Beating Summer with Aqua Sports

I can not stop talking about the FIFA World Cup 2010. I know there are so many upsets and unpredictable results. The only clear winner uptill now that has not suffered any setbacks are Brazil and Argentina. Brazil all the way.

Putting aside World Cup talk, I want to describe about my weekend. I went tubing in Guadalupe River with my friends. It was so much FUN. The atmosphere was just so jovial. All you do is rent a tube and you can bring your own booze. You could drink while tubing in the river. That's what most people did and social lubricant as it is rightly called, overcame awkwardness and people spoke to others who were no more strangers. A woman fell in love with my sunglasses and pleaded to exchange mine with hers. After I said No, she got off her tube and came to mine, neck deep in water and started flirting.

Tubing is really fun. Of course you never know unless you try for yourself. In the later evening, we went to a state park and camped there. I learnt to set up the tent with instructions from my friend Lawrence. Sawan barbequed some very juicy chicken and beef patties. The dinner felt great after an exhausting afternoon adventure.

The Camp that Lawrence and I set up. Photo: Digital Subway

Next day, we went to Austin and did canoeing and kayaking. My arm muscles ached after more than 2 and a half hours constant rowing in the river. The weekend was very aqua-sport intensive but I definitely enjoyed it a lot. I wet my camera and it stopped working. I do not have pictures yet so I will post them later

Construction Begins at Trinity during Summer

Heavy Construction has begun at Trinity University. Between Moody Engineering, Cowles Life Science and Chapman, in that open area, the huge project for a big Science building has begun. The area has already been sealed off and bright orange markings with numbers and lines can be seen all around, even on grasses.

Construction at Trinity during Summer. Photographer: Digital Subway

Construction has also begun outside Mars McLean Building on the way towards Coates Library at Trinity. Several dozers are already in action and look like little monsters digging the earth furiously and diligently.

Numerous bulldozers aka "little monsters" at work. Photo: Digital Subway

What would you call it? Creative Destruction. Photo: Digital Subway

Holes everywhere. Can you dig it? Photo: Digital Subway

 Some path has been paved with stones. Are we going back to Stone Age? Even more perplexing is the covering of trees with a wooden ring like structure. See in the picture below. Make some sense of it if you can. I do not know what it is and what purpose it serves.

Stone paved path. Notice the trees. Photo: Digital Subway

Summer in San Antonio

What would it be like to spend a summer in San Antonio? I asked this question to myself last summer and figured it would not be so fun with unbearable San Antonio heat. I packed my stuff and headed towards North East to stay with my friends. This summer however, I decided to stay in San Antonio. And it was a wise choice keeping in mind that I will be leaving for New Zealand in July.

                            Musuem itself is so artistic. Photo: Digital Subway 

That's right. I am leaving for NZ in July to study abroad for a whole semester. I know, it's so exciting. I came to realize that the common misconception "engineering majors don't get to study abroad, period" was not true. At least not at Trinity. For engineers, it is difficult because courses are structured for all four years in progression and if you miss a semester, you don't have the pre-requisites for the next semester's courses. Also, it is extremely rare to earn transfer credits for an accredited Engineering program because each country has a different program. However, Dr. Mahbub Uddin, an engineering professor at Trinity visited several engineering colleges in New Zealand and Australia to determine compatibility last year and now we can get transfer credits for engineering courses if it meets core course content.

Morale of the story: Engineers can study abroad too.

I will also be taking some Anthropology and Politics courses for my International Studies major. I am excited for my venture into NZ, an exotic place and a favorite among directors to film exotic movies like Lord of the Ring and Avatar among others.

                                

I was telling you about spending a summer in San Antonio. It has been pretty fulfilling so far. Last weekend, with a group of friends I went to San Antonio Museum of Art that is about 10 minutes away from Trinity. It charges a small fee to students but with Trinity I.D., it is absolutely free! We were impressed with richness of its collections and got to learn a great deal about ancient, medieval and modern art. My favorite section was the gallery containing Psychedelic Art.

         From left: Jaskirat Batra, Me, Kang Chon Kim and Sawan Vaidya. Photo: A stranger

                          My favorite pyschedelic art. Photo: Digital Subway

I was glad to see some artistic idols of Hindu Gods and Goddesses from Nepal too. Sadly, I don't have any pictures of those. Below is the image of a cupid that I thought was pretty photogenic.

 Cupid. Photo: Digital Subway                                                                     

I will brief you about my other ventures into San Antonio in the future.

Note: This blog was written as a post for Official Student Blogger Program for Trinity University.