A Little Mid-Week Update

While I would love to tell you I have visited another amazing Indian city, I sadly can not.

I have spent the past week preparing for the students to show up. Most of my time at the office has been spent wandering around reading posters and asking random people about the university. Today is the first day that students have been on campus. The first years arrived this morning and are currently going through orientation. I was present for a little bit, but I was bored to tears by the first speaker, so I took a break to do a little update.

This past weekend I met up with a family friend named Jai. We went out for a nice dinner and had a really nice Cuban cigar after dinner. Jai is like my Indian twin. Like me, he is a huge fan of cars. And what do you know, he loves cigars. Before I came here I thought I would have to live on the few cigars I brought. But alas, I was lucky enough to run into one of the few people that smoke cigars. One of the other wonderful things about hanging out with Jai is that we usually go somewhere we can get meat. My diet has been entirely vegetarian since I have been here, but anytime I go out with Jai, I am able to get some kind of meat. It is a huge relief to know that I have someone I can go to that will take me to get some delicious meat. I will say though, I have chosen not to eat any beef while I am here. So it has been quite a challenge for me. Regardless, the meal from Leela Palace Hotel was amazing

Past that, I went over to my friend Dinesh's flat and had a few beers with him and his flat mates. I was then told to get in the car to go for a quick run to the liquor store. As it turned out, Dinesh and his friends decided that at 1 in the morning we were going to drive to McDonalds in Delhi (a 30 minute drive). It was not all that bad, they only had a couple options on the menu. There was a veggie burger, chicken burger, fish filet, and spicy chicken. I opted for the chicken burger and some shake shake fries... which turned out to just be fries.

Well there is a little update for you to wet your whistle to. I hope to be able to update you with some meaningful information soon. Enjoy! 

Day Trip to Delhi

Last Sunday I was invited to Delhi by Daniela (the other intern). She is working at the Lodhi campus in Delhi and she thought I would enjoy coming to Delhi and do a little sight seeing. Obviously I was excited, so I caught a cab to Delhi (a 45 minute drive). Believe it or not, it only cost me about $6 for the cab.

Any ways, back to the important stuff. Daniela had booked this day long trip for us. It was on this air conditioned bus that was meant to go to all these different forts and temples and other Delhi tourist staples. On paper, it was going to be a fantastic day of sight seeing with plenty of pictures. In all honesty it began that way. We made our way to the first location, the Laxmi Narayan Temple. It was stunningly beautiful. There was gold plating everywhere, statues, white marble, and red sand stone. It was a sight to behold. Sadly I was only able to take pictures outside since no cameras, cell phones, or shoes were allowed inside. So this is the best I can do to show you the beauty of this place.

After this beautiful building is when things went south. As it turned out, Sunday was the hottest day in Delhi in the past couple weeks. We saw peeks of over 112 degrees and there was plenty of wind to blow the sand and dust that covers every surface in this country. Alas, we continued on. The next location was the Qutub Minar. Built at the end of the 12th century, it stands 238 feet tall and is surrounded by ruins. Again, it was a great place to visit and witness (even though they charge non-indian customers 5x as much as natives). At this point in time Daniela was not feeling well and had to sit down. It turned out that she was very very dehydrated. I then had to RUN out of this "park" area to a street vendor to get cold, sealed, bottled water. I return sweating worse than a fat kid trying to save his team from being eliminated in dodgeball. Thankfully Daniela felt better after a liter of water (as did I) and we caught up with the tour group.

Upon getting back on the bus I realized something... this bus was not airconditioned. They had vents above all the seats, but it was just blowing out air that was slightly cooler than steam. I proceeded to hold my water bottle to my neck in the hopes of bringing my internal temperature below boiling. I was mildly successful as we continued the bus tour. We drove past the Indian Parlament House and most of the Embassies. I would have gotten a picture of the US embassy, but I was unable to because our tour guide was speaking some sort of Hindi/English gibberish though a muffled microphone.

The next location was my favorite. It is called the Bahai Temple, or more commonly known as, "The Lotus Temple". Again, it was staggeringly beautiful. It was constructed in the late 80s and is made from a whole bunch of white marble slabs. It is a temple meant for all religions, and is more of a place for silent prayer. You have to walk to it barefoot, and as you can imagine in 112 degree weather, the ground was scalding hot. Once we got up the stairs and entered the temple, I realized that when you go in, it is almost completely silent. Close to 200 people inside this thing and all you can hear is people's feet shuffling around. Truly unreal.

