AROUND THE WORLD 2023-2024

"We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time." 
                                                    - T.S. Eliot, Little Gidding



      Table of Contents
      
      Foreword / New York                               [0.0.0]
      
      Leg 1 (France)                                    [1.0.0]
          Sept. 17                                [1.0.1]
          Sept. 28                                [1.0.2]
          Oct.  19                                [1.0.3]
          Nov.  05                                [1.0.4]
          Dec.  15                                [1.0.5]
          Mar.  03                                [1.0.6]
          Goodbyes & final thoughts               [1.0.7]
      
      Leg 2 (Rwanda)                                    [2.0.0]
          Mar.  27                                [2.0.1]
          Apr.  20                                [2.0.2]
          May   23                                [2.0.3]
          Goodbyes & final thoughts               [2.0.4]

      Leg 3 (Philippines)                               [3.0.0]
          Jul.  05                                [3.0.1]
          Aug.  22                                [3.0.2]
          Goodbyes & final thoughts               [3.0.3]
     
      Leg 4 (U.S.A)                                     [4.0.0]
          Taipei                                  [4.0.1]
          California                              [4.0.2]
          Boston & the final final thoughts       [4.0.3]
      
      Excursions
          Paris/London     : Oct. 20-Oct. 23            [1.1.0]
      
          Christmas 2023   : Dec. 15-Jan. 10            [1.2.0]
              Köln         : Dec. 15-Dec. 17      [1.2.1]
              Vienna       : Dec. 18-Dec. 20      [1.2.2]
              Basel        : Dec. 21              [1.2.3]
              Bern         : Dec. 22-Dec. 24      [1.2.4]
              Amsterdam    : Dec. 25              [1.2.5]
              New Delhi    : Dec. 26-Jan. 05      [1.2.6]
              Hyderabad    : Jan. 05-Jan. 07      [1.2.7]
              Paris        : Jan. 08-Jan. 10      [1.2.8]
          
          Au revoir Europa : Mar. 03-Mar. 10            [1.3.0]
              Paris        : Mar. 03              [1.3.1]
              Cambridge    : Mar. 04-Mar. 05      [1.3.2]
              Delft        : Mar. 06-Mar. 07      [1.3.3]
              Munich       : Mar. 08              [1.3.4]
              Rome         : Mar. 09-Mar. 10      [1.3.5]
              Kigali       : Mar. 11              [1.3.6]

          Botswana         : May  11-May  18            [2.1.0]
              Gaborone     : May  11-May  13      [2.1.1]
              Kasane       : May  13-May  16      [2.1.2]
              Gaborone     : May  16-May  18      [2.1.3]

          Murabeho Africa  : Jun. 01-Jun. 08            [2.2.0]
              Nairobi      : Jun. 01-Jun. 04      [2.2.1]
              New Delhi    : Jun. 04-Jun. 07      [2.2.2]
              Manila       : Jun. 08              [2.2.3]

          Tokyo            : Jul. 25-Jul. 30            [3.1.0]


[0.0.0] Foreword / New York


I'm only writing this section after nearly two full weeks into this expedition.
I think my hesitancy has stemmed from my desire to make this beginning as 
correct as possible. I wanted to spend time really thinking about why I was 
doing this and what I hope to gain after this trip.

I am still not sure I have *completely* formulated my answer, but I feel like I 
am closer than before.[1] At the end of this trip, I hope to have successfully 
circumnavigated the globe, and to have spent significant time in 3 distinct 
locations.

I also hope to be able to answer the following questions:

1. Can I imagine myself living the rest of my life in one or more of these 
locations?

2. What makes the culture of these locations distinct and how truly unique is
local culture in today's era of globalization?

3. What are the sources of similarity and difference between humans around the
world?

I reserve the right to modify or change these questions at any time. If you have
a problem with that, go cry about it this is my travelogue. So it BEGINS. Arya's
first trip around the goddamn WORLD.

My travel plan was to take a train from Boston to New York, spend the day in New 
York, then take a midnight flight from JFK to Paris, and finally take a train to 
from Paris to Rennes. 

My train from Boston to New York left Boston on September 3rd at 11:45 local 
time, and I made the questionable decision to host a large party the day before 
this. The last guests ended up leaving at 04:30 in the morning, and there were 
numerous points between 04:30 and 11:45 where I cursed myself for doing 
it like I did. 



But honestly, looking back on it now, I absolutely would not have done it any 
other way. The opportunity to see and party with my Boston friends one last time 
was so enjoyable, and a delightful way to say goodbye. 

I was then beyond blessed to have a group of my friends get breakfast with me
at the Mission Hill staple of Mike's Donuts and then drive me to Back Bay 
Station to say goodbye. I have only vague memories of the train ride as the 
sleep deprivation was now hitting me full force, but I was able to take this
one picture of the Manhattan skyline as we entered Grand Central Station. 



Once in NY, I dropped my stuff off at my friend's place and we left for dinner,
drinks, and dessert from the East Village.[2] Until this point I don't think
the trip had felt real. It was only after we had hung out and it was time for 
me to start heading to the airport that the reality of this trip began to dawn 
on me. I remember taking the elevator down into the subway with my 3 bags waving 
goodbye to my friend and feeling this knot of panic form in my stomach.

Even though the panic eventually subsided as I focused on catching my connecting
metros, it was a useful wake up call reminding me that this was very much real
and I was very much leaving. 

I eventually reach the airport, and was honestly impressed how easy taking the
metro to it was. I did end up getting charged 80$ for an overweight suitcase.
For future note, while compression cubes/sacks are space-saving they definitely
do not save on weight. You should also probably triple check all your suitcase
weight measurements and when doing long excursions it might make more sense to 
fly non-budget airlines where they aren't trying to gouge you with every fee 
they can. 

But whatever, I DID it, I got on the PLANE. I was still severely sleep-deprived
from the party so I honestly cannot recall anything of note from that flight. I
remember waking up to eat my meal and then vaguely recall landing but 
everything in-between is a blur. By the time we landed at Charles de Gaulle 
airport it was 13:49 September 4. 



But I was not done! I then had to take a high-speed train at 16:54 to Rennes! 
After some confusion, I snaked my way through the Paris metro system to their 
main train station (gare in français) and successfully board the correct train
(but incorrect car) for my trip to Rennes. The station and the train reminded me 
a lot of the trains I used in Switzerland, and if I had to guess I would suspect 
that they are likely made by the same company. In any event the train was clean,
fast, and smooth. As we pulled out, I could just barely make out the Eiffel 
Tower in the distance which felt pretty cool.



The train took ~1.5 hours and I ended up reaching my room in the Cité 
Internationale in Rennes at around 18:45 bringing the total journey to ~30 
hours. This might feel like a long time, but considering I crossed the 
Atlantic and then some it still feels like it should have been longer.

Regardless, I did it! So we begin! 

[1.0.0] France


[1.0.1] Sept. 17

Alright so just to be clear, I am not in Paris. I am in another city in the 
northwest of France called Rennes. Rennes is the prefecture (which is not the
capitol?) in the administrative région of Bretagne (Brittany).[3] Rennes is a
rapidly growing city with a current population of ~200,000 and an additional
student population of ~60,000. Talking to people from Rennes (Rennais), a lot of
them talk about the recent construction of a high speed rail line between Paris
and Rennes; a consequence being that Parisians who have been priced out of Paris 
are now buying property in Rennes and commuting to Paris pushing prices up.



Rennes lies at the intersection of the two major rivers of Bretagne, the Ille 
and the Villain. The Villain bisects the city center (Metropole) while the Ille 
snakes through the north of the city. The place I am staying at, la Cité 
Internationale du Paul Ricoeur, is located just south of the Villain making it 
a trivial walk to get to the city center. 



The closer you get to the city center the older the architecture feels. There
are a lot of cobblestone roads and narrow pedestrian only or one-way lanes. 



My coworkers have described Rennes as a nice little French town and I think I 
see what they mean. It honestly reminds me of Boston, a medium-sized, easily 
commutable, student city. Everyone I've interacted with has also been extremely 
nice and extremely willing to put up with my novice french. I think because 
Rennes is not a super typical tourist destination there is not a sense of 
exhaustion with tourists that you might find in a place like Paris. If anything,
everyone has been very curious about me and why an American is spending half a
year in Rennes.

A couple fun anecdotes from my first two weeks here:

1. On weekday mornings I've been going to Aux caprices de Suzette, a small cafe 
that is on my walk to the bus stop and opens early. I typically have a cafe 
(espresso) and a croissant for exactly 3,15€ and read some of my book on the 
terrace. There is this old man who has a similar routine every morning and
one day he starts talking to me in French, but too fast and complex for me to 
understand so he switches to English and tells me: "You are a good man, I can
tell because of your smile." And I think that sentence has made my entire year.

2. My lab (and I think this city in general) is incredibly leftist, and most
coffee talks involve making fun of neoliberalism and the French 
center/far-right. As one of these were wrapping up, one of the graduate 
students gets up, sighs, and says in a strong French accent, "I will finish my 
thesis before the Revolution. This I swear." 

3. The World Rugby Cup is currently being hosted in France and I went to a 
local sports pub to watch the opening match of France vs. New Zealand.[4] This 
was a fairly rowdy, predominantly undergraduate group of kids who chanted all 
sorts of stuff which I am not even going to try typing. BUT both during the New 
Zealand national anthem and the haka the entire pub began aggressively shushing
anyone who tried to talk over it. It was genuinely very sweet.



4. French crosswords are not designed the same way. Instead of a lot of 
blackspace it's designed as a complete square where every tile is either a
clue or an answer. During one coffee-break (I'll do a different entry focusing 
on my workday) it is common for one of the grad students and one of the faculty 
to bust out and complete the daily crossword. This is a FUN way to learn a 
language especially random words or phrases that are probably never going to be
super useful for me, but are interesting nonetheless. e.x. Barbouiller means to
scribble, but I can also coloquially use it to describe some non-sensical 
gibberish (i.e. the feedback of Reviewer #2). 


[1.0.2] Sept. 28

Ok, lots of updates! I'll highlight interesting days and most important events 
on them. 

On the 17th after I wrote the previous post, I went to see this art exhibit 
organized through the city as part of Exporama 2023. It was this LIVE-action
graffiti shindig. Aggressively amazing.



One interesting observation was that there was a notable influence of American
culture and hip hop in some of the pieces. 



On the 19th I was invited by some work friends to this weekly jazz jam session 
that happens in Rennes, I also went on the 26th and you can see the same faces
again and again which is very sweet. The musicians are very talented, and it 
was enjoyable to listen to how they've adapted jazz music to the French 
context. On the 19th, there was enough room that some spontaneous SWING 
dancing dancing broke out which was ridiculously fun.



On the 20th I went to this English Language Club Karel mentioned I should 
attend. It's a mixture of English-speaking foreigners now living in Rennes and 
French people who are interested in practicing their English. Met some 
absolutely wild people, a significant fraction of whom are bartenders in 
Rennes. It felt nice to speak English after so long, and I ended up staying
out aggressively late with them.

In spite of the late night (early morning?) I had to roll out early on the 21st 
to book it to the used bike sale someone told me about. It was organized by
La Petite Rennes (which incidentally is one of the coolest organizations 
I've ever come across) and it was there that I met NEMO. 

I named him after the Jules Verne character Captain Nemo for multiple reasons.
FIRST, Jules Verne's Around the World in 80 Days despite being a mediocre book 
did provide a significant amount of the inspiration for this trip. SECOND, he 
has a little pedal-powered, incandescent, frontlight that looks like it would 
be a light for a old-timey submarine. THIRD, the model name is ATLANTIS
(it is actually identical to this bike here, my head canon is that the 
bike in the pic is in fact Nemo).



I got him for 60€, and he is my FAVORITE shade of green. I did not fully 
appreciate how much more fulfilled I feel with a bike, and I am already 
beginning to mourn the prospect of leaving Nemo behind as I continue my journey. 
To say I love this bike is an understatement. It is SO fun to be able to just 
BIKE to a place. 



That same evening there was a thesis defense of one of the graduate students on 
the team at GenScale. He had done a previous practice presentation of the talk 
that I had seen, and it was cool to see how thesis defenses are done in 
different places! The biggest difference I saw was that the public portion of 
the defense was significantly more technical than anything I've seen in the 
States (both in presentation and in questions by the committee). In addition,
the committee was significantly more internationally diverse than defenses I've
seen here. 3/4 members of the committee were in Italy, so the defense itself was 
done in English. Though most people I've met can speak English very well, I 
sense a lot of self-doubt in people when they speak it. It's unclear to me if 
this is predominantly a French/Rennes phenomena or it holds true elsewhere, but 
I think a consequence of that is that non-primary English language researchers
can sometimes struggle with successfully advertising and publicizing their work.

In any case, after the defense we went to this aggressively tasty 
galetterie/creperie called La Hublais. We got pitchers of cidre that were drunk
in MUGS? No one was as excited as me, so I think this might be typical but still
unclear.



Bretagne is known for both its galettes/crepes and its cidre. I did not know 
this until I came here, but it has been a very pleasant surprise.

On the 22nd some of the people I met at the English Language club invited me to
a techno concert in Southern Rennes. They offered me hardcore drugs within the
first 10 minutes of me getting there.[5] The music was very good, but my 
FAVORITE part was whoever was in charge of the lighting. 



After that, we met up with some other friends from that group. This was also the
first night I got full use of Nemo's front light, and let me tell you there is 
*no* better feeling than biking through a medium-sized French city on your 1994 
vintage bike with an incandescent, pedal-powered frontlight illuminating the 
cobblestone streets as you head to a bar in the city center.

On the 23rd, I hit up the Farmer's Market for my weekly haul. I have been there
every Saturday morning so far and go to the same vendors every week, they now 
know me as the American guy so that is pretty fun. I then had the pleasure of
biking back home with my weekly groceries and a baguette in my bag. This post
is already getting too long, but I will devote another entry to food here 
later. After that, I went to a French equivalent of Goodwill called La Belle 
Dechette. There, I got another pan, a fun warm LAMP, and some old postcards. 



That evening, I met up with a friend I made at the Franco-Americain Institute in
Rennes for one of her friends' birthdays. It was very sweet, and one of her
friends is an artist who gave me a list of art places to see in Rennes. On her 
suggestion, I went to Musee Beaux d'Arts on the 24th and was slightly 
underwhelmed (to her credit she did say it was not very good). There were 
definitely some fun pieces I liked, but overall it was not particularly engaging
for me.



As I said before, 26th was jazz music in a different very beautiful bar,
this time there was also a very good dog that was running around to different
tables asking for indiscriminate pets. 27th was English club and I ran into 
Marquetta (Karel's wife) and it was quite nice to catch up with her 1-on-1. 
Today, I attempted to get a eSIM but the machine was down so I'll try again 
tomorrow.

I've also successfully opened a French bank account?? Feeling like I'm getting
into the ~~GROOVE~~. 


[1.0.3] Oct. 19

3 weeks have passed! Honestly they are flying by, I was not expecting to get as
settled as I have this quickly. On the one hand it does feel nice. The feeling 
of being in a rhythym and feeling comfortable with my day to day; but on the 
other hand I worry about getting complacent and letting this opportunity wash
through me. I am writing this on 2023-10-19 at about 22h14, and assuming I do
leave France midnight on the day my fellowship ends then I am currently
24.7982548% done with my sojourn in Europe.[6] This doesn't feel great, have I 
truthfully had 25% of the experiences I would like to? Maybe? But the fact that 
the answer to this question is *not* a resounding yes means I have a ways to 
go.

Ok I wanted to write that mainly as a check for myself, but with that out of the 
way; what have I been up to for the past 3 weeks? Honestly mainly work. I'm not
sure if it's something related to being in a new environment, having a fresh
mentor, or something more specific to France but I have been firing on all 
cylinders. One thing I have really been enjoying about the French approach to 
academic research is the horizontal nature of the workplace and the de-emphasis
on individual labs. In Harvard I feel like there is a very palpable power gap 
between trainees and PIs and each PI operates wholly autonomously from the 
rest. Two labs in the same department can have radically different cultures and
atmospheres and only be separated by a handful of feet. In France (or at least
in my group, but I do have reason to believe this is a general phenomena), the 
emphasis is much more on the whole team. People do work independently, but you
are still working on inter-related problems and there is significantly more 
cross-talk and pollination than I have seen in the U.S. In addition, PIs are
much more down to earth here. We get coffee together, we eat lunch together, 
we play music together, if we drive to a cafeteria a PI can be sitting in the 
middle seat and be flanked by two graduate students and it's not weird. 

I think a part of this is that the concept of a PI is different here. When you
gain an academic appointment it is almost entirely permanent. There is no 
concept of tenure, if you get a position you're set for life. You still need to
apply for grants and recruit students, but there is no sword of Damocles 
perpetually hanging over your head. The result of this is twofold. First, PIs 
do not go through insane boom bust periods where they are on the verge of 
collapse, it is a much steadier existence. Second, PIs (especially young ones)
are afforded much more freedom to pursue research they find personally 
interesting as opposed to what is most likely to be funded. That's pretty cool!

I am not saying the system is better or worse. Like it or not, American 
academic institutions are now and for the foreseeable future the ones producing
the lion's share of scientific research today. That said, the vast majority of
postdocs I talk to at Harvard do not seem to be enjoying themselves; however,
most people I have met here do seem very happy with their life. Food for 
thought.

Other than that, I had a Boston friend come visit me on October 7th! This was 
my first time interacting in person with anyone (besides my advisor) who knew 
me pre-France, and being able to have a conversation with someone who already 
knows you tends to yield much more interesting lines. 



Not that I don't like meeting new people, but I have already had a number of 
conversations about my laugh and it was refreshing to spend the day with someone 
who already knew what to expect. In addition, she can actually speak French and 
having her translate for me as we went through my usual spots/haunts gave me a 
different perspective on them.

Then we hit a RAVE. Absolutely wild. 



Again the lighting? Set design? Oof.



Also, DRAMA. When I first got Nemo, one of the people at the sale said 
something to me in French and gestured at the wheels. I did not understand 
exactly what he said, but my expert powers of deduction surmised he was saying
that the wheels were in bad shape. I had been meaning to take him to a shop 
for a while, but it seemed like the wheels were holding up until one they 
didn't. 



So I took Nemo to this student run bike repair shop literally directly opposite 
my work. It's entirely volunteer based, donation run, and aggressively fucking 
cool. The guy who helped me greeted me with a 'Salut chef' and this is now my 
favorite French greeting. What was fun about the process was the guy just 
guided me through the process of fixing the tires the result being I now 
actually know how to change my own tire? Soooo cool. Also if you use used parts
they're all offered free of charge. Just amazing. I met another guy there who
explained that the organization I bought Nemo from (La Petite Rennes) is a old
French PUN. 'Rennes' is old French for queen, and 'Little Queen' is an old 
French phrase for bicycle. 

Ok final 3 things. First, I've started taking my French classes. I know it's 
obvious but I had just never thought of it, but accents from other lanugages
in French sound exactly like the accents from those languages in English. It
is so cool to hear French spoken with an Italian accent or a Vietnamese accent.
Second, I went to a bar with some friends to watch the Rugby World Cup quarter-
finals game of France vs South Africa. An incredible game of rugby, but the 
heartbreak that followed France's loss by 1 point was gut wrenching. As an 
aside, because the French flag is just a tricolor it is super easy to draw on
oneself. You can literally buy markers with the red, white and blue loaded so
you just have to make one streak and you're done.[7] Third, the other day this
old man on a UNICYCLE passed me on the way back home. He *passed* me. Now, how 
does a unicyclist stop at a red light? THEY HOP. I watched this old man 
literally hop on a unicycle for a solid 2 minutes while the light was red. Are
you freaking kidding me?



Ok that's it for today. I will try to be better at making more frequent, shorter
posts!

Tomorrow I'm going to visit my friend in Paris! And then visit London with my 
cousin! So excited! One bonus photo of jazz.




[1.0.4] Nov. 05

Ok for this entry I would like to focus on the ~~food~~! Part of the reason I 
am doing this journey is to arrive at some semblance of a definition of what 
culture actually is. I do think I am closer than when I started, but when I 
have posed this question to other people; invariably, part of the response is
something related to food.



I can understand this. Eating is something all humans engage in, and when 
travelling to a new locale it can be one of the first major differences the 
traveler experiences. Since coming to France, I have been very impressed with
the food 'culture'. Not only is the quality of food here noticably better than
the United States, but I also find myself deeply appreciating the near-religious 
thoughtfulness toward the consumption of food and drink that I've seen amongst 
my friends and colleagues.



Let's start with the quality of food. Every Saturday morning, I go to the local 
Farmer's Market (le marché des Lices) and the produce/meat/cheese/eggs I get
from there is leagues ahead of anything I've been able to find in the States.
Significantly more flavor per ingredient, and just overall so *fresh*. I also 
have a habit of going to the same people again and again which makes it fun 
because now the farmers recognize me when I come and make me try random new 
stuff.



Because of the strength of individual ingredients, the meals I've been cooking
are much more simple than what I have been used to making. They tend to only 
contain between 2-5 ingredients and are pretty much all salt/pepper seasoned. 
This has been a bit of an adjustment for me, but it has forced me to try 
techniques I've only seen on Youtube or read about. I'm out here DEglazing shit.



The other aspect of food culture I have been thoroughly enjoying is how my 
friends and colleagues approach food. I think in general, there is much more of
a conscious focus on sitting down, and the act of eating, drinking and tasting. 
When in America, I sometimes notice a sentiment that having a meal is either a
distraction from 'real' life or is merely an excuse to socialize with friends.

While I sometimes see these same attitudes, I feel them much more rarely. In my 
interactions, people are genuinely focused on the act of enjoying a meal or 
drink. I've had lunches with 5+ people where the majority of it passes in 
silence, it took me a while to realize that this is not because people are 
asocial or don't want to talk but because people are busy enjoying and savoring 
their meals.



I have been enjoying this aspect immensely, and it's something I want to carry 
with me for the rest of my life.

Where I've been eating can be broken down into one of 3 categories. (1) Home-
cooked meals with fresh ingredients, (2) Cafeteria lunches and the cafe at
work, and (3) outside restaurants and bars. I've covered (1) already let's talk
about (2). The cafeterias here are objectively amazing. Most lunches I have with 
the GenScale team at Université Supelec, an engineering school about a 15 minute 
walk from work. As part of our institute, lunches there are heavily subsidized 
to the tune of <3€. As part of that, everyone gets 1 entree, 2 appetizers, 1 
dessert, and 2 baguette slices. 



It is frankly ludricous how nice it is. At the cafe where I work (Utopi Cafe),
whenever you get coffee or tea it is *expected* to be served in a *REAL* mug.
And in the case of tea, they give you a full-on teapot.



Utopi cafe also does lunch, and though it's not as nice as Supelec, it is 
equally cheap and only marginally worse. I only learned this recently, but the
reason it's called Utopi Cafe is because it is overwhelmingly staffed by 
individuals with physical or mental disabilities.[9] SO cool. In general, the 
meals I've had in these cafeterias has been miles ahead of anything I've had in 
any HMS-affiliated cafeteria. Ok, let's discuss (3). I do not eat restaurants 
too often, mainly because I've been having too much fun cooking myself. I have 
been frequenting a number of bars and drinks are nice, the only real difference 
I appreciate is that a lot of bars make their own punch and sell glasses of it.
That said, the finger food you can order at bars is very good and it has been
very fun to try different things.

