This post serves 2 purposes

1. A verification for Empire Avenue to upgrade an RSS feed to  a blog (more below)
2. A 24 hour review of Empire Avenue

In the aftermath of my 3 days and 2 nights at Yosemite National Park camping with  a group of friends, here are my thoughts

• Camping is fun mostly when you are in a large group unless you are a lone crusader on a ‘finding myself’ kinda trip in which case that is fine as well
• Road trips can be challenging if there are multiple vehicles involved. It might be wise to think about investing in walkie talkies and giving one in each car. Just make sure they are not tuned to the police frequency
• Check in advance if the camp you are going to has electricity and/or internet (the latter being more important). If not, consider changing the venue of the camp site. If this is not possible, then try backing out claiming an un-diagnosable disease. If none of these are possible, well, god be with you!
• If your fellow campers try to convince you as to how liberating lack of technology can be, start a glorious speech on how our forefathers fought for our right to freedom and our right to Internet (it didn’t find its way to the UN Human rights for no reason!). If all else fail, claim being disconnected from the world is a disservice to your country and is unpatriotic. In the almost certain likelihood that this doesn’t work try elements from the previous point
• If you are not travelling with hardcore campers consider the possibility of using non-traditional camping facilities like air conditioned / heater tents with god knows what all amenities. If you ARE travelling with hardcore campers, go into your tent early and pretend to sleep, then wake in the middle of the night and head to your secretly reserved alternate accommodations (This may / may not work depending on how close/far the alternate accommodations are)
• If you ever have kids, send them to boy scout/ girl scout camps. The sooner you can send them off to one of these camps, the better. It is not the greatest feeling when you are the one standing around doing nothing not because you don’t want to pitch in and help but solely because you have no clue how!
• Hot dogs done on a built fire at camp are about 33 times better than those done in any other form or place. You can and should never get tired of hot dogs as they are a camper’s best friend
• If you are tenting with any one besides yourself make sure you are not someone who snores. If you are, be prepared for anything from ridicule to random things being thrown at you in the middle of your sleep. If a fellow campers snores only because they are falling sick, they should get a pass and should be exempt from the flinging (Thank you!)
• If anyone in the camping group is unable to complete a day long trek or hike, they should be punished by sending them to a restaurant / bar where they will remain seated until someone returns for them (the punished person should be picked up before sunset)

Disclaimer: The content above is meant to be purely for laughs and does not reflect the true emotions of the author in the aftermath of the camping trip

Truth be told, for someone who has never gone to a proper camping trip before, I loved it. Its not that I’m now an outdoor person or that I now want to somehow live in a tent for a large period of time (although if its a scaled up tent with air con then why not!) but more to the point, when the next camping trip opportunity comes up I won’t be quick to dismiss it as I would have before. And therefore from the bottom of my heart, a big shout out of “Thank You” to those that made it all happen. Yeah you know who you are

When you are not walking the city in San Francisco you need a taxi. But then again you, just in the other major cities that have taxies, are bound by The Taxi Law.

There are a few things that you must keep in mind before you read on and I am pretty sure you face this almost regularly.

• When you don’t require a taxi, you will find all of the city’s taxies go right past you
• When you need a taxi, you are likely to never find one
• In the off chance that you do find a taxi, it is unlikely that your taxi driver will want to take you where you want to go (not even for extra money coz all he/she is looking for is to have nothing to do with the traffic)

These two combined, gives you The Taxi Law

The chances of you getting a taxi in your city is indirectly proportional to your desperation (to find a taxi)

I will fight anyone who denies the existence of this law. How else can you explain how this applies to me every single time?

