Interesting News: Law EC 261

I routinely read New York Times travel when I stumbled upon an article that I think everyone needs to know about! It is about how airlines, including US Airlines, are REQUIRED by European Union law to cover meals and hotels if they cancel your flight for any reason.

This comes as a shock to me as I was in London the big volcanic ash crisis happened and I remember reading about people who went broke trying to pay for hotels. The article states that any carrier is required to cover people of ANY nationality flying from the EU. It even states that if the flight is cancelled for mechanical reasons then they have to pay penalties to every passenger up to 600 Euros!

I think that this goes a little overboard personally. The airlines had no control over the volcanic ash, but I wish I had known as I had to pay an extra nights hotel for having my flight on Emirates to Dubai cancelled due to the ash. I wish I had known this was the law! I even asked the airline if they would do something and they said no! Appears like they lied to me...

I hope spreading the word about this helps someone else, even if it didn't help me!

The details can be found at NYT here!! This is a must read if you fly in and out of Europe!

Is It Worth It?

Sometimes you find yourself in situations that you're not really sure why they are happening. Such is the case in which I found myself at the Today Show, waiting earnestly at 4am last Friday morning to see Lady Gaga.

Why you ask? I mean she's pretty awesome (I think) and her music is fun to dance to. I always thought that she would be a fun act to see in concert, though the $100 and up price tags are not so fun...

Thus fueled with desire to see her, but no tickets, another girl (whom I had just met the previous day) and I decided to go to the Today Show and see her. Little did we know that people had been waiting outside for 48 hours STRAIGHT for her.

We got to the show and had a decently good view of the stage from across the street. It wasn't raining, the sun started to rise and it there was cloud cover so it seemed like it was going to be ok.

First view of Lady Gaga!

Then things started to go awry. People were pushing, fanatic fans were yelling at grumpy new yorkers (read typical new pushy new yorkers), it started to get unbearably hot, there was lots of yelling and our view of the stage was obscured by all the fans they let in around it.

We managed to stay for just her warm-up songs, the other girl bailed and I tried to stick it out, but I was tired of being shoved, yelled at and sweated on all over by people that were non-purposefully standing on me. I ended up leaving 45 minutes before her real show.

Moral of the story: Never go to a Today Show concert. Not sure what I was thinking doing such a touristy thing in a city I'm living in and knowing I hate touristy things. Also, if someone is worth waking up at 4am to see, it's probably worth it to spend $100 to not feel like you're dying or might die.

Other Updates:

I'm officially going to Peru and will be living, studying and volunteering in Cuzco from August 28 - Thanksgiving. And Jolene is joining me for the Inka Trail at the end of the trip! I'm beyond excited!

I am applying to grad school this year. It's going to be a long and stressful process, but when you decide what you want, I guess there is no easy way. Now to find one more recommendation... (Seriously 4??)

I'm excited to see my Mom on her way back from Russia on Sunday! She doesn't know any of my new plans yet!

Stunning Sunset on the 4th of July from Brooklyn of Manhattan

NYC Summer Sublets

To say that my first few days were stressful in the city would be an understatement. I am (finally) excited to say that I found a great summer sublet in NYC in the West Village (my favorite area) with a girl that in the 5 minutes we talked seemed very normal!

It seems that many people leave NYC for the summer so it should be easy to find a sublet right? WRONG. Many people (like myself) also come to the city in the summer as well, so it is highly competitive to find a place.

I used Craigslist and while in London I emailed several people and set-up showings. In the 3 days between setting them up I figured that they would still be free right? No. Subletting in the summer in NYC happens lightening fast.

I had to check Craigslist several times a day to send emails and scour for places to send an email before someone else snatched it up and saw it before me.

Looking at places and running all over the city was stressful enough, but then you also had to make a decision on the spot about whether or not you wanted the room. A snap decision had to be made if the person seemed like they liked you, or by the time you decided that you wanted the room, it would be gone. This happened to me more than once. Quite stressful for the most indecisive person alive and when every place had a huge downside- this is NYC after all.

