Belated Happy Bday Rohit
And of course if it's Rohit's bday that can only mean one thing. It's mine as well!! That's right another year has gone by filled with tons of travelling, a little bit of partying, not much learning but tons of arventures :)
Well I'm the big 2-3 now. Even though my bday was yesterday the celebrations actually started early on Thursday afternoon when I got a nice present courtesy of Camilla.
Thx Camilla :)
At the risk of sounding slightly pretentious I have to admit that I've always enjoyed my birthday. Not so much because it's a day where you get a million happy bday wishes (thx everybody!!), but more so because cuz it's a chance to reflect on how my life has changed in one year.
Last year I was about to start my fourth and final year of university @ Waterloo not having a clue what I was going to be doing after graduation. This year I'm settling into a great job that i hope to stay in for at least a few years.
Last year I celebrated my birthday in Toronto with all my good friends. This year I celebrated in Chicago with people I barely know and only met a month ago (with the exception of Aliya, Karam and HenKo of course!!)
Last year I was in an amazing relationship with the perfect girl but she was half way across the world. This year my grandmother bugs me every day wondering when I'm going to find someone.
Last year I was just starting to understand the impact that my exchange in Singapore had on my life. This year I'm just starting to understand the impact that my backpacking tour in Europe had on my life.
Last year I weighed about 160lbs. This year... well I don't really want to know.
Some changes are good, some changes are bad. But either way things are always changing; one day at a time, one year at a time, one person at a time. I wonder where I'll be celebrating my bday next year?
Coming along well
I've been in Chicago for 25 days now and I'm LOVING it. This really is a great and fun city. Always stuff going on and fun things to do. Why, this wknd was the
Chicago Air & Water show. All day you could hear figther jets flying overhead performing crazy spins, tight turns and amazing aero-batics. It was free for all by the way.
Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to watch because I was searching for an apartment. One thing that isn't attractive about Chicago is the price of renting :S Originally I wanted to get a 1bdrm, but the area that I was considering (
Lincoln Park) is quite popular with young professionals so it's a bit expensive. Yesterday I saw about 5 different apartments (all studios) but didn't find anything that really jumped at me. But today... oh man, today was completely different. I found something!!! A nice studio in a rehabbed vintage building. Basically there's this big trend in Chicago right now to take old buildings (circa 1920) and convert them into nice apartments. I saw the place and immed. knew that I wanted it. I won't move in 'till October so for a few more wks I get to enjoy my kick @ss corp digs. Don't worry, I'll put up pics soon. The view here is really quite spectacular!!!
I'm getting along well here. I've started to meet people and make new friends. Most of the them are from work, but a few outside as well. Pretty much every wknd so far I've been out partying (in moderation of course ;P) and Chicago has a really really good fun nightlife. Any type of venue you want is here. Chill lounge, R&B/Hip-Hop club, blues bar, neighbourhood pub... you name it and it's here! And of course McDonald's galour!!!
I've joined a fall rec. soccer league (which starts in mid-Sept) so I'm sure I'll meet even more ppl that way. And I've joined a "food forum". Basically a group of people that get together once a month and eat @ diff't restaurants in Chicago. So I'll def. meet ppl there whom I have stuff in common with... eating!!!
Well, it's been a long day and I gotta get to work tmrw morning. Asha's coming to visit in a couple of wks, so that should be fun. Talk to ya soon ;)
BIG CHANGES!!!
I took out the earing today!!!!
Old Dutch (Euro 2006 stories continued)
As you may remember the day after the cruise we were in Holland. Now, the trip was pretty much meant to be a by the seat of our pants type trip (i.e. pretty much no planning whatsoever). However, one of things we did time was our arrival in Amsterdam on April 29th for
Queen's Day.
Basically the entire city of Amsterdam shuts down and becomes one MASSIVE party. And I'm not exagerating. It is one BIG PARTY!!
One thing that was cool was that people had loaded massive stereo systems onto their boats and were cruising along all the canals!!
