This Week Last Year...

...I was a first time visitor to this country. Everything was happening very fast. Black Friday shopping was a necessity because the jacket I had was good only for an Indian winter. And that too was borrowed from my 6' tall friend so it wasn't exactly a fit. 26/11 had just happened in India as I stood in the hotel lobby watching images of the Taj Palace under siege, feeling a sense of disconnect which internet or cable television doesn't quite fill. The weekend brought the season's first snow. I remember waking up in the morning and finding everything covered with a thin layer of white. It was my first encounter with sub zero temperatures. Over the next couple of months, that would touch -25 degree Celcius.

That was Minneapolis. A year on, everything's still moving past at a hectic pace. But the setting is so different. There was time and money to spend last year. The money is still there though. Just that it's a huge loan. And don't even get me started on time. My Darden application wouldn't happen until January and so if you had asked me where I saw myself a year from then, Charlottesville wouldn't have come up as one of the answers.

This has been a much needed (shall I say much deserved too?) break. And I've successfully done what I do best. Chill out. It started off with drinking wine and sangria and singing songs at our place. Next day was the Thanksgiving party courtesy Jose and Lucas complete with touch football and LOADS of food and wine. We followed it up with a game of cricket the next day and dinner at Ariana Kabob House and a round of Taboo. In between there were futile attempts to string together a cover letter. There's still one day. So there's still time.

One more day till everything comes crashing down again. Resume drops, cases, exams - all thoughtfully packaged into two weeks of madness. And then the winter break. And New York. And San Francisco. And Seattle.

Let's get over this quickly, shall we.