Some places had no windows in the room, one I would have lived alone, one was with a woman in her 30s that seemed high strung and had a big stuffed dog in the room (weird right?) and one was with a man in his 40s and his girlfriend who basically lived there.

I decided on the place with no windows, called the girls less than two hours later and then waited around. I got news the other two places I had seen that day were gone. And then I waited and waited to hear from the place I had finally decided on! It was ironic that the place that I chose turned out to be with also two indecisive girls... Frustrating on the other side (I finally hear from them more than 48 hours later that I could have had the room).

In the meantime I ended up finding the place that I wanted in the West Village. It was an open house so I had to act really, really interested and positive so that after meeting 10 people she would remember me and choose me. I even got there 10 minutes early!

While I was waiting for her to decide, I got word that one of the places I thought would work, the person who took it fell through. I was determined to wait for the one I wanted though and got pushy and called, even though I believed she would keep her word and call later that night.

FINALLY the apartment that I chose and really wanted, chose me too! And now I am no longer homeless and do not want to look for an apartment here again. I am 95% sure that after my sublet is up in August I will never live in the city again.

Other updates:

It is WAY too hot in NYC. I think that I am starting to not like the heat. I can't even imagine what it's like for people who are actually bothered by it physically.

I got a new South American contact and I am hoping to have something set-up for the fall. And I am planning on applying to grad school for fall 2011!

The First Travel Let Down

As far back as I can remember I had always been intrigued by India, it was a foreign world to me- the colors, the people, the animals. I remember the first time I heard about an Indian wedding and the first time that I saw one on TV. Then I moved to Spain and discovered Indian food (an unlikely place to fall in love with it, but it was one of the only vegetarian things I could find!). I had friends go to India and come back with amazing stories about how great it was. So when I decided to travel I knew that I wanted to make India apart of the itinerary and I had a friend there. Perfect.

I had already been gone for 2.5 months when I went to India. The first few days I was jet-lagged and content hanging out with my friends. I had booked a solo 6 days, 5 nights tour to Delhi, Agra and Jaipur and was excited and nervous to be traveling completely alone for the first time.

I survived the near week alone, but that is really all I can say about it. It has taken me several weeks to come to terms with the fact that it is ok to not like everywhere you go. A fact that was hard to accept when I had such high expectations of a country. The things I imagined were not true. The people were rude, stared relentlessly, didn't respect a single woman, do not take no for an answer, I felt like I couldn't go anywhere without a guide or driver, foreign tourists are overcharged for everything and the most heartbreaking of all, the food made me really sick.

India taught me an important lesson, that you don't have to like everywhere you go and not every trip can be amazing. Sometimes things just don't meet your expectations and I am only now coming to terms with it. I am sure that this will not be the first time that this happens and I will more easily accept it the next time!

Let downs are always balanced out with places you end really liking a place that you really didn't expect to enjoy as much as you did, such as Israel! (Even with a 3-day migraine!)

And I do still want to see an Indian wedding...

(As an FYI, the time I spent with my friend's family was great and hanging out, it's just not what I expected the country to be like. And the Taj Mahal was freaking amazing too!)

Other Updates:

I start Spanish class on Monday, have set-up a volunteer orientation and have scheduled 4 meetings with people to talk about my professional future! I also met a co-worker of my mom's who has contacts in Peru and Ecuador who has offered to pass around my resume!

Things are coming along!

The Caste System?

Since I am currently not really travelling anymore, it is hard to think of good topics when I am not riding elephants and camels and trying to figure out what the heck is going on every five minutes.

While I was in India there were a lot of people who mentioned the caste system. I asked someone if they had seen a lot of India and they said "no not really, because of my caste". I was pretty shocked to say the least that the caste system was so prevalent still. The guy also told me that in his caste, "people were intellectual, you know like professors and doctors, etc".

The caste system in India is still alive and well. I was looking at the newspaper and instead of classifieds, there are huge sections devoted to finding brides/grooms and it is wholly unlike (what I think) dating sites in the USA are like. They put everything out there such as, they are light skinned (important to the caste system in India), thin, height, job, caste, etc. There is no walking on the beach and candlelit dinners fluff.

