A nice panoramic picture of the sunset we stopped to see, taken by Messay. (click to see a bigger version)
Monday, August 27, 2007
Panoramic sunset
A nice panoramic picture of the sunset we stopped to see, taken by Messay. (click to see a bigger version)
Tea Leaf
A tea leaf amongst many we saw at the tea plantation in Coonoor. (click to see a bigger version)Weekend trip to Ooty (Day 2)
Waking up in the morning was rough. I woke up two or three times during the course of the night so my sleep wasn't all that great. My back was also killing me from the bed being so hard. Anyways, we got up and decided to get some breakfast. They make breakfast for you in the kitchen. We went down and ordered some food. We were supposed to head out of the place by 9 but because of breakfast we didn't end up leaving until 9:45.
The first thing we wanted to do was book the train from Coonoor to Ooty. We drove down to Coonoor (about 45 min. drive) and went to the station there to get the tickets. We decided to go with the 4:30 train so we would have enough time to see things in Coonoor. We reserved the tickets and luckily they had room on the train for us.
Next we headed for the Sim's garden in Coonoor. We heard they had a lot of nice flowers and greenery over there. The garden was really nice, much better than the botanical garden we saw in Bangalore. Inside the garden they had a little lake with paddle boats as well. We didn't ride them because of the lack of time but it looked like it would've been fun. They had a lot of old trees there and gorgeous flowers. The fog started coming in a little bit as we were so it stayed nice and cool.
After we finished seeing the things there, we went to go grab a quick bite to eat and then check out a tea plantation. The tea plantation was really amazing. From where we were, all you could see up and down the hill was tea leaves. We decided to walk through the tea leaves for a little bit. We took some funny pictures of us hiding behind the tea leaves. The driver then gave us this fake gun he got from the owner of the plantation to take pictures with. I got a great shot of Mohammed pretending to shoot it. When we got there the fog was pretty thick all around the hill we were on. Slowly the fog started lifting and we saw some awesome sights. There was a huge hill being hidden by the fog that started to show itself. We could also see Mettupalayam from where we were once the fog cleared. The scenery was really stunning, especially the hill being uncovered by the fog.
After taking it all in, we had to go to the train station to make it in time for our train. When we got to the station, our train was on the platform on the other side. I figured there'd be some way to cross the tracks to get to the other side, but no there wasn't. We had to walk across the train tracks to get to the other side! It wasn't so bad, just weird because I never crossed train tracks at a station before. Once we got on the train we didn't really get the seats that were reserved for us, we kind of just had to find seating on the train somewhere. Matt, Dave, Richard and myself were in one row of the train while the other guys were sitting in the next row down. Also with us was a couple and their child. The scenery from the train was really nice, we saw a bunch of small houses and little towns on the way up to Ooty. Everytime we passed some children outside they would wave at the train. The couple that was in our row let us sit on their side so we could take pictures since the better view was on their side.
We reached Ooty after about an hour train ride. It was just about time to head back to Mysore then. On our way down the mountain we stopped one last time for a gorgeous sunset. All the pictures I took and any description I give of it here won't be enough to do it justice. The sun was setting behind the clouds and there was a cloud making it's way between two hills in the distance. It was the most beautiful sunset I've seen to date. Take a look at the pictures I put up to see for yourself. It was a great end to a great trip.
Now i'm back in Mysore and I have an exam tomorrow! I decided to take a little break from studying and write this up, but I should get back to it.
The first thing we wanted to do was book the train from Coonoor to Ooty. We drove down to Coonoor (about 45 min. drive) and went to the station there to get the tickets. We decided to go with the 4:30 train so we would have enough time to see things in Coonoor. We reserved the tickets and luckily they had room on the train for us.
Next we headed for the Sim's garden in Coonoor. We heard they had a lot of nice flowers and greenery over there. The garden was really nice, much better than the botanical garden we saw in Bangalore. Inside the garden they had a little lake with paddle boats as well. We didn't ride them because of the lack of time but it looked like it would've been fun. They had a lot of old trees there and gorgeous flowers. The fog started coming in a little bit as we were so it stayed nice and cool.
After we finished seeing the things there, we went to go grab a quick bite to eat and then check out a tea plantation. The tea plantation was really amazing. From where we were, all you could see up and down the hill was tea leaves. We decided to walk through the tea leaves for a little bit. We took some funny pictures of us hiding behind the tea leaves. The driver then gave us this fake gun he got from the owner of the plantation to take pictures with. I got a great shot of Mohammed pretending to shoot it. When we got there the fog was pretty thick all around the hill we were on. Slowly the fog started lifting and we saw some awesome sights. There was a huge hill being hidden by the fog that started to show itself. We could also see Mettupalayam from where we were once the fog cleared. The scenery was really stunning, especially the hill being uncovered by the fog.
After taking it all in, we had to go to the train station to make it in time for our train. When we got to the station, our train was on the platform on the other side. I figured there'd be some way to cross the tracks to get to the other side, but no there wasn't. We had to walk across the train tracks to get to the other side! It wasn't so bad, just weird because I never crossed train tracks at a station before. Once we got on the train we didn't really get the seats that were reserved for us, we kind of just had to find seating on the train somewhere. Matt, Dave, Richard and myself were in one row of the train while the other guys were sitting in the next row down. Also with us was a couple and their child. The scenery from the train was really nice, we saw a bunch of small houses and little towns on the way up to Ooty. Everytime we passed some children outside they would wave at the train. The couple that was in our row let us sit on their side so we could take pictures since the better view was on their side.
We reached Ooty after about an hour train ride. It was just about time to head back to Mysore then. On our way down the mountain we stopped one last time for a gorgeous sunset. All the pictures I took and any description I give of it here won't be enough to do it justice. The sun was setting behind the clouds and there was a cloud making it's way between two hills in the distance. It was the most beautiful sunset I've seen to date. Take a look at the pictures I put up to see for yourself. It was a great end to a great trip.
Now i'm back in Mysore and I have an exam tomorrow! I decided to take a little break from studying and write this up, but I should get back to it.
Weekend trip to Ooty (Day 1)
We had a three day weekend so a few of us decided to go down to Ooty for a nice little vacation. It takes about three and a half hours to get there from Mysore. The ride over wasn't too bad at all, we stopped at this restaurant and I ate some south indian food on a banana leaf. Our main goal for this trip was to take this special train that goes from a town called mettupalayam (at the bottom of the mountain) up to Ooty (at the top of the mountain). The scenery along the way is supposed to be amazing. Since there was more to do in Ooty than Mettupalayam, we figured we'd take the train down from Ooty to Mettuplayam first and then just take the train back up to Ooty.