Now I would like to talk about a dinner I went to this last Friday. With winter 
upon us, the season of raclette has begun. Raclette is the French equivalent of 
fondue, but with potatoes and meat instead of the bread of fondue. For that 
dinner, we all first met at this market with different food vendors. We all then 
went stall by stall to get the wine, potatoes, meat, and cheese for the meal. 
Then, we set out to the host's apartment where we drank and started melting the 
cheese.



In raclette you melt cheese slices in small individual boats and then pour the
melted cheese onto some combination of boiled potatoes and meat. It was 
insanely good, I think I still prefer fondue for the big pot aspect of it, but 
this was also very very nice. After that, we did more drinks and then watched
all 3+ hours of The Fellowship of the Ring the extended edition. Not a single
person fell asleep or complained and it was SUCH a good movie, I haven't 
rewatched it in a minute and I forgot how good it was. Overall, 10/10 night.

Ok what are downsides with respect to food? I do miss spices and spiciness in
food. Salt and pepper are nice, and I am definitely developing a new 
appreciation for how versatile they are; however, the Indian food I had in 
London did remind me how much my body misses those flavors. Also, it is very
tough if not impossible to survive as a vegetarian here. I'm not sure if it's a
Rennes thing, or a Brittany thing, or a sans-Paris thing but it is tough to 
find a place that does not serve meat as the main course. I'm sure it's much
simpler in Paris, but most if not all of the meals outside of my house involve
meat in some way. It is a wee bit much.

Other updates since last time? I went to Nantes! Beautiful city. I do plan to
go for a weekend there, so I'll write an entry on it when I get to spend more
time in the city. Halloween in Rennes was very fun. Me and some work friends
tried to catch jazz but wound up at karaoke and when the bar closed a street
band started playing batucada and a spontaneous dance party broke out on the
street.




hr-small">

[1.0.6] Mar. 03

This was my last day in Rennes. I am currently writing this from my train to 
Paris as I begin one last European excursion before beginning Leg 2. I am going
to make a separate entry detailing my overall thoughts on France and Rennes, 
but for this one I wanted to focus on some thoughts I had while being a 
scientist here. The vast majority of my time in Rennes was actually spent at 
the Inria/Irisa center at Rennes Université 1 and it was a significant part of
my experience in France.

But before I get into that, I want to just highlight some other moments that 
happened in the last 2 and a half months here. Of course, there were many jazz
nights, pool games, bike rides, coffee breaks, and concerts; but I don't have 
the length nor the patience to describe each of them. Instead, I'll focus on
some curated fun moments.

First, I got to see *menhirs*. When I was a toddler, the way I learned how to
read was through this comic series called Asterix. It's a very sweet comic and 
it's actually set in ancient Brittany! One of the characters delivers menhirs
which are giant carved boulders shaped like round arrowheads pointing to the
sky. I don't think people know their exact purpose, but they are found 
throughout Brittany and are thousands of years old. I have always wanted to
see some and my friends were kind enough to organize a trip to St. Just for
me.



I went to Nantes again with a coworker! It is a lovely city and now got to
actually see the Jules Verne Museum! The museum was cute, very small and not
super in-depth but nicely done. Jules Verne has somewhat inspired this trip so
it did feel special to spend some time in his hometown and see the same sights
he saw.



I also made my first galette ever. A friend has the proper equipment to cook
them, and though I have seen lots of people make galettes over my 6 months
here it is more difficult than it looks.



For comparison, check out what his looked like. Note the small differences
between the two photos.



In another lovely moment, a friend invited me to a homemade meal. The dish was
a freshwater, carnivorous fish that his stepdad had caught and which he had
lovingly prepared for us. It was beyond delicious; and true to form, there was
not only the main course. But first some aperitifs, then entrees, the main
course, dessert, and of course, many digestifs. Incredibly fun night --
*amazing*.



Finally, I biked 100 km/70 miles to visit St. Malo. I'm sure St. Malo is a 
lovely city, but to be honest I was too exhausted to really explore it. I spent
like an hour on the beach, had a coffee, and then trained back. 



Though I was too spent to enjoy the city, the actual bike ride was beautiful.
There was one exception, around hour 2 a german shepherd bursts out of the
bushes I'm biking past and begins madly chasing me and barking. It followed
me for 2 minutes before leaving but that was honestly terrifying.



I did not know this before going, but St. Malo is actually the birthplace of
Chateaubriand, who is the person my fellowship is named after! 



This also represented the last bike ride I got to take with Nemo. Right as I 
was entering the city, I noticed that the front tire had gone flat. By this
point it was one week before my departure from Rennes, and la Rustine
Beaulieau was closed so I did not get the chance to fix it and travel with
him again before leaving. I did feel this was a fitting final voyage for him
and me, and I will remember him forever.



Each of these trips was fun and wonderful, but the final memories I'll 
cherish the most will be the ones shared with the friends I've made while
here. I'll talk more about this in my concluding thoughts, but I now want to 
focus on what it was like to pursue research while here. 

First, let's talk about the structure compared to researching in Harvard. In 
Harvard/America, research is set up like a tree. It is very obvious who is
your boss and who is up the totem pole from you. I felt like the structure in
my team in France was more akin to a network. It felt much more collective and
team oriented. People certainly have main advisors, but I felt comfortable 
talking to anybody about research and that is just not the case at Harvard. I
do think I significantly prefer this framework.

Next, work-life balance. I love how fiercely protective French people are of 
their personal time and the things they enjoy. There are 3 coffee breaks a day.
One is at 10am, one is right after lunch, and one is at 4pm. When I say there
are 3 coffee breaks, what I mean is that at these 3 times, literally everyone in
the building simultaneously stops working, heads to the cafeteria, and enjoys
a break together. The first couple weeks of this, I thought this would impact
my productivity. But if anything, I've felt even more productive since coming to 
France. I think this is for a laundry list of reasons, but I think a minor one 
are these breaks. Because I know exactly when they are, I find myself feverishly
trying to finish everything I want to get done before the break begins so that I
can relax during it. If I am truly stuck on something; an idea, or a nasty piece
of code, I have found that the pause café forces me to step away from it and 
often leads me to a breakthrough in a different way. I have loved it! Also, the
institude has so many fun activities for its members. Every Friday during lunch, 
I have been going to Batucada class which is this form of Brazilian drumming. 
I do not really know why it's so popular here but for some reason it is.



There are so many things like that here, and Harvard does have these but I would
never see professors engaging in them along with students. Here, I have jammed, 
climbed, and had coffee with not only graduate students, but also professors, 
administrators, and engineers. This is just unfathomable in Harvard. I don't 
feel this obvious & pervasive power difference that comes from seniority and as
a consequence I felt significantly less exploited for my labor while here. 

There are some downsides I felt. Some of my favorite science memories at Harvard
were those really really late night whiteboard sessions with colleagues and
random experiments done throughout the day. In those moments, I felt the best of
the American system; it was so creative and generative and just fun to discuss
random science at all these random hours. I missed those conversations, and even
though I would routinely hang out with co-workers; I rarely felt comfortable
bringing up work during off-work hours.

This is a minor point, and I believe this experience showed me that if I 
continue in academia, I would much rather continue it in Europe than in America.


[1.0.7] Goodbyes & final thoughts

My last week was hard here. It reminded me of my last week in Boston, I suddenly 
became hyperaware of all the things I was doing and consciously wondering when 
I could expect to do them again. My last coffee, my last time leaving work, my 
last cafeteria lunch, the last time I would see a certain person.

The difference between my goodbye to Rennes and my goodbye to Boston was that
for Rennes, it is not immediately clear when I will return. Obviously, I have a
deep desire to come back; but I would be lying if I said I think my return will
be anytime soon. It made the goodbyes to everyone more difficult than I was 
expecting.

True to form, I organized another party website invitation for my going away 
party. This one was all in French, and I did not use any Google Translate for 
it! I was told it was understandable, even if a wee bit rustic and incorrect in 
its verbiage. We began at the café I mentioned I have been frequenting (Aux 
caprices de Suzette). After 6 months, the two people working there now know me, 
and when I asked if I could host it there the lady said they don't usually stay 
open that late on Fridays, but they would do it for me 🥹. That touched me more
than I can begin to describe. Then, one of my friends was kind enough to let me 
host digestifs at her place, and it was delightful to introduce my coworkers to 
some of the random, wacky people I have grown to love in Rennes. The final 
guests left her apartment at 5 in the morning, almost identical to the timing of 
my Boston goodbye party <3.

A lot of people have asked me what I will miss the most about Rennes, and there
are a whole host of answers. The culture surrounding science, food, friendship,
commuting, computing, and the environment were all aspects I grew to love and
began identifying with; however, the dominant aspect I will miss is of course 
going to be the people. By and large, the friends and coworkers I've met have
been incredibly welcoming and so interesting to talk to. 

What issues did I find in France? Before answering, I want to describe one of my 
biggest pet peeves. I have had the experience of listening to many Americans 
(typically white affluent liberals) who spent a summer backpacking across Europe 
come back and proudly describe Europe as some post-capitalist utopia. I think 
this characterization is ignorant at best, and blatantly dangerous at worst. 
Refusing to acknowledge the colonialism that enabled most European countries to 
fund their industrialization, their current treatment of immigrants, and the 
rise of right-wing populism does a disservice to all the Europeans actively 
fighting to make the EU better.

France certainly struggles with these issues themselves. When in Rennes, I saw 
the same cudgel of economic inequality wielded against the poor. I saw the same 
inequities along gender and racial identity. I saw the same otherization of 
ethnic minorities and immigrants. It is a society that has made great strides,
equal to or even larger in some areas than America; but it is still a society 
grappling with deep struggles. I don't think it is fair or right to ignore 
those. 


I began this journey with 3 simple questions. After living in Rennes for ~6 
months, I believe I can now (maybe?) answer them.



1. Can I imagine myself living the rest of my life in Rennes/France?

Yes/Probably - I could certainly imagine a life in Rennes. It would
definitely involve a significant adaptation on my part, and I do not doubt it 
would be difficult. For example, I would have to boost my French skills far 
beyond where they're currently at. I am vaguely conversant, but my vocabulary 
is severely limited. But beyond that, I do believe living in Rennes would be 
deeply satisfying and a decision I would not regret. Whether I could imagine 
myself living in other locations in Brittany or France in general is harder to 
determine. I suspect the answer is yes; however, I would need more experiences 
to be certain. That said, my time in Rennes was wonderful and I cannot wait to 
return.


2. What makes the culture of Rennes/France distinct and how truly unique is
local culture in today's era of globalization?

When I first posed this question, I did not have a satisfying definition of 
culture. After thinking about it these last few months, I have arrived at
an answer I find to be personally satisfying. 

I define 'culture' as the set of expectations that come with living in a 
specific location or among a group of individuals. The food one can expect to
eat, the music one can expect to listen to, the political system one can expect
to be governed under; all fall under the purview of my definition of 'culture'. 

Two locations that share a similar set of expectations are necessarily closer in 
culture than other locations. It is up to the individual to determine how much 
they weigh certain expectations. For example, I would argue that differences in 
political expectations should be likely weighted more than differences in 
expectations about cuisine. As stated before, there are cultures specific to 
Rennes/France that I notice to be different than what I've been previously 
exposed to. That said, I expect the cultural differences between any random two
Cities/Regions/Nations to probably yield larger differences than those observed 
between Rennes/Brittany/France and Boston/Massachusetts/USA. I don't think this
is a bad thing. I merely want to acknowledge that I found adapting to life in 
Rennes/France to be very feasible.


3. What are the sources of similarity and difference between humans around the
world?

I was consistently struck by a sense of deja vu while here (fun fact: 'deja vu'
is FRENCH. I just realized that as I was writing this). When I first arrived and 
my oral comprehension of French was abysmal, I realized I could tell when people 
were telling jokes solely from the cadence of their speech. 

There was another moment where me and my friends were driving to St. Just, 
listening to music and chatting and I realized I've done this before. The 
destination might have been different, the road signs might have been in a 
different language; but I've had this experience before. The same chatting, the 
same singalongs, the same emotions watching the landscape roll behind you. 

The energy was identical, I'm not saying that French people are the same as 
Americans. But I think the similarities in our lived experiences overlap to a
very large extent. I'm not even sure this is a consequence of globalization, I 
think being human is a universal experience and while the specifics might change 
from person to person or country to country; the overall brush strokes are 
remarkably identical.



I'll finish my thoughts on France with one little anecdote in my adventure to 
learn French. When I was making my goodbye website, I wanted to say "I am going 
to miss you", so I looked up the verb 'to miss' and found 'manquer.' Hence, I 
wrote 'Je vais te manquer' since I (Je) am going (vais) to be the one missing 
you (te) the object. 

But that is not correct (I only learned this much later, after making a FOOL of
myself to a lot of people). 

The correct way of saying "I am going to miss you" is "Tu vas me manquer" where 
the subject and object are switched. 'Manquer' is not 'to miss', I think a more 
accurate definition is 'to cause longing'. So when I say 'Tu vas me manquer', I 
am really saying you (Tu) are going (vas) to make me (me) long (manquer).

It's such a fascinating linguistic difference. The focus of the sentence is now
neither the object being missed, nor the person doing the missing, but on the 
missing itself, the actual feeling of longing. 

I think this is a perfect lens to view France through. In my 6 months here, 
I consistently see the contours of a romantic society that emphasizes the human
experience in so many aspects. It's a beautiful thing to witness, and it's 
honestly been a sincere pleasure to be a part of it.

[2.0.0] Rwanda


[2.0.1] Mar. 27

I've been in Rwanda a little over 2 weeks at this point, here I am working as a 
fellow at the University of Global Health Equity (UGHE), specifically within the 
Institute of Global Health Equity Research. The UGHE campus is located in the 
rural, northern province of Burera within the Butaro district. It's about a 3 
hour drive from the capital, Kigali.

I'll begin with my thoughts on Butaro since that's where I'll be spending the 
majority of my time. First, Butaro is one of the most beautiful places I have 
ever lived in.



The district is incredibly rural with maybe half of the 3 hour drive taking 
place on flat dirt roads, and maybe 10% taking place on essentially just rocks.
That said, the campus is very comfortable and modern. It does make for a bit of
a jarring transition as the shift from a very rural and underdeveloped village
to a ultra-modern, fancy campus happens over ~5 minutes. My assigned dorm is 
significantly more comfortable than my apartment in France, I get 3 meals daily
at the cafeteria, and the campus gym is ridiculously well stocked (it has a 
boxing bag!!). This comfort means that it can become very easy to stay sheltered
within the confines of the campus. 

This is said just to remind myself to try and NOT do that. But honestly, 
spending the majority of my time on the UGHE campus would not be the worst 
thing. It is one of the most biologically lush and vibrant places I have been. 
Just by having a meal in the campus cafeteria, you will see an insane variety of 
birds and flora. 



The mountains of Rwanda are something else. It's one after the other, just 
constant mountains covered in farms or forest. I cannot imagine getting tired of
the view. But the wildlife isn't the only diverse feature of UGHE! I have never
seen a more international institution. I have met people from across Africa, 
other Americans, and scattered Eurasians. Interacting with this many 
international individuals has honestly made me a bit skeptical of all the 
alleged DEI progress places like Harvard claim to have made.

All of these diverse people have been very sweet to me. Another interesting note 
is that perhaps due to Rwanda's much younger population, a majority of UGHE 
staff are at or around my age. I know for a fact this is not the case at 
Harvard, where most staff members are *significantly* older than their students. 

Out of everyone though, the cafeteria staff have been by far the kindest. At 
this point they all know me, and they routinely make me repeat new words in 
Kinyarwanda and try new food.

From my 2 week experience, Rwandan cuisine places a very large emphasis on 
rice, beans, and milk. Milk is very important to Rwandans, every meal has a 
pitcher of hot milk that they continually refill as it empties. In Kigali, there 
are a lot of stores solely dedicated to selling milk; I still do not really 
understand why it is so popular, but everyone loves it. 

Beyond the milk, they also have a variety of curries a lot of which have almost 
direct counterparts to Indian ones. Occassionally they also serve chapatis which 
I have just learned were introduced by Indian immigrants to East Africa. My 
favorite dishes so far have been an egg curry, this fried river fish, and 
cassava leaf stew. But ignoring all of that, the most interesting part of meals 
have been the new fruits I have been having! I have stated time and again that 
supermarkets should have a much more varied stock in their fruit and vegetable 
aisles and I feel vindicated eating here. Tree tomato fruits and passion fruits 
are the two new ones I've tried so far. I've had passionfruit flavoring in 
drinks, but do not recall ever having tried the fruit itself. Both are tangy, 
sweet, and delicious. 



Eating a tree tomato fruit will stain your hands red to the point it looks like 
you murdered someone. After writing this, I looked up where they are from and 
apparently they are native to South America but have become very popular in 
tropical climates. I don't know why I haven't seen these in the US? In any 
case, what other news do I have from Butaro? 

Sleeping in a mosquito net is not very necessary here as mosquitoes don't do 
well in the Burare climate, but it is honestly kinda cozy to sleep with it 
around you. It feels like one of those fancy beds with a curtain around it.

A Rwandan friend I made took me on a hike around the villages near campus and 
most kids we passed got excited, yelled "Umuzungu!" when they saw me and began
following us. Umuzungu essentially means "foreigner/white person." The villages 
are very similar to rural parts of India I've traveled to. One interesting note 
about farming here is that the climate makes it possible to grow pretty much 
everything year round, so every cleared area is either freshly harvested or in 
the process of growing something. I saw avocado trees here which I was not 
expecting at all.

UGHE had a volleyball, basketball, and football match against a school from 
Musanze. The Musanze school fans were very nice, chatted me up, and made me take
lots of photos of them since I had brought my nice camera to the games. A lot of
them gave me their Whatasapp, and I learned that UGHE has a free shuttle to 
Musanze so will be planning a trip over soon!



I think that's everything I want to say on the Butaro campus. Have one more 
photo.



This brings me to Kigali. UGHE is kind enough to let me reserve an apartment 
when I visit, so it makes multi-day trips very feasible for me. This is quite
nice as my interations with Kigali have made me quite a big fan of the city.



The easiest way to get around the city is via moto-taxis, buses exist but they
seem too infrequent to be very reliable, walking is possible but the distances 
and hills make it much slower, taxis could work but it also seems a pain to
call them. This leaves motos, which are just motorcycle taxis that zip around
the city. You flag one, describe your destination, negotiate a price, and then 
don a helmet and hop on the back. The price I pay is ~1,000 RWF/10 min drive, 
this is more expensive than what a Rwandan would pay but it is a better rate 
than they charge most foreigners so make sure you bust out some Kinyarwanda
and haggling. Also most motos use this informal web of landmarks across Kigali,
I have no idea most of them so I resort to showing them the location on my 
google maps and give them some time to look at it. Occassionally, I have to give
them turn-by-turn navigations by holding out my phone but that's relatively 
rare.

Using motos is very very fun. You dodge a lot of traffic and it's a pretty nice
example of micromobility. Downside is they aren't the best for the environment,
but certainly better than taking a car. In addition, they only seat one so you
can't pile into one with your buds.

So that's how I get around Kigali, what do I DO in Kigali? I am currently 
relying on recommendations from friends. My first weekend there I saw a SoFar 
concert put on explicitly to celebrate Women's History Month. The 3 performers
were Amelia Caesar, Ariel Wayz, and Kamanzi. Amelia was a visiting British 
performer, Wayz is a popular Rwandan singer, and Kamanzi is a Ugandan musician.
All were amazing, and it was such a beautiful outdoor setting for the concert.



I was honestly a bit surprised how many white people were present. They were 
still a minority, but Rwanda definitely does seem like a hotspot for 
internationals to settled down in. On the one hand, I think this can be good. 
Foreigners bring foreign money and theoretically can help build local expertise,
but it's hard to shake reservations that outsiders view Rwanda (but low/middle
income countries in general) as just a place to enjoy high-quality living on a 
cheaper budget without being interested in local culture and positivitely 
contributing to the country. This is something I started thinking about after my
trip to India, and I have more thoughts but I will withold them until I spend 
more time in Rwanda.

The morning after the SoFar concert, I went to Kimironko Market. So far, the 
Kigali I had experienced was very modern & orderly; fancy coffeeshops, artsy 
concerts all that shit. Kimironko Market was not like that, and was much closer 
to the chaos of a place like New Delhi. It's this gigantic compound, filled with
vendors hawking all sorts of stuff. Immediately upon my moto reaching, I was 
very enthusiastically followed by multiple vendors each insisting I visit their
specific shop. It could get a bit overwhelming, as multiple people would be 
talking to you at once, but it was fun to see everyone's stalls and wares. I 
wanted to try getting some fabric and having a shirt tailor made for me which I 
was able to do!



The best part was when I was waiting for the shirt to be made and after I made
it clear I was done buying anything more. Most of the vendors then stopped 
trying to sell me things and the remaining ones just started chatting with me 
and teaching me Kinyarwanda. At one point they started playing some popular Sam 
Smith song and started singing along to it. That was very sweet.



I also got the chance to try some cocktails from my friend's rum pop-up! It is
very tasty, get some Imizi if you're in Kigali, and have him describe his 
approach to rum-making. Overall? Kigali? Amazing. Big fan. I'll be spending the
coming Easter weekend there and *aggressively* excited. Have some FUN things
planned with some FUN people.

My first two weeks in Rwanda? *Biratangaje* I also wrote and submitted my first
grant today! So cool.




[2.0.2] Apr. 20

This entry will focus on Kigali as I have had many more experiences there in the
past month. Kigali is such an interesting city. On the one hand, it is fairly
small. It is extremely common to see the same people again and again (this is 
particulary true if you frequent nicer bars/coffee shops/cultural events). 
Despite this small feeling, the people you meet are fairly international coming
from all over Africa and a fair amount from Europe/America. I have heard other
people describe Kigali feeling like 'a large playground.' I am not sure if I 
agree with this sentiment; however, I can understand where they're coming from.

The phrase I've heard most often about Kigali is that it is 'an easy city to
live in.' For this, I can agree. It has been ridiculously easy to live in it. It
is safe and clean, and most things just work without any thought. When I compare
Kigali to New Delhi, I can honestly say that I would feel more comfortable with 
the prospect of living in Kigali. This is kind of insane! I have been visiting 
New Delhi since I was a kid, but it still feels so opaque to me when I compare
it to Kigali.

I have attended a number of cultural events, with the most memorable being this
absolutely crazy concert at the Francophone center. A Rwandan saxophonist, 
Dawidi, was introducing his new album Amahoro. Music was very good but my 
favorite part was the audience participation. There was this large contingent of
Rwandan fans dancing hard enough that at one point he called some up on stage.



One cool aspect of Kigali is that you can sort of feel the culture bubbling up
and taking shape in real-time. There are so many interesting people, artists, &
entrepeneurs from all over Africa and the world that it feels like a matter of 
time before Kigali becomes a major cultural hub in East Africa.

What else? I have met a lot of Ethiopians at UGHE, and some were kind enough to 
take me to an Ethiopian restaurant for some *deelicious* shuro. Another friend 
made some shuro and that was also *oof*. I love Ethiopian food, I am KEEN to hit
Addis Ababa.



I also got to explore a wetland preserve on the outskirts of Kigali. During this
hike it began pouring leading me to discover that my boots are not 100% 
waterproof. Despite the soggy socks, it was beautiful and it did feel fitting to
trek through a wetland during a thunderstorm.



