American Summer- Part 1

Hellos to the world reading this!

This is my first attempt at blogging....hope u guys find it interesting....

Well, the main reason why i started it was cos a lot of ppl want to hear of my adventures in the US (where i am right now...enjoying..:D ) and well blogging was a fun way to share my experiences with the people i want....so here goes...

This trip almost seems to be the best thing that has ever happened in my entire life....this experience is so great...and there is still so much more!!! I have been here only for 3 days and i'm already falling in love with this place!!!

I'm actually staying in my Chithi, Geetha's place here in Atlanta.(She was the one who is sponsoring my trip btw..) Her house is awesome.....I love her place...the deco and everything abt it..its almost all to my taste. If I ever buy a house i want it like this!! They even have a mini home theater in their basement!!! :O

The Journey here

The planning for this trip has been going on for a while...as many would know..:D..right from getting my visa here to finally getting here...it's been so exciting...the prospect of travelling halfway around the world ALONE was by far the best thing that sealed the deal (though my parents found it HAUNTING....)...:D

My flight plan was: Chennai-->Doha-->Washington DC-->Atlanta.

Flight to Doha- Though it was delayed by an hour, I found the wait ok, cos i had a good book in hand to keep me occupied...:) The first thing I did when i got on the flight was to check their movie listings on the flight entertainment system and they had AVATAR!!! I have been wanting to watch that movie ever since it was released but luck hadn't favored me till then! It was good...and the on-flight food was good..Qatar Airways was really comfortable..:) Doha Airport was really cool. They had buses to and from the planes to the terminals and they literally go around the whole airport before u reach your plane, so i had a good look around...saw the hangers for the huge planes, helicopters, small planes and i even saw a jet parked there!!

Washington: This was the LONGEST flight of MY WHOLE LIFE!!! It was supposed to be 13.5 hrs long but the pilot was smart enough to finish it in 12 hrs..:D.

It was long...thank God for the in-flight entertainment system which kept me occupied with its movies, shows and games!

I had a 6 hr gap before my next flight to Atlanta, so i had more time since my flight landed earlier. The Washington Dulles Airport was huge and confusing...so many flights....so many people..but the staff were really friendly, you don't even have to ask anything, they come and tell u what to do and stuff!

I was really tired cos I had not slept properly on the flights (who wants to sleep when you have so many good movies right in front of you?? Besides, I'm the kinda person who needs to lie on my sides to sleep..i hate sleeping on my back!) I tried really hard to keep myself awake....finally i gave up and succumbed to my tiredness...napped off...and woke up to find my flight 2 hrs delayed (bad weather)!!!! -_-

8 hrs in that airport!!! நொந்து noodles ஆயிட்டேன்!!! Finally got on the flight and was planning to sleep a bit more till i got to Atlanta...it was a 1.5 hr flight..but then the guy beside me started talking..-_-

He inquired the general stuff...where I'm from, what I'm doing...etc...then he wanted to know more, like how life is in India and all that. The more I talked the more shocked he got...cos he was GAY (he didn't look like that though..:S...)...him and his partner are together for 16 yrs now, apparently...and he was shocked when i told him it was illegal in S'pore and India..:D The more i told him about how things worked in India, the more he freaked out..:D but i had a really interesting time discussing it with him...gave me a whole new perspective on things.

Atlanta- Finally landed there at like 12 mn. A whole brigade was waiting at the airport to pick me up! (My Aunt and Uncle, my 2 cousins and 3 of their cousins!! :O...) It was an hr's drive to their house. Everyone was so tired, we all fell asleep after that.

The weather here is good...so much in contrast to the heat of Chennai...it's summer, but it rains in the afternoon and it's so much cooler here. The sun doesn't set till 8pm and its bright here by around 6am. The roads here are awesome,(you just have to keep going straight almost all the way..:D..) they are lined by so much of trees, more than S'pore i think! Its so lush and pleasant...makes you wanna keep looking at it. I keep wishing more and more that I had a DSLR camera to capture all of it, but sadly..no...all i have is my old 5.3 mp camera which is useless to capture the beautiful scenery!!!

Cousins

My Chithi's house had been full of relatives for the past 2 wks cos there was a wedding last Sunday, here in Atlanta and her house was the base. All the relatives from India and from across the country were put up here. The only people left when i got here were my chithi's in laws, 3 of my second cousins and one uncle. ( and the uncle and 2 of the cousins just left today) It was quite a crowd of children here and everyone is younger than me.

All these cousins have lived here their whole lives, so they have a totally American accent.(they understand Tamil and Malayalam, but mainly reply in English...) I didn't have much difficulty with them, except for the age difference..but we got along really well.....I went out with them yesterday and had so much of fun!! They taught me a few stuff about US....it was good...:) We went shopping together and watched a movie in my chithi's mini home theater (Iron Man)....it was AWESOME!!! More than the stuff we did it was the nice company that they gave me, cos they made me feel like one of them, even though most of them hardly know me at all....:)

There are a few more family events coming up and i think i'll be having more good times with them soon. :)

Keep watching this space for more updates! I shall sign off for now....Ciao! :)

Sakthi