Life sucks here a bit. Apart from the travel I dont seem to have much of a life- not too many friends and not too many things to do.
An ah yes- I got into Stanford and got rejected at Caltech. But I havent got aid so it doesnt really look like I am going to go.
Wednesday, March 31, 2004
Barcelona
Spent the Sunday and Monday in Barcelona. Amazing place. More fun than any other city I have been to- ever. Nice food. Cheap. Great Waiterfront. For 7 euros I had a N course lunch- Entree, Main Plat, Dessert, Post Lunch Tea and Wine to go with the food and did I mention that it was a sit down dinner with waiters and fancy cutlery.
Thursday, March 25, 2004
Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Lake Constance, Brussels
Trip Started: Friday 19th, 10 PM
Trip Ended: Thursday 25th, 10 AM
Travelling inside Germany is like travelling in a well santized hospital. Though a little unartistic one.But it was fun. Liked going in the trains. They are so empty, you can just settle down and sleep.
Lake Constance is in Southern Germany- it is the junction between Austria, Germany and Switzerland. Beautiful. From the German side you can see the Alps.
Met my friend Raghav. Stayed with him in this place called Mettingen, a Stuttgart suburb. Also went to the Merc and Porshe musuems. That was the cool part of the trip.
Brussels was ok. Not much to see though. Has something called Trappiste Beer which is the old style beer thatw as made in monastries- worth trying.
Trip Ended: Thursday 25th, 10 AM
Travelling inside Germany is like travelling in a well santized hospital. Though a little unartistic one.But it was fun. Liked going in the trains. They are so empty, you can just settle down and sleep.
Lake Constance is in Southern Germany- it is the junction between Austria, Germany and Switzerland. Beautiful. From the German side you can see the Alps.
Met my friend Raghav. Stayed with him in this place called Mettingen, a Stuttgart suburb. Also went to the Merc and Porshe musuems. That was the cool part of the trip.
Brussels was ok. Not much to see though. Has something called Trappiste Beer which is the old style beer thatw as made in monastries- worth trying.
Wednesday, March 17, 2004
Future Plans
Over the last week I got into University of Illinois Urbana Champaign and the University of Texas Austin. Got an open offer, 1536 $ a month, not the highest around but good enough. So, as for now I am heading to UIUC. Caltech and Stanford are yet to come but they are pretty far shots in any case. So there is a pretty high chance I am going to spend the next few years of my life in Illinois.
I am out of here!
Well for the last few weeks I have been having a minor saga with my visa. I was not sure if it is possible to leave France with my current visa. As those familiar with large administrative bodies will agree, getting any kind of useful information out of these things is a pain in the ass. So I have spent the last 2 weeks showing my visa to random people, visiting the local prefecture half a dozen times and generally being a anxious pain to those around me. Well, finally I got lucky, I got my friend Aravind to call the local prefecture (for the 3rd time I must say) and somehow a person who knew the rules answereed the phone. And he (or she?) said yes.
There is also another reason why its good. I just bought a 60 day bus pass for 310 euros. Unlimited bus travel inside Europe. If my visa got messed up, its 310 euros down the drain.
So this Friday I will be leaving for Frankfurt or some ger and hopefully every weekend I can 'do' a country every weekend. Fun right. Its kind of boring to travel alone, maybe in the coming weeks I can plan things better and get hold of some travel partners.
There is also another reason why its good. I just bought a 60 day bus pass for 310 euros. Unlimited bus travel inside Europe. If my visa got messed up, its 310 euros down the drain.
So this Friday I will be leaving for Frankfurt or some ger and hopefully every weekend I can 'do' a country every weekend. Fun right. Its kind of boring to travel alone, maybe in the coming weeks I can plan things better and get hold of some travel partners.
Friday, March 05, 2004
Topic of the Day (TOTD)- Perfume (Parfum en Francais)
The last few days have been interesting- of all the things that one can do in the world I have been trying to buy a designer (=expensive) cologne. Since I am going to blow 40+ euros I though I might learn as much about perfumes as possible. Its also lot of fun, i go to the shop, smell perfumes, ask for samples-these people take their perfumes seriously-they understand that choosing a perfume 'is a difficult thing to do'- acutally i agree especially because I am going to spend 40 euros. Yeah, I keep ranting about 40 euros, from where I come from its a lot of money.
Apparently it isnt such a simple thing - there are 'classes' of perfumes- sweet ( smells of vanilla , chocolate ), sour/sharp (smells of lemon, orange), woody ( smells of musk, smoke, tobacco- old men smells) . There are also notes, perfumes have 3 notes, the first note is what you smell initially, then you go to the second note and the longterm smell is the third note. I hated perfumes that smelt of vanilla (reminds me of cheap ice cream) and those that smell sharp/lemony (remind me of airline toilets- dont ask me why).