When we were almost to Ooty our drivers took us to a nice scenic spot almost at the top of the hill where Ooty was. There were numerous valleys and all sorts of foliage visible from up there. We took a little trail down to a small waterfall. The rain had been falling recently so all the flowers were covered in rain drops, they made for beautiful pictures. We walked around the stream that was formed by the waterfall and took in the scenery for a while. When we were heading back to the cars the fog started rolling in. Everything slowly started getting covered by a thick cloud, it seemed like the view opened only for us to see, and now that we were leaving the scenery was going back into hiding.
When we got to Ooty we decided to pay a visit to the train station to book the tickets. Unfortunately, all the seats for the train we wanted were completely booked. So with a little disappointment, we decided to plan some other way for us to take the train. We decided we'd stay in Ooty and see the rest of the town that day, and the next day, sunday, we'd get our drivers to drive us to Coonoor (half-way down the mountain) and from there we could take the train back up to Ooty.
So next we decided to find a place to stay. We had heard about a nice, easy on the wallet place called Refelections. We told our drivers to take us there and they seem peculiarly adamant on taking us to this other hotel. We had the number for the place so the driver said he would call them and see if they have vacancy. He stepped out of the car to make the call, which I thought was a little weird. The driver came back and said there was no vacancy at the place. Rizwan, another guy from the U.S. batch on the trip, suggested we called the place for ourselves and see what's up. We did that and the lady on the phone told me our driver had called and asked if they give commission to drivers for bringing passengers there. The place didn't give commission to drivers and so the driver had told us they were booked, so we'd go to the other hotel where they did give commission. So after unsuccessfully trying to make a quick buck at our expense, the driver took us to the place we wanted to go.
Reflections is a pretty decent place. It's cheap so it's no five star hotel, but it's a nice hostel kind of environment where they make breakfast for you in the morning. We went in and dropped our stuff off. After that we decided to grab some food. We ate at a place called "The Sidewalk Cafe". The food was excellent, it was recommended by the travel book we had. The only problem was I didn't get my food until everyone else was done eating! Afterwards we went to a place called Doddabetta. It means "Big Mountain" according to a nearby sign. It is the highest peak in all of south india. The view from up there was great, we could see all of Ooty down below. We met these guys that were all dressed in matching bright yellow jackets, we dubbed them the Indian N'Sync and decided that we had to take a picture with them. (check out the photos on picasa)
We had heard from some guys that went to Ooty the week before that the tea factory there was pretty cool so we decided to check it out. They had a little exhibit there that talked about the history of tea and then they took us on a tour of the factory and showed us how they made the tea. The tea leaves are dried and then grounded up and processed through a bunch of machines before the tea is bagged and ready to sell. At the end of the tour they gave us a taste of the tea and they had a small shop where they sold all kinds of tea. They sold white tea there, I might have to go back in buy some before I leave India.
After the tea factory we decided to do some shopping. We found a store where they sold knock-off U.S. college sweatshirts. They had Virginia Tech, Ohio State, and a bunch of others. They didn't have any Maryland though, I would've definitely bought one. We walked around the town for a bit and went to dinner. I wasn't feeling very well for some reason that evening. I felt like I was getting a fever but I couldn't really tell. After dinner we were all pretty exhausted so we went back to the hotel to sleep.
There were a lot of foreigners at the place we were staying at, so when we got back there were a lot of people just sitting outside talking. We joined them for a while and got to know them a little. One of the guys is from Boston and he's working in India for a real estate company. The other people worked for the same company but were from Europe.
We stayed up until around 10 or 11 (ooo rebels, I know) and decided to call it a night. The bed was really uncomfortable though, but I was tired enough not to mind it.
When we were almost to Ooty our drivers took us to a nice scenic spot almost at the top of the hill where Ooty was. There were numerous valleys and all sorts of foliage visible from up there. We took a little trail down to a small waterfall. The rain had been falling recently so all the flowers were covered in rain drops, they made for beautiful pictures. We walked around the stream that was formed by the waterfall and took in the scenery for a while. When we were heading back to the cars the fog started rolling in. Everything slowly started getting covered by a thick cloud, it seemed like the view opened only for us to see, and now that we were leaving the scenery was going back into hiding.
When we got to Ooty we decided to pay a visit to the train station to book the tickets. Unfortunately, all the seats for the train we wanted were completely booked. So with a little disappointment, we decided to plan some other way for us to take the train. We decided we'd stay in Ooty and see the rest of the town that day, and the next day, sunday, we'd get our drivers to drive us to Coonoor (half-way down the mountain) and from there we could take the train back up to Ooty.
So next we decided to find a place to stay. We had heard about a nice, easy on the wallet place called Refelections. We told our drivers to take us there and they seem peculiarly adamant on taking us to this other hotel. We had the number for the place so the driver said he would call them and see if they have vacancy. He stepped out of the car to make the call, which I thought was a little weird. The driver came back and said there was no vacancy at the place. Rizwan, another guy from the U.S. batch on the trip, suggested we called the place for ourselves and see what's up. We did that and the lady on the phone told me our driver had called and asked if they give commission to drivers for bringing passengers there. The place didn't give commission to drivers and so the driver had told us they were booked, so we'd go to the other hotel where they did give commission. So after unsuccessfully trying to make a quick buck at our expense, the driver took us to the place we wanted to go.
Reflections is a pretty decent place. It's cheap so it's no five star hotel, but it's a nice hostel kind of environment where they make breakfast for you in the morning. We went in and dropped our stuff off. After that we decided to grab some food. We ate at a place called "The Sidewalk Cafe". The food was excellent, it was recommended by the travel book we had. The only problem was I didn't get my food until everyone else was done eating! Afterwards we went to a place called Doddabetta. It means "Big Mountain" according to a nearby sign. It is the highest peak in all of south india. The view from up there was great, we could see all of Ooty down below. We met these guys that were all dressed in matching bright yellow jackets, we dubbed them the Indian N'Sync and decided that we had to take a picture with them. (check out the photos on picasa)
We had heard from some guys that went to Ooty the week before that the tea factory there was pretty cool so we decided to check it out. They had a little exhibit there that talked about the history of tea and then they took us on a tour of the factory and showed us how they made the tea. The tea leaves are dried and then grounded up and processed through a bunch of machines before the tea is bagged and ready to sell. At the end of the tour they gave us a taste of the tea and they had a small shop where they sold all kinds of tea. They sold white tea there, I might have to go back in buy some before I leave India.
