Dec 29, 2010
The Lone Star State Road Trip: Day 1
Yesterday, the big road trip began. The group traveling consists of my parents, my older brother, and the following car.
We left Dallas at around 2.30 pm after renting a car for a week. The first "mission" was just to get the hell outta Dallas. Because traffic there is very busy, slightly crazy, and not at all fun. So we did just that. Our first stop on the road was the small town Kaufman (very fitting, I know). We went for a pleasant stroll around Kaufman and took a couple of nice pictures.
We spent the night in a very nice hotel in Nacogdoches, the oldest town of Texas. After dinner we went for a walk around the center to see the Christmas decorations. However, since it was already evening when we got there, we postponed the proper sightseeing to the next day.
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| My older brother and my parents |
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| Our car |
We left Dallas at around 2.30 pm after renting a car for a week. The first "mission" was just to get the hell outta Dallas. Because traffic there is very busy, slightly crazy, and not at all fun. So we did just that. Our first stop on the road was the small town Kaufman (very fitting, I know). We went for a pleasant stroll around Kaufman and took a couple of nice pictures.
We spent the night in a very nice hotel in Nacogdoches, the oldest town of Texas. After dinner we went for a walk around the center to see the Christmas decorations. However, since it was already evening when we got there, we postponed the proper sightseeing to the next day.
Before the Big Road Trip
Okay, so before I can actually write about my Texan road trip, it's important to explain what happened right before that. I planned on leaving Portland for Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) on December 20, but due to quite a substantial amount of snow fall within a very short amount of time, namely one hour before I was supposed to catch my plane, my trip down south was delayed until the morning of December 22.
On Wednesday at around noon I finally arrived in DFW and was picked up by my parents, who had arrived on Monday as planned, and my older brother and his girlfriend. The next few days, including Christmas, were spent with the family of my brother's girlfriend in DFW, or, to be more precise, in a suburb called Rowlett. During this time we went to an amazing steak house (hard to believe that a vegetarian would say that, right?), visited the old stock yards in Fort Worth and downtown Dallas, went shopping in the huge shopping center Northpark in Dallas, celebrated Christmas with the closest family at first and the extended family of my brother's girlfriend later.
On Monday, December 27, 2010, my road trip through Texas began. More on that in my next blog post.
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| Stock yards in Forth Worth |
On Wednesday at around noon I finally arrived in DFW and was picked up by my parents, who had arrived on Monday as planned, and my older brother and his girlfriend. The next few days, including Christmas, were spent with the family of my brother's girlfriend in DFW, or, to be more precise, in a suburb called Rowlett. During this time we went to an amazing steak house (hard to believe that a vegetarian would say that, right?), visited the old stock yards in Fort Worth and downtown Dallas, went shopping in the huge shopping center Northpark in Dallas, celebrated Christmas with the closest family at first and the extended family of my brother's girlfriend later.
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| Downtown Dallas |
On Monday, December 27, 2010, my road trip through Texas began. More on that in my next blog post.
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| Me, very happy, at a steak house |
Dec 28, 2010
The Lone Star State
At the moment I'm on a road trip through the Lone Star State, aka Texas, with my parents and my older brother. Since it's still early and I'm a bit tired after traveling quite a bit yesterday, I will start posting about Texas tonight. At first I'd like to recap on my time in Dallas anyway, because that's where I spent the last week.
More later. So far, enjoy this fella I met on my way...
More later. So far, enjoy this fella I met on my way...
'Tis the Season to be Jolly
I know, I know. It's been quite a while. But I've made a resolution. I don't actually believe in resolutions for New Year's, I'm more of a "do-it-now-or-never" kinda gal. So here goes: I want to post more regularly. Especially now, since I just started a week-long road trip through Texas with my family. At some point everything that's happening will just be too overwhelming, so I'll try to find about an hour every day to post what's going on. That is one of the "advantages" of traveling with my family - I don't go out as much at nights and thus have more time.
So Christmas is already over but I really enjoyed experiencing it in the US this year. Even beforehand I was eager to see how crazy Americans would be about it, considering what I had seen for Halloween. Soon after Halloween, the first people started to decorate their houses with Christmas lights and ornaments and I couldn't help but complain more than once about the hideous Christmas decorations I encountered (in my opinion).
Still, there were a lot of things I also enjoyed about this time of year. The first snow, baking Christmas cookies, snow ball fights, making egg nog from scratch, snow day, buying hideous Christmas decorations + jewelery + sweater myself, to name but a few.
Then there were the Christmas trees, Christmas songs (to a certain extent), and ugly Christmas sweater parties that I enjoyed. And in general just hanging out with my new families in the US.
There is some more I could tell about Christmas in particular but I might do that at a later point. So that's my recap of Christmas in the US so far. It was slightly crazy but also enjoyable.
So Christmas is already over but I really enjoyed experiencing it in the US this year. Even beforehand I was eager to see how crazy Americans would be about it, considering what I had seen for Halloween. Soon after Halloween, the first people started to decorate their houses with Christmas lights and ornaments and I couldn't help but complain more than once about the hideous Christmas decorations I encountered (in my opinion).
Still, there were a lot of things I also enjoyed about this time of year. The first snow, baking Christmas cookies, snow ball fights, making egg nog from scratch, snow day, buying hideous Christmas decorations + jewelery + sweater myself, to name but a few.
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| Egg nog |
Then there were the Christmas trees, Christmas songs (to a certain extent), and ugly Christmas sweater parties that I enjoyed. And in general just hanging out with my new families in the US.
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| Christmas tree in my dorm room (probably illegal) |
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| Friend's Christmas tree decorations |
There is some more I could tell about Christmas in particular but I might do that at a later point. So that's my recap of Christmas in the US so far. It was slightly crazy but also enjoyable.
Nov 27, 2010
Everyday Life
Just a few impressions of what I am up to all the time.
Studying in the library.
Watching football games (I actually did that only once - it was really boring).
Hanging out by the river with Mark.
Taking pictures on campus.
Culturefest.
Traveling and relaxing.
Studying in the library.
Watching football games (I actually did that only once - it was really boring).
Hanging out by the river with Mark.
Taking pictures on campus.
Culturefest.
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| My name in Nepali and Chinese. |
Traveling and relaxing.
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| Near Boston and Salem. |
Goin' with the seasons...Fall
One thing that New England is famous for is the colorful foliage in the fall. And I have to agree with people who claim that the colors are amazing and that the whole changing of the leaves is worth seeing. People here have asked me why people/tourists are so fascinated. Even though fall can be really beautiful at home, too, the colors are just not comparable.
Most of my pictures were taken around campus. I saw some incredibly beautiful places where the leaves had the most amazing colors, but I did not always have my camera with me, or I was in a car so taking pictures proved to be a little bit difficult. However, I think I managed to capture more or less what all the fuss is about...
Most of my pictures were taken around campus. I saw some incredibly beautiful places where the leaves had the most amazing colors, but I did not always have my camera with me, or I was in a car so taking pictures proved to be a little bit difficult. However, I think I managed to capture more or less what all the fuss is about...
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