Its been a while since I even visited my own blog! The Fall Quarter got over and it was vacation time! While I continued to work at the Chem. Lab, lot of things got sorted around that time. I chose Prof. Dan Mendelsohn as my advisor. Dan M works on Fracture Mechanics and Vibrations of Beams and crack propagation in them. And then, came the great news - I was offered a TA assignment by the ME Dept and with it came cheer and happiness. My vacation had truly started then. Within 2 days, I left for State College, PA to meet my cousin whom I had met way back in 1998 during his marriage. Remamkable things that I did during this trip:
1. Went out of Columbus for the first time after having set foot in the USA.
1. Went out of Columbus for the first time after having set foot in the USA.
2. Took the Grey hound bus to reach State College, PA from Columbus, OH. That was one helluva journey and took me close to 11 hrs. I am gonna think twice before I board that next Grey Hound bus!
3. Went Bowling and won the first ever game I played. Wooohoooo!
4. Went for tubing and almost skiied, but for my cousin, who advised me against doing it without taking proper lessons.
5. Was my first visit to an Indian temple in the US - The Sri Venkateswara temple at Pittsburgh.
6. Had lunch at an American family's house for the first time: At my cousin's colleague Prof. Robert Newnham's house. For the uninitiated, Prof. Newnham was behind making the UltraSound scan, as we know it today.
3. Went Bowling and won the first ever game I played. Wooohoooo!
4. Went for tubing and almost skiied, but for my cousin, who advised me against doing it without taking proper lessons.
5. Was my first visit to an Indian temple in the US - The Sri Venkateswara temple at Pittsburgh.
6. Had lunch at an American family's house for the first time: At my cousin's colleague Prof. Robert Newnham's house. For the uninitiated, Prof. Newnham was behind making the UltraSound scan, as we know it today.
7. Read two more of R K Narayan's books, thus inching closer to my aim of reading his entire collection.
8. Watched a movie almost every night, thus making sure that I watched more movies in the last 10 days than I have done in the last 1 1/2 years.
There ended the Dream vacation.....thuddddd! I am now back to reality. The Winter Quarter has started, but the vacation hangover made me watch all the 4 Bowl Games with all enthu and passion. The Buckeyes deserved to win the Fiesta Bowl, but the best game was the Rose Bowl game between the Longhorns and the Trojans.
Begining next week I will have to sweat it out in my new job as TA for the ME 570 Measurements Lab. My next blog will be on that! Till then, I have lot of cleaning to do at home before I begin the next week.....
8. Watched a movie almost every night, thus making sure that I watched more movies in the last 10 days than I have done in the last 1 1/2 years.
There ended the Dream vacation.....thuddddd! I am now back to reality. The Winter Quarter has started, but the vacation hangover made me watch all the 4 Bowl Games with all enthu and passion. The Buckeyes deserved to win the Fiesta Bowl, but the best game was the Rose Bowl game between the Longhorns and the Trojans.
Begining next week I will have to sweat it out in my new job as TA for the ME 570 Measurements Lab. My next blog will be on that! Till then, I have lot of cleaning to do at home before I begin the next week.....