After the tea factory we decided to do some shopping. We found a store where they sold knock-off U.S. college sweatshirts. They had Virginia Tech, Ohio State, and a bunch of others. They didn't have any Maryland though, I would've definitely bought one. We walked around the town for a bit and went to dinner. I wasn't feeling very well for some reason that evening. I felt like I was getting a fever but I couldn't really tell. After dinner we were all pretty exhausted so we went back to the hotel to sleep.
There were a lot of foreigners at the place we were staying at, so when we got back there were a lot of people just sitting outside talking. We joined them for a while and got to know them a little. One of the guys is from Boston and he's working in India for a real estate company. The other people worked for the same company but were from Europe.
We stayed up until around 10 or 11 (ooo rebels, I know) and decided to call it a night. The bed was really uncomfortable though, but I was tired enough not to mind it.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
My family
Today I think I've found another beneficial aspect of my stay here, it's that I can become closer to my family. Not my family back in America, but the rest of my family here in India. I didn't really keep in touch with a lot of my family here seeing as how I lived so far from them for all my life. The last time I came to India two years ago, I tried to keep in touch with them more once I got back the U.S. but it proved to be too hard. It was just difficult because I would get caught up with school and what not and it wouldn't ever occur to me to call all the way to India.
Now that I'm here, I have the opportunity to call them and keep in touch. It would be a shame if I didn't keep in touch with them when I lived in the same country as them, so I try to talk to them as much as possible. I'm learning where I come from besides the fact that I'm Indian. Admittedly sometimes it's hard for me to keep track of people because there are people I haven't talked to in a really long time, but I want to try as much as possible.
Indian families are big to begin with, and when a family is spread across the world, it's even tougher to keep the bonds a family has strong. It's not like we can exactly set up a family reunion once a year or anything. The coolest thing, I think, is talking to my relatives that are close to my age. It's nice to know that even though we live on different sides of the world, they're my people, that's my team!
Of course the burden of keeping in touch doesn't lie just on me, and it hasn't been that way at all. Hopefully by the time my stay in India comes to an end I'll be closer to my family here than I ever have before, and I'll keep in touch with them once I go back as well.
It might sound corny but it is a good feeling to know that your family is close to you. It's just strange calling someone your relative when you hardly know anything about them, so I'm working on that and I've had a lot of fun conversations with my cousins here especially.
It's great, I'd have to say it's one of the biggest benefits I will get out of my stay here.
Now that I'm here, I have the opportunity to call them and keep in touch. It would be a shame if I didn't keep in touch with them when I lived in the same country as them, so I try to talk to them as much as possible. I'm learning where I come from besides the fact that I'm Indian. Admittedly sometimes it's hard for me to keep track of people because there are people I haven't talked to in a really long time, but I want to try as much as possible.
Indian families are big to begin with, and when a family is spread across the world, it's even tougher to keep the bonds a family has strong. It's not like we can exactly set up a family reunion once a year or anything. The coolest thing, I think, is talking to my relatives that are close to my age. It's nice to know that even though we live on different sides of the world, they're my people, that's my team!
Of course the burden of keeping in touch doesn't lie just on me, and it hasn't been that way at all. Hopefully by the time my stay in India comes to an end I'll be closer to my family here than I ever have before, and I'll keep in touch with them once I go back as well.
It might sound corny but it is a good feeling to know that your family is close to you. It's just strange calling someone your relative when you hardly know anything about them, so I'm working on that and I've had a lot of fun conversations with my cousins here especially.
It's great, I'd have to say it's one of the biggest benefits I will get out of my stay here.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Naryan Murthy Talk
Today the chief mentor of the company, Mr. Murthi, came to talk to the trainees. He is one of the original seven founders of the company and was the company's first CEO for about 20 years. He's pretty well known in the business world obviously for Infosys. I was hoping I'd get to meet him at least once during my stay here and I got to today.
He first addressed all the trainees at the multiplex. He gave a talk on the corporate values at Infosys and how important they are. WAY better than the talk on the corporate values we had during the beginning of training. When he speaks you can tell it's from the heart. Also, infosys is his brain child, so when he talks about the company there's a much greater feeling of care and obligation for the company.
After the talk with all the trainees, he wanted to meet just the US batch. He wanted to talk to us about our role in the company and making sure we're safe and comfortable during our stay here among other things. He told us Infosys plans to really step up the recruits from the US starting next year and wanted to talk to us to get some feedback as the program for hiring US trainees started just a year ago.
One of the guys in our class asked him how we should respond when someone asks us why we work for an outsourcing company, since a lot of people in the states might see us as traitors of some sorts because we're working for a company that might have been responsible for the loss of American jobs through outsourcing. He told us that basically when a company outsources to infosys they usually get a better competitive edge in whatever their domain of business is. So once those companies that outsource grow as a result of being the best competitors, they usually hire more people as a result of the growth so the jobs are back in America anyways. There were a lot of other responses he had for outsourcing and they all made sense, he's very passionate about the work Infosys does.
He talked about a lot of other things with us, I took a video of the whole talk he had with just the US batch, but it's too big to put online. Sadly I couldn't get his autograph like my mom had asked me to but I got a lot of great pictures haha.
One cool thing he did was get rid of this stupid rule that HR placed on the US batch. We had to take a bus that left at regular intervals from the campus into the city. It was for our safety so we wouldn't take rickshaws and get mugged or something like that. It wasn't such a great idea though, there would be a bus that could seat 50 people and only two people would be using it. Also, we'd have to plan our timings around when the bus left campus. One of the guys in our batch, Jeff, brought it to Mr. Murthy's attention. After that Mr. Murthy talked to the HR guy that was present and said to get rid of that rule because it's a waste of resources. Instead we now have taxis we can book from the travel desk that will take us into town and stay with us until we're ready to go back. It was pretty funny, Mr. Murthy was like "yeah, just take care of that by this evening, call up the taxi companies we know and get it done" and the HR guy just said "yes sir" and it was pretty much done. It's the fastest I've ever seen anything get done here! It was good though, at least he's level headed, and he was nice about it too so kudos for that.
He first addressed all the trainees at the multiplex. He gave a talk on the corporate values at Infosys and how important they are. WAY better than the talk on the corporate values we had during the beginning of training. When he speaks you can tell it's from the heart. Also, infosys is his brain child, so when he talks about the company there's a much greater feeling of care and obligation for the company.