Rohit and I had a good time just walking around and soaking up the atmosphere. One thing that was annoying though was the fact that the lockers @ the central train station were closed (due to fear of terrorist activities of course). So after some quick thinking we decided to hope on a train to the airport and drop off our bags there. When you have comfy shoes you can think quickly on your feet ;)
There was no accomadation in Amsterdam for the night though so we had to go to Rotterdam instead. Rotterdam was... interesting. It's a port city so it is a lot more industrial than Amsterdam. Basically all the money is made in Rotterdam and then spent in Amsterdam. Within 30mins of arriving in Rotterdam Rohit and I saw a fight break out. Basically some guy clipped another guy on a bike and then chaos ensued after.
Our budget hotel wasn't too bad except for on minor problem. In the room there was 1 bed... for the both of us :S But Rohit was clearly excited
I however tried to hide!!
Rotterdam had a bit of dodgy vibe to it. We went out at night and just didn't get a completely safe vibe. Although to be honest our spidey senses might have been going off because it was really the first time we were exploring a city by ourselves at night. Plus the street lighting was bad :P
The next day though we found safe haven
Yes that is a giant teddy bear. It was in front of a modern art museum that actually was kind of cool. I can't quite remember which one right because I'm too lazy to look up. So till next time :)
The Mothership is coming
Of course I am refering to my parents, but I mean that in the nicest most respectful way :P
It's a long wknd in Canada so my parents decided to mosey on down to Chi-town to make sure I'm still alive and haven't made a pig sty of my apt yet. Boy are they in for a dissapointment!! It should be fun though. I haven't explored much of Chicago yet so it would be a good chance to do that. On the list will probably be:
- The Magnificent Mile (Can you say new Lacoste polo?)
- Sears Tower (and maybe Hancock)
- Navy Pier
- Generic bus/boat cruise tour
- Devon St. (Think Gerrard St. in Toronto... I do need my spices after all)
- Misc.
Last night I had a good time with my friend Leena who took me out for my first REAL night out in Chicago. We went to dinner at a decent thai restaurant and then a nice lounge afterwards. The entire way there we kept listening to this awesome ambient song that she got in Puerto Rico (think Air w/ a bit of down-tempo latin influence). And can anybody tell me what "crunk" rap is? According to her it's the latest thing. I still think The Bee-Gees are new age!!!
Welcome to The Windy City!
Well, I've finally made it!!!! Hello Chicago :D Although it wasn't easy getting here.
So, originally I was supposed to move down last Wed. (July 26). However, at the border crossing in Wpg Airport I ran into a BIG obstacle. No, not a McDonald's give away... my application for a work visa was denied :S
It wasn't really my fault though. At the border I'm supposed to have a letter drafted by my company which describes what pos'n I'm being hired for and what my job duties will entail. My company had put my job title as 'Management Analyst'.
The problem: Mgmt Analyst is NOT on the list of occupations elgible for the TN (Treaty Nafta) Visa. Mgmt Consultant is on there, but not Mgmt Analyst. So the border officer didn't let me in because of a title. A TITLE?!?!? Something so stupid and arbitrary as a title!!! The officer said, (and I quote) "You're qualified all-right to perform the duties of your position but I can't in "good conscience" grant you a visa because "Mgmt Analyst" is not on the list"! But what could I say. I wasn't about to piss this guy off and have me barred from the country for life. And who could I complain to? His boss would probably just agree with him anyways. It was just so aggrevating that this guy was sticking to the rules so much and being so anal about a minor detail.
The solution: Get the company to change that one word 'Analyst' to 'Consultant'. How ridiculous is that!! So anyways, I went to Chicago as a visitor so I could dump my stuff in the apt.
Chicago is great!!! I've only been here for a few days but I really love this city already. There's always something fun and exciting going on . Tonight I'm going to 'Movie in the Park' night, this wknd there's a free music/street festival and on the 13th Anoushka Shankar is coming to town for a free concert.
Oh, let's not forget that the Cubs and Sox are around, The Magnificent Mile is literally a mile worth of every designer label you can think of (including the recently opened Nokia store which is pretty cool) and there are a gazillion restaurants around. My kind of town ;)
People are quite friendly as well. The security officers at my office building keep complimenting my watch, wallet and sunglasses ("That watch right there is kickin") and I can usually squeeze a smile out of even the saddest looking person.
So all, in all Chicago is good. I like this city. My kind of town. Now why don't you hurry up and visit me? In the words of Gwen Steffani, "Whatcha waitin for"? :P
