Happy New Year!

I just got back from a long vacation from the most happening place on Planet Earth: New York City. It was a great break from the normal busy days, no studies, no assignments, no work, and no cooking for 12 days at a stretch. New York City is great and special; it brings together people from every country, every age-group, and every culture.

My first experience of a big city in the US was quite overwhelming. I still remember the aerial view of the City at night from on board my flight when we were just about to land: it seemed like Gold scattered on Earth.

There were many things to visit, especially the most happening -- Manhattan, which houses the tallest skyscrapers, as well as the largest Fashion Stores, Music Stores, and Cafes in the world. Celebrating New Years at the Times Square and seeing the world famous Crystal Ball falling in the company of crazy party animals from every nook and corner of the globe was an immemorable moment.

The city was big, crowded, and mean. I could see more cops in New York City than the total enrollment at the University of Florida (which could be about 50,000) and I guess more cabs than the total number of cars here with traffic jampacked. The most surprising aspect was the overwhelming presence of Indians in the city. I did not miss much of home there since I stayed up with a Family that lived in one of these areas where obtaining anything Indian and imaginable was possible. I had everything from Bhelpuri to Lassi and was surprised to discover the names of one of the Grocery stores to be 'Subzi Mandi' whose owner appears to be one of the richest Indians in the City. There were Cinema Halls which only screened Bollywood Films and music stores which sold Hindi Music only.

Not just the Indian community, many other communities co-exist in the city and each of these people live in their own microcosm. I also travelled to a couple of other cities surrounding NY like Baltimore, Washington DC (which was seemed to be the cleanest and most visually appealing place in America), New Jersey etc.

My other friends had a great vacation too and almost everyone went out and enjoyed themselves. Many of them went to the warmer parts of US like neighboring cities in Florida and states like California. These are also great places for vacation and besides this, half of my classmates have either a brother/sister/family member in California which is heavily populated by Indian IT professionals. I chose to be in the colder parts because it was a great change to see snow (something which I will never get to see here because it never snows in Florida), flights getting stranded, and of course traffic and life getting disrupted which is a rare scene here.

Life is back to normal now with the commencement of the Spring term which began yesterday. So after a long innings I am back to the Pavilion!