After the Lotus Temple, we went to another location that was not on the schedule. It was a really cool place, with a cool story. The guy who built it had 200 wives and countless kids. He built it as a place for he and his family to be buried. Well after he died, one of his sons was supposed to take his position as ruler or something. Well one of them went around and killed all of his brothers! He was a sneaky and conniving a**hole.

The last place Daniela and I visited before we decided we had sweated enough was the place of Gandhi's murder. It was at this old hotel that he always stayed at when he came to Delhi. They had raised concrete where his last footsteps were, and kept his room just as he had it, and had a whole tour going though the grounds. It really was a cool thing to see and listen to the story behind what happened. But at this point in time Daniela and I were so tired that Gandhi himself could have come back from the dead and told us to be better people, and we would have just told him to piss off unless he had cold water and air conditioning. It really was a cool exhibit though, and it had so much information in it. I wish I was not so uncomfortable and the tour guide was not so rushed, because I would have like to read all the posters and documents about the location. But I guess I will have to save it for another day.

After we told our tour guide we were physically unable to continue, we made our way to a local market and indulged in some fine American cuisine... Subway. It was the first non-vegetarian meal I had in the country and it tasted so good. I bought a couple shirts and called it a day in Delhi. Later that night I caught a cab back to my flat and happily crawled into bed under my blasting air conditioner.

Daniela and I plan to finish that tour one day, and when we do, I will be sure to tell you all about it. For now though, that is all.

India: The Land of Mystery

I made it to India at 4:00am. I somehow dragged myself off the plane and made my way towards customs with my passport and visa in hand. I hurriedly filled out the customs intake form while in line to go though the customs line. I passed through customs with no problems and was then off to collect my bag. So far, there was nothing different about this place.. but that ended the second I grabbed my bag and made for the exit.

Outside the terminal, there were a few hundred people just waiting, some waving signs, some staring blankly at you, and some actually doing something productive at 4:30 in the morning. Upon not finding my driver in the first wave of people, I proceeded to the second way and was relieved to see a tall Indian man's eyes light up when I looked at him. He eagerly waved a sign that read CHRIS BOURGRAF       OHIO, USA.

What a relief.... I shook his hand and he introduced himself as Dinesh, and then informed me that my scheduled driver decided to call in sick, so he and his roommate made the trip to Delhi to pick me up. At this point I was a little lucid from the lack of sleep and the drastic change of climate, location, and people that now surrounded me. So for the 45 minute drive from the airport to my flat my eyes began flickering at 1000 mph. You know like in the movies when someone is reading something that becomes progressively more important as they continue reading. As it turned out, neither Dinesh or his roommate knew where my flat was, so we drove in circles for a solid 10-15 minutes asking random people on the side of the road.

Upon finding my flat... Wow...
First off, It is called UniWorld Spa. And it is pretty close to that description. I am on the 8th floor out of 18 or so and it is quite a flat.

And to top it all off, this is the view I have from my seat at breakfast every morning. 



After finishing breakfast, doing a little unpacking, and taking a nap. I was then picked up and taken to the school where I would be working. Mind you, this was around 10 am and I had only taken a 1 hour nap.

I think I met close to 50 people that morning and had to hang around the office till 5:30 that evening. To say the least... I was exhausted. I got back to my flat and the care taker asked me (in broken Hindi/English) when I wanted dinner. I was unable to articulate "as soon as possible" to him, so I settled for 7pm. I don't remember eating, or getting ready for bed, or anything else. I just remember barely being able to function. Thankfully my flat has air conditioning in each room, so I turned that bad boy on and fell asleep in seconds.

And thus concludes my first day in India.

I promise not to do day by day updates, but the first day was pretty staggering. I will be sure to update you soon on what I have been getting into. Until then!

Watch the Throne

Can you believe it... I watched the throne.

For those of you who do not know what I am talking about... I saw Jay-Z and Kanye West in concert. That is not a joke, you read that right. And I must say it was unreal. They put on quite a show.
To start off, Eric had these amazing tickets that got us into the "Audi Club". Which is a private club at the venue that you can go to and get food and drinks before the show. It had big lush chairs and tables and plenty of weird art on the walls.

