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For those of you who don’t know my story, here’s a good explanation of why I haven’t been so hot on NY thus far this summer.

#1 – First sublet – a pretty good location in UWS. Subleaser was a lady from Trinidad, very casual, didn’t explain anything. Our oven was broken, so I called asking to get it fixed.

This turned into the landlord finding out that we were subletting illegally, and us getting kicked out of our apartment.

#2 – in ridiculously short notice, we found a second apartment. Our landlord, who called herself the “queen of the east village” has routinely ruining her oven, causing smells in the kitchen, leaving crumbs for ghost mice. Then, she calls me back all apologetic, but never apologetic about what she accused me off. Basically, she’s a schitzo.

# 3 – Wallet. My wallet stolen while playing basketball in Harlem by little kids. In a pack with others wallets, but only mine was stolen.

#4 – Driving Test – This resulted in my not being able to take my girlfriend on her driving test, even though the police department told me that I could drive with a copy and my ID. We woke up at 8AM and took a broken train barely made it to the test site then couldn’t drive.

#5 – GRE – two days later, Young couldn’t take the GRE because her passport was at the embassy being renewed. $150 down the drain.

This doesn’t include the minor annoyances of life in NY, of trying to study for school. This doesn’t include not being to apply for classes because I didn’t have the never-posted prerequsite and didn’t prepare for an exam.

So…I assume things will get better? Either way, im not particularly down.

#5 -

First – apologies for the website being down for so long. I had a confluence of issues with my web host (mixed with my wallet being stolen) and my domain registrar simultaneously)

It seems unbelievable that I’ve been in New York City already for a month and a half. Time passes differently in a place where you rarely see the sky. In summer time, you’re merely avoiding the sky and the sun, in the baking city that always feels much hotter than it actually is.

I never loved NY. I came here for one reason – school, and this inner feeling that I should give New York a chance sometime in my youth. Columbia was my top choice, and studying international policy in NYC seemed like a no-brainer. But that was it. I was scared about the urbanity, scared about the lack of nature, and scared about the lack of good Mexican food too.

So, my initial impressions of NYC. Feel free to post your own comments below.

1) Nature. I’m sick of people telling me when I miss nature, that “well, there is central park.” I’ve also barely met anyone who goes camping, or does outdoors activities (going to Long Island or Jersey beaches doesn’t count as outdoor activities). People here really lack any connection to nature.

2) Rules. Compared to the west coast, where rules seem to be made to be broken, New York seems to have rules that have to be broken, with layers of middlemen, just to survive.

3) Can’t let go. I’ve, many times, had people who feel it necessary to complain about one of my actions, possibly wrong or illegal, but in the end, doesn’t affect them at all. Usually, there are bystanders. I think it’s cause people are so miserable, they need to spread the wealth.

Everyone keeps telling me I’ll love it. Sometimes, I think they’re telling me that to convince themselves. As for me, I’ll enjoy my two years here, but NYC has nothing on the other cities I’ve lived in the US. So far, I prefer LA, SF, SD, and even Kansas City.

I can’t fathom people who love a place that is so artificial. Sure, it’s fun. Sure, it’s diverse. But it’s a concrete jungle, a city that’s alive at night, that’s artificially hot, where people leave the doors open. Other contradictions bemoan me – how can New Yorkers claim to be green when there are no recycle bins anywhere, no citywide compost, and the stores are allowed to keep their doors open, wasting loads of energy?

My life for almost 10 days was summed up above. Waking up while the moon was still out, shining bright light onto the golden cliffs of the lower Sierra foothills just south of Yosemite. I was enclosed, as the teacher said, in a prison, a tiny area which I could walk in just 10 minutes, the same few walking trails again and again.

My only companions the sounds of nature and chanting. Everything else, Noble Silence.

–

I arrived in the middle of the day, day 0. I went in, registered, and walked back to my car for one last time. I was overcome with emotions, fear, realizing that this was it, I was here for 10 days. I’d have one last chance to connect with the outside world, so I reached in for my cell phone.

Shock.

No reception.

Waves of fear swept through my body. My hands shook. I shuddered.

For the next 10 days, I was alone. Disconnected. No books. No writing. No Pens. Nothing except my thoughts for 10 days.

–

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The next step in my life path has been set. I’ll be joining the halls of privilege, ivy lined with prestige, at Columbia University this fall. Here is an account of my journey.