Most marriages in India are still arranged, so these ads are helping to find not love, but a good match for sons and daughters whose parents were not able to secure them a prior suitable match.

It got me thinking about the caste system and if it exists at all in the rest of the world. Not being racist or thinking anything negative about interracial marriage or gay marriage or whatever. Really I think you should do what you want, I don't personally see the effects as much between race.

Where I think that it comes into account more is socioeconomic factors. Would everyone really accept if I married that Mickey D's fry guy? What about the guy that aspires to be a manager at Safeway? You can't help who you fall in love with, but would everyone else be ok with it?

I can't imagine my mom or my family really condoning a marriage that I would be struggling to make ends meet and someone without goals that my family understands i.e. college educated, grad school, "real" job, being able to support themselves and a marriage.

Really aren't there castes in the western world as well? There are stories about people from different backgrounds- rich and poor falling in love and how their families are always ok with it in the end and everyone lives happily ever after. But would this really happen?

I am not trying to rag on the people who work hard for a living and trust me I understand that it is hard to find a job (I graduated with honors in molecular biology and had to settle for a bank teller job), I just think that although most people find it shocking that the caste system exists, the USA and the western world is not immune to it.

Just some random thoughts from the last week. I am really not intending to offend anyone, I was just thinking about this.

Other Updates:

I am currently searching for a summer sublet in NYC until the end of August or so. I signed up for a Spanish class and will start later this month to position myself better to move to Colombia in the fall if that is still what happens (still the plan). Either way it is really important to me to learn more!

India: the Good, the Bad and the Funny

A few more interesting things I noticed in the last week:

1. I went to a movie and there was an intermission! I saw the movie Kites and the first half was 90% Hindi and 10% English so I was having a hard time following exactly what was happening, but all of a sudden there was a scene that was lasting longer than the others and in the right hand corner it said "Intermission". There was about a 5 minute break to get snacks or whatever. Interesting idea, but I think you can last 2 hours without needing to move or eat.
2. At the movie I heard about 5 people answer their phones and have a conversation after they let them ring out load! Not a welcome difference.
3. We went to pick up food for a lunch and we went to the restaurant and honked outside and they took our order and then brought it out to us! Neat.
4. Questions that you wouldn't ask in the USA or UK, but would look for signs or wait to get to know someone are asked freely such as: Are you married? Do you have a boyfriend? When are you getting married? Can't wait when all someone has to do is check out the ring finger to know the answer again.
5. I think servants are the key to having a great party- no clean-up, food when you want it, ice refills, bed ready when you get home with water next to it, breakfast in the morning... I love it.
6. I was really sick one day and I have gotten used to living alone or with roommates who ask you if you are ok and then feel bad, but don't so anything. I am not sure if it's a difference in culture or having a big family, but at Arush's every single person asked how I was, got me medicine, kept trying to feed me and was genuinely concerned about how I was doing. It was really nice!
7. I haven't had to explain why I am a vegetarian or worry about what I might be able to eat in two weeks!

Amber Fort Jaipur: you enter traditionally on elephants.... for a price of course

Finally, there is a funny story that happened while I was traveling with my driver. On his dashboard he had a picture of a man who is waving and it was obviously a religious symbol. I don't know a lot about Eastern religions and I was curious to learn more about whomever this man was and what religion he represented. I was tired and hot when I asked the driver: "So who is this guy?" pointing to the man in the picture, not meaning to say guy as it is a slang term. He explained that this "guy" is a god of the Sikh religion- the 10th guru and then went on to explain a little about it to me.

It wasn't until 2 full days later that I learned "guy" sounds exactly like gaay, the Hindi word for cow.

Yep I'm petting a cobra

Other Updates:

Today is my last day in India. I am leaving for London tomorrow morning and then I will be there for a few days. Then it's back to the USA! I will be in NYC June 5th! I am going to take a Spanish class and take some time to make sure that moving to Colombia is the definite right thing to do and it seems like wasting a summer in the USA would be a shame since I love the warm weather! I am looking forward to the freedom of NYC and the ability to have anything that you want at anytime of the day! Oh America...