We were able to walk right out to our seats in less that two minutes, and we had great seats.

I will try to get some videos up on YouTube soon and post the links so that you all can watch some of the actual show. It really was amazing, they had two stages that lifted up to about 30 feet in the air and Kanye and Jay-Z would be standing on them. It really was sick. Below is a teaser of what the videos will be...

Over all, I had an unreal time in Ireland. I am very thankful for those that helped me while I was there (specifically the bar maids). I was so glad to visit such a broad array of the country and I can not wait to go back for another tour of that beautiful country. If you ever have the opportunity to visit Ireland, do not pass it up, and feel free to get in contact with me and I will do my best to help you out.

The next series of posts will be coming to you from India... can you believe it?!?!?!
And the trip begins.......

First Leg through Istanbul

 Second Leg to India

Update! Watch the Throne Videos

The opening song

Niggas in Paris

Cliffs of Moher

So, seeing as I have been in India for almost a week now, I figue I should finish up my Ireland posts and move into the India post. So this should be my second to last Ireland post.

We shall start with a journey to the Aillwee cave. Apparently found by a man who went chasing after his dog. He proceeded into a cave no one had ever found with nothing but a candle (and I would assume a bottle of whisky). The greedy old man kept the cave a secret for 30 some years before deciding to tell some geology students about it. Obviously they went crazy and immediately began exploration into the cave.

It was  a really cool place to visit, the pathway was constructed completely by the water running though it. With the exception of the tour exit, the whole cave was naturally made.

After the tour we got some amazing cheese made from the milk of local cows. Following the trip to Aillwee cave, we went to the Cliffs of Moher. The cliffs are quite a big tourist attraction, and they are exactly what they claim to be... cliffs.

We showed up on a less than desirable typical rainy Irish day. There was quite a climb to the top of the cliffs. But once up there, there was a beautiful view.

Next post will come shortly, and will cover a concert I never thought I would ever go to. Stay tuned!

My Goodness My Guinness

You may think you know the drinking culture of Ireland, but unless you have been here and experienced it, you have no idea. Yes, they do drink a lot. Yes, most of it is Guinness. But there is much more to the actual culture of it. 

Let's start with the pubs.  They are everywhere, kind of like Starbucks in NYC,  one on every corner.  They are all decorated to the 9's with old whisky jugs and pictures that look as though they have been there since before the building was.  They have a homely and inviting feeling to them.  It also helps that when you walk in the bartender is quite excited to say hello,  and even more so when you have an accent. I am sorry, but I did not snap any pictures of any pubs... I think my hands were full (or something along those lines).

The Irish take their beer seriously.  Obviously they have their Guinness,  which is more of a religion than a drink here.  For instance, every beer/cider they have on tap, the bar has the accompanying glassware with the name printed on it. You are probably thinking to yourself "Wow, so they got glasses from the distributors",  which they did. The difference is, you will not get a tap beer/cider that is not in the right glass. And they are meticulous about it. The Heineken glasses are chilled, the Carlsburg glasses have that funky shape and raised writing,  and the Guinness glasses are a work of art. 

When it comes to the actual pouring of the beer they are just as stringent. The head is perfect every time, period. If they pour it wrong and still hand it out, the patron will hand it back to them and it will be fixed without question or hesitation. It is refreshing to see a drink be poured and handled the way it should be. Unless of course they take too long... then I just get thirsty and agitated.

Their liquor is along the same lines. Each shot is pre-measured by a contraption the bottle is hooked up to.  There is no asking for a "long pour" or tipping well to get more booze for the same price.  I can understand that there is a science to mixing drinks that causes the flavors to be a certain way, but come on... just give me a little extra. On top of that,  they have individual little bottles of mixers that you have to buy in addition to the booze.  It is extremely inefficient and wasteful.  But I digress to my final point.

Drinks on the dance floor. Yes,  it is that different. Yes, most places allow it, but some do not, and for good reason I might add. Like I said earlier, they serve all drinks in the correct glassware, and this continues no matter the time of night. So 4am rolls around and they are still handing Guinness glasses to hammered drunk people who then proceed to the dance floor. One night I saw six glasses dropped and shatter on the dance floor.  A man from behind the bar comes out and does his best to sweep up the shards of glass inches away from entering a girl's bare foot. There is no punishment or recourse for this, the person just goes up and orders another 5 Euro beer, and is back on the floor.