I have also been exposed to a significant amount of afrobeats and good lord does
it slap. Techno shit in Europe was fine and certainly fun in some contexts; 
however, Afrobeats are much more up my alley. In addition, every song has a 
dance that is associated with it and for the popular songs everyone on cue just
starts busting it out which is so cute. Also 99% of Africans I have met can 
actually dance which is a very different experience when compared to Europe.



A friend has also introduced me to a sauna in Kigali, the experience is very 
stripped down compared to the one I did in Switzerland; however, I prefer this 
one. The main clients are Rwandan uncles and aunties and their sauna stamina is
something to behold. I go pretty much everytime I am in Kigali and they steam
bushels of eucalyptus giving the steam a nice aroma. In addition, they serve
unlimited ginger tea and mandazis (fried dough balls). We love a sauna.  



The last point I want to discuss is the 30th anniversary of the Rwandan 
genocide. Kwibuka is Kinyarwandan for 'to remember', and this is the name of the
week remembering the beginning of the genocide. During this time, music and bars
close and the atmosphere becomes somber. I think it's easy for foreigners to 
visit Rwanda and see the progress and believe that the country has moved on 
successfully from this trauma; however, being in Kigali for that week I don't 
really believe that sentiment anymore. 

I visited the Genocide memorial museum and I was one of the few foreigners 
there; the majority of people were Rwandans remembering family and friends 
that died. The genocide claimed the lives of about 1 million people and the 
museum is a burial site for over 250,000 of those killed. It was an 
exceptionally brutal event and the museum was fairly impactful.

Though the progress in Rwanda over the past 30 years is something to behold, I  
don't think it's fair to say they have overcome the trauma. Just attending the
memorial, it is easy to see how raw and visceral the emotions still are. The 
museum was very well done and I encourage anyone visiting Kigali to make a point 
of seeing it. If you go I would recommend getting an audioguide, and if you have 
the English one listen for the term 'genocide ideology' as it pops up frequently
and has a particular meaning here in Rwanda.




[2.0.3] May  23

My time in Rwanda is rapidly coming to an end :(. I will be very sad to leave,
it is truly a remarkable country and I have enjoyed my stay and work here so so
much. OK, but updates! UGHE hosted a Culture Expo Day where everyone came 
dressed in their country's traditional clothes. This was one of my favorite 
evenings in Butaro, everyone looked fine as all hell and there was so much FUN
dancing.



Rwanda having the largest contingent had multiple dance performances of their 
traditional dance that I first saw at the concert in the Francophone institute. 
It was very cool, at one point they called everyone up to dance with them and 
it is unbelievably tiring.



But even countries with a smaller footprint made an impact. My Kenyan sisters
brought the house down with their entrance.



I wore a kurta and shawl I picked up in India and one of my friends made me 
dance to a Bollywood song. As an aside, it is very cute to see my friends
mimic my dance style. Americans and some French also have tried this, but 
the Africans have by far come the closest.

What else? In Kigali, I caught a boxing match that was one of the more surreal
events I have attended. The commentators were two radio hosts talking in 
Kinyarwanda over the entire thing *including* during the actual matches. I did
not understand a lot of it, but I got enough to know that they were frequently
dropping advertisements for the venue (We do weddings! birthdays! Try our 
chicken fingers!). Also, the organizing gym was full of insane people. One dude
started yelling from the sidelines that his gymmate should 'KILL HIM.' The ring
that they built also had this big plastic tarp over it, and by the end of the
night it was so slick with sweat that both boxers and the referees would slide
all over the ring. Just the craziest thing to witness. This gave me a much 
deeper appreciation for the rigid structure that my boxing gym in Boston has. 



I got to swim in a rooftop pool, which was pretty pretty good.



I also did a bike ride in Butaro! This was my very first time mountain biking &
I definitely can see the appeal of it. 



The kids from the village immediately started following us and would just sprint
alongside us as we were biking; they were all surprisingly fast. Biking up the 
mountains gave us some lovely views.



I witnessed my first non-stick and poke tattoo being given. My friend got a lil'
Dragon Ball Z skateboarder on her leg.



That same evening I also attended my first Kizomba class! The people were sooo
friendly and after the class we all went social dancing together which was very
fun. It was actually held in the bar next door to my sauna spot which was WILD.

Finally, cooked some mataar paneer as a thank you to some friends who have let
me crash with them very often. The dinner was right before I left for Botswana!
Felt very nice to cook Indian food again, wasn't my best work but came out 
fairly nice.



This will be my last post before I write my wrapup! Much love Rwanda.


[2.0.4] Goodbyes & final thoughts

Oof. Another set of goodbyes. This one was ALSO hard. As before in France, and 
before that in Boston, I was constantly reminded of all the things I was doing
for the last time. This was particularly difficult because I had to do 2 sets of
goodbyes, one in Butaro at the campus, and the other in Kigali.

I left Butaro May 27th and the prior weekend was jam-packed with fun events. Me
and the masters students went to Wakanda, the local village bar, we had a movie
night, UGHE did Umuganda , and then we went on a bike ride together. The campus
is such a wonderful place, and I really grew to love Butaro, the countryside, 
the staff on campus, and all the students I met along the way. 

Here are some photos from my last weekend on campus. First, Wakanda. I had heard
a lot about it, but honestly had no idea what to expect. It was just two rooms,
one had the drinks, and the other was scattered tables and chairs with a 
singular red lightbulb hanging from the ceiling.



It was an aggressive vibe. We played a lot of Uno. Then we had Umuganda! 
Umuganda takes place on the 3rd Saturday of every month and begins with 
community service by everyone and is followed by a gathering where news 
is shared. The last 2 Umugandas I have been in Kigali and did not really 
participate but this time I was on-campus and we had a contingent of 
students and staff led by our new fearless Vice Chancellor to work 
together. We were expanding a river in the village; it was physically quite 
demanding but such a fun way to spend time with the community. I have a lot of 
respect for the VC to (1) physically join in Umuganda and (2) his ability to 
make others feel at home with a constant stream of jokes and singing. 



I think it's an open question how helpful we actually were. It ended up being
that UGHE did one side of the river while the other was done by community 
members. They were making a much more gradual slope than we were, which in 
hindsight probably seems like a better approach?

Sawa sawa. Ok what else? Bike ride was FUN, went farther than last time and 
came within 20 minutes of the Ugandan border which was p cool. Then had one last
vibe sesh with the masters students on campus before leaving Butaro for KIGALI.

Last week in Kigali was sweet. Went to the Kiz class again and afterwards joined
two rando mid-30s vibey Rwandan uncles for karaoke. They work for the tax agency
in Rwanda and it was COOL to meet people in the government. That night was a 
little surreal. 

Anyways, I did the usual tomfoolery and said goodbye to all the UGHE peeps and 
my buds I made around the city. I had a little goingaway shindig at my friend's
rum pop-up and then we all went latin dancing together. That was a VERY fun time
and it was so sweet to get most of my Rwandan friends in one spot to hang. 

Alright, this CAPS my time in Rwanda and concludes Leg 2 of the JOURNEY. Let's 
do those same questions again.



1. Can I imagine myself living the rest of my life in Rwanda?

Yes - I am fairly seriously considering joining UGHE post PhD. My reasons
are split between UGHE and the country. Let's start with UGHE.  I think I said
this before, but I have never been in an institution like UGHE. First, is the 
mission. It's an organization that is deeply committed to actually helping 
people on the ground, and the work feels incredibly fulfilling. Second, I love
how young and dynamic the institution is. It's still finding its culture and 
footing and it feels like there's so much opportunity everywhere. Third, I love
how multicultural it is. So many people from all over, and it's mad how much 
I've already learned after 3 months there. 

Ok now the country. Rwanda is the first time I've lived in a country where I can 
look at most decisions and just exclaim how intelligent they are. The process of
getting a work visa took all of 5 minutes, motos are required to have helmets 
for passengers, the legislature is required to have a minimum of 30% women 
members (it's currently at 61% representation), Rwanda heavily markets itself to 
Western tourists (Visit Rwanda), the police force on the streets is swapped out 
consistently at regular intervals to maintain alertness. The list goes on. I 
always joke that literally all I want are young, smart, effective people with 
their hands on the levers of power (I was a hardcore Mayor Pete fan last Dem. 
primaries) and I feel like Rwanda HAS that. I love it. 

I feel like this hit especially hard because while I was there Trump's felony
convictions started coming in. Look I love America, I really really do. But do
you have any idea how disheartening it is to be in a country as effectively run
as Rwanda while reading about the cover-up of a sex scandal between your former 
president/reality TV star Donald Trump & a porn star? My mamu said it best; 
after I described the transformation in Rwanda that took place over the 30 years
since the genocide he said he cannot think of any equivalent story in modern 
history. There is simply no example I can think of for this much change in this
short a period, it is just remarkable.

Ok but OBVIOUSLY there are downsides. UGHE as an institution, has corruption. I
heard it from multiple people at multiple levels, and that sucks. Money can go
missing and it's one of those things where it seems non-trivial to root out.
Realistically, I don't have any sense of how common these things are in 
developing countries (I would guess very) so it's difficult to accurately judge
UGHE against its counterparts. 

What about the government? The Rwandan government does have authoritarian 
tendencies. Paul Kagame *is* a strongman who has both hobbled opposition against
him and consolidated power for himself. Under him, Rwanda is actively projecting
power across the East African region and pursuing covert ops across the 
continent. Now I am going to caveat that statement. You would not believe the 
number of people I spoke to from all over the continent who fondly wish their 
own country was more like Rwanda. There is so much instability, corruption, and
insecurity in so many other African nations that the thought of an effective,
quasi-benevolent dictator is deeply appealing. I would be lying if I said I also
was not tempted by it. For the entirety of my life I have seen America fail to
deliver meaningful change and hope to its people. It's stupid that the most 
powerful country in the world is run as ineffectively as it is, and I am 
skeptical that Western civilization as it stands today will survive the coming 
challenges. 

All that said, what happens post Kagame? I have asked a number of Rwandans what
the line of succession is and no one has a good answer for me. I don't love 
that. In addition, assuming I have kids, I think I would prefer to raise them
there only if their mother is Rwandan. I have seen the children of a number of
expats and by and large they are the most spoiled brats I have ever seen. 
Growing up in extreme relative wealth does that to any person; however, if 
the children are also clearly not from there (i.e. white) then I feel like their
snottiness starts to bleed into some form of neo-colonialism. 


2. What makes the culture of Rwanda distinct and how truly unique is local 
culture in today's era of globalization?

Ooo this one is interesting. This was my first time living outside of the West.
I've spent some time in India, but I think that's a little different since I 
was mainly with family and not navigating life by myself. The thing I loved the
most from my time in Rwanda was the opportunity to chat with Africans and get a
sense of what their values and perspectives. Talking to them about colonialism &
neo-colonialism was EYE-opening, they made me question a lot of the assumptions 
I previously held about multi-lateral institutions, American foreign policy (or
really any Western foreign policy), and the assumptions I hold about government
and institutions. 

Coming back to my earlier framing of culture as 'expectations', this questioning
made me update my expectations regarding the true motives behind a lot of 
Western rhetoric and actions. Case in point, during my sojourn the President 
Ruto of Kenya visited the U.S. and President Biden. During this visit, the 2 
Presidents signed a deal for an American company to fund a massive highway 
linking Mombasa and Nairobi. It is a thinly veiled desparate response to the
infrastructure projects China is funding across the continent. Now before, I 
would have read about this and operated under the assumption, the expectation,
that this loan would be favorable and offered with genuinely good intentions.
But my god, the vitriol with which my Kenyan friends reacted to this news was 
astonishing to me. From their perspective, they have the complete OPPOSITE 
expectation regarding Western intentions. The truth is probably somewhere in-
between; however, I genuinely had not thought about the other perspective 
before.

Now coming to globalization, I was thoroughly surprised how widespread American
'culture' was even in Rwanda. I saw some random person in Kigali rocking a 
"Nevertheless, she persisted" T-shirt. In addition, a lot of people listen to 
straight up American Hip-Hop and there is a sizable influence of American 
thinkers and rhetoric shaping discussions across Africa. For example, 
conversations regarding European beauty standards use the vocabulary invented by
Americans. V cool, but again I don't think Rwanda was so different as to feel
like another world. Certainly I did have to change some expectations (I can't 
expect fast Internet or finished roads everywhere); but again, it was not 
difficult to adapt. I feel vindicated in my earlier belief that culture varies
but is no longer indistinguishable between places.

3. What are the sources of similarity and difference between humans around the
world?

Maybe on this point, I was a bit surprised. I still believe my earlier argument
that people are more or less the same all over the world still holds; however, I
did feel the difference between the Africans I met, Rwandans, and Europeans. 
Pretty much every non-Rwandan African commented on the relative shyness and 
introversion of most Rwandans. I talked to some Rwandans about this and their 
consensus was that this is due to the country's history. While I agree that most
Rwandans are shy, I still found that if you give most of them a goofy smile and 
say Hi in Kinyarwanda they respond positively.

So maybe I felt small differences, but I still think everyone is more or less 
the same.



So ends Rwanda! It was a fantastic time filled with wonderful people. I will 
deeply miss it, but I'll be back soon!


[3.0.0] Philippines


[3.0.1] Jul. 05

Alright, I've been fucking around Manila for the past 3ish weeks. So many       
thoughts. I'll first start with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) since that has
been a bulk of my experience. Until the end of August, I will be interning at 
the ADB in their Office of Safeguards (OSFG). My job is to leverage generative
AI to aid in the workflow of the OSFG. The ADB is a development bank, meaning it
funds development related projects across Asia. The OSFG's role is to ensure    
that funded projects neither harm the environment nor the social safety of      
individuals living in the project area. For example, if ADB is funding the      
construction of a dam in northern Nepal the OSFG would ensure that the          
environmental damage caused by the construction is minimized and that anyone who
has to be resettled is properly compensated.                                    

Coming from academia into this place has been a fairly large adjustment. First, 
I have to dress formally everyday. This is honestly kind of fun, and I really   
love the sound formal shoes make when walking on a hard surface. The biggest    
downside is that walking outside in formalwear is HOT and that I need to pack a 
change of clothes if I want to do anything immediately after work. Second, the  
vibe is very different. People here looooove acronyms they will not hesitate to 
make idiotic abbreviations for any and everything. There is also so many fluff  
words when people communicate; I spend a lot of time talking about 'landscape   
analyses' and 'action items.' In addition, the other interns are so wildly      
different from anyone I would normally talk with that the act of socializing 
with them is very interesting. You've got developmental economists, lawyers, 
businessy folks, policy people, and more. Just a diverse set of dingdongs. Most 
of them are very sweet, and I do enjoy talking to them but it is 100% a very big 
difference for me.                         


                                                                                
All of these things combined sometimes make it feel like I'm living inside a    
dollhouse of a little finance-obsessed girl. Imagine you're living in a large
audition for people trying to get a role in a play about corporate power 
struggle and you can get a sense of the vibe. It's a wee bit uncanny.
                                                                                
I know I'm making it sound bad, but I think it's worth noting that even though  
this world I have somehow stumbled into feels fake it also wields immense  
influence in the real world. Its total operations budget in 2023 was 23.6 
billion US dollars ($23,600,000,000) which is honestly insane. It's one of the
biggest banks in Asia and setting aside all the memes, it does build a lot of 
real shit on the ground.



I think it is also probably important for me to have the experience of working
in a place like this. I am now realizing that it's possible *most* white-collar 
jobs are literally exactly like this? I think the vast majority of non-physical 
work is manufactured by the bureaucracy and serves no purpose other than giving 
people paper to push between different groups of people. A while ago, I read 
Utopia for Realists by Ruther Bregman, and he has a section detailing 'Bullshit 
Jobs' which made sense in the abstract, but now seeing it up close is truly 
wild. Before this year started, I held a deep-rooted skepticism in the long-term
stability of the (neo)liberal international order; by the end of this 
internship, I will be curious to see if I think it's more or less stable than I 
thought before.

Anyways, highlight so far has been attending a discussion with Mohammed Yunus,
the guy who first began issuing microloans!



Ok, I could say a lot more about ADB; but I'll hold off. How do I find MANILA?
It is quite fun. Manila City, Manila is the densely populated city in the world,
Metro Manila refers to the overall metropolitan region which consists of 16 
cities. ADB HQ and my apartment are in Mandaluyong, but everything is close 
enough together where I can easily move between different cities via public 
transportation or motos. Being the mega-city it is, I have not explored nearly
as much of it as I would like; however, I do really enjoy what I've seen so far.

It is loud and big and bustling. There's so much everywhere, and different 
neighborhoods have wildly different vibes. Everyone I've met has been very 
friendly and welcoming. The spoken lingua francas are Filipino and English, 
from my understanding 'Filipino' refers to a mixture of Tagalog with words 
borrowed from Spanish and a little bit from English. Filipino has been the 
hardest language for me. The accent is quite different from how I typically 
speak, but I think I'm making tiny progress in it. I have discovered 4 rough
definitions for 'Amazing': (1) Masarap - typically translates to 'delicious' but
you can use it in non-food contexts (although I think most of these are vaguelly
sexual). (2) Astig - a macho form of amazing, more masculine focused. (3) Lupit 
- fiercely awesome, in a devastating way? I don't really understand this one 
yet. (4) Solid - I think this is borrowed from English but it's pronounced more 
like 'soleed', this is the most general one.



I really love my apartment. It's inside this gigantic skyscraper and has access 
to a pool and gym. The security guards recognize me at this point and teach me 
Tagalog. N.B. A lot of the other interns used Airbnb to find places and have had 
awful experiences. If you're doing long-term renting, I'd recommend using a 
local site. I used rentpad.ph and my landlady Len is a day one sweetie. 



For transportation, I have used an app called Angkas primarily. It's essentially 
Uber but for motorcycles; they move much faster through traffic and are quite 
nice. Otherwise, I've walked or used public transportation. Manila is not as 
walkable as Kigali, it's not bad but Kigali sidewalks are better. That said, 
Manila's public transport is much more fleshed out. You can take Jeepneys, buses, 
or the metro. Jeepneys are quinessentially Filipino so I'll start with them. 
They are leftovers from American military occupation, and have been adapted into 
smaller, somewhat-privately(?) owned buses. Because of their open back, it's super 
easy to get in and out on the fly and for some reason all of them are decked out 
**beautifully**.



I've been using an app that my co-worker recommended to me called Sakay.ph which
also includes the fares you should pay depending on when you get on or off. I am
not really sure how you determine the fares otherwise, because to pay you just 
say 'Batay po' and hand the driver your amount. It's not been more than 15 pesos
for me.

In terms of activities, I've hit some bars and concerts with the other interns.
The concerts in particular have been very good, and just in general every 
Filipino is an amazing singer. The supermarket I go to also sells karaoke 
machines and for demo purposes some of them are turned on and free for public
use, but I have only seen them ever be used by employees when they had nothing
to do. It's honestly adorable, and makes shopping for groceries significantly
more enjoyable.



Also, I've touched on the malls before but they are truly gigantic, small cities
unto themselves. I don't even enjoy shopping but the ability to walk into a 
random building and find what you need within a couple of minutes is pretty 
cool. I've also realized that because their design is very informative for
future underground civilizations. They are sprawling, multi-level fortresses 
that actively deemphasize natural light. The one next to ADB also has a full on
CHURCH in it.



I've also found latin dancing here. The instructors are very good and 
aggressively adorable. They teach sensual bachata, salsa on 2 and kizomba. All
have been very fun, and there are some excellent dancers here. 



ALSO, I found a Muay Thai instructor here and he is very cool and it feels very
fun to do Muay Thai again. After boxing in Butaro, I have realized I need some 
form of martial arts in my life, and this has scratched that itch.

That's all for now. There is a lot more to discuss and show, but it's just TOO 
much. Also, the Botswana trip reignited my passion for photography so I'll be
attempting street photography now. It'll be here!


[3.0.2] Aug. 22

Alright, this is actually my last day in Manila. So this entry will focus on
the highlights on what I did between my last entry to now and my final Goodbyes 
will focus on my thoughts on the Philippines/Manila/ADB writ large.

What have I gotten up to in Manila? Most of my week is focused on attending
meetings and preparing information related to my project at ADB. I will say
that as the work has picked up and the administrative barriers have been 
lifted, I have enjoyed my time at ADB more and more. While there are 
certainly flaws that I see to working here, the more people I meet the more I am 
impressed with the mission/ethos of my department and the people inside it.

I also celebrated my birthday here! The day of I began with my time-honored 
tradition of spending the morning at a coffee shop followd by an art museum. 
I had already gotten myself a little birthday present in Parañque the week
before, but you can never treat yourself too much. 



I have always been impressed with the level of art I have seen here, but the
National Museum of Fine Arts in Manila is something else. I would really 
reccommend going here, the level of art in the Philippines is something else
entirely.

On the weekends I typically hang out with the interns or some local friends.
Some friends and I traveled south for a daytrip to Tagaytay. It's on the
southern coast of Luzon, the island which Manila is on, and is most well-known 
for a semi-recent volcanic eruption. Very fun visit, but the highlight for me
was a random decision to take a boat on the nearby lake that circles the 
volcano during golden hour.



Explored some more of the malls. Let me tell you that you see some crazy shit
in Filipino malls.



I also got the chance to go freediving in Batangas! Ask me for videos of me
diving, but I can honestly say it was some of the most beautiful wildlife I have
ever seen.



Similar to the safari in Botswana, the opportunity to see the wildlife up close
and personal is literally indescribable. Just breathtaking shit. 

The evening after we dove for the first time, the staff of the camp organized a
social for everyone to hang out as there were many groups on site that weekend.
The group of ~25 people played King's Cup, and that was a really fun experience.
Filipinos are very good at unwinding, and the vibes were on point.



I also had my final presentation recapping my project and time at ADB with my
department. I think they liked me and were happy with my progress and it felt 
very nice to leave them with something tangible and hopefully useful in their
day to day work. They were also kind enough to throw me a little goodbye soirée
which I also used to say goodbye to the remaining intern friends who were on 
site.

I also said goodbye to the ADB café employees who have diligently poured 
beautiful latte art in my boule from Breton.



SO CONCLUDES MY LAST TWO MONTHS IN MANILA AND MY LAST TWO MONTHS IN THIS TOUR
OF THE WORLD.

[3.0.3] Goodbyes and final thoughts

This goodbye was fairly different than my previous two. In the other legs, I 
tended to be the one who was leaving while my friends stayed on in. While I did
make some full-time Manila friends, most of my closest friends from this leg 
were fellow interns who are based in all sorts of spots around the world. Did it
make the goodbyes easier? Possibly? Some of them I will definitely be able to 
see again as they come from similar places as myself, plus all of us left at 
around the same time so there were so many separate little goodbyes.

Final thoughts on the Philippines/Manila? I enjoyed it. Out of all the cities I
have lived in this past year, I will say I do think Manila felt too urban for 
me. It does require a car to escape the city; but once you do the Philippines 
has overwhelming natural beauty. 

Despite Manila feeling too urban at times, it is also one of the most 
interesting cities I've lived in. It is simply *so* dense and *so* bustling that
you can always find interesting things going on no matter where you go. My 
favorite neighborhood was Quiapo just because the energy in that space felt the
most authentically 'Filipino'. 

