My Life at Austin

Okay.. I'm back again :)

Today I thought to write about my two years at Austin. May be its gonna be a long post, may be short.. lets see. Lets divide it into the four semesters

The Journey

I left India on August 6th 2007. I never chalk out my life and somehow just keep doing stuff. Sometimes it feels like I do things like a machine. They know what they have to do and they do it. May be everyone feels that way :) Leaving India brought up a mix of emotions. I was going oversees for the first time, that too alone and had no one in the US! My family members thought I am strong.. may be I was, may be not. I didn't cry a single time in India but did so during the flight! All those moments I spent in my home and Roorkee came flashing in front of my eyes. I remembered the love of my mother, the care of my father, the fights with my sister, big-sister-younger-brother relationship with my brother, fun with my friends... and there they were .. far far away. Well, after fighting my emotions, I landed in NJ airport. I didn't like US at the first sight. People were rude and were looking at me suspiciously!! (later realized its just NY culture;)) But Austin was a lot better. The people were very friendly, though the city looked deserted. The roads were barren and all you can see were the cars. It was a major cultural shock. I recovered.

First Semester

I didn't have funding and mailed like 100 professors asking if they have any TA/RA positions open. One professor offered me RA position but warned that though the law is maximum 20hr/week, I will probably have to work 40hrs/week! In one hand, I get the position and money and the high probability of not performing well in acads. On the other hand, spend money but get its worth. I chose the second one. And fortunately I got funding from the department. I worked really hard during the semester.. didn't take a day off.. and I guess that paid off. I started working with an amazing professor from the next semester. I am very happy that things worked out so well. Though in the process I lost touch of the world. As I started living in my own house, I had to clean, cook etc. And I made sure that I do things the right way. For some reason I hate when people don't think about others and do things at their own leisure (if they eventually do). Due to the pressure I became less bubbly, stopped smiling all the time and a bit introvert (Yes, at some point of time I was very bubbly). I had fewer friends and didn't go out much (can you believe it?).

Second Semester

It was almost the same as the first one. I had an RA so I was very happy. I started working on projects I liked. I got one paper published. Went to two conferences in Europe. In all a very satisfying semester acads wise. My personal front was still barren. Sometimes I used to go to Pittsburgh and used to live life fully. Apart from that, I was pretty much in my office. I tried making good friends but somehow timings never matched. I wanted to go out and have fun.. don't know why didn't do much of that. Though I did make some friends. In between, my sister got married. Never thought we have grown so big to get married!!

Summer

The summer was fun!! I had the most amazing internship with really great mentors. Seattle was beautiful beyond words. Sometimes I used to feel lonely at home as I didn't know anyone in Seattle but the time I used to spend in office was great. The project was interesting and kept me busy. I started watching Frasier and realized that there are TV shows that can give competition to Friends. Belgium and Finland were great too. It was my first Europe trip and I liked it.


Third Semester

I moved in with Pooja. She was an amazing flat mate. She has a heart of gold. I started enjoying my stay at home. Acads wise it was fine too. For first two months, I used to reach office at 8 am! Went to India in December and my sister gave birth to the cutest nephew. I didn't wanna leave him at all .. but had to come back :( What else... nothing much actually!

Forth Semester

Well, my last full semester at UT. I started liking Austin. I liked the fact that the roads are broad enough to drive a car peacefully or it doesn't snow in winter. I bought a car - 2004 Nissan Sentra. Before that, I faced a very hard question of where to go for PhD - UW, UT or Stanford. After a looonnngg time, I flipped a coin and decided to go to Stanford. Lets see how things work out in that front. I will miss working with Ray and will definitely miss Austin. You must be thinking that the paras are getting shorter :)


In all, I liked staying in Austin. It could have been better.. but I guess its okay. Somehow I think I murdered my personal life for getting some better in professional life. Cycles come and go... I don't think apart from Pooja, any one in Austin knows me that well. Its not that I am mysterious :) I think people used to like me more at Roorkee :D I really miss Roorkee many times in Austin. I used to miss school life at Roorkee. We keep looking back and realize how great the previous life was. May be after going to Stanford, I will look back and realize how great Austin was...