It’s the recession I tell ya! Everyone is cutting budgets left, right and center and besides the loss of jobs, the biggest fallout is the customer experience at the DMV locations. And a DMV office in a big city like SF ain’t different than any other.
During my quest to find a location, I think the government had to shut down all but one location for all of San Fran. I tried to walk into the location and there was a line stretching around the building. Thinking it might be easier to circumvent the line by taking an appointment I tried to make an online appointment and the earliest available was a month and a half away!
With the huge budget problem all states are facing, and the reluctance of the recession to completely go away it might be a while before any improvements can be expected. In the mean time, brace yourselves.

The first day of class is always painful – trying to get out of the ‘vacation mode’ and back to study mode (hey at least I’m trying!), trying to crack the screen where the snooze button appears, long lines at Starbucks waiting to get your caffeine fix before classes being and all of this while trying to be on time. Its even more crazier when you are taking classes within a few days of arriving at a new city, new surroundings and new people and more so if your time is being focused towards putting a roof over your head and not exactly relaxing.

Hult Mod C in San Francisco has now officially started. More about the Hult San Francisco campus is a separate post. The campus is now under the strongholds of construction and in the efforts to ease the pain for the students, management has decided to host a few classes in the meeting room of the nearby Le Meridien hotel. Its a huge room and tables and chairs are lined up. There are pens, pads and even mints set out for those in attendance – good so far.

Now I’m not a picky person in general but one thing that I refuse to accept in this day and age is a slow internet connection. The Le Meridien is a decent spot but then again there is no cell phone reception and the wifi is just ridiculously slow. I spent the whole of 2 hours trying to open up 5 websites repeatedly attacking the refresh and enter buttons and throwing obscenities at the screen. To me, personally, not addressing the consequence of about 70 people accessing the same internet connection is inexcusable – especially when you are out here to get a education and especially when the subject you are taking requires you be connected TO the internets. Granted its only the first day but if i have to sit through one more class without a decent internet connection i’m going to have to talk to a few people.

Well this only being the beginning there is plenty of good and bad in store I’m sure and its just a matter of time before they all present themselves. But in the end of the day 6 weeks is most likely to go by in the blink of an eye. Lets do this!

• Emirates Airlines is still one of the best airlines out there. However, Emirates ticketing personnel might considering registering their passengers for Skywards Air Miles if they already aren’t in on the program. I regretfully wasn’t in on the program and might have missed out on a chance to get upgraded.
• Sitting at the tail of the plane has its advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is that the seat configuration changes from 3-4-3 to 2-4-2 giving you more space at the aisles to stretch. The disadvantage of course is that you are one of the last people to receive attention and service. Furthermore, when it comes to food you just might run out of the choice you want.
• SFO is no LAX. I don’t know if it was the time we arrived (and im sure the fact that i was the last one to exit the plane had something to do with it as well) but the airport was not that chaotic (I can only imagine how chaotic JFK would be)
• A taxi ride from the airport to downtown is about 20 min and you go past luscious green and bay views right into the heart of the city. Its a very nice and familiar feeling riding along vast plains right into the midst of tall buildings.
• San Fran is a pretty small city in terms of geographic expanse. Everything is pretty close by especially in and around union square. There is a lot to be explored and experienced.
• Finding a place to stay in San Fran especially if you are in on a student budget can be a harrowing experience. Our campus is right next to Fisherman’s Wharf . Apartments right in the vicinity are just outrageously expensive but one could find apt accommodations slightly away. Besides, biking or walking to work/school is good for both you and the planet. GO GREEN!
• Just when I got used to the fact that weekends are on Fridays and Saturdays (after months of re-training myself) I now have to un-learn it all and get used to the fact that weekends are back to Saturday and Sunday.

Well there is still lots more of San Fran to take in. I haven’t even started doing all the touristy things. So there is lots more to write about the place and time rolls by. But based on initial impressions I kinda like this city!

Getting the United States Student Visa, or any other visa for that matter, can be a nerve racking experience. What helps with the preparation though, is a good understanding of the process and learning about other’s experiences. These are my experiences in applying for the US Student Visa in March 2011 from Dubai, United Arab Emirates (I am not a citizen of the country). The process for US Student Visa is fairly consistent across the globe so hopefully this post helps some of you.