After much experimentation and a lot free take home samples-
Givenchy pour Homme(this one is amazing) sweet + woody
Rochas Man(nice) sweet
Baldessarini by Hugo Boss
Polo (this is usually worn by 'fathers' and 'uncles') woody
Vetiver by ?? . This smell is similar to Givenchy so its good. sweet + woody
There is one more called Old Irish Tweed that is worn by people like Prince Charles, Robert Redford etc. I didnt find it in a shop yet, atleast it didnt catch my eye- gotta try this one out.
There are some cologne type scents, nice smelling but smell like expensive aftershave, good if you dont want to have others complain about a headache.
Aqua di Gio by Armani
212 Men by Carolina Herrera
The disgusting ones-
Gucci Envy- headache for 35 euros
A Man by Rochos- reeks of chocolate
Le Male by ?? - vomitingly sweet, its like putting your nose into vanilla concentrate
These are supposed to be 'best sellers'. They are a lot of bad ones that are actually bad.
This list has been compiled with a LOT of effort so you can trust it! But its always a personal thing, so you may not always agree with me.
Apparently it isnt such a simple thing - there are 'classes' of perfumes- sweet ( smells of vanilla , chocolate ), sour/sharp (smells of lemon, orange), woody ( smells of musk, smoke, tobacco- old men smells) . There are also notes, perfumes have 3 notes, the first note is what you smell initially, then you go to the second note and the longterm smell is the third note. I hated perfumes that smelt of vanilla (reminds me of cheap ice cream) and those that smell sharp/lemony (remind me of airline toilets- dont ask me why).
After much experimentation and a lot free take home samples-
Givenchy pour Homme(this one is amazing) sweet + woody
Rochas Man(nice) sweet
Baldessarini by Hugo Boss
Polo (this is usually worn by 'fathers' and 'uncles') woody
Vetiver by ?? . This smell is similar to Givenchy so its good. sweet + woody
There is one more called Old Irish Tweed that is worn by people like Prince Charles, Robert Redford etc. I didnt find it in a shop yet, atleast it didnt catch my eye- gotta try this one out.
There are some cologne type scents, nice smelling but smell like expensive aftershave, good if you dont want to have others complain about a headache.
Aqua di Gio by Armani
212 Men by Carolina Herrera
The disgusting ones-
Gucci Envy- headache for 35 euros
A Man by Rochos- reeks of chocolate
Le Male by ?? - vomitingly sweet, its like putting your nose into vanilla concentrate
These are supposed to be 'best sellers'. They are a lot of bad ones that are actually bad.
This list has been compiled with a LOT of effort so you can trust it! But its always a personal thing, so you may not always agree with me.
Wednesday, March 03, 2004
An update on whats going on in my life
Plan US of A- I got into University of Michigan Ann Arbor, Ph. D. but I havent got my aid details yet. But I am reasonably sure I will be getting aid coz my decision came way early. This year the application scence has been bad! Some of my friends havent got anything and many of the univs that give us admits year after year have dumped us. I still havent got 4/6 results.But whatever, I feel pretty lucky to have a univ considering whats happening to my classmates. Leaving is September. I will be back in Madras in June, so I am looking forward to 3 months of general fun.
Le Plan Francais- Il marche comme si comme ca. Its going like this like that. Its improving but I am not sure if it will improve fast enough for me to be able to speak before I leave. But nowadays I insist that French people speak to me in French ( they try to practice their English with me - bad people very bad).
Le Plan Touriste- Apparantly my visa is valid only for France. Need to get one more to travel. I actually like having visas stuck on my passport, so I am not really angry. I am also making slicha ambitious plans of going to Morocco ( its Africa u see- a different continent), because the bus pass that I plan to buy includes Casablanca and Rabat. The visa is 15€ and living costs should be low and going is free anyway, just the cost of the pass.
Le Plan Francais- Il marche comme si comme ca. Its going like this like that. Its improving but I am not sure if it will improve fast enough for me to be able to speak before I leave. But nowadays I insist that French people speak to me in French ( they try to practice their English with me - bad people very bad).
Le Plan Touriste- Apparantly my visa is valid only for France. Need to get one more to travel. I actually like having visas stuck on my passport, so I am not really angry. I am also making slicha ambitious plans of going to Morocco ( its Africa u see- a different continent), because the bus pass that I plan to buy includes Casablanca and Rabat. The visa is 15€ and living costs should be low and going is free anyway, just the cost of the pass.
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