After the talk with all the trainees, he wanted to meet just the US batch. He wanted to talk to us about our role in the company and making sure we're safe and comfortable during our stay here among other things. He told us Infosys plans to really step up the recruits from the US starting next year and wanted to talk to us to get some feedback as the program for hiring US trainees started just a year ago.
One of the guys in our class asked him how we should respond when someone asks us why we work for an outsourcing company, since a lot of people in the states might see us as traitors of some sorts because we're working for a company that might have been responsible for the loss of American jobs through outsourcing. He told us that basically when a company outsources to infosys they usually get a better competitive edge in whatever their domain of business is. So once those companies that outsource grow as a result of being the best competitors, they usually hire more people as a result of the growth so the jobs are back in America anyways. There were a lot of other responses he had for outsourcing and they all made sense, he's very passionate about the work Infosys does.
He talked about a lot of other things with us, I took a video of the whole talk he had with just the US batch, but it's too big to put online. Sadly I couldn't get his autograph like my mom had asked me to but I got a lot of great pictures haha.
One cool thing he did was get rid of this stupid rule that HR placed on the US batch. We had to take a bus that left at regular intervals from the campus into the city. It was for our safety so we wouldn't take rickshaws and get mugged or something like that. It wasn't such a great idea though, there would be a bus that could seat 50 people and only two people would be using it. Also, we'd have to plan our timings around when the bus left campus. One of the guys in our batch, Jeff, brought it to Mr. Murthy's attention. After that Mr. Murthy talked to the HR guy that was present and said to get rid of that rule because it's a waste of resources. Instead we now have taxis we can book from the travel desk that will take us into town and stay with us until we're ready to go back. It was pretty funny, Mr. Murthy was like "yeah, just take care of that by this evening, call up the taxi companies we know and get it done" and the HR guy just said "yes sir" and it was pretty much done. It's the fastest I've ever seen anything get done here! It was good though, at least he's level headed, and he was nice about it too so kudos for that.
Visit to Bangalore
This past weekend me and four other guys from the US batch. It was our first time in Bangalore so we were all pretty excited. We left campus around 6 a.m. on saturday (august 18th) and headed out in a taxi. Normally we would've taken a bus because it's a hell of a lot cheaper, but this taxi stays with us the whole weekend and takes us wherever we want to go in town.
The highway between Mysore and Bangalore is actually pretty smooth. There were a few bumps here and there but overall it was a lot nicer than any other roads i've been on in India in the past. People here drive around 80 Kms on the highway, that's not even 60 miles per hour, I think that's why it takes so long to get to Bangalore from here.
Once we got into town you could definitely tell. The traffic just packed on and everything got really congested really quick. We were all pretty hungry so the first stop was food. We went to a place called "The Only Place". It's aptly named as it is the only place in Bangalore that serves steak. While I'm a vegetarian myself, the other guys were pretty excited about eating steak since it's such a rare thing. From what they said the steak was apparently really good, so I'd recommend it for any beef lovers that ever go to Bangalore.
Afterwards we went to a mall. It's called the Forum. There are a lot of malls in Bangalore and they're all pretty big. The malls look just like the ones back home and have a lot of the same stores. We went to this store called "The Landmark". It's kind of like a barnes & Nobles mixed with a Target. They sell books and stuff on the bottom floor and on the top floor is pretty much everything else you could want. I got a black t-shirt that says "This t-shirt was outsourced in Bangalore" in white text. I plan on wearing it on casual friday, it should be a good time. Afterwards we went to the nike store and the reebok store to check out shoes. I bought some dress shoes from a store there since the ones I had didn't really fit well.
Once we finished with the mall we thought it was time to check in to the hotel. There were 5 of us but we booked a room for two people, so we had to sneak the other three guys in. We didn't successfully, the room was pretty nice so we all fit pretty comfortably.
After dropping off our stuff we went to Mahatma Gandhi Road (M.G. road). That's apparently the happening street in Bangalore. They have all kinds of stores there and it's all packed onto one street. That's also where a lot of the good restaurants are and the clubs and stuff. We walked around for a bit, some of the guys bought some Old Navy clothes from this store there. Messay bought roses from a girl that was selling them and tried to get the girl to give the roses to these two Indian girls on the other side of the street. That didn't work out too well, the girl just refused to do it haha.
We went to this store called Spencer's. It's not like the Spencer's back home at all. It's a grocery store and a pretty nice one at that. We walked around there for a while, got haggled by the street vendors as usual, and then left to go out for the night.
We went to this place called Fuzion. It was a nice place, the DJ was awesome too. It was hip-hop night so it was a good escape from the rock and bollywood music they played at other places. The only thing is, you can't get on the dance floor or to the other side of the place unless you're a couple. So unless you bring a girl with you, you can't go on the dance floor. That was kind of whack but at least the place was nice so it redeemed it a bit.
Afterwards we just went back and slept for a good amount. The next day we woke up and had lunch at Ruby Tuesday's. I was so happy to finally eat an enchilada. I've never been so happy to eat one before haha. It was pretty delicious. The food there was kinda pricey by indian standards but I would say it was worth it.
We also tried to go to the Bangalore palace. From the outside it didn't look all that impressive so we figured we'd just go in and ask how much it was to see it. If it was free we would've done it. The lady said it was 200 rupees for the other guys and 100 rupees for me. Apparently it's only 100 rupees for Indian people, sweet. We decided it was too much money for a not so impressive palace (especially when compared to the Mysore palace).
Finally we went to this garden place where they had a rose garden, a really really big tree, fountains, and more flowers. It was a pretty nice place, Messay took some great pictures of the place. I forgot my camera back in Mysore so all I had was my cell phone.
Afterwards we decided to head back to Mysore. It was a pretty fun trip though. I ended up having to translate and talk to the driver in Hindi, he understood english but it wasn't all that great of an understanding, so Hindi definitely helped.
I wouldn't mind being relocated to Bangalore after our training is done here, it's a big city and there's tons to do there. I could eat enchiladas everyday.....
The highway between Mysore and Bangalore is actually pretty smooth. There were a few bumps here and there but overall it was a lot nicer than any other roads i've been on in India in the past. People here drive around 80 Kms on the highway, that's not even 60 miles per hour, I think that's why it takes so long to get to Bangalore from here.
Once we got into town you could definitely tell. The traffic just packed on and everything got really congested really quick. We were all pretty hungry so the first stop was food. We went to a place called "The Only Place". It's aptly named as it is the only place in Bangalore that serves steak. While I'm a vegetarian myself, the other guys were pretty excited about eating steak since it's such a rare thing. From what they said the steak was apparently really good, so I'd recommend it for any beef lovers that ever go to Bangalore.