I am breaking down the entire process into 3 sections and explain what I did in the process of getting the visa

1. The Pre-Interview Phase:

• Filling up the Declaration of Finances form: My student visa procurement process began with me filling out a ‘Declaration of Finances’ form that was used by my graduate school, Hult International Business School, to apply for the I-20 on my behalf. I furnished details amounting to the fact that I had sufficient funds to cover my expenses during my duration in the United States. My school used the details from that form to apply for the I-20 and sent the form along with a SEVIS id number to me within a few weeks of initiating the process. This is a 9 digit number follow the letter ‘N’ on the top right corner of your I-20 form when you get it. (Sometimes you may be given the SEVIS id number before you get your form. This number will suffice for you to start with the remaining sections of the process). Once you get your I-20, make sure you take a good look at it to ensure all the information is accurate.
• Paying the SEVIS fees: Make sure you are connected to a printer before you start this process. You need to take a print out of the payment confirmation page to take with you to the consultate for your interview. DO NOT CLOSE the confirmation screen without taking this printout as there is no way for you to return to that screen EVER! This link (https://www.fmjfee.com/i901fee/students/formSelection.htm) at the Department of Homeland Security website helps you with the process of paying the SEVIS fees of $200. Keep your SEVIS id you received from your school handy in order to complete the process. Select the I-20 option and proceed by filling out the required details. You could pay using a credit card as this is the easiest option (However, if you are from certain countries you may not be allowed to do so. This is a precautionary measures applied by the Department of Homeland Security to help curtail fraudulent activities. If you are from one of these restricted countries there are alternate instructions provided on the website  for you).
• Take a digital photograph of yourself: You may choose to enlist the services of a professional photography studio for this or you may choose to do it yourself. Whatever be your method of choice, make sure they adhere to the required standards posted here on the United States government website. Make sure you have a digital copy of the taken photograph and you will need to upload this in order to complete the D-160 form
• Filling the DS-160 form:You can start filling your DS-160 form by clicking this link from the Consular Electronic Application Center (https://ceac.state.gov/genniv/). You will be required to enter a security question and an answer for your password. Make sure your retain this information along with the form application number (you will need this since it is inevitable that you will be logged out due to some sort of inactivity and these are key pieces of information that you will need to be able to log back and proceed from where you were logged out). Be prepared to spend some time filling this form up. It took my about and 1.5 hrs to 2hrs to fill this form out with its various sections and log outs and interruptions. Upload your photo and print out the confirmation page. You will need to take this to the interview
• Schedule a consular appointment: Check your nearest consulate website for their scheduling calendar and choose a date that works for you. You will need your application number (from your DS-160 form) in order to make an appointment. Print out the appointment page and take it with you to the consulate
• Pay the consular fees: There are specific instructions on how you may pay the consular fees. In my case it was to go to a specific bank (National Bank of Abu Dhabi and pay the required amount of $140 or in this case 540Dhs). This is a relatively pain free process – just go to the bank and pay the fees. Retain a pink and blue slip that you will be given as proof of payment. Take this with you to the consulate on the day of your interview.

2. The Interview Phase

On the day of your interview make sure you take all the necessary documents with you

1. Your Passport
2. The SEVIS payment confirmation page
3. The DS-160 Confirmation Page
4. The Interview Confirmation Page
5. The Consular Fee payment slips (pink pink and blue)
6. The I-20
7. Supporting documents to prove your financial capability and ties to your home country
8. Extra copies of passport style photograph that your took for the DS-160

This section will be specific to my experience here in Dubai.