On that note, Filipinos are such a fun people. The stereotype of them being open
and friendly did feel very true. In one memorable encounter, I was sitting on 
the back of a motorbike with my camera around my neck. Coming in the opposite
direction was a man driving his family in a trike who motioned to me to take a
photo of his family and him.



This sort of thing happened again and again, and it always put a smile on my 
face. There is a clear sense of national pride in being welcoming and 
gregarious and if you open yourself up as well it makes you feel at home.

Thoughts on ADB? I've come around! Maybe I've drunk the kool-aid, but I had so
many conversations with staff members where I very bluntly laid down my 
perceived issues with the bank and gotten their feedback. I will say out of the
multi-lateral development banks that ADB in particular, seems less problematic
than most. They do not engage in policy-based lending, meaning they do not 
condition loans to countries based on changes to those countries' internal 
policies and economic systems. I tend to think that's a good thing (but I am 
also not an expert). In addition, perhaps because of the Japanese influence, 
they tend to be more methodical and valuing of experience than other MDBs. This
can be a good or bad thing. On the one hand, this means ADB probably moves 
slower than organizations like the World Bank. However, it also means that they
offer more stability to member countries and they tend to have the same staff 
members. For example, I ran into a Kashmiri at the Bank who works on projects in
South Asia. She's been working at ADB for the past 15 years and at this point 
she is familiar with people in the Indian government. This rapport means they're
comfortable clarifying questions directly with her and she has an understanding
of their organizational makeup and culture. That seems pretty good! And based on
what I've been told by other ADB staff, is distinct from the World Bank with its 
collection of 20-30 somethings fresh outta Ivy Leagues rolling into developing 
countries and acting like hot shit.

I've also just been impressed with the staff in my Office. In one of my final
conversations with my boss's boss I mentioned a quote from the Lorax and he 
not only instantly placed the quote, but also immediately drew the connection
saying that the Office of Safeguards is the one who speaks for the trees. In 
another instance, I was talking to a staff member about one of my mentors and 
the staff was remarking on how impressed he was with my mentor. He said that he
would sit in meetings with my mentor and actively wonder if he was trying to get
fired since he was being so aggressive in his interrogation of a given proposal.

Far from being fired, my mentor is still advancing in the bank! Development is 
quite literally in the name of the Asian Development Bank. Everything in the 
bank is oriented to 'develop, develop, develop'. Development is obviously good;
however, development unchecked inevitably leads to harm against those without a 
voice. The Office of Safeguards is the *only* part of the Bank that is oriented 
to listen to those voices and act to defend them. I was incredibly fortunate to 
do my internship with them, and it was so gratifying to see and talk to so many
dedicated people really earnestly fighting the good fight. 

Ok let's do my 3 questions one last time.



1. Can I imagine myself living the rest of my life in Manila/the Philippines?

Probably/Probably - I know I can fairly easily make a life in Manila or 
the Philippines work for me. There are things I would have to bite the bullet
on; I would probably need to buy a car so I could escape the city and live in
the provinces frequently. I would also need to adapt to the cuisine here. While
I did enjoy some dishes, the lack of Indian food and the excessive meat 
consumption did begin to bother me. I also am not sure how many opportunities
there are here in my specific domain. Bioinfo. seems fairly nascent here, but I
am intrigued by the possibility of working at the ADB. However, working there
would necessitate me leaving the field of biology.


2. What makes the culture of Manila/the Philippines distinct and how truly 
unique is local culture in today's era of globalization?

The Philippines has been persistently colonized by outside powers for a 
significant portion of modern history. First the Spanish for some 300 odd years,
then the Japanese for a brief but brutal time, and then the Americans. The 
vestiges of this colonialism are present in everything from their language, to
music, economic system, and urban design. One of their major options for public 
transportation is literally a former American military vehicle. Using Leg 1's
definition of culture as a set of expectations, I would say I felt significant
overlap between American culture and Filipino culture. Of course it's still a
developing nation so my expectations around aspects like infrastructure are 
distinct; however, interactions with individuals, food (but also lots of 
Chinese influence here), and urban design had an American touch.

That all said, while you can feel the influence of other cultures pressing on
them; the Filipino variant is unique. Nothing is writ copied, each influence is
molded into a cohesive and wholly distinct cultural tapestry. 

But again, how different is culture in today's world? Eh maybe not too much.
I could easily adapt to the Filipino context; just as I could the Rwandan 
context; just as I could the French. I rarely, if ever, felt completely out of
my element. 


3. What are the sources of similarity and difference between humans around the
world?

On the whole, the people I met during Leg 3 were by and large the same as any
other people I met during Legs 1 and 2. On the whole, I did not find much 
profound difference in the underlying motivations driving distinct people. 

With that caveat, I will say that the average person I interacted with at ADB 
did have a very different background than those people I typically interact 
with. While I don't make it a point to not hang out with finance people, I 
rarely find myself meeting a finance person and deciding I would like to hang 
out with them again. 

I think this is my judginess peeking through. I did meet finance people at ADB
whom I really enjoyed talking to and whom I thought were very interesting and
lovely people. 



Alright let's recap! Manila is a beautiful, vibrant, bustling city bursting with
more diversity than I could possibly hope to explore in 3 months. Filipinos are 
by and large a beautiful, very artistic, and vibey people with a unique culture 
and they deserve a more effective government. The Philippines is a place with so
much diverse history and beautiful scenery, I think everyone should try and 
visit. The Asian Development Bank is possibly a very useful Bank! Yes, they are 
bureaucratic, and you will find people who don't do anything or who exist for 
busy work reasons; however, there are also really brilliant people pushing 
tangible projects that will make a difference in real people's lives. That's 
cool! 

I also learned about the FINANCIAL system. Do I think it's stable in the long-
term? No! Do I think it is more akin to a house of cards which will only take a
slightly larger than COVID-19 sized event to knock it all down? Yes! Should I 
learn more about it before taking such a hard-line stance? Probably! 

[4.0.0] U.S.A


[4.0.1] Taipei

I know Taipei is not actually in the United States but this was the cheapest way 
to get from Manila to California and ADB was only reimbursing 80% of my flight 
so we made it happen. 

Before the internship with ADB came through, Taiwan was one of the places I was
targeting for potential summer internships. I thought it would be an excellent
spot to get a taste of Sino culture and civilization while avoiding the longer
term political questions that might surround an extended stay in China. 

In any event, I had heard a lot about Taiwan and I was excited to be able to see
the country if even for a short while. My 'while' was extremely short, I landed
in Taipei at 21h00 and then departed at 09h00 the next day. I would hate to need
a hotel room for one night, so I instead chose to put my luggage in a locker, 
pull an all-nighter and just wander around the city.

Since I only experienced it during the literal night I do not feel like I have
any grounding on which to speak about Taipei, so instead I'll just leave some
photos I took during my walk. 







A night walk in Taipei? Very fun. I felt very safe just walking around random 
parts of the city at night. There were more homeless people than I was 
expecting? I came across a number of locations where groups were sleeping, but 
it was certainly less than I would have seen in major American cities. 

I was able to get some breakfast on my walk back to the train station which did 
hit the SPOT and was very cheap.



Also, the 'tickets' for the train are these CAYOOT lil' purple tokens. I loved
them.



Trains were very nice to go from the airport to the city center, and luggage 
locker worked as expected! All in all, Taipei seemed like a lovely city. Would
love the opportunity to visit it again in the future.

Flight was uneventful and typical. The only thing atypical was my next 
destination, California in the United States! Home! 

[4.0.2] California

I arrived in San Francisco International Airport around 07h00. I still have not
counted all the countries I visited over the course of this year, but I expect 
it is in the range of 20-30. Out of all of these countries, only one has 
stopped me at immigration and made me do extra screening. Can you guess which
one it was? 



I find it deliciously ironic that the one country for whom I have a passport
from, is the only country that stopped me at the border. I got taken to the back
room and was primarily asked about my old passport and how I lost it. I don't 
think they checked nor cared that I had spent one year abroad. It wasn't an
unpleasant experience, but as I was sitting there waiting for my turn to talk to
the immigration officer I saw how they were treating the other individuals who
were pulled aside. It was a bit disheartening to see how callously these people
were treated. From what I saw, it primarily consisted of asking a variety of 
aggressive questions, cutting off the person as they responded, and then at some
seemingly random point deciding they were satisfied and telling them they could
leave. 

Because of our cultural capital, America is considered a desirable place to live
by a significant number of individuals; and it bothered me the degree to which 
this fact appeared to be taken for granted. This experience was immediately
juxtaposed against the scene of an immigrant family waiting outside 
international arrivals with a large American flag. 



I got scooped up by my dad and whisked home. After reunions with my family, my
mom sent me, my father, and my dog to Costco to pick up supplies for his 
birthday party occurring tomorrow. Until that point I had not really felt any
overwhelming sense of disorientation at being back in America. Maybe it was
because I found that I am easily adaptable, maybe it was because globalization
means places are not really distinct from one another, maybe it was jet lag,
probably it was some combination of all of the above. But driving into the 
Costco parking lot and seeing this fortress of goods rise before me I began to
feel some tingle of discomfort. I am finding it hard to articulate the reason
as to why I felt this. It is not only that this culture of consumerism is 
lionized and accepted, but also that it feels like many Americans take this 
wealth for granted. I volunteered to stay behind and walk my dog around the lot
rather than enter Costco, and as we were walking around we came upon a $5 bill
on the ground. I picked it up, and we walked to In-n-Out for a 
vanilla-strawberry milkshake.



It was delicious. And in drinking it, I felt like I had achieved some small 
simulacrum of the American Dream.

My dad's 60th birthday went well, and I think he enjoyed himself. The rest of my
California stay was dominated by the usual. Family time, house organization, 
random socializing, and walks with my dog. My time in California was only one
week long, as I needed to get back to Boston in time for the semester start.
But even in that one week, I was surprised at how quickly I began to romanticize
and mythologize the past year. It almost immediately began to feel like a dream
I was just waking up from. 

[4.0.3] Boston & the final final thoughts

I returned to Boston September 1st, 2024 at 9:30 in the morning. 



A friend was kind enough to pick me up from the airport and take me back to the
very same backyard from which I left 364 days ago.



With this, I did it. I circumnavigated the globe. I think it is fair to claim 
that the past year was the most impactful experience of my life. One year later
I think the trip changed both how I view myself and the world in which I 
inhabit.

I'll begin with myself. The first lesson learnt was an appreciation for the 
depth of my own adaptability. 

I am now fairly convinced you can drop me in any location in the world, and I
would be able to both adapt myself to suit the area, and also begin bending the
location to suit myself. The cynic in me claims this is just my exceptional 
ability to gaslight myself into focusing only on the good in everybody and 
everything. The romantic in me counters by saying that the beauty of this world 
is infinite and I am merely talented at recognizing it wherever it appears. The 
takeaway from all of this is that I will have a very difficult time deciding 
where to spend the rest of my life. 

Second, I developed more faith in my gut instincts. If you know me personally,
you probably know that I am an individual with a significant number of crazy 
ideas. There were many, many moments during my trip where I was confronted with
one of two options. I could either (A) take a leap of faith and commit to some 
insane idea/experience/trip I had cooked up or (B) take the relaxed path which
was familiar to me. I can say with absolute certainty that I never regretted 
those times that I chose path A. The experiences I had, the people I met, the 
memories I made, were invariably worth any short-term discomfort I experienced.
This entire trip is an example of this. I finalized my Rwanda leg while still in 
France, and I finalized Manila while still in Rwanda. *Nothing* was guaranteed,
but I held the faith. During the pandemic, I remember reading an atlas of the 
world, realizing how little of it I had experienced, and committing to 
circumnavigating this bitch. 4 years later, I fucking did it. I took this
half-baked whim and dragged it; kicking and screaming from the recesses of my 
imagination into this world.

When it comes to others, I am again somewhat validated in my beliefs held pre-
trip. People anywhere in this world want the same fundamental thing and hold the
same fundamental beliefs. No matter where I was, there were *always* exceptional 
people doing amazing work and making a positive difference in their communities. 
It can be lonely when it feels you are the only person committed to your values,
and the realization that all over the world there are people deeply driven to 
'fight the good fight' and I am *never* alone when I take my futile, ideological 
stand is something that moved me deeply.  

The most novel lessons I learnt had to do with my understanding of the broader 
world. 

First, I think I gained a deeper appreciation that the systems I previously 
viewed as monolithic, opaque, and impenetrable are really just collections of 
individuals following some precedent. As a consequence, I've come to view them 
as much more malleable than before. The world in which we live in, is built this 
way because of a variety of choices made by certain individuals at certain 
points in history. Changing the world, merely necessitates other individuals 
making different choices at other points in history. 

Second, leaving the developed Western world made me seriously confront my 
assumptions regarding American primacy and its role in the global world order. 
Before leaving I did not truly appreciate the extent of the cultural, financial, 
and military power that America projects across the world. The vast majority of 
nations watch American movies, listen to American music, trade in American 
dollars, play host to American military bases or buy American weapons. A
side-effect of this is that the best and brightest individuals from around the
world want to study, work, and live in the United States of America. This global 
order provides *enormous* benefits to the United States and I think both these
facts are deliberately witheld from the American public. I think the reason is 
fairly straightforward. America's role at the forefront of the global world 
order, disproportionately benefits American elite. I think the rise of 
right-wing populism has significant roots in this disparity. But the reality is 
that American primacy is probably the lesser of likely evils. Out of the three 
global superpowers in 2024, America is the only non-authoritarian 
quasi-democratic state with a quasi-reasonable claim towards upholding universal 
human rights. If you believe these are societal priorities for our species, then 
the collapse of the post-WWII liberal international order is probably a scary 
proposition. 

Lastly, my time at UGHE and the ADB exposed me to the reality that there is a 
vast and interconnected web of money and influence spanning the globe. One could
go their whole life without even noticing its existence, and only be subjected 
to the consequences of its desires. I am unsure what to do now that I am aware 
of it, but it is still interesting to become aware of it. I've found that I now
try and read between the lines of news articles and press releases, trying to 
imagine who is feeding these quotes and what their motivations are.

Let me also end with the following caveat. I acknowledge my physical form as 
that of a racially ambiguous, vaguely threatening, male. I think it is a fair 
assessment to say that I benefited immensely from this fact. I may have been 
able to do everything I did as a woman, but I do suspect that it would have been 
much more difficult. I did not really discuss this during the trip, but I was 
deliberate in how I protrayed myself to people around me. I would selectively 
hide or accentuate aspects of my identity to ease my journey. It got to the 
point where this became subconscious for me, I would affect different accents, 
wear different clothes, and carry myself differently depending on those around 
me. I don't have many qualms about this, but I should acknowledge that not 
everyone is able to portray themselves in as many diverse ways as I may be able 
to.

As for my questions:

1. Can I imagine myself living the rest of my life in one or more of these 
locations?

2. What makes the culture of these locations distinct and how truly unique is
local culture in today's era of globalization?

3. What are the sources of similarity and difference between humans around the
world?

I now have my answers:

1. Yes, I can imagine living anywhere.

2. Culture is just a set of expectations associated with a location. 
Globalization and industrialization have homogenized these expectations, but 
there still exist small differences. I expect these differences to diminish with
time.

3. Humans are the same around the world. We are fleshy sacks of messy, complex
contradictions; but we are beautiful all the same.

Would I do this again? Yes. Next time, instead of eastward, we'll be headed 
south. Ideally via motorcycle and sailboat.

Thanks for reading <3.



Excursions


[1.1.0] Paris/London


Oct. 20

PARIS. This was my first time exploring the city since coming to France; 
however, this was just a whirlwind tour as I moved on to London. As a result, 
I don't want to finalize any of my thoughts about the city just yet. This was
~just~ a first impression of it.

I got there aggressively early in the morning to a soft drizzle. 



It's certainly a lot bigger than Rennes. First item on the agenda was 
breakfast! This was eaten at Les Deux Magots, a famous cafe where Picasso, 
Hemingway, de Beauvoir, and more cultural icons would drink and hang out. The
cafe does lean into this fact quite aggressively. Regardless it was delicious,
and it did make me really want to try to put together my own group of artsy 
friends to have egregious amount of wine with.



Then walked around the city through different arrondisements (equivalent of
neighborhoods?). My friend took me to the nicer ones and you could tell they
were relatively expensive and generally posh. As with most large cities, this
one also has a large river running through it that you can walk along. I will
say that I do particularly enjoy the integration of the river Seine into Paris.
The ability to walk along the riverbank almost next to the water and having the
ability to walk farther up looking down on it is very nice. In addition, the
wide paths on the lower level of the river walkway allow people to host events
and provides opportunity for every citizen to enjoy it. GOOD design.



Hit some more random spots. Cute places, but very obviously random locations
that have a done a good job selling themselves as tourist spots. It's par for
the course in a place as famous as Paris which did feel a little lame but
I guess every well-known place has that. Then hit the Institut du Monde Arab.
The two exhibits we saw were just *amazing*. First one was on the history of
perfume. 



It was my first time going to a museum exhibit where the sensory method by which 
you engaged with the work was through smell. Smell is so visceral compared to 
other senses so a museum featuring them is so interesting. VERY cool, and a 
really well done exhibit. 



The next exhibit was contemporary Palestinian artists. I am pretty sure that 
the exhibit started before the most recent violence, but the context of the
current situation did provide additional layers for the exhibit. 



Then it was lunch time had at this adorable little japanese cafe. I had my 
omurice, and it is something I have wanted to try for soooo long and it was so
stupidly tasty. I would love to figure out how to make it. I do have a photo of
it, but I'm not going to share it. Why? Because it's my travelogue and I can do
anything I want. Instead, check out this ridiculous toilet the cafe had. 



Just incredible. Literally the first time I have seen a sink incorporated into
the toilet. I didn't *love* it, but it was exciting. At this point, it was time
to head to the train station! I elected to walk just to see more of the city.

Got to see Notre Dame! It is currently being actively renovated, and to help
tourists still experience it the French government had built this set of 
wooden bleachers directly facing it and strategically placed to hide as much of
the scaffolding as possible. It was fine, honestly the wooden bleachers were 
more exciting for me. 

During my walk I walked through the 10eme. My friend had mentioned that it was
probably the one most similar to my vibe, and I did get that sense. Seemed
Jamaiaca Plain-adjacent which I do feel like is my preferred vibe. Closer to
Gare du Nord is a large population of south asians. I did pass many Indian
stores and restaurants and it was my first time even seeing Indians since 
coming here so that was fun. 

Hit the train station! Because of Brexit there are two sets of customs to go
through so people going should expect some delay. Took ~1 hour to get through
everything. I was able to submit some jobs as I waited for my train. As an
aside, I will never truly understand why people feel compelled to stand in a
line in order to board something with assigned seating? Why would you wait in
line to be earlier to board a train or plane when your seat is guaranteed for
you? Do you like sitting in that seat???



Ok got on the train and took the CHUNNEL. First of all, hilarious name. Second,
of all I was a little disappointed and how there was no big fanfare accompanying
going under the English Channel. It is truly an insane feat of human 
engineering, and if the train internet didn't suddenly drop out for an hour 
people would not realize that they were literally underneath an ocean. Before
we enter London I would like to provide some closing thoughts on my first day
in Paris.

1. City is indeed big. This even extends to the cars. I saw way more SUVs than
I think I have so far in my entire time in Rennes.
2. City is q international and contains a lot of tourists. In Rennes, I do feel
like the odd one out. There are obviously other travelers and tourists, but 
upwards of 85% of people I interact with are Rennais. I think Paris would have
been a much more easier city for me to integrate into, but I am glad I get a 
different view of France in the context of my random city. 
3. Design and layout is very beautiful. My friend told me that in the 19th
century this guy Haussmann just rebuilt the city intentionally. Once you're
told what his style is you can see it everywhere. I can see why it has a 
reputation for romance and why it is a cultural capital of the world. I'll try
to formalize this in subsequent visits.

In any event, that was Paris and now through the miracle of human ingenuity, we
are in London! The entrance out of the train into St. Pancras was genuinely 
beautiful. Big fan, did make me like the city.



I took the Underground to my cousin's hotel. The London metro is insane. Paris'
is nice, but I was very impressed with London's. One thing I was not prepared
for was how funny I find all the English accents to be. I've met English people
before and I'm used to the accent, but I think being in a place where it's the
norm was too much for me. Throughout this entire time, I had to consciously 
prevent myself from laughing. Something about overhearing random conversations
where everyone has a British accent is just too much for me.

My cousin and I meet up, and we go to this Indian restaurant called 
'Gunpowder'. Very, very good Indian food. They also had a dessert of rum bread
pudding, and the rum they had is my mom's favorite. If you ever have to get my
mother a drink, the *only* thing she wants is Old Monk's rum with diet Coke. 



I really really missed Indian food, and the food here was so good. I have been 
enjoying the French food and produce, but I have been missing SPICE and it was
so wonderful to have Indian food again. 

ALRIGHT THAT'S IT. DAY 1 OF MY FIRST EXCURSION. DONE.

Oct. 21

We began the day with frankly the only thing I really cared about in London.

Paddington.

If you know me well at all, or even if you don't really know me but you've been
unfortunate to hear my spiel then you know that Paddington is my favorite movie
series of all time. I genuinely believe my watching of that movie was an 
inflection point in my life, and I believe I'm a better person for it. If you
have not seen the movie yet. I want you to stop reading this stupid travelogue
and go watch it. I will eventually write an essay outlining my thoughts, but at
the time of writing this I have not done this.[8] 

Shut up and go watch it now.

Now that you've watched the movie, you know that Paddington is actually named
after Paddington Station in London. So of course we had to go there. Took the
metro, and once again thoroughly impressed with it. Infinitely better than the
New York metro. Some excellent design decisions made it exciting to descend 
into it and travel on it. 



Travelling to Paddington Station did feel quasi-religious for me. 



We get there. And I did not appreciate how large of a station it actually is.
The day we were there a large storm system was battering the United Kingdom
cancelling many trains across the UK. So the station was packed with people
figuring out how they'll get to their next stops. As we were looking for the
Paddington statue, we actually pass this little girl and her mother and 
overhear the little girl asking if they can look at the Paddington statue.
TOUCHING.



We then walk to Piccadilly Market which is a large outdoor market also featured
in Paddington. It was nice, but not as cute in its representation as in 
Paddington. What was very cute was the Italian place we got coffee at.



Then walked around London. Hit Buckingham palace, Big Ben, and the Eye. We also
passed a lot of Palestinian supporters protesting throughout London. I was very
surprised with how many people turned out for the cause.



During this we also walked along the Thames. It was not nearly as cute as the 
Seine. Day ended with a ride on a double decker bus and a cute dinner!

Oct. 22

For breakfast we went to another Indian restaurant called Dishoom. They had 
bottomless chai, and after 5 cups of it and a delicious omelette we went to
Hyde Park.



It was a very nice park and surprising large given how dense London is. I was
particularly intrigued with the horse trails they had throughout the outer 
circle of the park. I do not understand how people own horses in London and how
they bring them to the city let alone the park but we did pass multiple riders
when we were walking around.

Overall though the park was very beautiful, with really nice features all 
throughout it.



One thing I found very helpful while walking around has been the directions at
most crosswalks telling people which way to look. 



I don't think I will get use to people driving on the left in London. I was 
trying to see if this direction also applies to crowds of people walking and it 
did not feel like there was any rule. There were instances where most of the 
crowd walked on the left, and other times when most of the crowd was walking on
the right. Little disappointing. We then had HIGH tea, which was tasty if a bit
heavy and did some more walking on the Thames.



