23
Aug
So I finally arrived back on this side of the World this August, and boy, was it good to be back 
To be frank, I quite like the US lifestyle where everything is so organized and calm and you can really enjoy life as a whole. Don’t quite like the hustle bustle of India though you still can’t beat the food and entertainment quotient that it provides.
The journey back this time was much more pleasurable than previous occasions. I had some great company on board and time simply flew! The part that sucked was waiting 5hrs at JFK for our connecting flight to Pittsburgh in the afternoon!!! The wait was more tiring than the 15hr Air India flight !!!!!!
Once in Pittsburgh, we were fortunate enough to have some senior Indian grads host us for a couple of days at their apartments. It ended up being a full party week as every evening one of us cooked something or the other which included Dal Makhani, Aloo gobi, Pulao, Capsicum Aloo bhaji, Yellow Dal and our daily dose of scrambled eggs. It was fun getting to know the new surroundings and meeting tons of grad students everyday who, just like me had crossed shores to experience the “American Dream”.
Carnegie Mellon has a huge campus, and by huge, I mean really huge if you’ve never studied outside India! Here is a pic of what they call “The Cut” which is surrounded by the University Center and other building in the main campus. The lush green grass and well maintained buildings are a sight to enjoy. There are so many buildings that I barely know even 5 till now! Definitely need a campus tour sometime soon 
Pittsburgh in it self is a pretty good city as far as what I have seen. We’ve been through a lot of places in the city (free bus passes ) and have been quite impressed till now. I will blog about our trip to Duquesne Incline later which should prove why I hold the above opinion!
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27
Feb
It’s the time of the year when us seniors start counting down the days to our graduation, and slowly start finding a starting point in the professional world, also known as the job market. With the economy in the US being battered from all around, its wise to say that many to-be-graduates are actually considering a post-grad than a job right now. Well, I hate to digress, but this post is more about my trip to Sno Mountain this week with my fellow seniors, and the upcoming spring break rather than sulking on the future!
Sno Mountain is an absolutely awesome place if you’re a ski lover! For us ski illiterates, they had Snow Tubing, which as you might have guessed, is what we did on Thursday evening. Just one word to describe the experience: Exhilarating ! Here are a few pictures from the trip.
Top Half of the Tubing Slope
[caption id="attachment_34" align="alignright" width="225" caption="Bottom Half of the Tubing Slope"]
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If you ever get the chance to do this, I would say go for it! In India, you can do this in Manali. I did it in 2004 in a huge inflated Truck tyre tube, and it was not even half the fun we had on this slope! Its a perfect example of commercializing a simple activity and enhancing it to provide maximum excitement and entertainment.
The best part was that the Alumni association had organized free drinks and food after our 3hour run on the slopes! We topped the day off gorging some chilled beer and Chicken wings with Nachos on the side. What more can you ask now
Spring Break
Spring break starts from the 28th, and its a whole week long of relaxation and finishing all the pending work from the past 2 months! I sure have got loads piled up! Will be preparing for my GRE exam in march, as well as testing out my prototype and building some more essential features for it in the next 10 days. As they say it, Time is money, and this Spring break should be worth a lot if used judiciously! Obviously, you just can’t sit at home all day and slog out, so hitting the clubs and bars and chilling out on some yummy Indian food is also on the list of things to do next week
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