Afterwards we went to a mall. It's called the Forum. There are a lot of malls in Bangalore and they're all pretty big. The malls look just like the ones back home and have a lot of the same stores. We went to this store called "The Landmark". It's kind of like a barnes & Nobles mixed with a Target. They sell books and stuff on the bottom floor and on the top floor is pretty much everything else you could want. I got a black t-shirt that says "This t-shirt was outsourced in Bangalore" in white text. I plan on wearing it on casual friday, it should be a good time. Afterwards we went to the nike store and the reebok store to check out shoes. I bought some dress shoes from a store there since the ones I had didn't really fit well.
Once we finished with the mall we thought it was time to check in to the hotel. There were 5 of us but we booked a room for two people, so we had to sneak the other three guys in. We didn't successfully, the room was pretty nice so we all fit pretty comfortably.
After dropping off our stuff we went to Mahatma Gandhi Road (M.G. road). That's apparently the happening street in Bangalore. They have all kinds of stores there and it's all packed onto one street. That's also where a lot of the good restaurants are and the clubs and stuff. We walked around for a bit, some of the guys bought some Old Navy clothes from this store there. Messay bought roses from a girl that was selling them and tried to get the girl to give the roses to these two Indian girls on the other side of the street. That didn't work out too well, the girl just refused to do it haha.
We went to this store called Spencer's. It's not like the Spencer's back home at all. It's a grocery store and a pretty nice one at that. We walked around there for a while, got haggled by the street vendors as usual, and then left to go out for the night.
We went to this place called Fuzion. It was a nice place, the DJ was awesome too. It was hip-hop night so it was a good escape from the rock and bollywood music they played at other places. The only thing is, you can't get on the dance floor or to the other side of the place unless you're a couple. So unless you bring a girl with you, you can't go on the dance floor. That was kind of whack but at least the place was nice so it redeemed it a bit.
Afterwards we just went back and slept for a good amount. The next day we woke up and had lunch at Ruby Tuesday's. I was so happy to finally eat an enchilada. I've never been so happy to eat one before haha. It was pretty delicious. The food there was kinda pricey by indian standards but I would say it was worth it.
We also tried to go to the Bangalore palace. From the outside it didn't look all that impressive so we figured we'd just go in and ask how much it was to see it. If it was free we would've done it. The lady said it was 200 rupees for the other guys and 100 rupees for me. Apparently it's only 100 rupees for Indian people, sweet. We decided it was too much money for a not so impressive palace (especially when compared to the Mysore palace).
Finally we went to this garden place where they had a rose garden, a really really big tree, fountains, and more flowers. It was a pretty nice place, Messay took some great pictures of the place. I forgot my camera back in Mysore so all I had was my cell phone.
Afterwards we decided to head back to Mysore. It was a pretty fun trip though. I ended up having to translate and talk to the driver in Hindi, he understood english but it wasn't all that great of an understanding, so Hindi definitely helped.
I wouldn't mind being relocated to Bangalore after our training is done here, it's a big city and there's tons to do there. I could eat enchiladas everyday.....
Monday, August 13, 2007
More about our Chamundi Hill visit
Our trip to Chamundi Hill was really nice so I think it deserves a little more description. I went with 5 other guys from the US batch. We took the bus up the hill to the temple and walked around it at first. We already saw it from the outside from the first time they took us our first full day in India. We wanted to go inside but the line was huge. Then we found out you can pay 100 rupees and get into the mandir without waiting in line. It's kind of a weird concept for a temple but that's what we did. We had to take our shoes off a little bit outside of the temple, so we had to cross the street barefoot. It was kinda crazy, they let us in the main prayer area for literally five seconds before they pull you to the side out of the line. Then you continue to the back of the temple where they have another murti (statue of the goddess). I did some praying there and then we continued outside. We got our shoes back on and started walking down the hill.
The walk down was great, you could see all of Mysore from up there. There were other younger people walking down too. Friends go to go the temples on the weekends to pray and just to have a good time with their friends here. So on our way down there were other people our age just running down laughing and having a good 'ol time. People kept laughing at one of the guys with us, Sloan. He's really white so I guess he stuck out more than everyone else. He was a good sport about it, he laughed along with them. On the way down there was a group of kids our age resting. They saw us and just started saying hello and stuff. I think one of the guys said the girl was trying to hit on me or that I was hitting on the girl (even though I wasn't saying anything). I dunno, we laughed it off and kept walking.
There were also monkeys all over the stairs on the way down. They're cute to look at but they're a little vicious too. I wouldn't get too close to them.
We finally made it all the way down and took a rickshaw back to campus. I was beat after the climb down the stairs so I took a nice nap afterwards. I like going out and having a good time like that without having to spend too much money. I actually prefer doing things like that than going out at night to a club or something. I can go to clubs and in the U.S. too, I can't climb a hill with a thousand stairs to go to a temple in the U.S. though.
All in all it was a great trip, I want to do things like that more often so I'll try and plan something with the other guys that are interested in things like that as well.
The walk down was great, you could see all of Mysore from up there. There were other younger people walking down too. Friends go to go the temples on the weekends to pray and just to have a good time with their friends here. So on our way down there were other people our age just running down laughing and having a good 'ol time. People kept laughing at one of the guys with us, Sloan. He's really white so I guess he stuck out more than everyone else. He was a good sport about it, he laughed along with them. On the way down there was a group of kids our age resting. They saw us and just started saying hello and stuff. I think one of the guys said the girl was trying to hit on me or that I was hitting on the girl (even though I wasn't saying anything). I dunno, we laughed it off and kept walking.
There were also monkeys all over the stairs on the way down. They're cute to look at but they're a little vicious too. I wouldn't get too close to them.
We finally made it all the way down and took a rickshaw back to campus. I was beat after the climb down the stairs so I took a nice nap afterwards. I like going out and having a good time like that without having to spend too much money. I actually prefer doing things like that than going out at night to a club or something. I can go to clubs and in the U.S. too, I can't climb a hill with a thousand stairs to go to a temple in the U.S. though.
All in all it was a great trip, I want to do things like that more often so I'll try and plan something with the other guys that are interested in things like that as well.