Since looking through my pictures for this post, I have come to the realization that I have only taken pictures of Guinness... so, sorry about that.

Sorry for the long post yet again,  but the way a culture drinks tells you a lot about them as a nation.  So I enjoy looking at them and analyzing them. Next drinking culture... India. That will be very interesting I am sure

Until next time

Customs, Climate, Cliffs, and Craic

First, I will start off by saying that Ireland does their customs right. I was in the queue for no more than 15 minutes. Upon reaching the customs officer I handed him my passport and was asked two impossible questions. 1. How are you today? 2. How long will you be here? That was all, no pressing questions about where I will be staying, what I will be doing, or who I will be spending my time with. It was fantastic! I collected my bag and made my way out without the slightest look from any of the customs agents. I was lucky enough to find myself stepping off the plane after my 7 or so hour flight into a beautiful sunny 75 degree weather. After being thanked for bringing the beautiful weather by anyone who heard my accent, Eric and I made our way to Tullamore where I would be spending much of my time. The weather continued like this for a couple days, and I spent as much of it as I could out wandering and getting lost. I spent a weekend at Eric's house in Dunagul, which is close to the boarder of Northern Ireland. He has three lovely children, two of them felt the need to impress my by singing, dancing, and showing me their video games. Osien (pronounced Ocean) is 8 and is obsessed with Minecraft, and Neive (pronounced Knee-V) was so proud of her singing voice that she choreographed a dance and sang to every song that came over the radio. To be honest, it was quite cute and I enjoyed playing with the little ones. Around Dunagul there is a beautiful beach and cliff area that we spent the day wandering around. I spent that night out at the local club with Eric, his wife, and his eldest daughter (Erika). It is always interesting to see the club life of people in different countries and this did not disappoint. But more on the drinking culture of Ireland in another post. That my friends is all for now.

NYC to DUB

It has been quite a while since I have posted on my travel blog, but I am back at it! Currently sitting on a train in Ireland going from Galway to Tullamore. I began this trip with a couple day layover in NYC to visit my good friend Stephen and to experience the big city life that is New York City. If I am honest, I was surprised by how comfortable I was there. As some of you know, I hate big cities, I hate the pace, the attitude, and the harshness of them. But there was something a little different about being there. I arrived in NYC around 2:30pm, and was quickly called by Stephen and informed that I should walk to his apartment and get ready to go out for the day. So I dropped my bags and proceeded to get lost on my ten block walk through Times Square towards Columbus Circle. Upon arriving I was handed an ice cold Budweiser and instructed to drink. We then went to a street fair in Hell's Kitchen that was serving some amazing food and drink where we spent some time gorging ourselves. The street fair turned into a patio bar which turned into a college bar, which turned into a karaoke bar,which turned into........ well I don't honestly remember much after this. I vaguely remember returning to my hotel room at four in the morning after having shut down two Irish pubs. The following day consisted of rain, and lots of if. I guess New York was preparing me for Ireland. I decided to check out The Museum of Natural History, only to find what seemed like millions of small school children, were not the best thing for my debilitating hangover. I then hopped a cab over to MoMA and found myself wishing the little children were screaming at me rather than this "modern art" I have never thought so hard while staring at a pile of folded blankets. I did find a piece that I really like though.

After Stephen got off work We met up with another Culver friend and went out for some dinner and drinks. And what I thought would be a slow evening, due to my need to be at the Indian consulate at nine the next morning, I once again found myself closing down another bar and crawling into bed at five in the morning. I must say, for a city that never sleeps, you guys sure close your bars early. I mean... a fat white boy from Ohio is complaining about how early last call is. After successfully making my appointment with the consulate I went straight back to bed. I took the subway to Battery Park to catch a glimpse at a beautiful woman

Saw the current state of the Freedom Tower/WTC 1

I then finished my night by meeting up with some friends I met while studying in Australia. We went and saw our first Yankee game where we brought them some much needed luck and spent excessive amounts of money on $12 beers.

I woke the next morning, checked my passport and prepared for my flight to Ireland. That post to follow. Sorry for the length, so much going on!