Traveling and Break

Well, the holidays are over, and my first Christmas break as a college student was too short, or at least it felt that way... I guess sleeping for about 40% of my entire break would do that. But nonetheless, it was filled with a bunch of memorable stories and thoughts, some are funny, some are interesting, so here we go:

After being home for the first two weeks I noticed a few things that I definitely took for granted at home that I don't have/did not have to do at college. For example, I don't have to climb a ladder to get in or out of my bed, the bathroom is 10 feet away, and the fridge is full of actual edible and perishable items instead of cans and condiments.

It sucks having to drive everywhere. 17 year-old Garrett-with-a-new-license would probably curse me, but its a hassle if I want to hang out with friends, because I can't walk next door or about 200 feet to their dorm.

Lack of late-night social life... not saying there isn't any on Long Island, but a college campus at 2am on a saturday is still buzzing... Its pretty easy to find somewhere to hang out or something to do. The only thing 2am gets you on Long Island is no traffic and taco-bell's, 7-11's, and Dunkin' Donuts'.

I actually missed quarterdogs at ND. For those of you that don't know, QD's are hot-dogs that go on sale in our student center at midnight for.. you guessed it, a quarter apiece. Its surprising how many people show up for a hot-dog at midnight, especially on the weekends. Never has one dollar been spent so well... on indigestion.

In other news, some other things...

I pulled into the NYSC gym's parking lot near me one day over break, and there was a LINE to park. A LINE. Reason? They wanted one of the parking spots in the first 2 rows, not the last 6 Is it just me, or is it kind of ridiculous that the people going to the GYM make a visible effort to park no more than 20 yards away so they don't have to walk that far??

I turned 19 over break... woo. Now I can buy tobacco legally in NY, not like I needed to in the first place. But in other news, I was thinking about the "Happy Birthday" song, like when it is sung to you at a party. Is there any right way to act? You can't really sing it along with anyone, because its for you; You look around, but EVERYONE is making eye contact with you, so you just sit there and smile and semi-laugh along until its over... just one long awkward laugh.


Over break I did a bunch of traveling, besides the multiple flights to and from school, I also drove to Virginia for a few days. And I figured out that I despise the clueless people in the airports....
- At the auto-check-in kiosk in front of me, some lady thought you had to "double-tap" for each button in her password... which you don't have to. This required 3... THREE... employees to figure out why her password wasn't working. And 15 minutes of my time. It was the only kiosk open.
- My flight out of NY-LGA to Cincinnati was canceled and re-routed to Detroit, Michigan. The flight took off an hour late, and I missed my connection to South Bend, Indiana(where ND is.) Upon arrival, my flight, which had about 25 kids who needed to get to SB on it, were told that there was only one more flight today going to SB that was open.. and there was no one on the standby list. The Service desk was gate A43... we were at gate A8. I took off first, legitimately running down the airport 1/4 mile to the gate(Midwest airports are really spread out). 5 kids commandeered an airport golf cart and passed me on the right, but were stopped by food vendors blocking the aisle. A short while later, I was the first one the finish the sprint, followed by 24 other huffing and puffing kids. I was first on the waiting list. I ended up being the only person accepted onto the flight. Yay for being in shape. 5 kids cried at the counter. Hopefully they made it lol.
-On this same flight, I met a man who led one of the most incredulous lives ever. Literally. First of all, the setting. A dark plane cabin, super quiet. This Indian guy sits down next to me, sticks his hand out, and practically shouts "Hi, I'm Mike." In my mind, "Crap, this guy wants to talk." Little did I know what I was in for:
--- Mike grew up in southern India. He attended boarding school, then dental school. He specialized in jaw surgery, and proceeded for the next 12 years to travel the globe performing special surgeries. One day he risked most of his savings in a hedge fund on wall street.. and hit it big. Mike took 3 years off, worked in a surf shop on a California beach coast "for the half-Mexican babes", and now he travels the globe, performing surgeries and business, and finding a new girlfriend in every country. His friends drive Ferrari's and Lambo's, he's been to 70-something countries(showed me his passport), and on his off-weekends he sails on yachts and spends time driving around Dubai living the dream. He informed me that the next big thing to spend money on is land in India with cows on them, selling them later for a profit...his advice for me as an engineering student was "Forget chicks. Make money. Then the chicks will come my friend."

-Snow accumulation at ND has begun. It snows. It never melts. Ever. The snow from before Christmas is still here.. underneath another 14 inches. Great. It was also -15 the other day. TEMPERATURE. With wind chill? -42 at midnight. You know how cold that it? My breath froze in mid-air then snowed to the ground. Then the ketchup on my Quarterdog froze. Damnit

That's about it for now... it was a little dry, we'll see about next time.