This section really reminded me of Chicago, huge skyscrapers and lots of 
bridges. We walked along to Battery Park, which is an old power station which
is now a mall. 



It is a very beautiful place, a little less grungy than I like my art venues to
be but still well done. 



After that I booked it on the Underground back to the hotel and to catch the 
train back to Paris! Closing thoughts on London. 

1. Very impressed with the city. Amazing underground system, lots of nice city
design and overall cleaner than most American cities I've been to.
2. Food was incredible, I could eat Indian food there everyday and be 
aggressively happy.
3. Bus stops don't face the street! I was confused by this at first, but my 
cousin realized it was probably to prevent buses splashing people since it 
RAINS so much. Weather did not bother me that much, and I could see myself
getting used to it.

I definitely want to spend more time in London in the future, I think it has 
the potential to be a future home. Really cool place. I will have to get used 
to the accents.



Train to Paris was uneventful, but was late by 10 minutes. This might not seem 
like a big deal, but you also have to realize that I am an idiot. I had planned
only 20 minutes to get from the station that the train from London gets into to
reach the station that the train to Rennes leaves from. This would have been 
just BARELY enough time if my train had not been delayed, but the delay was 
just enough to make me miss the train. This was also the very last train of the
day going to Rennes, and I had not planned to spend the night in Paris. As I 
said I am idiot, but my FRIENDS are not. God BLESS my friends. Within the 
course of one hour my friend had talked to his friends and found me a couch to
crash on. Absolutely incredible. Lood and James are absolute KINGS. I *love*
people.

I reached Rennes at like ~09h30 on Monday. It did feel very nice to be back in
Rennes a place I have come to consider my home. I did really enjoy the 
opportunity to explore other cities, but I also feel like I didn't really get a
chance to truly get a sense of them. If anything, I think this trip has shown 
me how much I prefer longer stays compared to shorter ones.

1st excursion done!

[1.2.0] Christmas/New Year's


[1.2.1] Köln, Germany

Dec. 15

WHOOMP. This one will be a doozy, going to train across Europe for a bit and 
eventually end in India for New Year's. I first took a train to Paris and then
connected on another train to Köln (Cologne), Germany. I am a dingus, so of 
course I did *NOT* learn my lesson and of course my train to Paris was delayed 
and of ~course~~ I then missed my initial train to Cologne. I really never 
learn.

After being ping-ponged between SNCF and Eurostar I was finally able to get on
the later train to Cologne, so that did feel nice. On the train I finished the
most recent book I have been reading, The Dispossessed, by Ursula K. Le Guin.

She is a fantastic author and the book is incredible, but I'm going to talk 
about what came with the book. The copy I have is on loan from the 
Franco-Americain Institut and inside my copy was a hand-written poem scribbled 
on a Post-It note probably written by some previous person who checked out the 
book. If you know me you know I love shit like this. Without further ado, here 
it is Untitled by Unknown:

        Vlad the Vampire at the
            juice bar
        sneered how terribly -- you 3
            are

        humans also eat meat
            eat other beings
                without care
            their full share
                and

        At the juice bar, the Vampire
            sneered shame!
        for monsters, you
        humans eat cows and pigs
        and they don't give a fig

        So, why shouldn't we do the same?
            so for us, humans are fair game

I know this is a long-shot, but if you wrote this poem please reach out, I 
would love to be friends.

In any case, I eventually reached Cologne and met up with my friend! We first 
went to a Christmas market in the city center right next to the Cologne 
Cathedral. Incredibly beautiful, but the best part was the live Köln music 
being played by some very Köln old people. My friend explained that even though
they are speaking German she is unable to understand them due to how distinct 
the Köln accent is. She seemed very embarrased by the music, but I am telling
you right now it was a solid bop. I also had a hot aperol spritz which should 
absolutely become as international as the typical aperol spritz.



We then went back to hers and I got a crash course in quintessential German 
culture[10] and the history of techno from her and her boyfriend as well as a 
delicious dinner. We then went bar hopping across 'old' Cologne. 

I will say the stereotypes of Germans speaking very good English has so far been
very true for me. 100% German is the default, but you can absolutely get by 
fairly comfortably on just English. That is definitely not true in France (nor 
should it be the case, everybody is entitled to speak whatever they want), but I
think it something to keep in mind when deciding long-term moves. 

The bars were all very fun, some highlights:

First, the jazz bar in old town built atop a Roman(?) era mural. The musicians
were clearly having a good time and the music was *amazing*.



A Christmas-forward gay bar with some wild eggnog shots, good decor, and sticky
floors.



A student dive bar that was described as dirty to me, but I thought just had
interesting walls. I saw XR's logo there! Very cool to keep seeing it pop up
throughout my time in Europe.



Then went home, discussed tomorrow's plans and went to sleep! Wonderful first
day!

Dec. 16

The lack of sleep the night before and the significant amount of drinking did 
make today start out with a wee-bit of a hangover. We powered through, me and
my friend first hit the Belgian quarter for some *wonderful* eggs benedict and
pancakes. 



After, we walked through some small stores selling items at that perfect mixture
between being absolutely useless, but kind of functional and really aesthetic.
Brookstone is the closest one that comes to mind, these have always been the 
most difficult stores for me to resist, but I managed. Then we crossed the Rhein 
river taking the Hohenzollern Bridge which is absolutely covered with locks from 
couples, which did add a very nice texture to the bridge. I did learn that 
apparently all the locks are so heavy the city is discussing tearing down the 
bridge and building a new one.



Given how many cities are built along rivers, I like to compare the 
infrastructure choices along rivers. Unfortunately the Rhein's level was way
higher than typical and had actually flooded significant portions of the 
steps/path one can use to walk along it. Sad. I will say the river was notable 
for being one of the faster flowing ones I've seen cities built around. My 
friends told me it's very common for drunk Germans to die attempting to swim
inside it.

Then we went up a tower for a view of the city. The cathedral is incredibly
beautiful even from afar.



Then we hit some more christmas markets! I tried the *classic* German currywurst 
which is curry over a sausage? It was good, but I really liked the roasted, 
caramelized almonds we had. 

We then attempted to head home which became complicated because all the trams 
we tried to use were either delayed or too full to take. After trying to rent
multiple types of city bikes and scooters we only could unlock one so we ended
up sharing one electric scooter and taking it home. It was my first time 
driving one and they are quite fun. Big fan.

We chilled at home had dinner and got ready and then hit the techno party.[11]



So, so, so so fun. Multiple people have tried to introduce me to electronic
music in the past but this was the best introduction I've had it yet. Techno's
history has such a large German influence, I feel like my friends have a much
deeper knowledge of the music and its variations then anyone who has tried to
introduce me to it before. The music was amazing, people were so friendly and
silly, and the atmosphere and DJs were primo.



The sweetest part was just how excited they were to show me this aspect of 
Cologne and German culture. We left at like 5h00 and got home by like 5h40.
~Wonderful~ day.

Dec. 17

We only really left the house at like 14h00. We got dirty chai lattes & pastries
from KunstkAFFEe and took them to a nearby park to eat. It was quite wholesome 
to chat as young families and the elderly enjoyed the Sunday noon.



We then stopped by the apartment, I packed my stuff up and then we left to a 
brewery in Cologne. I forget the name, and the food and beer was good. One 
difference I saw was that this brewery just had one type of beer as opposed to
the stupid number of variations I typically see in other breweries. My friends
were also joking that this place is known for being very traditional. One 
anecdote they gave was that you cannot get mayonnaise on your fries, only 
ketchup. Also, you have to put your coaster over your beer when you don't
want another. If you're too slow they just give you another and charge you for 
it.



After an egregiously large meal, went back to the apartment and I took my bags
to the local Christmas market where my friend and I enjoyed gluhwein and caught
a local German lady reading her short stories aloud. I obviously did not 
understand anything, but it was a beautiful moment to witness a stranger share
her art with other strangers and see the effect it had on them. My friend 
gave me translated summaries of each after, and each was fairly personal and
seemed autobiographical making the experience even more poignant.



We then walked to the tram station to take me to the main station for my train
to Vienna and said goodbye. I want to take a moment here to say how wonderful
people can be. I met my friend one year ago at a conference for all of one
week, and despite this short interaction she was willing to open her apartment 
to me and spend a weekend showing me around her city. I think that is so sweet
and I think it's really beautiful that people exist who are willing to do 
something like that. I also want to say how much more enjoyable it is to 
explore a city when you're visiting locals. The things I did and saw would not
have been available to me if I was just wandering through Cologne on my own, 
and even though it might not be the biggest or 'best' city in Germany I had a 
better time there than I would have had anywhere else, because I was being 
shown around by people who call the place home. Geil. 

I get to the station and get on the train despite it being delayed by 30 
minutes. The night train compartment layout consisted of 2 rows of 3 seats 
facing each other, and at night you could pull both seats down to make them 
flat. They were relatively comfortable, and comparable to the Amtrak compartment 
my cousin and I had when going to Chicago. My compartment had two other people 
on it, one is an English electrical engineering student working for Siemens on 
electrical chips for trains. He had a lot of fun insights into trains and 
sleeping trains (specifically Nightjets). The other person was an Austrian legal 
student traveling with Nellie, an adorable little daschund. We talked about all 
sorts of stuff, and at one point the English student busts out a flask of 
Schnapps to share with us. I will probably never see them again, and I find 
that also beautiful in its own way.



We reach Vienna Dec. 18 around 11h00, 2 hours later than originally planned.

[1.2.2] Wien, Austria

Dec. 18

From the station I went straight to the Medical University of Vienna to watch 
my friend's PhD defense. Got there in the nick of time. Very similar setup to
the French PhD defenses with the examiner's asking questions as part of the
public proceedings. But this one was much shorter than what I'm used to, only
lasting around 25 minutes.



The rest of the day was primarily celebrating my friend's defense. For dinner
I tried Pfändl which is just fancy mac-and-cheese with more stuff in it. The 
last bar we ended the night in was called Debakel and was one of those old, 
crazy, cash-only bars which are my jam. Tried a Jägermeister-milk shot, which is 
apparently *not* a Viennese thing but a "weird thing they only do in Upper 
Austria." Regardless of its authenticity, it tasted much better than expected.

The only other event of note was a drunkard was harassing this random person
at the bar and the police ended up having to escort him away. The stars aligned
and just as the polizei entered the bar, the previous song ended, there was a 
short pause, and then Sir Mix-A-Lot's magnum opus "Baby Got Back" began 
playing. Let me tell you there are few sights more impressive than watching the
Austrian police question your friends to the background music of "I like big 
butts and I cannot lie." There are fleeting moments in life, where if you pay
attention the handiwork of our Divine Creator becomes briefly visible. This was
one of those moments. The lady who was being harassed joined our table and 
chatted with us since my friends helped her get some space. She was a very sweet
postdoc in Philosophy who taught me the German phrase "blie bla blub" which is
essentially 'Cool story bro.'

Dec. 19

In the morning, me and the newly minted doctor went on a run around Vienna 
while my other friend recovered from Debakel. We went to and through the city
center seeing a ridiculous number of opulent buildings. The Stephansdom was 
particularly magnificent. 



I then walked with my other friend to the Schloss Schönbrunn which is a fancy
palace. In general I don't really care for things like this, but the setting 
looked very nice in the setting sun.



The palace gardens were heavily manicured, even to the extent that trees had
their branches precisely cut to the shape of a pentagon.



The statues were exceptionally pretty.



We then went to a rooftop bar situated overlooking Vienna. Do not have good 
photos, but I was impressed how big Vienna seems. The time I spent walking 
through the city didn't convey the same scale that I saw and I would like to 
spend more time in Vienna. 

My friend and I then went to the Christmas market located in front of the 
Viennese City Hall. This one felt far more dramatic and ostentatious than any
previous Market I have attended. The city and state buildings in Vienna are
truly a sight to behold and it looked ridiculous with the lights and 
festivities. 



Right opposite the market hung a large banner with what I interpret
as an anti-fascist message was displayed.



We then got a quick bite to eat before joining my other friend celebrating 
post-Christmas party with his lab at a club in Vienna. Despite being a random
Tuesday evening the week before Christmas the place was popping. Nothing very
special about it, your average club. They did play a techno-remix of "All I
want for Christmas is you" which was on point. As we were in line for coat
check we did see some guy get a solid hook to the nose and start bleeding like
mad. Bouncers were very quick about separating them so no big fight ended up 
breaking out :(.

Dec. 20

After resting up from last night's dancing we hit the Haus of Musik museum on 
the recommendation of a friend. I felt like the museum had trouble 
transitioning between the hisory of Viennese composers, the physics of sound, 
and more imaginative interactive exhibits. That said, it was very cool to see a
museum related to another specific sense!



My takeaways from the museum: (1) Beethoven was truly a tragic figure and 
hearing loss sucks. (2) Fetuses can hear a surprising amount in the womb 
especially classical music. 

We then walked to Belvedere castle, but not before me remembering I had left my
wallet in the Haus of Musik forcing us to go back and get it. Again, pretty to
look at but not my jam. What was my jam was the insane number of sphinxes just
scattered everywhere.



We then hit the best kebap place I have tried in Europe so far. Just 
incredible. 30/10. Tell your friends, tell your family, tell your kids. 



After this, we all met up and got some drinks at the Beaver Brewing Company. I
tried some non-Bretagne cider from a company called BlakStoc brewing. It was 
QUITE good, especially the Buddha's Hand seasonal variant. I did feel a small 
twinge of guilt for not having Breton cider.

Then we boarded another sleeper train to Zurich! My friends were able to book a
full room for us, so each of us had our own lie down bed and an extra bunk for
our stuff! I think it might have been one of the newer sleeper cars on the 
Nightjet that the Schnapps guy from the previous train was telling us about but
not 100% sure. In any case, it was very very comfortable and quite nice. We
reached Zurich around 08h30 on the 21st. 

[1.2.3] Basel, Switzerland

Dec. 21

Caught a train to Basel where we were going to be spending the day and first 
did 3 Covid tests at my friend's parent's place. All negative!!



Dropped off our luggage, showered, and then walked around the city! I was 
impressed how much I could recognize after a year, but there were so many
cool new places I never noticed my first go round that my friends now showed 
me. For example, I would walk to the main train station in Basel everyday to
catch a train somewhere else in Switzerland; however, during that walk I was
walking above an underground bike parking place! 



We love to see UNDERGROUND bike infrastructure. I was losing my mind. Then we
hit another Christmas market where I tried a fondue dog, which is essentially a
baguette stuffed with melted cheese. Shabash.



After we stuffed ourselves we went up the main church in Basel, the Munster,
I tried to go up it during my last trip but was closed and it was very worth 
the experience and view. Cool to see the RHINE the SAME river as in Cologne but
in a different place and quite far from the first viewing!



Walked along the Rhein for a bit. It was also flooded here, and my friends said
that it's common for Basel people to swim in the Rhein during summer. When I 
mentioned that my Cologne friends said that you're not supposed to swim in it,
they joked that the Swiss are maybe just better swimmers.

We then got some roasted chestnuts and walked to Basel city hall. Not as pretty
as the Viennese city hall, but it was the best colored city building I've seen 
so far. By chance there was a celebration for one of the recently elected 
presidents of Switzerland. Switzerland has not 1, but 7 presidents! 
Theoretically cool? I like the idea, but after spending my whole life in a 
country where policy changes occur at a glacial pace I am a little skeptical.



Ended the day with a dinner hosted by my friend's parents. It was very fun to
set the table, prepare food, and chat about Switzerland with some hardcore 
Swiss adults. Such a beautiful house. This was my favorite artpiece.



ENDED THE NIGHT. BOOM.

[1.2.4] Bern, Switzerland

Dec. 22

Started the day with a SAUNA. Amazing. Want to get into going to SAUNAS. Make 
me SWEAT. I want to FEEL something.

Then we got breakfast and took a train to Bern! A friend of my friends picked
us up from the station and took us to the mountains. This guy? Amazing. He's a 
painter who volunteers as a firefighter for his small Swiss town and has the 
sickest pimped out camper van you can possibly imagine. He also owns 2 phat 
Maine Coons, and a large gun collection. So so cool. The original plan was to
take a backpack filled with the ingredients to make fondue, hike up a mountain
and then have fondue on the mountain. But as we were buying wine for the trip,
my friend got an email that the mountain conditions were too dangerous and the
trip got cancelled :(. But no matter, we found this fun place in Interlaken to
have fondue which was very very good. I think I prefer fondue over raclette for
the *community* aspect of it. 

We then drove around Interlaken and soaked in the sights. Despite it being not
from mountain altitude, it was very very pretty.



We love a WATERFALL.



Then drove to Bern proper and got drinks at this beautiful place called Tschüss 
Total which in Swiss German (but I also think most Germanic languages) 
essentially translates to "Complete Goodbye." From there we moshed on to do 
something that resembled billiards at this old school place. I had a very good
G&T with this very good blue gin called Berlin Brandstifter. 

From there we hit the most famous kepabs in Bern. It's this tiny store run by
these two brothers who the firefighter friend is buds with. They gave us all
handshakes and hugs despite not knowing me at all. Portions were BIG.



At the end my friends made me go up to the brothers and say "Da döner ict geil
alte!"

From there we went to the hostel which was ridiculously nice, had some 
gluehwein, and played chess to call it a night. 

Dec. 23

Ok today was a doozy. Began the day with a breakfast buffet at Gürten. It's on
a mountain so took a phat minute to get up there, but got to use a very cool
mountain tram to travel up.



Ate perhaps too much, then walked around the peak of the mountain to catch some
beautiful views. 



I did not realize how small Swiss cities are. Bern is one of the bigger ones, 
and we easily saw all of it from the top of the mountain. It's especially 
surprising since I run into so many Swiss people in my day-to-day life. This is
not something I appreciated in my first trip here, but Switzerland is 
definitely a country that punches above its weight.

We then rolled down the mountain to Bern proper to walk around, and it was very
cute to hear my friends reminisce about old houses and memories that we passed.



We walked around a majority of the city and made a special stop at this place
which I absolutely overlooked on my first visit here. First, some background.

Pedro Lenz is a famous Bernese author whose writing my friend really enjoys, and
during one interview he was asked what his favorite place in Bern was. He chose 
this public urinal.



This public urinal lies on the side of this beautiful and historical clock.



His stated reason for this being his favorite place is that when people (men) 
pee here they are truly equal. All you can see are their legs, and those could
be the legs of a banker, a baker, a vagabond, anyone. I get it, it's a cute
place. We all peed there.

Then we went up ANOTHER cathedral. This is the Bern Muenster! Very pretty 
views.



Then hiked up to Rosengarten to catch the sunset on the city.



We then hiked up into the suburbs around Rosengarten. This was to check out the
old school and house of one of my friends. Let me tell you that Swiss 
playgrounds are truly unfair compared to what I grew up with.



After playing, we walked back down to the Aare for dinner with the old 
schoolmates of my friends.



So pretty! Dinner was at this restaurant called Röstigraben which is named
after the border between the French and German speaking parts of Switzerland. 
And the specialty there is rösti which is essentially a fancy hashbrown. 

It was good! Then went for drinks with a subset of the dinner peeps, an even
smaller subset followed us to the second bar, and only one friend followed us
to the final destination. I call it the Communist House, a more accurate name
would be the Anarchist House, the most accurate name would be Kulturzentrum 
Reitschule. It's a self-managed house that has been continually inhabited by a
collective with very leftist ideals. Police are not allowed in or around the
area. It's probably not the best idea to walk in and take photos of it, but 
here is a photo of a destroyed car near the house



If you're curious you can look up photos of what it looks like, and I was very
curious to check it out. The gang and me walked in and around, there was a very
loud concert happening upstairs but by this point it was 2 in the morning and 
probably too late to begin another event. So we called it a night and headed
back! I was POOPED.

Dec. 24

Last day in Switzerland! I began the day by eating as much of the breakfast
buffet in my hostel that I could fit into my stomach.

Then sat outside the Bundeshaus to do some writing while waiting for my 
friends. Had an exceptionally pretty view of the Arre and Bern in general.



Then my friends and I met at the train station for some coffee, pastries and 
chitchat. They were sweet enough to walk me to my train and wave goodbye from
the platform as I pulled off to the Zurich airport. Thoughts on Switzerland 
after my second visit?

I like it! It's a pleasant country to visit with a plethora of beautiful scenery
and a stable government that provides reasonable comfort to its citizens. 
Things tend to work well and I don't think there is much to be surprised by 
within Switzerland. I think this is appealing to lots of people. Most of the
Swiss folks I met through my friends (sans volunteer firefighter) described how
much they enjoy the way things work in Switzerland and their preference for the
stability and serenity of Switzerland. Indeed, my friends told me it's fairly
common for people to spend their whole lives in the same city they grew up in.

Personally, I don't think I can handle that level of stability. Switzerland is 
a wonderful country to visit, and I do hope to do so again; however, I'm not 
100% sold on the idea of living there long-term. This is a somewhat surprising
realization, on paper there are lots of aspects of Switzerland I should find 
very appealing: 
  - reliable, efficient public transit 
  - easy access to metropoles and rural areas 
  - stable governance

These are all fine and good, but I think I need dynamism to be happy and 
Switzerland is one of the first places where I really began to feel that I 
wouldn't be able to easily receive that. 

Perhaps in the future I'll decide that my need for change is not as important
as the other factors I listed, but this is where I currently stand.

Ok but who gives a FUCK about that. What happened next? So I reach the airport,
check my bag and begin chilling at the gate. I am connecting to New Delhi 
through Amsterdam which is idiotic because Amsterdam is 100% not on the way 
from Zurich to India but these set of flights were the cheapest I could get.
The excess carbon emissions of this layover does weigh on me. At the gate, I 
learn because of strong headwinds the airplane that is supposed to take us from
Zurich to Amsterdam is delayed. First by 20 minutes, then 45 minutes, then 1+
hours. Mind you my layover in Amsterdam is only supposed to be 1.5 hours long.

Of COURSE I miss it. There were 15 other people who were supposed to make that
same connection and we all missed our flight to India :(. We arrive in 
Amsterdam around 20h00, and after the 16 of us attempt to find an Air India 
staff member to figure out our return flight and what is going to happen to our 
luggage. We are unsuccessful in both counts. The people leading our informal
gang were this old Indian/Swiss German couple. The wife was a force of nature
and watching her engage in a fairly loud disagreement with the baggage query 
handler on Christmas Eve night was such a moment of profound beauty, I nearly 
cried.

Despite her best efforts, all 16 of us wound up stranded in Amsterdam until the
next flight to India tomorrow evening. I would like to say that we all decided
to stick together and hang out but that did not happen. Instead, we all broke
apart to whichever hotels we found and with the exception of 1 person I didn't
see any of them again.

I took various metros from the airport to my hotel in Amsterdam and I was again
very impressed with the metro system. I feel like on par with the Swiss cities
I've explored so far. 



I reached the hotel by like 22h00. The only things I have are my backpack, 
fanny pack, and the clothes I'm currently wearing. I did have the foresight to
pack my various charging cables and toiletries in my backpack but I would have
loved a change of clothes. N.B. for future flights pack everything you need for
*at least* one day/night in your carry-on.