Past few days
This past weekend we went into town again to pick up those clothes we got made a while back. I have to say i'm pleased with the way they turned out. They first great! I also got some glasses made, seeing as how the ones I have right now had to be welded together just a week before I came to India. On sunday we went up to Chamundi Hill and visited the Chamundeshwari temple. It was pretty nice, hoards of people though. There are a thousand stairs from the bottom of the hill up to the temple. We took the bus up because we missed the stop for the stairs but we did climb down the stairs. It was nice, there's a gorgeous view from the top of the hill of all of Mysore. I figured you'd be able to see that fake-me-out epcot center on campus from up there but I didn't spot it anywhere.
I made a new friend last week as well, her name is Deepa. She's pretty cool, she's my first real Indian friend so I'm trying to figure things out like what most Indian people think about the U.S. batch and stuff. I did find out that they get paid a lot less than us, more so than I originally thought. It makes sense though, we had to fly across the world and a lot of us have bills to pay in dollars back home. Deepa is from Bangalore so she tells me a lot about it, I have yet to go. She complains about Mysore a lot, I thought this place was really nice so that was a little shocking. I'm also afraid of seeming like "that guy" that spends ridiculous amounts of money on stupid stuff in front of her or any other Indian trainees in general. So I try to eat the cheaper Indian food instead of opting for domino's pizza or something. She told me that some people stopped talking to her because she made friends with people from the U.S. batch. I thought that was a little weird, I wonder that it's all about.
We have our second exam tomorrow (yeah, already). This exam is going to be about the Infosys Quality Systems. It's just an exam about how their processes work and what the normal process of a project are within the company. It should be easy but there's a lot to memorize. I hate big corporations because they have to many acronyms, it's crazy.
Also, Wednesday (Aug. 15th) is India's Independence day so we have off from work. It should be pretty sweet, I wonder what kind of celebrations they have here. Apparently they have a big celebration at the palace here in town so I might check that out. In that regard I'm glad the exam is tomorrow and not after the holiday, that way I can relax on wednesday. Our next module (class) is RDBMS (Relational Database Management Systems). Now it's getting into the part of the training that I was looking forward to. I've wanted to learn about database stuff forever, I've never done it before. Hopefully this time around i'll learn something, unlike our first module that was just about C.
Well I should be getting to bed now, good night
p.s. Suicide Bounce by Nas is a great song, check it out sometime.
I made a new friend last week as well, her name is Deepa. She's pretty cool, she's my first real Indian friend so I'm trying to figure things out like what most Indian people think about the U.S. batch and stuff. I did find out that they get paid a lot less than us, more so than I originally thought. It makes sense though, we had to fly across the world and a lot of us have bills to pay in dollars back home. Deepa is from Bangalore so she tells me a lot about it, I have yet to go. She complains about Mysore a lot, I thought this place was really nice so that was a little shocking. I'm also afraid of seeming like "that guy" that spends ridiculous amounts of money on stupid stuff in front of her or any other Indian trainees in general. So I try to eat the cheaper Indian food instead of opting for domino's pizza or something. She told me that some people stopped talking to her because she made friends with people from the U.S. batch. I thought that was a little weird, I wonder that it's all about.
We have our second exam tomorrow (yeah, already). This exam is going to be about the Infosys Quality Systems. It's just an exam about how their processes work and what the normal process of a project are within the company. It should be easy but there's a lot to memorize. I hate big corporations because they have to many acronyms, it's crazy.
Also, Wednesday (Aug. 15th) is India's Independence day so we have off from work. It should be pretty sweet, I wonder what kind of celebrations they have here. Apparently they have a big celebration at the palace here in town so I might check that out. In that regard I'm glad the exam is tomorrow and not after the holiday, that way I can relax on wednesday. Our next module (class) is RDBMS (Relational Database Management Systems). Now it's getting into the part of the training that I was looking forward to. I've wanted to learn about database stuff forever, I've never done it before. Hopefully this time around i'll learn something, unlike our first module that was just about C.
Well I should be getting to bed now, good night
p.s. Suicide Bounce by Nas is a great song, check it out sometime.
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
An Observation
When I began my training here, I thought for sure that the Indian students in the class would perform much better in the academic setting than us from the American batch. I figured it's Infosys, one of the biggest and best companies in India so they'd hire only the brightest kids. A lot of the U.S. guys felt the same way too. However, now that I'm somewhat into the training, it's actually quite the opposite. It's the American kids who are outperforming the Indian students.
We're usually done with our assignments for the day around 5 or 6 while most of the Indian students are still there working late. When the teacher asks questions a lot of the Indian students don't know the answer. I'm not really sure why this is, the things we've learned so far are pretty basic Computer Science fundamentals. They should all have CS or Engineering backgrounds if they're in the fast track so it doesn't make too much sense.
Also, when they answer questions they usually just regurgitate whatever was on the power point slide. I don't think the school system here really advocates much of the independent thinking that's pushed so strongly in the U.S. It's really fascinating how different we even act compared to the Indian trainees. I'm not saying the Indian trainees are inferior or anything, it's just interesting how much the cultural difference has an impact on the way we learn and think.
That's just my observation, there are a lot of variables that I don't know about so I could be totally off base, but from a surface inspection that's what it seems like.
We're usually done with our assignments for the day around 5 or 6 while most of the Indian students are still there working late. When the teacher asks questions a lot of the Indian students don't know the answer. I'm not really sure why this is, the things we've learned so far are pretty basic Computer Science fundamentals. They should all have CS or Engineering backgrounds if they're in the fast track so it doesn't make too much sense.
Also, when they answer questions they usually just regurgitate whatever was on the power point slide. I don't think the school system here really advocates much of the independent thinking that's pushed so strongly in the U.S. It's really fascinating how different we even act compared to the Indian trainees. I'm not saying the Indian trainees are inferior or anything, it's just interesting how much the cultural difference has an impact on the way we learn and think.
That's just my observation, there are a lot of variables that I don't know about so I could be totally off base, but from a surface inspection that's what it seems like.
Senator from Nevada
Yesterday we had a special program during our lunch break. The U.S. Senator from Nevada, John Ensign, was at the Bangalore Infosys campus and he held a video conference with the U.S. batch from here in Mysore. He wanted to see how business was run at technology companies in India and he wanted to talk to us to find out why we chose such a divergent path right out of college.
We asked him a bunch of questions about things like outsourcing and the state of science and math education the U.S. It was a pretty good session. He answered like a politician though, a lot of his answers were a little drawn out and beat around a bush some but good nonetheless.
I thought it was cool of him to come all this way and talk to us, he didn't have to by any means. Some of the things he said I agreed with as well. He was talking about how many Americans have this close-minded view of the rest of the world because we're so far apart from everyone geographically. He said Americans really could use a lesson in humility and I agree completely, even for myself.
