My great Arventure: All booked

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

All booked

Well I haven't posted in a while (apologies) so I'll make this a 2-for-1 post.

Yesterday I booked my ticket to Chicago. Woohoo!!! July 26 is the big day :D I found out that the corporate housing they are providing me with (for my first 2 mnths there) is just a 2 minute walk to work in downtown Chicago (aka The Loop). I just hope I don't get too used to the luxury of waking up 10mins before I have to be @ work :P

A lot of people have been asking me if I'm excited about going. Well, I'm excited about the fact that I'm moving to Chicago, a wonderful and amazing city (from what I hear at least)!!! I've always imagined myself living in a big metro city like Chicago and the fact that it is relatively close to home is nice as well.

I'm already thinking about the things that I want to do when I get there to keep myself busy. For example, I will def. look into a couple of fall rec leagues (probably soccer or ultimate) and I fully intend on taking up the drums. And I don't even need to mention golf ;)

Now all that is fine and dandy, but I guess I still have the same anxiousness and nervousness that I had before I moved away from home to Waterloo, or before I headed to Singapore. Moving to a new and (really) big city but not really knowing anybody very well is a bit of a daunting task. What if I don't fit in? What if I don't make any friends? What if I was wrong and I don't get along very well with my co-workers? These are all things that are going through my head. Plus, stuff with Camilla is still in my head so I hope that doesn't mess me up too much.

But I digress, overall I'm sure Chicago will be a wonderful time and I welcome all of you to come visit me anytime you'd like. My door's always open :D

But the real reason you've come... pictures!! And without further adieu... Manchester, Newcastle and Geordie Cruise.

Well to be honest we didn't do a whole lot in Manchester. Mainly just walked around with Camilla for most of the day.

Of course Rohit had other plans (aka propoganda)

The boys!!!

Portrait of a Brown Man

Let's go eat some rocks!!

Season 5 of 24

Rohit falling in love with a statue

But me stealing his new man ;)

After walking around we met up with some of Camilla's friends (Lee, Tess and Andreas) and her brother for a wonderful meal at a nice Greek restaurant. Afterwards we went back to Andreas' place for some shisha. Unfort. your heroes weren't on the ball and didn't bring our cameras :( But we did drive down the road at 70 MPH!!!!

The next day Rohit and I said g'bye to Camilla and were off to Newcastle to catch our ferry over to Holland. I have to say though, one thing that I have found pleasant about England the two times I have visited there is the country side. It seems quite peaceful and beautiful. I am looking fwd to exploring it at some point in my life.

In Newcastle though we were mainly just killing time. So we walked around and loitered.

We also discovered that some people didn't pass Grade 2 English (can you spot the mistake?)

We also got slightly lost :D

But alas, we just headed for the big ship.

And Rohit showed his true colours.

But finally we were on board!!! Our cabin was actually pretty amazing.

What wasn't amazing though was the price of food!!! But being the smart Systems Engineers we are, we figured that out BEFORE we got on board. So, we walked on board with our dinner AND breakfast in hand :D

Then we proceeded with the usual shinanigans.

Now let me tell you something about this cruise. It wasn't a Caribbean or Alaskan cruise where you'd have some families, some young couples and some retired people. No. This was a Geordie cruise! The entertainment: cheesy Las-Vegas style lounge cover bands. The Casino: 2 VLT machines and 1 black jack table. The atmosphere: FUN, FUN, FUN!!! Although Rohit and I initially felt out of place (we were the only coloured people on the ENTIRE boat.. not just Indian, but coloured!!!) we ended up having a great time thanks a fun night club on the boat.

Ok, well mainly it was due to beer but by the end of the night we were known as 'The Canadians' and had a great time :D I don't know what time we went to bed. But I know that when I woke up we were already in Holland :P