The hotel I got set up in was swanky and had a decked out bar which I did enjoy
that night. I was disappointed that they did not play a Christmas song at 
midnight. Can I just say that the crowd that frequents a hotel bar in Amsterdam
on Christmas Eve is truly something else. *Wild*

[1.2.5] Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Dec. 25

CHRISTMAS DAY. I was honestly pretty pissed last night that I had to spend 
Christmas in a random city where I knew absolutely no one when I was supposed 
to be with the whole family; but my outlook did change after a good night's 
sleep. I realized that the *lore-building* associated with this is honestly
priceless. Forced layover Christmas day in Amsterdam?? I am LIVING in a 
Hallmark movie. I am 1000% going to turn this into a screenplay so all of you
idiotic streaming services better start getting your contracts ready.

Amsterdam/The Netherlands is a place I did want to explore at some point during
this leg of my trip. The main draw for me was what I have heard about their 
infrastructure, particularly with regards to biking. I ended up deciding not to
go there during this particular excursion because I wanted to visit friends, and
I did not know anyone in Amsterdam. 

But now that I was forced to be there I chose to explore the city. My initial 
plan was to visit the Van Gogh museum, but unfortunately the museum was fully 
booked so I was unable to get inside. With literally nothing else planned, I 
then decided to walk towards the city center and figure something out as I got
there. This did give me the chance to enjoy a good PARK.

Here is a beautiful duck I saw at Vondelpark.



There is so many canals and rivers in Amsterdam. The layout of them makes their
artificiality very obvious, but they are very pretty to look at.



The infrastructure was similar to what I had seen on NotJustBikes and was very
pleasant to stroll around in. It made the city feel personable and I was 
surprised how quickly I ended up reaching the city center. 

When I reached the center I realized that this area of Amsterdam was 
aggressively not my vibe. Remember the people I talked to on the nighttrain 
from Cologne to Vienna? They were actually both coming from Amsterdam and 
returning home to Vienna, and both of them complained about the party scene of
Amsterdam. After visiting it, I agree, it did seem quite gross. Lots of drunk
people doing stupid shit, lots of garish souvenir shops, and lots of trash. To
Amsterdam's credit they do a very good job of segmenting these sections of the
city to certain areas, and within 5 minutes of walking I was out of it. I 
picked a random coffee shop on the map and headed there to figure out what I 
wanted to do next.

I chose BlackGold which is the vinyl-themed cafe that had some delicious earl-
grey lemon tea cake. I explained my situation to the baristas who were so sweet
and they gave me two recommendations of things they like in Amsterdam. One was 
the zoo, and the other was the STRAAT museum. In the future, I will make it a
point to ask the baristas of artsy coffeeshops for recommendations when 
travelling, truly a brilliant life hack.

I tried to find a bikesharing app I could use to rent a bike for the Zoo but 
was unable to find any available bike near me; so I just mosied on over to the
Zoo. The zoo is Natura Artis Magistra, and one of the oldest zoos in the world.
I was originally planning on going to the full zoo, but realizing I did not 
have enough time to truly appreciate it I decided to hit a special exhibit they
had going on. Guess what the special exhibit was about. Do it. Guess.



It was MICROBES. AmAYzing, we LOVE microbes. We should study them. Can you 
imagine? Wouldn't it be absolutely wild to spend 5-6 years of your life 
investigating their genomes for shits and giggles? Wouldn't it be cool if 
after you went through this wonderful (and not at all soul-crushing) experience 
that you then gain the privilege of adding three letters to the beginning of
your name? No but jokes aside, we do love microbes and we do absolutely love an
interactive museum exhibit.



They had this absolutely insane exhibit of a colony of live leaf-cutter ants 
just doing their thing. These ants take the leaf pulp and use it to feed algae
which they FARM. I LOVE ants.



Very cool exhibit and very fun museum. I then took a FERRY to the STRAAT museum. 
This museum was dedicated to graffiti artists and the history of graffiti. This
was one of the coolest museums I have ever been to.



The industrial warehouse vibe definitely suits the art, and all of it was 
created onsite with the artists coming in and painting the murals themselves. 
It was a little overwhelming, so many really detailed pieces and I could have
easily spent 3x as long in there without getting bored. 



It was also unique since graffiti (when digested in its natural habitat) is one
of the few visual arts I consume without a corresponding explanation or 
description. There isn't any placard describing the artist and the meaning of 
the work. Just the wall and the art. This made it look at graffiti that also
included descriptions of the artist and the work!



The outside of the museum is this large plaza where a lot of the artists with
pieces inside the museum also put up other works more typical of the art style.



All in all, fantastic museum. I did want some stuff from the gift shop, but I
absolutely did not have the space to take it back.[12] Then guess what, I took 
another ferry to go back to Amsterdam proper. We loooove some water-based 
traversal. Ferries are also free in Amsterdam, which is quite cool.



By this point, it was getting late and I was determined to not miss this 
flight. So I enjoyed the city a little bit more and then took the metro to the
airport. There was this weird interaction where I think someone thought I was
Turkish? and then loudly started getting very weird about their Serbian 
heritage. If there's one thing that this trip has made more clear to me is the
corrosive nature of national identities on human interactions.



So I do it, I hit the Amsterdam airport with plenty of time to spare. I will
say that the Amsterdam airport is both large and confusing as shit. Their app
is pretty good at providing a 3D view of the configuration and it's a good
confirmation that you're heading in the right direction when going to your gate
so I would recommend using it if you go through there. 

Ok but then the craziest thing happened. I go through security, but I hear this
commotion behind me and there's this dude who is clearly out of it talking to 
the security guards. They're asking him if he can remove his gloves and he is 
saying no because of some medical condition where the gloves are for his 
protection? And then they lift up his pant sleeves and there are these giant 
bags duct-taped to his ankles. He explains them by saying that they are 
protection for him because he broke his ankles and these security guards god
bless them are just taking it in stride while they call more and more 
supervisors over. From my point of view it was a pretty clear attempt to 
smuggle drugs out of Amsterdam, but for the life of me I can't imagine how this
method ever works. It seemed very trivial for him to be caught. I wanted to
stay to see how everything shook out but I do not think they would have 
appreciated me loitering so I left. I did get this piccie tho.



CRAZY. Ok but I did it, Christmas in Amsterdam??? And when I finally board my
flight, the person sitting next to me is one of the 15 other people who missed
their connection! What a small world. We were in the emergency exit row right
at the front of the plane. It was very nice because I could get up whenever I
wanted, but I didn't have any seats in front of me to put my bags under so some
good and some bad. 

I reach New Delhi by 08h00 on the 26th of December.

[1.2.6] New Delhi, India

Dec. 26

Ok, let me preface this section. I am quite protective of my family and friends, 
and I'm not comfortable sharing much information about them. EAGLE-eyed readers
might have noticed that I rarely share names or photos of them in my entries. 
I don't think it's my place to share details or information about people who
aren't me. [13]

The primary purpose of my trip to New Delhi was to see my family, so these
entries will be much more sparse and less detailed. My apologies <3. 

Ok we started off with a banger. One thing I did not mention in yesterday's 
post was that the lost bag at the Amsterdam airport had an Airtag in it. This 
meant I could track its location during my stay in Amsterdam, and I was 
boarding the plane I could see it absolutely not following me onto the plane.

When I arrived in India, I rightly guessed it had not joined me and was still 
in Amsterdam. After finally reaching New Delhi, I just wanted to go home and
finally see my family so I made the questionable decision to leave the airport
before telling anyone I did not have my luggage. This was a *WRONG* decision.
Even if you are on the brink of death, you should stay in the stupid airport
and file a report saying your bag did not come. I did not do that, and figured
I could figure it out from the comfort of my home and with my family.

They rightfully made lots of fun of me, and after I got home said hi to 
everyone, showered, and ate we had go back to the airport to file a claim with
the airline.

This led to the first of many realizations of the contrast between India and the
US/Europe. My dad and I get to the airport and after talking to way too many 
people we finally get directed to the Air India helpdesk. Chaos does not begin
to describe this place. 



PANDEMONIUM. Imagine a fold-out table set up in a room with 5 people behind it,
and on the other side of the table imagine a crowd of 20 pissed people loudly 
complaining at each of the 5 and waving their respective papers to try and get
the sole attention of one of the 5 people. At one point, the standing suit guy
who seemed like a supervisor balanced 3 separate phones in his hands and talked
to 3 different people across AirIndia SIMULTANEOUSLY to satisfy customers. He
did this while people were just shouting at him. I have so much respect for all 
the employees, I cannot even imagine working there for more than half an hour
let alone a day.

Standing there, I realized this would never be accepted in the US or Europe. 
Things are so sanitized and prim and proper that something as chaotic as this 
just would not exist.

It's certainly not for everyone, and I can definitely empathize with people who
don't like living like that. The entire process was also wildly inefficient, 
but comparing things like this to a place like Switzerland; it just felt so 
alive and vibrant. In general, that was my feeling across India. The spices, the
colors, the music, the people, it's brimming with history and depth. Standing 
at the AirIndia help desk was the first time I felt that on this trip. 

Dec. 27

The immediate fam and I went to Connaught Place to look at bandhgalas, which 
are a type of Indian suit. My mom did not like any of the suits we saw, so my
Dad and I started walking around. I still did not have my other bag from 
Amsterdam so my only shoes were my big hiking boots. A shoeshine guy sitting on 
the side of the street saw me in my decrepit shoes and insisted on shining 
them.

I had gotten these boots done in Boston before leaving, as I knew they would be
one of two primary shoes I would wear for this year and I paid $30 cash for 
barely any difference in them. This random guy on the side of the road made my
shoes look significantly better after 20 minutes and less than $2. 



It was so fun, and he was so sweet to me and did such a good job. Amazing.

Dec. 28

Today, my mom, sister and I went to Khan Market to look for more suits for me.

Khan Market is older than Connaught Place and more my vibe. We go there 
everytime we're in New Delhi and it's always so fun to hear my mom's family
describe all their random memories of it from their childhood and to see all 
the crazy stores in it. 



Dec. 29

Everything about New Delhi just oozes with history and life. I recently read
Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children, and in it he compares the spirit of India 
with the flavors and colors of achaar and chutney.[14]



Only now do I appreciate what he meant and how accurate it was.



I don't want to romanticize the air pollution, because it is bad. Truly awful.
Something like 400 times the WHO recommended level. This said, the constant 
haze of New Delhi almost suffuses everything in this otherworldly dream-like
cloak. It makes even the mundane look profound. Again, it's awful and should
definitely be actively fixed; but it's insane to look at.



The event of the night was my aunt's friend's middle son's engagement. I was 
beyond blessed that my aunt could get me an invitation, because let me tell you 
this wedding was insane. 



I know I use this word a lot, but in this case for THIS wedding it is the only
word that can describe it. The decor, the music, the food, the random people oh 
my GOD.



I will also say that before this I had never attended a set where the DJ only 
plays Bollywood songs. It's always just a couple well-known songs but only a 
few; but this place, had ONLY Indian songs. The DJ was something else. At some
point, the music was cut because the neighbors complained and we moved inside.
Also the process of getting introduced to all my masi's friends was so fun, so
many zany characters and wonderful people I wish I could describe them all. 
There was one dude I met who was so interested in George Church's wooly mammoth
revival project and he lost his mind when he found out one of my good friends
actively works on that. 



Dec. 30

Big family lunch at Nizamuddin today. One of my masis hired live musicians to
perform and they decorated the place so beautifully. 



That night the cousins took me and my sister out for dinner and drinks, we 
ended the night at this club they love called Bohca. This was my first time
hanging out with the full cousin contingent since they have become quasi-
adults. In general, this is the first time I've known children become adults 
and it is so beautiful to witness that evolution. I can only imagine what our
respective parents felt when they saw that happen with us. My cousins are so
sweet and so cute I love them so much. 

Dec. 31

Today was the sangeet of the wedding oh my god. I love the idea of a multi-day
wedding. In general, I think I need at least two run-ins with a person to 
determine if I vibe with them and like them enough to become friends. Weddings
are such a fun place to meet so many random people, and I love the idea of a
massive party just to celebrate two people's love for each other. It's so 
poignant and so romantic. I would hate to plan a wedding, but attending one??
Just amazing.



Anyway, the people my cousins and I hung out with were there again and it was
so fun to hang out with them again.



The primary purpose of a sangeet is to dance, and the crowd and DJ delivered on
this front. I will also say there no exists no more *potent* boost to my ego 
than a pretty girl telling me I'm a good dancer. Bollywood music is just the 
literal best.
 
For New Year's one of my cousins took me to a party that some of her friends 
were hosting. It was fun, mainly just to meet all of my cousin's friends and
hear the latest gossip amongst them. Music and DJ were a bit of a letdown from
the sangeet which was a little sad. But still fun! It did feel weird to welcome
in the New Year like this. It's been a WILD year and I think I'm excited for
2024! 



Jan. 1

Oh I'm sorry, did you think the wedding was over? You fucking donkey, no it
isn't. Today was the MEHNDI. This is when the bride has her hands and feet
decorated with intricate patterns. But for me it just meant one more day of 
a raucous good time.



Good lord. Amazing. Having a multi-day wedding means that all the people you 
see but don't get the chance to talk to, are going to be there again, and so
many random people would like come up and say "Oh I've been seeing you around,
what's your name?" and I just can't get enough of that shit.



Jan. 2

Ok this is actually the last day of the wedding. Today was the puja! The bride
and groom are Sikhs so this takes place at a gurdhwara.



Groom rolled in on a horse. I'm not sure I'm a big fan of the horse entrance 
with the dancing in front of it. It always feels like it takes too long. I get
it. It's cute, it's fun. Not really my thing. For my wedding? I'm calling it 
now. BOAT. If you're invited to it, you'll see don't worry. 



This day was much more tame compared to the other wedding days, it was a nice
comedown from multiple days of straight dancing. It was very cute to talk to 
the random uncles and aunties.



That night, my mom and I went to India Gate together. It was cute. I do have to
make a note to see the Arc d'Triomphe in Paris sometime to compare it. The 
pollution was palpable here.



Jan. 3

My dad and I went to the National Gallery of Modern Art. Photos were not 
allowed, which is a shame because the pieces there were some of the most 
beautiful art I've ever seen. There was a retrospective of Jatin Das' work 
which I really enjoyed. I did get some photos of it.



I later learnt there are numerous accusations of sexual misconduct against him.
This did sour my appreciation of the pieces. What I really liked was how 
vibrant, alive, and free his art feels which is the antithesis of what he is 
accused of.


Jan. 5

My mom took me to Dilli Haat which is a government-sponsored artisan market. It
is much less chaotic and free-form than real artisan markets, but I think it's
easier to handle for non-Indians. So many beautiful works.



What I really liked about it was how it did feel like a lot of the sellers were
genuinely small, family-run outfits who were trying to make the most out of 
being given the opportunity to sell here. 

I then took a flight to HYDERABAD.

[1.2.7] Hyderabad, India

Jan. 6

In Hyderabad, I was meeting up with one of my good Boston friends who was 
visiting his family. Hyderabad is in the state of Telengana and this was my
first time traveling to South India. 



His family had a big puja planned for the day, from my understanding it was
essentially a marriage renewal for both my friend's parents and for his uncle 
and aunt. I helped prepare for the puja, so we all went to get mango leaves and
I went with his uncle to pick up his suit from the dry cleaner's. It was also
my first time on a motorbike and that was so fun. I liked it quite a bit.



The entire extended family was present for the puja, and then there was me just
vibing with them. The family was so so sweet to me and welcoming, most of the 
older members did not speak English but despite the lack of communication, they
were so kind to me. Directly after the puja, lunch was served. At first the men
sat on the floor and were served by the women. After we ate, we all traded 
places and then we served the women. I thought that was cute, and it felt sweet
to serve the people who had just served us. After lunch, we got cake and 
decorations because it was the 6th birthday of one of my friend's cousins! 
NAYAN! He is adorable and is capable of some very sick dance moves.



After the celebrations, my friend, his brother, and one of the cousins took me
to Charminar market. It's the huge open marketplace that surrounds the base of
this large monument in the middle of old Hyderabad. It was full of vendors, and
food stands, and so many diverse people. BEAUTIFUL.



My friend bought some drums, and then we all visited this one vendor to get
perfumes mixed for us. The person running it was a literal child but he 
insisted he was Charminar famous. I showed him the scents that I liked from the
perfume exhibit in Paris and he was able to MIX them for me.



We love to see a story come full circle. I also got some bangles for my sister.
Looking back, I should have got many more to give to as presents. They're so 
easy to transport and Hyderabad is famous for them.



The mix of old city and new markets feels so alive.



We got some Iranian chai and falludah before leaving. It was nice to enjoy some
sites without my family. They have the best intentions for me, but they tend to
only give me very sanitized views of places and they would have never let me 
have street food or anything else here. My stomach did take a hit, but honestly
worth it.

When we arrive back home, I share the gift I had brought for the family which 
are these tiny chocolate bottles filled with whiskey. My friend and I 
distribute them to the whole extended family and I think they enjoyed them.

Jan. 07

I was woken up at 6am by my friend's uncle sitting at my feet shining a 
flashlight at me. He just smiled and said "Alright laughing boy, we're going to
go play cricket." Me and my friend roll out and a contingent of us leave to 
play cricket together. We go to some sports complex, and join a pickup game 
happening there. I emphatically do not know the rules of cricket, and after
playing it for 2 hours I still don't really know the rules of cricket. I did at
one point hit a wicket while bowling, which I know is good but that is about 
the extent of my knowledge.

We then visit some friends of my friend's uncle while blasting the song Mustafa 
Mustafa in the car (very good song, perfect for driving). They then take me to
get dosas from some hole in the wall place, we get chai, and then I am whisked
back to the apartment to say my goodbyes to everyone.



Before eating the dosa, I thanked everyone for my last meal in Hyderabad. My 
friend just laughed at me and said when we take you back to the apartment you
are going to have to eat again. This was accurate, and I should have known 
better.



Hyderabad was amazing, and it was so nice to see my Boston friend again. The 
highlight though was his family. They were so kind to me, opened their house
to me, fed me, and made me feel genuinely at home. They so readily welcomed me,
an absolute stranger, into their family and that was so special to me. The 
experience also did make me appreciate Anthony Bourdain's method of 'food 
tourism.' Even if you can't verbally communicate, food is a unique window into 
a culture and one that most people are really excited to share with you. That 
said, I have to figure out a way to be able to eat all the food that is served
to me without exploding. I don't know how to do this yet.

In any case, I get to the airport, and catch a flight back to New Delhi! I 
spend the evening with my cousins again, and we had one last moment all 
together.

I then return to France! 

Final thoughts on India? I loved it. Maybe it's because I came to India after
spending so long in Europe, or maybe it was the fact that this was my first
visit when my cousins were adults; but I fell in love with it. Europe is nice,
I've enjoyed France immensely and really liked all the places I traveled in 
before. But my time in India did feel tangibly different, I think my takeaway
from the trip is that I would love to be able to spend a couple months a year
living there no matter what I do in the future.

There were some downsides. I did not previously appreciate how rampant colorism
is in India nor did I understand how unsafe parts of New Delhi are for women. My
cousins somewhat casually mentioned that New Delhi is ranked one of the worst
cities in the world for violence against women and I was shocked to see how many
independent studies arrived at that conclusion. It is also a very unequal 
society; I think its manifestation of economic inequality and poverty are more
upfront than most Western people are comfortable dealing with. That said it is 
developing forward, and I believe in the long-run the fraction of its 
impoverished will decrease. This is to say nothing of the underlying tensions
regarding its status as a secular nation. It does not feel like this topic is
not even close to being resolved, and the religious tension between Hinduism and
Islam can be palpable at times.

All that said, I think the history, the culture, and the people combine to make 
India one of those places which I cannot help but to fall in love with.

[1.2.8] Paris, France

Jan. 08

Alright back in FRANCE. I arrived in Paris at like 20h00. Drop my stuff off at
the hostel and decide a late night stroll through Paris would be just primo 
after all this travel. This was actually the first night of snow in Paris, and
let me tell you there are few things more romantic than a stroll in the 
deserted streets of Paris as snow lightly falls around you. I decide the best
use of this opportunity is to see the Eiffel tower up close.



I have seen the Eiffel tower before, it is a beautiful monument and very cool
to look at, but I would be lying if I said I was awestruck by it before. This 
time felt different. I think it was a combination of the place being almost 
empty and the heavy snowfall, but seeing the Eiffel that night was magical.

It doesn't feel like it should be silent, but it is. As you approach, you just
see this otherworldly monument grow in front of you silently spinning its light
in the dark. All I could hear as I approached was the crunch of the snow under
my feet. *CHILLS* 



I then went to an underground (literally) blues bar in the 5th eme. It's called
Caveau de la Hechette. I can't say I recommend it, the music was fine and I 
enjoyed it; but it leans too heavily on its reputation for my enjoyment. It was
also a little jarring to hear other Americans speaking English, and I can see 
the kernel of truth in American tourist stereotypes. That said, the bar was 
physically underground so I did love that.

Jan. 09

Began the day very early. Pre-sunrise I went to Pont Neuf and had the whole 
park to myself. It is one of my favorite places to observe the Seine. The
colors reminded me of Café Terrace at Night by Van Gogh. Fun fact, my website
color scheme (the main one not this blog) is based on the blues and oranges in
that painting.



I then walked through the Jardin des Tuileries. The big statues were your 
classic marble things, but I did see these cool hands which I loved. They 
reminded me of Rodin! They might have actually been Rodin, but I'm not sure.



Met up with my friend for coffee and catchup, that was very sweet; and then 
went to the Rodin Museum. Oh my god, that was wild. 



I was a little disappointed in the beginning, but the museum gets very good in
the second floor. 



My favorite part was seeing the same piece in multiple iterations. The plaster
cast, the marble version, the bronze cast.



So good.



Even saw this statue, and I have a Boston friend with this tattooed on herself!



I have so many photos, I can't show them all. But it was very fun, and I really 
like Rodin's style.

I then foolishly listened to the recommendation of my friend for a dinner spot.
It was too expensive, and the waiter was not very nice. I would not recommend
La Rotonde even if it is close to the train station.

I then LEFT the restaurant to take the train to Rennes, home sweet home! 

That does it. That was my trip. Almost one full month of travel. After all 
that, it did feel nice coming back to Rennes. I really enjoyed the entire
excursion, especially the friends & family I got to see along the way. It was
this weird mixture of invigorating and exhausting, but for me it reiterated 
just how big and beautiful this world is. There is so much to see, so much to 
do, so many beautiful people and stories coexisting and intersecting at all
times and all places on this planet.

To experience any of these for even a fraction of a moment is a blessing; and 
as I enter the New Year, my only resolution is to be grateful and aware of how
lucky and fortunate I am to be able to pay witness and appreciate the infinite
beauty of this world and its people.

CIAO.

[1.3.0] Au revoir Europe


[1.3.1] Paris, France

Mar. 03

Caught the train at 09h30 out of Rennes and was packing things up until the last
minute. It did feel slightly easier to pack when compared to Boston packing 
since I knew I was clearing out the room completely. Even still, I am a bit 
concerned about how heavy my suitcase and backpack is.

Regardless, I got into Paris around 11h00 and met up with a new friend for lunch
and coffee. We had Thai food that was advertised as spicy, but still did not 
fully satisfy my craving for intensely flavored food. We then got coffee and
drinks along the Seine and had such a lovely conversation. 

Then met up with another friend to watch a student production of Hamlet!