Some of the elephants at the Amber Fort were painted very beautifully!

Oddities of India

Taj Mahal!

I hesitate to call them oddities as they are just differences, but there are things that I find really interesting traveling here.

1. When you eat at a restaurant or hotel that is touristy, you are asked to fill out a review. This is the most biased review I have ever written as the server or hotel concierge is watching you do it and the first time I made the mistake of a somewhat negative comment and not 5 seconds later the manager himself was asking me about it and then yelling at the employees. If you want a real review let me do it alone and read it when I am not there, otherwise I will say nothing bad, even if I am thinking it.
2. American movies are subtitled when they are in English with English as Indians have a hard time with our accents. I am also struggling with theirs, so no big.
3. Honking is it's own language when driving it can mean- get out of my way, you are going to slow, I am going to pass you, I am passing you, I just want to honk, turn signals, I am coming to an intersection... Horns are used more than I knew possible here!
4. There are seemingly no road rules- any lane or middle of the lane is ok, cutting people off is expected, there is no first, turn at your own risk as there are not a lot of lights
5. Roads are filled with people, bikes, rickshaws, auto-rickshaws, motorbikes, large trucks, tractors, cows, camels- anything you can think of and somehow everyone gets where they need to go, but not quickly....
6. There is traffic literally everywhere, you will be in a small town in the middle of nowhere and suddenly there is a traffic jam on the highway
7. Accidents take forever to clear as there is no infrastructure in place to divert traffic and the family of the victims comes to the site before anyone moves (at least this is the gist I got from the driver)
8. Everyone knows the word VIP for something that is very nice or expensive. "Very VIP place ma'am."
9. All of a sudden there will be a camel, an elephant or monkeys and locals think nothing of it, but I obviously think it's super cool
10. Some things are crazy cheap- like a salon haircut for $12 USD (with tip!)
11. The power goes in and out
12. The key to bargaining is that you have to act indifferent to what they are showing you, a few times I literally was indifferent and I have gotten great deals and free shipping! Great presents are coming to your house Mom! I had no idea how amazing shopping was here- jewelry, textiles, clothing.... WOW I wish I could buy presents here for the rest of my life!
13. The airport to go on a domestic flight was the craziest place I have ever been:

• you have to have some kind of flight itinerary and ID to enter the building
• You screen your checked baggage first where it must me tagged before it goes on the plane
• liquids of any kind are not allowed to carry on- no 3 oz. rule in a baggie
• you must tag your carry-on bag so that it can be stamped that it has been screened and they check it before you get on the shuttle to the plane
• security is separate for men and women and the women's side is a mass of children and women pushing to put their bags onto the xray
• the women are checked in a screening room
• all planes leave with stairs, so you take a bus to go get them
• when I told my friend that my flight was at 6:30am, he was said I didn't need to be there earlier than an hour before!
• Oh and did I mention I had to figure this out with 3 hours sleep at 5:00am???

Lastly, my friend Arush's family has been incredibly welcoming since I have been here- I have met both Grandma's, been to an anniversary party, been invited to a wedding- it is amazing and welcome change to feel so included! I have been fed some amazing food- south indian, north indian, etc. And I am looking forward to going back to Calcutta on Wednesday to sample some street food and Indian night life! PS I am going to weigh 90000 pounds when I come back as the food is so good and so veg friendly :)

Also not odd, BUT it has been ridiculously hot here- it was 115 F/ 47 C yesterday for sightseeing, if are ever thinking of coming to India come in the winter! I hear it's lovely weather.

World Peace Gong where Ghandi was murdered Delhi. Every religion and every country- really pretty and such a nice thought.

Other updates:

On friday I left to go on a tour of Delhi, Agra and Jaipur. Currently I am in Jaipur. I saw the Taj Mahal yesterday- so pretty!

The tour ends wednesday and then I am back in Calcutta. Then back to London on the first of June and then back to the states 5 June! I'm flying into NYC and will be contemplating when my next move will come and what it will be!

Another one of the Taj Mahal- just because it is so pretty.