We asked him a bunch of questions about things like outsourcing and the state of science and math education the U.S. It was a pretty good session. He answered like a politician though, a lot of his answers were a little drawn out and beat around a bush some but good nonetheless.
I thought it was cool of him to come all this way and talk to us, he didn't have to by any means. Some of the things he said I agreed with as well. He was talking about how many Americans have this close-minded view of the rest of the world because we're so far apart from everyone geographically. He said Americans really could use a lesson in humility and I agree completely, even for myself.
Gym
So I just check out the gym here on campus. It's not too bad, but it gets really crowded in the evening. It smells like no other in there from time to time too, it goes back to that whole Deodorant deal. I had to do some conversion from Kilograms to pounds and what not. I suck at working out though, Since I was sick yesterday I only worked out for a bit today. Now I'm looking for some Domino's pizza to be totally counter-productive but luckily (depending on which way you look at it) I don't know the extension for it and I can't find it!
That's all folks, see ya next time for another exciting episode of My Blog.
That's all folks, see ya next time for another exciting episode of My Blog.
Miscellanious activities
It feels like forever since I wrote in here, even though it really hasn't been. I think I should clarify, in my zealous typing over the past few posts I've forgot to clear something up. As I said earlier, I'm in the fast track, and the other track is the long cycle. Basically you take an exam at the beginning of training to see if you know enough of the basic computer science information to be in the fast track. Usually people with degrees in Engineering and Computer Science are placed in the fast track. The main difference is well...it's fast. We get right into coding and our modules (classes) go by much faster. To put it into perspective, our whole training program ends on October 9th, while the long cycle doesn't end until sometime in November. After the training here we go on site to work with a client somewhere else in India.
It's pretty nuts, today we started our project. It's a little tedious since it's all stuff I've done before. I'm sure it'll go fine. I finally got a cell phone as well. At the cell phone store here on campus they don't have all the phones right there, if you want one they don't have they order it for you from town and get it to you the next day. I wanted the Sony w200i and I asked her if it came with headphones. She didn't know anything about the phone so she called her manager and for some reason, she asked him to send it into campus that same day. I guess she thought I was being a pushy american, I wanted to tell her it was ok if the phone came the next day, but I figured what the hell. So the phone got there the same day. No one takes a card here for big purchases. I had to get 6000 rupees out of the ATM and walk over to the store and drop a wad of cash on the table. It was a little weird holding so much money in my hand, even though it's like 150 dollars.
I also was sick the other day for the first time since I've been here. I feel like it's almost a rite of passage to get sick when you come here. It wasn't so bad, it only lasted for about a day. For that day though, pepto bismol was my best friend and the toilet was my throne, yup.
When I did get sick, I found one of the best hindi songs I've heard in a long time. It has beautiful music and the lyrics are amazing too. Here is the youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7EE6cIFGo4
At work I feel a little bit like a college student/corporate monkey. College student because I live on a campus and eat a ridiculous amount of pizza. A corporate monkey because they're "training" me to work well in a group (read: cubicle) and adhere to the corporate culture (read: brainwashing). The corporate monkey business (ha!) is the same with any big company though so it's not just an Infosys thing.
Bye for now, I know my posts are long, I should work on that huh.
It's pretty nuts, today we started our project. It's a little tedious since it's all stuff I've done before. I'm sure it'll go fine. I finally got a cell phone as well. At the cell phone store here on campus they don't have all the phones right there, if you want one they don't have they order it for you from town and get it to you the next day. I wanted the Sony w200i and I asked her if it came with headphones. She didn't know anything about the phone so she called her manager and for some reason, she asked him to send it into campus that same day. I guess she thought I was being a pushy american, I wanted to tell her it was ok if the phone came the next day, but I figured what the hell. So the phone got there the same day. No one takes a card here for big purchases. I had to get 6000 rupees out of the ATM and walk over to the store and drop a wad of cash on the table. It was a little weird holding so much money in my hand, even though it's like 150 dollars.
I also was sick the other day for the first time since I've been here. I feel like it's almost a rite of passage to get sick when you come here. It wasn't so bad, it only lasted for about a day. For that day though, pepto bismol was my best friend and the toilet was my throne, yup.
When I did get sick, I found one of the best hindi songs I've heard in a long time. It has beautiful music and the lyrics are amazing too. Here is the youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7EE6cIFGo4
At work I feel a little bit like a college student/corporate monkey. College student because I live on a campus and eat a ridiculous amount of pizza. A corporate monkey because they're "training" me to work well in a group (read: cubicle) and adhere to the corporate culture (read: brainwashing). The corporate monkey business (ha!) is the same with any big company though so it's not just an Infosys thing.
Bye for now, I know my posts are long, I should work on that huh.
Sunday, August 5, 2007
Lazy sunday
It's sunday, and it's raining outside so I figured I'd write in here. Yesterday I went out into Mysore for a little bit of shopping with some of the other american guys. It was pretty nuts, I haven't been out in an indian city in a while. I knew what to expect but it was still really crazy. All the people, rickshaws and motorcycles flying inches past you honking, and most annoying of all, people trying to sell you crap on the street. I think they pestered us more because the other guys are white, they didn't really bother me but it was still annoying to have them follow us around. They just don't quit even after you tell them no 500 times. Besides that it wasn't too bad. To make up for that though, we did buy some nice things.
We went to this cloth shop to get custom fitted clothes made. I ended up getting a white sand washed silk shirt and some half silk half cotton pajamas. We have to go pick them up on thursday, it should be nice. The guy there offered us all tea, he was pretty nice. He knows how to work with Americans for sure, he wasn't too pushy and because of that we all want to go there again.
We also went to this guy that sells incense. He also offered us this black tea with lemon, it was amazing. He also knows how to deal with Americans, he wasn't pushy at all. He also kept the other people that were trying to sell us stuff away from his shop. He invited us to sit down and he told us how everything worked. He had incense, colored powders and various kinds of oils. All the stuff he had smells amazing, it's what Mysore is known for. I bought some incense from him. I bought some naagchamp incense (smells like regular agarbatti) and some lotus incense, it smells like well...a flower on fire pretty much. I lit them in my room to get rid of this weird smell. I should be lighting them for the pictures of god I have on my desk as well though.
After all the shopping and walking around we went back to the cave restaurant for some more awesome food. We then took the bus back to campus. In my experience so far, the bus is the cheapest way to travel into town. It's 7 rupees to go into town and 7 rupees to come back. The bus stops right outside campus so it's convenient too. The only thing is, it's not the smoothest ride and you might have to do a little pushing to get on the bus on the way back.