It was interesting, very modern and I did really like the set design. They did
this lovely shadow swordfight which I found to be delightful. Then booked it to 
a very Instagrammable Italian place for dinner. Highlights? Bathroom felt like a 
rave, and their flower vases were excellent.



And then salsa dancing + drinks! I forgot to take photos, but my latin dancing
is shamefully rusty. Paris is a nice city, and out of the megacities I've 
traveled through it is certainly up there; but, I am really glad I wasn't 
working there. I think being in Rennes exposed me to a very particular set of
French culture and people that would have been very hard to get exposed to had
I been living in Paris. After 6 months, I am certainly not fluent in French, 
but I would like to think I'm conversant-ish. Whatever my skill level is, I do
not think I would have been nearly as good had I been living in a place as 
international as Paris.

[1.3.2] Cambridge, UK

Mar. 04

My train from Paris to London left around 08h40 in the morning, only major
event was that they confiscated a knife one of my friends from Rennes had gifted
me :(. I was hoping it was small enough that they wouldn't take it, but alas 
this was not the case. 

I reached St. Pancras International Station around 11h10 and was able to quickly
catch the next train to Cambridge from King's Cross. The Interrail app lists a
50m transit time from St. Pancras to King's Cross but they are literally 
a 5 minute walk from each other. Ended up getting into Cambridge around noon
(this will be the only destination I reach ahead of schedule on this trip).

Took a stroll around Cambridge as my only plans that day were a dinner with the
Iqbal lab that evening. Cambridge is fairly pretty and the city is obviously
built to primarily serve the University of Cambridge. 



Walking through the downtown takes all of 10 minutes, and then the bulk of the
city belongs to different colleges in the University of Cambridge. I ended up
taking a punting tour where a guide 'punts' a boat full of passengers along the
river Cam (get it, a bridge over Cam --> Cambridge). Punting refers to using a 
long stick to push against the riverbed while standing atop the boat. It looks
easy, but after seeing enough other punters struggle I think it might actually
be very difficult.



The cool thing about the punting tour is you get to see a lot of the colleges
and buildings up close, so I would recommend it if you're visiting Cambridge.



I also did not appreciate how independent each of the colleges within Cambridge
are, our guide described how each had entirely separate budgets, requirements, 
and teams which seems quite distinct from the equivalent system in Harvard or 
UCSD.



After some strolling around Cambridge I went to dinner. We got some delicious
Indian food that once again hit the spot. So cool to see so many *Indians* 
again.

Mar. 05

In the morning got some toast and marmalade from a coffee shop and then went to
EBI to present to the Iqbal group. They organized a taxi for me, and the driver
was Kashmiri! He was born on the Pakistan side, but I have literally never met
another Kashmiri in the wild so that was very cool.

EBI campus is quite nice! It's based in Hinxton which is a ~30 minute drive 
outside of Cambridge proper. Most people live in Cambridge and then take a bus
to the campus.



Got lunch afterwards with the lab members and discovered that there is some 
serious drama in the 2024 Cambridge Women's Clay Pigeon Club team. It is still
a bit difficult for me to get used to listening to people speak in English and
especially with an English accent. The English accent is just so silly to 
listen to.

Ended everything in the evening and took one last stroll around Cambridge before
heading to bed.



[1.3.3] Delft, Netherlands

Mar. 06

Caught the early morning train to London and then transferred to the Eurostar to
get to Rotterdam and then took a train from Rotterdam to Delft. Only arrived in
Delft around 16h00. Met up with my friend and we rented a bike and biked to her
place for dinner!



Oh boy. Biking in the Netherlands? Amazing. It's ridiculous how nice the 
infrastructure is and how easy it is to get around with just a bike. Just 
incredible.



Dinner was delicious and it was so fun to see her family again after 2+ years!
One topic of conversation I think I should mention is that the Netherlands is 
also seeing a rise in right-wing populism. It was a bit surprising and 
disheartening to hear how powerful they've become, and it mirrors broad 
sentiment I've heard throughout my time in Europe. Biked back to the rental 
spot, dropped off my bike and then crashed at the hotel.

Mar. 07

Woke up early to grab breakfast and explore the city some more before my 
presentation at the University. The breakfast buffet at the hotel was quite
nice and I did get to try Dutch Hagelslag. 



It tastes as you might expect? The sprinkles are nice for the texture, but I
think I would prefer spreadable Nutella over chocolate sprinkles. I did have
some freshly squeezed orange juice at one of those crazy machines I had seen in
Switzerland. This will become important later.

After breakfast, I first tried to visit the museum inside this giant windmill I
saw when I first arrived. Unfortunately, the museum was closed on Thursdays, but
I did learn that most windmills are actually used to mill grain? Thinking about 
it now, I realize I never actually knew what old-timey windmills actually did.



This one had a bakery serving goods baked from the flour actually milled at the 
windmill, I didn't get anything but it was very cute. I then visited the Centrum
Market and picked up some surprisingly cheap nice hiking socks I needed for 
Rwanda. 



I then walked up Niewue Kerk (New Church) to catch a bird's eye view of Delft.



It definitely is a very small city, but very pretty! 



I then walked downstairs to see the rest of the church. My friend had mentioned
that this town was where the founder of the Netherlands was assassinated, but I
didn't really internalize that before visiting the church. Prince William of 
Orange is buried directly inside the church and you can go right up to the tomb.

Not only is he buried there, but every royal member of the Dutch monarchy is 
also buried in this church. It is a wild tomb, and by far my favorite part is 
that the lying down depiction of King William has him dressed in a nightsuit
and little pajama cap.



After the church and some more strolling, I went to grab lunch with my friend 
and then presented my work! Got to hang out with some PhD students afterwards
and they were so friendly and sweet. Their program was incredibly diverse and
I think the majority of the students were not Dutch which was interesting to
compare to the PhD program I interacted with in France.  



After hanging with them, my friend took me to dinner and we said our goodbyes
before I headed to sleep and another early morning of travel.

[1.3.4] Münich, Germany

Mar. 08

The original plan was to basically spend the whole day traveling from Delft, I
was supposed to connect on some high speed trains through Switzerland to 
eventually get to Milan and then from Milan go straight to Rome. Unfortunately,
during this day both the German and Italian rail workers went on strike. I 
thought since my train starts in the Netherlands and ends in Switzerland, I 
would at least be unaffected by the German strike and then I could figure out
something from Milan. But this is not true! Since those tracks pass through
Germany, they are also affected by the strike and all of those trains got 
cancelled. If your geography is better than mine then you realize that there are
very few ways to leave the Netherlands towards Rome that do not pass through
Germany. 

This threw me for a bit of a loop, but after thinking about it and looking at
schedules for tomorrow I ended up electing to wait the German side of the strike
out at Utrecht terminal in the Netherlands and then head to Münich where I would
spend the night before catching a series of trains to Rome tomorrow.



The German strike ended at 13h00 that day, and I lost track of how many trains I
ended up taking. In this regard, the EURail pass was a lifesaver just because I
could confidently board most trains and change my plans on a dime. After all was
said and done, I got into Münich ~21h30. 

Dropped off my stuff at the hotel I got last minute and then looked for 
something to do in Münich. On a whim, I found this concert at this random place
somewhat close to me and went to it.

Walking through Münich reminded me of Chicago, very big, industrial, & 
sprawling. I don't think I can form a real opinion on it since I only spent one 
night there; however, walking through it did not have the same charm as I got 
from Köln. 

But let me say this, if you ever find yourself in Münich, a *must-see* is 
Bahnwärter Thiel. 



I do not know how to describe it or what it is; it seems very similar to the
Anarcho-House in Basel, some sort of large compound hosting a self-organized
group that hosts random workshops and parties. This was where the concerte I
randomly attended was hosted.



It's a crazy place and very pretty. They made me tape up my phone camera before
entering the party which I had heard some places in Germany make you do, but 
this was my first time having it enforced. It's a shame because the lights and
decoration *inside* were absolutely crazy. 100% would return if I ever came 
back, people there were also v sweet. Caught a couple DJ sets before going back
and crashing, it was some pretty cool goth house music. Q spooky.



[1.3.5] Rome, Italy

Mar. 09

My train journey to Rome only began at 09h30 from Münich, so I was able to fuel
up on some fluffy pancakes at this California themed café before moving on.



I first went to Bologna, then connected onwards to Rome. Train ride was 
uneventful, but passing through the alps was quite pretty.



The Bologna rail station was very impressive, it went at least 5 floors
underground and was definitely one of the more technically impressive stations
I've seen in Europe so far. I arrived in Rome around 21h00. There are 2 main 
train stations in Rome: Tiburtina & Termini. On the advice of my friend from 
Rome I got off at Tiburtina, and I would recommend that to anyone else coming
into Rome. Termini being so close to the center is much crazier, Tiburtina is
not nearly as hectic. 

Dropped off my stuff, and then wandered the city before meeting up with friends
for pizza. Walking around the first thing I noticed were the orange trees lining
the streets. I was sorely tempted to pick one and eat it, but they did not look
very appetizing. Talking to my friend at dinner, he told me that people say not
to eat it because it sucks up the pollution of the road. Even if you can't eat
them, they do look pretty and also cause a slight orange smell which is 
pleasant.



Wandered around Rome for a bit. I could not imagine biking here, the 
infrastructure does not look very friendly to people who are not in cars or 
scooters. Rome reminds me of Delhi in that you can see the new parts of the
city actively merged into the old. I think the difference is in the level of 
care Rome places in preserving and protecting their history; it feels like 
India prioritizes development over preservation (which isn't necessarily bad,
but it is sad to see some parts of Delhi's deep history forgotten).



The pizza spot was Kalo di Ciro Salvo, I split a margherita & pizza frité 
(calzone) with my friend; both of which were very very good. Our group then got
~gelato~ before calling it a night.



Mar. 10

Began the day with my friend taking me to the city center. It was aggressively 
packed with tourists which was a little annoying, but I get why it was 
beautiful. We saw that classic Roman fountain; and I did take a photo of it, 
but you can just look up better photos of it. Instead here's the dude that made
us cappucinos.



We were the first ones to order coffee that day so they had to set up the 
machine for the first time and my man made and then threw away like 4 shots of
espresso because he said they weren't good enough. When we finally got the 
cappucinos, the wait was absolutely worth it. We walked the cappucinos to the
Pantheon and oof she is a bEAUt.



We strolled along the Tiber and saw some more sites as we walked to lunch in 
the neighborhood of Trastevere at Tonnarello. We devoured carciofo (pic), some 
incredible carbonara, a carafe of wonderful wine, and tiramisu. 



We did some more walking on the Tiber (Tevere in Italian) and my friend walked 
me first to an expresso and then the Colosseum before we parted ways.



I had pre-purchased the ticket for the Colosseum so was able to skip all the 
lines and just rush in. It is truly marvelous.



It is one thing to see historical fragments of a civilization in a museum, it is
an entirely different thing to walk inside and amongst the ruins of an ancient
civilization. It was one of the first times I've been genuinely awestruck.  



I then walked around the Roman Forum which is this gigantic open-air 
archaeological park. It started storming during this section, and let me tell 
you there are very few things more impressive and surreal then walking amongst 
the ruins of an ancient empire during a thunderstorm.



Unfortunately, the Forum closed before I got my fill. But this is just one more
good reason to revisit Italy and Rome soon. 



From the Forum, I took the subway to pick up my bags and then took a train from 
Tiburtina to FCO. I rolled up like 2.5 hours early which turned out to be a 
fairly good decision. There was an incredibly long line to check bags, and the 
lady at the counter was kind enough to not charge me for my overweight luggage 
<3. Boarded, watched the 2nd movie in the Planet of the Apes trilogy and then 
crashed. POOPED. 

[1.3.6] Kigali, Rwanda

Mar. 11

Woke up to us landing in my layover, Addis Ababa. I was quite impressed with the
layout and how organized the airport was. 



I got a very nice coffee, some lentil sambusas, and a pain au chocolat. I did
try to find tej but no store in the airport had it which made me a little 
frustrated.



Sambusas were delicious, and pretty much identical to Indian samosas. I love how
much similarity I've found between Indian food and East African cuisine. I 
eventually boarded the plane to Kigali and rolled into the airport ~13h00.



The customs officer knew I was going to be coming, so when I arrived and said my
name he was like "Oh, I knew you were coming!" That was the first time I've ever 
entered a country and been identified. It was very sweet; a tad disconcerting, 
but overall sweet. I got my bags and the university had sent a driver to pick me
up and take me to the apartment in Kigali for the night. He was very nice and 
was very excited I knew some words in Kinyarwanda, and he helped teach me some
more words (Biratangaje == 'Amazing'). 



Apartment was very nice, and after I unpacked and took a shower I made some 
coffee from a Bialetti Mokina I picked up in Italy. Rwandan coffee?? OOF. Very
good. It did take me some time to figure out how to operate the stovetop with
the direct gas tank connection, but through God and with the aid of ChatGPT I 
figured it out.



I then took a stroll to a nearby ATM to get some Rwandan Francs and then walked 
to a friend of a friend's house for a pasta dinner. Walking around Kigali is 
wild, it is just all hills so you're constantly either walking up a hill or down
a hill. Some of them are very steep and I don't know how people can bike so 
easily here. 

My friend of a friend (I think we're now friends after this dinner) lives in 
Kigali and runs his own business. It was very nice to hear about his experience 
living as an expat in Rwanda and his thoughts on the country. I don't think it's 
my place to share specifics, but I think he is very happy with his decision, 
which made me very excited for the next 3 months!

I then walked back to my apartment. Despite it being very dark, I felt very safe
walking around. Tomorrow, I go to the Kigali office of the University for some
paperwork and then in the evening I make the trek to the Butaro campus! LEG 2 
BEGINS.



[2.1.0] Botswana



[2.1.1] Gaborone, Botswana

May 11

My flight out of Kigali was around 01h00, right before I had a little dinner 
party with some friends and I cooked mataar paneer for everyone. This was my 
first time cooking Indian food for others since leaving America so that felt
pretty special. I connected through Addis to Gaborone and ended up reaching
Gabs around 15h00. 

The younger brother of my paternal grandmother and his wife live there and 
have been working in Gaborone for the past 30 odd years. This was my first
time meeting them since I was a child so the purpose of this trip was primarily
for me to see them again and also see Botswana.

I connected through Addis as I booked through Ethiopian Airlines and arrived in 
Gaborone around 14h00. Trip was relatively uneventful, and I met my Mamu and 
Mami at the airport.

We drove to their house and on the way I got a sense of Gaborone. It's a very
sprawling and sparsely populated city. For context, Rwanda is roughly 22 times
smaller than Botswana but has ~12 million Rwandans compared to ~2.2 million
Botswanans. You can immediately feel this difference in the capitals, Gaborone
is built wide and not up. The result of this is large (well-maintained) roads,
sprawling wilderness, and dots of random stores, restaurants and malls. It is 
not an easily walkable city, but I did think it was beautiful. It was 
especially sweet to see the home my Mamu and Mami had built together. It's 
cozy and the backyard is springing with assorted flora from across Botswana &
India.



Rest of the day passed uneventfully and largely consisted of drinking tea, 
eating, and talking with my Mamu and Mami. 

May 12

My father's family is comprised of Kashmiri Hindus, and it's a culture I have 
never really gotten the opportunity to experience. If you're unfamiliar with the
history, religious tensions and violence led to a substantial exodus of the 
population from the region and while I believe a majority settled in Jammu, a 
substantial collection scattered around the world. 

My paternal grandfather and grandmother weren't part of that group since they 
had left Kashmir for some years already owing to my grandfather's work. But the 
implication of the exodus is they no longer had a home nor family to return to 
in the region. As a result, my father never got the chance to really be immersed
in Kashmiri culture and then I, by extension, have even less exposure to it. 

I was very close to my grandfather (he is the predominant reason I am a 
biologist today) but he passed before I was old enough to conceive of any 
questions regarding the region. A combination of this, my grandmother's famous
reticence and my mother's Punjabi side being very loud and boisterous meant the
Punjabi side became the dominant identity pertaining to my ethnic origin.

This is all my long-winded way of saying that my Kashmiri identity has always
been more of a mystery to me. It was only here, in the dusty bush of Southern
Africa at the dinner table of my Mamu and Mami, that I got a glimpse of life in
Srinagar. Hearing about my grandfather and grandmother through the eyes of my
Mamu was very special, and provided deeper insight into myself. Through my 
Punjabi side I can easily find the roots of my extroversion; I think my love for
drink, dance and loudly arguing comes cleanly from them. But my bouts of 
spiritual introspection and thirst for adventure always felt misplaced amongst
them (my mom always laments that I must have been switched at birth). I think 
the days I spent talking to my Mamu and Mami solidified that these are the 
products of my Kashmiri heritage. The conversations were alternatingly joyous 
and sorrowful, and there were moments I was surprised at the intensity of the 
emotion I felt. This is all I'll say on this, but it was these conversations
I will most fondly cherish when I remember this trip.

ANYWAYS, the only big thing we did that day was get lunch at Mokolodi Bush 
Kitchen. They had a special Mother's day menu and it was cute to see all the 
moms being taken out by their families. I had a malva pudding there which was
nice, but I most enjoyed the FIRE they lit for it.



[2.1.2] Kasane, Botswana


N.B. edited photos from Kasane with my big camera are available here


May 13

We left at 05h00 for the airport to catch a flight to Kasane. Kasane is in the
far north of Botswana and that along with the Okovango river delta and Maun are
the major tourist hubs in Botswana. The plane we took was this adORable little
thing with two propellors on either side; as with most African airports I've 
experienced, we walk/bus to the plane and then walk onto the plane itself. I 
think I prefer this to taking that long suspended walkway most common in 
American airports as it lets you really take in the plane you are about to 
board.



The sunrise was also quite beautiful over the tarmac.



From the airport we got picked up and immediately whisked to the lodge we were
staying at, Chobe Game Lodge. This lodge is the only one allowed to exist on the
premises of the Chobe Game Reserve which is wild because the place is just 
surrounded by the wilderness and it's sooooooooo cool. This was also far and 
away the nicest place I have ever stayed at. The facilities, food, and service
was all OOF just amazing. After unpacking and having lunch we took a sunset
cruise and saw so many THINGS.



The sunset was ALSO marvelous.



Just beautiful. After a delightful dinner and more stimulating conversation we
retired early for a packed schedule tomorrow.

May 14

We rose at like 05h00 to do a early morning game ride through the park. Before I
get into the events from today, I do want to point out something which bothered
me about this lodge. The clientele was to a T exclusively European. It felt a
bit weird and quasi-colonial and I didn't love that. Again the question was how
much of the money they bring in actually goes to the people. And like maybe/
probably it's a net-positive? but it still feels weird to be in a majority white 
space in Africa. I've been a bit spoiled in Rwanda at UGHE in that I have had 
few experiences like that, and most often I'm the odd one out. 

Anyways, we were out for a while and saw a stupid number of animals.





The landscape itself was also just marvelous. The sands of the Kalahari are 
majestic in a way that is difficult to express in words. 



The highlight of this was seeing a LION fight. We first came across 2 sisters 
and 2 cubs intimidating a young male lion who was walking towards them. The 
male lion ended up leaving but our guide Oriah tracked the sisters to another
spot. We parked and waited, and as we were waiting we saw the two sisters 
approaching from the right and snarling towards our left. On our left, the 
young male had come back and started approaching them. 



The two groups met directly in front of our car, where a 3rd lioness pops up 
out of nowhere and these 3 just start mauling this poor dude. After like 20 
seconds of fierce fighting, the male turns around and runs off with all 3 
lionesses chasing him.



It was an intense 30 seconds, and my Mamu had the foresight to record the whole
thing. This made him a quasi-celebrity as everyone, including Oriah, wanted a 
copy of the video. It's somewhat common to see lions, but fairly rare to see 
them fight and directly in front of us. My big camera had died at this point,
so I was just mindlessly taking photos.



Eventually, the mother returned to retrieve her cubs and pay watch to the 
direction the male ran off in.



Truly wild way to end the day. Again, the sunset was magnificent.



May 15

Given the excitement of yesterday, we thought it would be more fruitful to spend
the day seeing new sights so we crossed the border to Zimbabwe to see 
Mosi-oa-Tunya (Lunzi for 'the smoke that thunders') or as Livingston named them
Victoria Falls. Crossing the border into Zimbabwe was painless, but the Zimbabwe
immigration authority did decide to take up one whole page in my passport with a
one day visa which I thought was a little silly. As an aside, I recently learned
that if you are out of passport pages you just cannot travel and you have to get
a fresh passport even if the passport itself is unexpired. I find this silly.

I saw my first Baobab tree on the way!



The Falls were quite beautiful.



The sound was the most impressive feature, just a wall of water continually 
crashing. The water levels are actually low compared to historic averages due to
an exceptionally dry season before.

We grabbed lunch and then headed back to Botswana. The wildest thing from the 
return journey was we had to get out, walk across this mat of disinfectant to
prevent the spread of Foot and Mouth disease. That was pretty wild, but I'm a
little skeptical it actually helps.



Eventually got pack to the digs and we managed to do a quick sunset game ride.
On it, we got to see a lioness sleeping in the dirt while her 3 cubs played 
next to her. My mamu was particularly affected by this remarking afterwards 
that there was a profound lesson learned about motherhood and supreme power 
while watching this queen sleeping in the dirt. 

We went back, had a cute fancy dinner and then retired for the night.

[2.1.3] Gaborone, Botswana

May 16

Our last day in Kasane! My mami and I woke up early to do another sunrise boat
ride. As always, obscenely beautiful. We then packed our bags and drove to the
airport. On the way, we got a chance to get a clean sighting of a leopard. 
Unfortunately, my big camera was in my bag so I could only use my phone. Please
enjoy zooming into this photo.



We got back to Gaborone midday and rested before going to a dinner hosted by
other Kashmiris in the Gaborone area. Like my mamu and mami all had been living
there for a while and it was very fun to listen to them chat and reminisce over
dinner. I made the strategic and correct decision to shun cutlery and eat with
my hands (this is a Kashmiri thing) to ingratiate myself to them.  


May 17/18

These days were quiet and sweet. On the evening of the 17th my mamu and mami 
hosted the same group of friends to have dinner at their place. People came over
and it was a fun time. The dominant feature of these days were just conversing 
with my mamu and mami and listening to their stories. 

So ends my short excursion to Southern Africa! Thoughts? Wildlife amazing. I 
LOVE ANIMALS. SO pretty and it was SO cool to see them just bop around and do
their shit. Oriah said that the animals are used to the game vehicles, but I
am a bit skeptical of this. I cannot imagine that they have just become 
acclimated to the noise and smells and when the lions were fighting there was
nothing to stop them from just hopping into the car. But I guess accidents are
fairly rare so it's not a big deal. 

Since I was mainly spending time with my mamu and mami I did not get a chance 
to explore Botswana/Gaborone, so hard to say my thoughts on the country/city. I 
will say that the Botswanans I met were all cool fucking cats. Also, Setswana is
a wild language, all females are called 'Ma' and males are 'Ra' (equiv. to Maam 
& Sir) also 'Yes' is 'Ee'. I did learn how to say 'amazing' it is 'amakats'. 

Was not a very big fan of what I saw of Gaborone. Obviously cool to see the fam,
but I like more walkable and dense cities and what I saw of Gaborone made it 
seem like a car was very necessary. Would loooove to see the Okovango Delta 
next, everyone said it was incredible.

