySight seeing: Opera House and Harbour Bridge. Walked all around for about 4 hours. Got extremely exhausted. Took a cruise at night to see the Opera House and Bridge again. The next day we went to Katomba where we saw the Three Sisters and rappelled off the Blue Moutains. It wasn't as exciting as I thought it would be. But overall I had a lot of fun. | | |
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mnms21188