I can’t remember the first time that I heard about Columbia. Probably, it was back in elementary school, when they told us about the greatest Universities in the world, the Ivy Leagues. But New York City was nothing but a ghostly enigma to me, a city I’d never seen, didn’t have any interest in seeing. My life was pointed decidedly westward, towards my birthplace, my destiny firmed in California.

It wasn’t until graduation, and not until I’d visited many of the great cities of Europe before I, along with many of my friends from California, set foot in New York. Cold, a big suffocating, and drab, the city left me eager to learn more. I returned two years later, after traveling around the world, with a new goal in mind.

Graduate School.

I remember stepping into the large, grey concrete edifice that is the School of International Public Affairs, SIPA, taking the slow elevator up to the conference room. I immediately felt inadequate. The person in front of me was a graduate of Oxford, and had worked in Africa for many years. To my right, a Harvard graduate who’d had several articles published.

And me? A guy who graduated with an unrelated degree (communication) and who’d just spend 13 months traveling.

–

You know the rest of the story (if not, click on these tags – San Francisco, Barack Obama, 2008, and Iowa). Two years later, with a much stronger resume, and more focus, I reapplied, got accepted, and this fall, I’m eager, if nervous, to start the next adventure in my life.

Life works in strange ways. I departed, after quitting my job, to Europe for five weeks, mostly to decompress from two years of office work. I’d quit my job without knowing if I’d gotten into any of the three schools that I had applied for, nor with any other plan if graduate school failed. I had about five thousand dollars that slowly began to get burned by the exchange rate in Europe (not as fast as expected, though, thanks Greece!)

I ignored those thoughts and tried, successfully, to have fun. Then I flew home, exhausted. The next morning, I woke up. Checked my email while my parents drank coffee.

Columbia.

Oh shit.

….

I GOT IN!

Thank you life!

—

So I’m moving to New York this fall. I couldn’t have imagined this five years ago. But it does mean the end of my California dream. For my entire life, California was the beacon of hope, and for the past nine years since I graduated from College, it was essentially, my home. Though I left often, whether to study abroad, travel, or return to Kansas for a summer, it was my base. Now, I am truly saying goodbye as life leads me in other directions.

Bon Voyage, California. You’ll always be in my heart, but, I don’t think I’ll be back.

I’ve become a lot more emotional lately – and this Ted talk twice brought me to tears. It’s true – a single act of uninhibited kindness can shatter your inner wall against hatred and fear. And yes, I do believe that humanities essence, deep inside, is good.

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Following the rush of babies named “Barack” (us strange-named folks know the real barrier that Obama broke wasn’t the race barrier, but the strange-name barrier), everyone’s searching for the next hot strange-name to take over America.

I think this might be the start of a new trend? From my friend Divya:

I had an interesting story to share with you. Some friends of my parents were considering different names for their son (due in December). They happened to be looking over my shoulder on facebook, and you were online on chat. They saw your name and fell in love with it. They are now naming their son Nithin.

: )

I, for one, can’t wait until the day when Americans everywhere can pronounce my name correctly.

View US Roadtrip 2010 in a larger map

We were walking up to the mountain in the center of Montreal, from which the city gets it’s name, through the dense forests of bare, winter trees, with a spattering of pine providing glimpses of green. Like almost everywhere I’ve been since starting my travels in January, Montreal, like Utrecht, Berlin, Paris, Munich, Chicago, and Montpellier, is supposed to be much nicer in the summer.

Montreal, my friends Simon and Chantal, who I’d met in Granada, Spain, told me, is amazing in the summer.

At the top of Mont-Royal, we could see a vista of the city. Though the vista was beautiful, it wasn’t spectacular. From here, Montreal looked like any other typical North American city.

My girlfriend, Young, said it best, “It’s must more beautiful from below.”

From below, looking up from the street, Montreal was eclectic. With few buildings taller than 2 or 3 stories, the winding, outdoor staircases on every building, the red brick atmosphere, and pervasive street art, and some of the best breweries I’d ever been to anywhere in the world, Montreal was spectacular not in it’s grand edifices, but in it’s details. To enjoy Montreal, you had to see what was in-between the lines.

Rare that I find a city I think I could live in. But Montreal…perhaps. Perhaps.

Photos coming soon!

Sorry for the long delay between posts – but, without further adieu, the next phase in my adventures. A roadtrip across America, starting last week. Here’s a map which will be updated as I go with the progress.

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Right now, I’m in Ann Arbor, Michigan, visiting my friend Pelumi Osoba, after spending a few days in Chicago with my friend Varun. From here, I go east for several weeks, then make my way back across the country to Kansas City, then Los Angeles for a wedding. At least, that’s the plan…