It's been raining pretty much everyday now. It rains hard but only for a short while and then it stops. I don't mind the rain here though, it's not like a downer or anything. I like it, it feels like everything is being washed clean. It's nice seeing the flora on campus after it's done raining, it's refreshing.
Also, yesterday on this channel called Star World, they were showing an episodes of the Simpsons. It was kind of ironic actually. The episode they showed was where Homer takes a job in Bangalore to train the employees of Mr. Burns' new nuclear power plant over there. Mr. Burns outsourced the jobs from Springfield to Bangalore. Homer goes there and thinks he's become a "god" of the workers there. I thought it was funny because it's pretty much the same thing I did, except I'm the one being trained and not the trainer. I guess I'm not quite a god here yet either haha.
P.S. I kinda suck at haggling, I need to get better at it for sure.
We went to this cloth shop to get custom fitted clothes made. I ended up getting a white sand washed silk shirt and some half silk half cotton pajamas. We have to go pick them up on thursday, it should be nice. The guy there offered us all tea, he was pretty nice. He knows how to work with Americans for sure, he wasn't too pushy and because of that we all want to go there again.
We also went to this guy that sells incense. He also offered us this black tea with lemon, it was amazing. He also knows how to deal with Americans, he wasn't pushy at all. He also kept the other people that were trying to sell us stuff away from his shop. He invited us to sit down and he told us how everything worked. He had incense, colored powders and various kinds of oils. All the stuff he had smells amazing, it's what Mysore is known for. I bought some incense from him. I bought some naagchamp incense (smells like regular agarbatti) and some lotus incense, it smells like well...a flower on fire pretty much. I lit them in my room to get rid of this weird smell. I should be lighting them for the pictures of god I have on my desk as well though.
After all the shopping and walking around we went back to the cave restaurant for some more awesome food. We then took the bus back to campus. In my experience so far, the bus is the cheapest way to travel into town. It's 7 rupees to go into town and 7 rupees to come back. The bus stops right outside campus so it's convenient too. The only thing is, it's not the smoothest ride and you might have to do a little pushing to get on the bus on the way back.
It's been raining pretty much everyday now. It rains hard but only for a short while and then it stops. I don't mind the rain here though, it's not like a downer or anything. I like it, it feels like everything is being washed clean. It's nice seeing the flora on campus after it's done raining, it's refreshing.
Also, yesterday on this channel called Star World, they were showing an episodes of the Simpsons. It was kind of ironic actually. The episode they showed was where Homer takes a job in Bangalore to train the employees of Mr. Burns' new nuclear power plant over there. Mr. Burns outsourced the jobs from Springfield to Bangalore. Homer goes there and thinks he's become a "god" of the workers there. I thought it was funny because it's pretty much the same thing I did, except I'm the one being trained and not the trainer. I guess I'm not quite a god here yet either haha.
P.S. I kinda suck at haggling, I need to get better at it for sure.
Thursday, August 2, 2007
First day of real training
Today we started the first day of training. I'm in the fast track because I did CS in college and what not. If things keep up the way they went today though, i'm gonna start wishing I was in the long cycle! All the people from America in the fast track missed the first half of class today because most of us had to go see the Police Commissioner to get registered to stay in India. When we got back it took about 5 min. to catch up on everything we missed, since it was the first day and all. But soon after, we got our assignments for the day. We had to do 11 assignments before 9 a.m. tomorrow. The assignments weren't hard, just very very tedious.
It took us a while to finish them, a few people decided to come back later in the evening to do it. It wasn't soooo bad because it was easy stuff, but I can't imagine having to do so many small programming assignments when things get tougher. We have to do about 10 more tomorrow, but they're not due until monday at 9 a.m. I don't want to do anything over the weekend though, so I'll try and knock them out tomorrow. It's interesting though, it was all review stuff from a basic C programming class but just tedious as all hell.
Today on campus there's a DJ night. You can hear the techno music blasting across the campus. I'm gonna go check it out in a bit, hopefully it won't be a bunch of Indian guys standing around while the music blares. It should be fun, we'll see how it goes. Good opportunity for the camera huh.
Last night I found myself missing home. Well, I've been missing it since I left, but last night it was more than usual. I'm not really sure why I missed it so much. I miss the comfort, being able to wake up the next morning and know that all the people that I care about aren't too far away. I'm gonna miss my college experiences for sure, I've come to terms that they aren't coming back. I hope once I get back home things won't have changed too much, I'm already looking forward to seeing everyone again.
Although, I see my trip over here as a new opportunity to see new things and meet new people. So far I've been doing just that. I wonder if I'll be able to tell my kids (assuming I ever have any) that I worked in another country right out of college. That'll give those little punks something to live up to haha. The people here are really nice and every day there's something new to see, to learn, to eat, or to be frustrated with. It's great, I'm out of my comfort zone and it doesn't feel too shabby.
It's great here, but it's not like back home at all. I think today may be the beginning of my professional career, kind of an interesting start I think.
It took us a while to finish them, a few people decided to come back later in the evening to do it. It wasn't soooo bad because it was easy stuff, but I can't imagine having to do so many small programming assignments when things get tougher. We have to do about 10 more tomorrow, but they're not due until monday at 9 a.m. I don't want to do anything over the weekend though, so I'll try and knock them out tomorrow. It's interesting though, it was all review stuff from a basic C programming class but just tedious as all hell.
Today on campus there's a DJ night. You can hear the techno music blasting across the campus. I'm gonna go check it out in a bit, hopefully it won't be a bunch of Indian guys standing around while the music blares. It should be fun, we'll see how it goes. Good opportunity for the camera huh.
Last night I found myself missing home. Well, I've been missing it since I left, but last night it was more than usual. I'm not really sure why I missed it so much. I miss the comfort, being able to wake up the next morning and know that all the people that I care about aren't too far away. I'm gonna miss my college experiences for sure, I've come to terms that they aren't coming back. I hope once I get back home things won't have changed too much, I'm already looking forward to seeing everyone again.
Although, I see my trip over here as a new opportunity to see new things and meet new people. So far I've been doing just that. I wonder if I'll be able to tell my kids (assuming I ever have any) that I worked in another country right out of college. That'll give those little punks something to live up to haha. The people here are really nice and every day there's something new to see, to learn, to eat, or to be frustrated with. It's great, I'm out of my comfort zone and it doesn't feel too shabby.
It's great here, but it's not like back home at all. I think today may be the beginning of my professional career, kind of an interesting start I think.
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