Visa applicants were asked to assemble at the white cabin at one of the Dubai World Trade Center Building. Your interview papers will be verified by the security and you will have to walk through a metal detector and then wanded by another security. Then you will be asked to sit down and wait till your time slot arrives. Once there were about 20 people (I presume were all for our interview time slots) we were led into the World Trade Center building straight into an elevator and taken up to the 20th floor. We waited in a line and our papers were verified one at a time. I was asked to take a photocopy of my I-20 and was asked to go to the next room where they take care of administration services. Once all that was taken care of I was taken back to the old room, my papers re-verified and all my possessions x-rayed. There was a lady in front of me was asked to head to the restroom and wash her hands again as the machine was going bonkers during the scan.

Once all was done, we were asked to walk back the way we came to a security desk, where our contents (that were just x-rayed and everything) were re-examined and once again we were wanded down. Once this was done, we walked through a small corridor, up another elevator and were again X-rayed and wanded and our contents re-examined. And then we were allowed to go into the waiting room, which was just a huge room with consular booths against the wall. We were asked to show our confirmations papers, given a toke number and  10 printed (impressions of all your 10 fingers will be taken by pressing against a green lighted machine). And now you wait until your token number is called out and you approach the window with the visa officer on the other side to answer questions.

These were the questions I was asked:

1. Why are you going to the states?
2. Why do you need another degree?
3. Why did you chose Hult?
4. Who is paying for your trip and education?
5. What is your plan after graduation

That’s it and after a wait of slightly over 3 hours the entire interview was done in 3 minutes. They tell you if your visa is approved/rejected/pending further processing on the spot.

3. The Post Interview Phase:

This phase will defer with consulates as I observed. In previous attempts once the interview is over and if your visa is approved, they retain the visa and send you off. The passport with the visa stamped is then mailed/couriered to you. In Dubai, I was asked to take my visa down to the white cabin where it all started albeit in a different section. When I reached the white cabin, I was asked to fill my mailing details out on a sticker and paste in on the back of my passport. I get to keep a stub indicative of my giving them the passport. I was then asked to wait 3 business days and the passport would be delivered to me.

Once all these phases are over, wait for your passport to arrive, make arrangements and off you fly. Good luck with your visa and have a great time, studying in the United States.

Disclaimer: The depiction above is what I personally did when I tried to get my United States Student Visa from Dubai, UAE during March 2011. Visa rules and procedures change often so make sure you check with your school and the local consulate to make sure you are doing everything accurately.

You know what really bothers me? The fact that no one seems to know how the drink ‘Sharjah’ originated. That’s right, for those of you who have no idea, there is a drink named after the place. Its a concoction of groundnuts, banana, frozen milk, sugar all thrown into a blender till it comes out in a sort of thick consistency and boy does it taste awesome. If anyone has any idea how this might have originated, please do drop me a line.

So after sampling everything I craved over the past few years, I did end up meeting/talking to all my old friends, chilling out extensively with a select few and crossing a few things off my bucket list. Thank you, India.

I used to like flying back in the day. I remember as a kid, I used to be thrilled every time I had the opportunity to fly – excited that I would get to meet the pilot, excited to get a glimpse of the cockpit. There used to be this concept called “Kids Club” or something by the airline GulfAir and if you signed up you get to see the cockpit. One day I did manage to get sent all the way up the plane and i momentarily stood at the cockpit door and saw everyone sitting in the cabin, quickly glanced at the console and was out of there. You cant even imagine anything remotely close in a commercial airline these days.

But then things started to change. As a movie enthusiast I watched a good share of movies even the ones involving airplanes (yes I saw ‘Snakes on a Plane’). I’m really not sure if it was the constant barrage of Hollywood heretic propaganda or the insanely tragic events leading from 9/11 or the fact that last year every other day had a tragic story of some airline not having the perfect takeoff/landing but somehow over the years I started to dislike flying. Perhaps it was my insistent need to have my foot planted on the ground, or the ridiculous screening laws or the cramped seats in economy. I might never know.

