Highlights from my US Trip

My travelogues are forever late and this one is so too. I travelled both to the West and East coast when I went to the US in July this time. I basically just did a lot of touristy things and walked a lot, to the extent that my ankle got a sprain towards the end of the journey, which took almost about 2 weeks to heal. I travelled to San Francisco, Dublin, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Greenwood, touching 3 lovely states meeting a few friends & family along the way. I met Him at Stony Brook after my trip in the West and we also travelled to Boston. For little details on what all we covered and where all we went, refer to the album.

I know we can find zillions of pictures on the internet but have a look at mine too please. I can guarantee one thing with my albums that they have less portraits. That will disappoint you if you are looking for portraits. If you are disappointed enough by now, let me just share with you some interesting bits from the trip:

Someone asked me if I was an American or British?! It made me shudder. I wanted to ask ‘How/What makes you think that?’ but I didn’t.  If it was a joke, I just wanted to laugh at it. If it was a sarcastic question, I didn’t want to understand it. I just replied with a simple ‘Neither’.

Before this trip, I had always thought there was just one plant which grew in deserts, one that required less water (or no water) to grow and that it was named Cactus. But I saw dozens and dozens of different Cacti (or Cactuses) in California. Also, it was strange to find out that the oh-so-popular-California was a drought-stricken state.

I also thought Las Vegas was about young, eccentric, crazy people who love to gamble. As they show in movies, my perception was that people got engaged & married without themselves realizing. I wouldn’t say my perception was entirely incorrect. But it was also about average & sane people, happy & elderly people playing on the machines in casinos.

Vegas was so hot in the day time that one could drink a swimming pool full of water and still remain dehydrated. I realized that meals in US go hot & cold hand-in-hand. It isn’t always a hot meal as in China. People question me here if I buy a cold drink after a hot meal. They are concerned when I order cold noodles or eat ice-creams for lunch. Here people like to have warm water, hot soup, and even hot desserts.

               

Jason, our host in Boston, told us a Spanish proverb on a fine morning:
“There are 2 types of lazy people: those who get up late & do nothing, and others who get up early only to have more time to do nothing.”

Martin Roček, one of the YITP professors at Stony Brook didn’t shake hands with me (as he had flu), he shook elbows which was a unique gesture to say the least.