But then again airline travel is not without its good points. There is still a little enthusiasm at the thought of being in an aircraft powered by powerful engines and lifting off the ground and soaring into the sky – watching the city shrink through the window panes. And if its at night, the lights all lit up and arranged in somewhat haphazard symmetry. Airports are still a collage of people from everywhere you can imagine and from every walk of life; old/young, rich/poor – the airline industry has indeed brought the world together.

Some airports are better than others. I just walked through what appeared to be 100 blocks of Dubai airport to get to my gate. Had I not be slowed down by groups of people hauling way more baggage that regulated, I would’ve made it here in record time. I climbed 2 flights of escalators, descended one, passed through miles of steel and concrete, watched people stock up on confectionery and alcohol from the duty free stores, watched golf carts whisk people away to their gates as quickly as possible (but always being slowed down by the chaotic flow of people), smelt cheese burgers from the airport Burger King joint, passed a 300 square foot plot of man made shrubbery and a small waterfall (clearly a ‘get out of hell’ / ‘go green’ symbol in an attempt to make up for the tons of steel and concrete used to make the structure) and made my way through a long line of people (i never thought my city was this popular with the tourists). So much so that the gate doesn’t have the required number of seats to seat every passenger on the plane.

After being sequentially boarded though, I don’t recall very much besides trying to drown the baby cries. During the 4 hour flight, I pretty much dozed off for about 3 and woke up solely to chow down on the breakfast (and entree of scrambled eggs, with mushrooms and a chicken sausage). Not the best tasting meal I’ve had on an airplane but none the less I thank you airline industry for providing a meal at a time when even going to the bathroom is a priced activity. All in all it was a very pleasant flight (except for this one lady in my row a couple of seats apart who was coughing soo bad I thought she would cough out blood at some point).

I leave you with these 2 very important notes while traveling.

1. If possible avoid taking anything but a carry on bag as this saves you tremendous amounts of time in getting out of the airport. I was the first one out in a record 10 min (including all procedures)
2. Don’t wear a belt (clothes). You have to take this off at every screening and frankly its just a pain. Then again if you are traveling from the USA, maybe you want to irradiate yourself or not wear anything at all.

Today’s reading material introduced me to a piece titled ‘Urban Etiquette: Thanks for not sharing’. The article talks about three types of violators to an apparent ‘unspoken urban code’.

• ‘The Literalist Lifers’ – the ones that enjoy their music by tapping their feet thus distracting those who read Eat, Pray and Love
• The Accompanists – the ones who can’t hold a note but sing to Poker Face
• The Surround-Sounder – the ones who think loud speaker is a gift to mankind and should be shared with everyone (lets call them the musical socialists shall we?)

Now the Surround-Sounder are a real pain in the behind I’ll give you that but as for the others, where to these people get off? After a crazy day of your boss yelling at you for getting something really inconsequential wrong, maybe I want to let go and listen to my music and nod my head while doing it. And maybe I don’t have my freaking Grammy Award yet but perhaps I would like to sing “Pa pa pa poker face pa pa poker faaace!!’. The last thing we need in these hard times is another wing of the society police trying to dictate how we should all behave according to their uptight ideals. Sure why don’t we all just become like you (the society police), all dressed in boring clothes, stand upright and uptight and extend our pinkies while drinking diet coke (or coke whatever beverage that suits your fancy. Oh wait maybe there is a police for that too).

What was even more fascinating was one of the comments. It complained about how a Starbuck’s barrista didn’t allow her to be angry (by asking her “a pretty girl like you shouldn’t look so angry” – before anyone jumps to point out that the barrista was being sexist allow me to explain that it appears to be a compliment to cheer someone’s day up and nothing more). Seriously, you are going to sit here and complain when a total stranger tries to brighten your day? Wake up people, life is hard enough as it is and the little things are the VERY THINGS that make life bearable (be it jiving to music in public and perhaps a stranger trying to brighten your day etc etc). So get off your high horses and live life a little.

Rule#32: Enjoy the little things!