[2.2.0] Murabeho Africa



[2.2.1] Nairobi, Kenya

June 01

I got into Nairobi at around 06h00 but only left the airport ~10h00. I took an
Uber from the airport to the hotel whose booking process was amazingly painless 
and quick.



After the party last night, I crashed fairly hard and after taking a shower I 
left the hotel ~14h00. The first place I wanted to see was the Nairobi 
Contemporary Art Institute (NCAI). I found the place online, I saw they had 
this dope looking exhibit from this Ugandan sculptist, and I was feeling very
proud of myself. But as the Uber driver got closer to the destination, I 
realized it was actually located inside a mall. I still tried to go inside, but
found to my dismay that it was actually CLOSED. Truly tragic, In a fit of rage
I walked to a nearby shopping mall and looked around. It was your classic 
assortment of shops and shit, but they did have a cool section dedicated to 
handicrafts which was nice. 



But then I could not find the normal exit, so I decided to leave through the
parking lot basement. As I was walking out, I heard afrobeats playing, and 
followed the sound to a studio of artists located in the basement of this
random mall. They're the Basement Collective and I got to chat with like 3 of 
the 6 artists who are part of it. Very sweet group, and very very cool art!



All of them were mad talented and had some BEAUTIFUL pieces. They mentioned they
also do art classes, so I booked one for the next day to just roll in and do 
some painting. After this, headed back and attended this rooftop party for a 
bit.  



One of the DJs was Indian which was very fun, but he did not play any Bollywood
which was sad. I couldn't stay long as I was meeting up with a friend of a 
for dinner, but it was a cool crowd and good music. The dinner friend was a 
friend of a Kenyan masters student I met in UGHE (Hi Riara), and he is actually
a 5th-generation Kenyan Indian. Anyways he is very sweet, and him, me, and one 
of his friends all went to this LGBT night at a little bar in the Westlands. It
was cute, and it felt like my man knew most of the gay crowd in Nairobi. What 
was also cool was the name of the club was Shelter, which felt like they were a
SHELTER for the gays. Based on talking to him, it felt like Kenya is a fairly 
unsafe location for LGBT folk; however, there is a sizable & vibrant queer 
community in the major cities.



We stayed for a bit, and then turned in for the night! FUN.

June 02

The next day I went to the Nairobi Arboretum and just meandered through it. Very
lovely spot, lots of random trails you can take. 



Despite all the natural loveliness, the river running through it was just full 
of plastic trash. 



As I was walking around, I heard some people giving a speech in Swahili and 
followed the noise to a group of I think parishioners listening to this lady
giving a possibly religious and emphatic speech in Swahili. I didn't want to 
intrude so I left without them seeing me, but in general, the park had a ton of
random people enjoying the day which was sweet to see.



After this I spent some time just walking around Nairobi. I heard a lot of 
things regarding safety in the city, and I did not have a good sense of what 
was a safe area and what was not. I was very used to the Kigali mentality
where I felt very safe going anywhere at any time, and I did miss that freedom.

Nairobi is so big and intense compared to Kigali, skyscrapers everywhere and the
people I met were on average much louder and outgoing than Rwandans. 



By this point it was time for my art class, so I headed back to the Artist's
collective and painted. It was very fun and very sweet, I did not really love
how the painting turned out but it felt nice to paint again after so long.



I also picked up some sketches to give to my Kigali friends as a thank you for
them allowing me to crash with them so often.



I then met up with some friends and we had a lovely evening tea and chatted for
a solid couple hours. Turned in for the night and ended 2nd day in Nairobi!

June 03

I began the day by attempting to enter the Nairobi National Museum. I say 
'attempting' because Nairobi requires all museum visitors to first make an
account on the government website and pay through there. My card refused to work
and in my frustration I just left.



Came across some cool wildlife. 



I then went to the Giraffe Center. It is stupidly small and while it was cool to
feed the giraffes it is also obvious that this is solely an Instagram spot. If 
you only have 2 days in Nairobi this would not be included in my 
recommendations.



Giraffe tongues are much longer than you would expect. Also, I think giraffes
are 'handed'. Like the tongue of a giraffe preferentially curves to the left or
right after taking food. I looked it up and could not find any scientific study 
on this, so come at me grant agencies.

I THEN went to meet up with a Kigali friend for lunch and a coffee. We got some
so-so Indian tandoor and then chit-chatted. Very lovely to say goodbye to him as
he was one of the people I got closest to while in Kigali.

I then booked it to the airport; but alas, I missed my flight. It was my own 
stupidity. I should have not underestimated Nairobi traffic. I was luckily able
to find a seat on a connection through Doha.

Thoughts on Nairobi? Very interesting place, very big and I 100% did not spend 
enough time there to get a good sense of the place but what I saw interested me.
My least favorite part was not feeling like I could safely walk wherever I want,
I have realized that freedom of movement is something I really value. Nairobi
does have the larger crowd and more burgeoning culture compared to Kigali, I can
understand people living in Kigali and then spending some weeks/months in 
Nairobi when they get bored of it.

[2.2.2] New Delhi, India

June 04

The Doha airport is just mad. One of the highest-tech spots I've seen. 



I come into New Delhi ~14h00 and spend the day just catching up with my Nanu and
Nani. It was very nice to catch up with them, maybe dispel some of the 
preconceptions they held about Africa. They also got some new art which I really
love.



June 05

Today was my shopping day. My next leg in Manila will be interning at the Asia
Development Bank and as part of their intern guidelines they said that everyday
attire is business casual. I did not know what that meant, and it is literally
just a suit. This is a little insane since Manila is hot and humid as shit, but 
some friends of friends worked there before and said that they are quite 
corporate. Long story short, I needed to buy dress shirts and pants. I did get
some and my Nanu was sweet enough to give me some of his old shoes. 

That evening, one of my uncles took me and one of my cousins out to a Sufi
singing night. The music was aggressively good, and a very fun bop.



We then went out to two other bars/clubs after that. It was a bit excessive, but 
cute to have that experience with my cousin and uncle. 

June 06

I went to the India International Centre today. Very pretty spot and I attended
the preview of an exhibition of a collection of abstract artists from around 
India. Some cool stuff but not my favorite. I did see and wave to Jatin Das! 
He is the feller with the satchel in the bottom right of this photo.



Normally I would have said hi, but I refrained from what I read about his sexual
misconduct allegations. That said, he was a quasi-celebrity there so I don't 
think the allegations have really negatively affected him.

June 08

My family and I all went out for dosas and I returned, finished packing and
said goodbye to everyone. Very short stint in India, but it was mainly to see 
my Nanu and Nani and catch up with them. Most of my time was just sitting with
them, having tea and chatting. Very sweet and very special. 

[2.2.3] Manila, Philippines

June 09 

Caught my plane in the evening and connected through Hong Kong. I was a bit 
surprised how lax the security felt, but while I was waiting in line for my
passport to be inspected the music in my airpods became suddenly very crackly.
This has only happened before when passing through those shoplifting detecting
gates at the entrances/exits of stores, so I would guess they were doing 
something sneaky. I would imagine a deliberate strategy of the CCP is to 
intentionally make it feel like security is lax to lull people into a false 
sense of security. 

Wait in Hong Kong was uneventful, and eventually connected to Manila! The ADB 
had organized a car to pick me up which was very cool. They have their own 
special counter at the airport.



My driver was a very sweet old man with 2 kids both studying abroad. Met my
landlady who was also a huge sweetie. I really like the apartment I got, super
well-furnished and cozy and some sweet views of the city. My first impression of
Manila was BIG. So urban and dense just constant bustling. 

I unpacked my suitcase, decorated my room and then decided to practice the walk
to work. It's ~20 minutes so doable, but it is also hot and humid as shit. I got
quite sweaty walking there so not sure I will be walking often. I got dinner 
from a nearby mall and good lord the malls here are crazy. 



I've seen similar malls in Dubai, but I was still surprised to see how busy it 
was on a Sunday evening. I got some food and a SIM card both of which were 
ridiculously cheap. Also, a lot of payment is done through phone numbers in 
Rwanda it was called 'Momo' and since I never got a Rwandan number I was unable
to use it. This was a regret of mine, so I would recommend getting a local phone
number in every place you go for an extended period (even if your data plan 
allows free roaming), having the number is so useful to sign up for local 
services.

I took a moto home, in the Philippines there is a mobile app where you can book
them very similar to Uber. It is very cheap and very nice to use. No more 
negotiating with moto drivers and getting lost if they don't know the 
destination. Pretty cool! 

Went home and crashed! So begins LEG 3. PHILIPPINES.

[3.1.0] Tokyo 


July 25

My flight out of Manila departed mid-day, so I ended up working from home in the
morning and then catching a moto to the airport. I was flying on a Japanese
budget airline called Zipair, and though there was a typhoon in Manila the day 
before I left the flight had no issues nor delays. 

I rolled into Tokyo ~19h00 and breezed through immigration. I took a train from
the airport to Nippori station. It was very nice, and I love the physical 
tickets they give out. This also made me realize this is possibly the first time
I have visited a place with a character-based language instead of an alphabet.
I found it a bit more disorienting since there's no reoccurring patterns to grab
onto. 



I then attempted to transfer lines according to Google Maps but was told by the
workers that they only accept cash. I had not had a chance to visit an ATM yet,
so I did not have any means by which to pay for the next tickets. Instead of 
finding an ATM, I chose to just walk the rest of the way. The trip took ~1.5
hours and probably wasn't the best idea given the summer heat and the fact I 
was carrying all my shit; but I rarely do the logical thing.

On the way, I passed this random ramen place and dropped in. Myself and a 
regular were the only people in the spot, and the owner was lovely enough to
give me some recommendations. First ramen in Japan! Aggressively good. 



I then soldiered on in the journey. Heat was tough, but it gave me a chance to
just explore late-night suburban Tokyo. The first thing I noticed was how 
quiet Tokyo was. Being on the train, being in the station, being on the street,
people rarely raised their voices when they talked. Cars would rarely honk and 
most pedestrians were looking at their phones or using headphones. I'm not
sure if I only noticed this because I had just come from Manila which is big &
chaotic but it was something that I noticed all throughout my visit.

I eventually reach my residence which is a CAPSULE. I was so pumped for this, my
Japanese friend recommended one chain (9 hours) and I picked the one in the 
Suidobashi neighborhood. Everyone is given a locker, pajamas and a toiletry
bag when they check in. One floor is dedicated to showers and lockers, and 2 
floors are dedicated to individual pods for people to sleep in. The place is 
cheaper than hostels and honestly suited me fine. I always thought it was stupid 
how big hotel rooms are given I only use them for sleeping, and I have rarely 
enjoyed socializing with people in hostels so this was ideal for me.



By the time I got to the place, it was approaching midnight so I took a shower 
and crashed hard. 

July 26

Woke up EARLY and hit the streets of TOKYO. I had a list of places to see 
provided by a friend from there so I started with Shibuya crossing. It is the
largest scramble style crossing in the world, and if you've seen any documentary
about humanity they've likely cut to stock footage taken from there. I was a bit
surprised how small it physically was, every video made it seem bigger. 

Walking through it was a cool experience, and people watching from the nearby
Starbucks was also fun. I did get the chance to see it at night, and it is more
impressive with the lights, billboards, and bigger crowds. 



Then walked to Meiji Jingu. It's a shrine dedicated to the late Emperor Meiji 
who the Meiji Restoration is named after. It is a wild time to read about, so
would recommend the Wikipedia article but the entire shrine is beautiful and
huge. There are tons of small gardens and smaller shrines all throughout it.



Every year sake makers from across Japan bottle their sake and send it to the 
shrine in honor of the emperor. The casks are hung together in a wall and are 
BEAUTIFUL.



The main sanctuary is said to host the spirit of the emperor, and surrounding a
large tree in the center of the courtyard you can write a wish and hang it with
the hope that the spirits can help make it come true. It is sweet to read what
people write, a lot of hopes that others find peace and happiness.



I then walked a bunch to the neighborhood around the University of Tokyo as I 
was giving a talk at a lab there in the afternoon. I will say that I really 
enjoy the urban planning of Tokyo. Everything is so SMALL and CUTE. Because 
most side streets are so narrow, cars don't go fast and pedestrians have free
reign of the interior pathways. 



In addition, the average Japanese car is sooooo tiny and adorable. Even the 
firetrucks and buses are tiny, it's ridiculous. 

Now the real reason the cars are tiny is because they need sharp turning 
radiuses to get around the narrow turns of Tokyo; however, my head canon is 
that they are primarily built this way because it's kawaii.



After some more fun streets, I eventually get to the neighborhood of the
university. I am still like 2 hours early, so I walk through a nearby park and
stumbled upon the preserved historical house of General Toshinari Maeda. I am 
the only person visitor at the time so the curators take me on a deep tour of
everything. Tea room and garden were very beautiful, but this was also the first
time I got to walk on an authentic tatami mat. I have been sleeping on an 
imported Japanese-style futon/tatami mat for pretty much my entire time in 
Boston, and have become very used to the way my mat feels. It was cool to be in
a room *covered* in these mats, and also immediately notice the difference 
between them and my own mat. 



The tea room was also wild, much smaller than I would have imagined and there is
a crawling entrance for guests to ensure they bow when entering. I did not take 
a photo of it, but the ambiance of it was very reverential. Anyway, ended my time
there and then headed to the Uni!



So the lab I was talking at was one of the people my friend connected me with 
when I was looking for something to do during Leg 3 of the journey. They're a 
primarily biologic microfluidics/optics lab looking to do some nifty stuff in
bacterial genetics. Out of all the people I talked to, they were the coolest so
was excited to chat with them. When you enter the lab, you have to take off your
shoes and put on slippers. This is what people do when entering Japanese houses!
It was cool to see that the culture was strong enough that it also permeated to
wet lab areas. A lot of people were wearing crocs in the lab, which I know is 
not allowed in Harvard, so another point for non-Harvard science.



Talk went really well! They're not super used to discussing bioinformatics but 
they caught on very quick and had some excellent questions. After the talk, a 
postdoc and grad student gave me a little tour of their experiments. It was my
first time seeing an optics setup and it is legitimately wild. It's basically
Lego where you're manipulating a specific beam of light in crazy ways.

They also showed me a microfluidic chip, which I had heard/read a lot about but
have never seen in person. It is WILD. Genuinely smaller than I expected. 



Eventually made the journey back to my pod, dropped off my stuff, showered and
headed out for the evening. I wanted to begin with this vinyl record bar where
the owner live DJs records from the 60s to 90s while serving Japanese whisky.

Whisky was very good (favorite was Gyokuto), and the mixing was ALSO very good,
I LOVE vinyl DJs. 



After that, I headed to this venue I had read about in some online music forums.
It's called forestlimit and is a bit outside of Tokyo proper, took a bus there 
but was hungry so walked into the first ramen shop I could find. 



This is an example of an 'izakaya' which literally translates to 'stay-drink 
place.' It has its origins somewhere in the Edo period, and from my 
understanding refers to a variety of cheap, no-frills restaurants that serve
quick food and drink to customers. In addition, from what I saw it appears to 
target single customers. So I rarely saw families or friends eat there, they
seemed to be designed for people looking for a quick bite on their way to other
commitments. I don't really know if this is what all izakayas are like, but the
ones I saw tended to be like that. In this place, you select a menu item and pay 
at a vending machine in the front, and then wait for a seat, hand the ticket to
the chef and wait to be served. Everything was in Japanese so I just pressed the
same thing that the person in front of me selected. Portions were HUGE and it 
was DELICIOUS. It is also just fun to watch the ramen workers go about their 
job, they're so efficient at getting people in and out. Such a cool fucking 
place. 

Anyways, I satisfy my hunger and according to Google Maps forestlimit is 
supposed to be around the corner so I head down the supposed street. I spend 
maybe 10 minutes trying to figure out where the spot is. While I'm doing this, a
drunk Japanese man smoking outside a bar pantomimes asking what I'm looking for.
I bust out Google Translate Conversation and explain the situation. This was 
surprisingly my very first time using an app to live-translate a conversation
with a person for this entire year? I don't really know why it's never felt 
necessary before this point, smiles and gestures can get you a surprisingly long
way.

So we use Google Translate to go back and forth and he also cannot find this 
place, but he tells me that the bar he's at is quite nice. I follow him to this
spot called 'loom' and he is not wrong, it was quite nice. 



In a shocking twist, this place was ALSO a vinyl DJ spot. The crowd was full of
cool cats, and it became clear the guy who brought me is a regular. He and his
friend were both shitfaced and kept buying me random drinks. The bartenders 
spoke good English and told me to get the most expensive bottle of wine, which 
in my defense I did not order but the guy did buy it anyways. The wine was 
honestly not that good.



Using Google Translate, the guy asked me what I thought of Harris and Trump and
it was interesting to note his level of internaldisagreement with Harris, even
though she would almost certainly be a better president for Japanese interests?

I also don't know how much to read into it, the guy was also stupid drunk and
didn't seem like the smartest person. Interesting conversation nonetheless.
I spent about an hour there and then he spilled quite a bit of wine on me, and I
felt like that was a fitting end to the night so I left after that. 

What did I learn? Fuck if I know. But I did end up having to walk back since the
trains had stopped running and I'm too stubborn to call a cab. It took ~2 hours
but it was nice to do a lil Tokyo night walk.

July 27

I left the hotel fairly late as I was POOPED, and began the journey to Senso-ji,
a temple in Japan.

This place? This place is beautiful. 



Also, a definite tourist hotspot. Very crowded and very hot, the neighboring 
area has a ton of vendors and different food options. I did see some very nice
hannya earrings which I regret not purchasing, so if you ever visit Tokyo and
are reading this please get some for me. 



I then stopped at a Don Quijote discount store. I feel like I've seen its 
mascot many times before but I have no idea where. It's essentially a jungle of
cheap random shit, I'm talking 5+ stories of random socks, keychains, cameras,
jewelry, whatever you want. It's an interesting place to walk through, they also
advertise a tax-free checkout counter which at the time I did not understand; 
but later learnt is for foreigners on tourist visas who want to buy random 
Japanese shit. However, it only applies if you bring your passport along with 
you. You'll see a lot of these counters around Tokyo, so probably useful to have
your passport if you want to purchase shit.

From there, I walked to Kappabashi Kitchen Tools Street. It's this small 
collection of streets that has become famous for selling high quality kitchen
gear. If you want a very high quality knife or a very fancy pot/pan this is
the spot. If I had the space, I would have loved some pans; but it's still a 
cool place to walk around.



My highlight was rolling into this random restaurant in the area that I saw a
lot of Japanese people entering. All the seating was the traditional floor style
you see in some restaurants, which I think is so much more fun than typical 
chairs and tables. 



Food was good! Not 100% sure what it was, but tasty & filling which is all you 
can really hope for.

Wandered around some more and found a Filipino bar! It was unfortunately closed,
but was cool to see Filipino representation here! 



There are a significant number of migrant workers from the Philippines who settle 
in Japan and send money back home. In general, you can see significant cultural 
influence of Japan on the Philippines. Talking to other people from SEAsia 
(Singapore, Indonesia) it seems to be a common phenomena across SEAsia to aspire 
to the developed countries in East Asia. I saw a similar phenomena in Botswana, 
where people would constantly pine after the development in South Africa. It is
interesting that SEAsia chose East Asian countries instead of Australia/New 
Zealand. I did not feel nor see any influence of these countries in the 
Philippines which I think is a little surprising given how much closer they are
than Japan or Korea. If I had to guess, I would assume it has to do with the 
closer physical characteristics of the average Filipino to the average Japanese/
Korean compared to an Aussie/Kiwi. 

These were all thoughts I had while eating some delicious ice cream sundae thing
in a train station. I stood in line for a very long time to get here, but GLAD
I did. It was quite tasty. There were these jelly bits and red bean paste at the
bottom? Oof. Also free bottomless green tea. Say less.



I took the train here so I could hit Ueno Park in the heart of Tokyo. It's a 
gigantic park with a lot of museums and a hotspot for parents to bring their 
kiddies. I saw a significant number of children with butterfly nets catching 
various bugs and at some point I realized that this must have been the inspo
behind Pokémon (I looked it up, and it is). It's quite cute.

In front of the Western Art museum they also have a very random Rodin sculpture 
garden. Long-term followers of this blog will know that during the Christmas
Excursion of Leg 1, I hit the Rodin museum in Paris! It was a little surreal to 
just randomly stumble upon the exact same sculptures I had seen on the other side 
of the world. This seems like a fairly nifty benefit to sculpting molds, you can
easily recreate the piece anywhere around the world. 



By this time, most of the museums were about to close so I made a note to come
back later to actually visit the museums, and caught the metro to Akhibara 
Street. This is a small neighborhood chockablock full of random tech stores
selling an insane amount of stuff. Each of these stores are multilevel and every
floor contains an entirely different category of merch. One interesting thing I
have noticed about Tokyo is how vertical everything feels? As in, most buildings
are at least 7 stories and each floor will either be different sections of the
same business or entirely new businesses. It makes everything feel very dense,
and makes navigating to specific places a little hard as you now have to 
identify a location in 2 dimensions.



I did not end up getting anything, but this would have been a solid place to buy
some camera stuff. From Akhibara Street, I got a sushi dinner from the Suginami
neighborhood which is a very cute spot.



I then took a series of metros to get to one specific exceptionally nerdy 
destination in Tokyo. 



If you know, ya know.



At this point, I headed back to my hotel neighborhood and just strolled while 
eating Japanese 7/11 desserts and sipping some vending machine tea. During this
entire trip, Tokyo has been exceptionally hot and humid. The heat is made more
bearable by the presence of a ludicrous number of drink vending machines placed
all over the city. Anywhere you go, the number of vending machines in a 3 minute
walk is whatever you think makes sense plus 5. It is very convenient and I was 
slamming various electrolyte drinks on these walks. 

While their presence was very nice, I want you to look at this next picture and
tell me what brand you would pick if you just wanted plain water.



If you were like me and selected Aquarius you would be WRONG. That is actually a
Pocari Sweat-esque Gatorade drink and not plain water. This exact situation 
fooled me twice and while it's not bad; when you're expecting plain water the 
first sip is always annoying. 

Anyways, I eventually slept!

July 28

Alright insane next two days. Began the day with Soufflé pancakes because I 
fucking love soufflé pancakes. 



Then, hit Tokyo National Museum in Ueno Park from yesterday. There are many 
sections you can go to, as you will see this day was a tad insane so I only
did one thoroughly. I forget the name, but it traced Japanese artifacts and
art pieces from the Neolithic to the present day. 



Overall, lots of cool stuff. The highlight was coming across a series of 
paintings depicting the Tale of Genji, an ancient series of popular stories 
written by Murasaki Shikibu. Seeing these unlocked the memory of my junior year 
summer at UC San Diego taking a elective on ancient female authors. 



The rest of the museum was nice, but I won't go into more details. I did take a
stroll in the outside Tea Garden after and came across a beautiful caterpillar.



As an aside, I think the cicadas were out in Japan as every park I went to was 
just *perpetually* humming with bug sounds.

I then went to the Setagaya neighborhood to have Japanese curry and explore the
neighborhood. The place is dominated by thrift shops selling all sorts of 
aesthetic shit.



A lot of the stores had sections dedicated to merchandise from various U.S. 
brands like In-N-Out, Harley Davidson, etc. It was a bit odd to see, but by this
point I have become used to seeing random bits of American culture glorified.

I also took this trip because I wanted to scope out a live music venue called 
Live Haus. This was another recommended spot for music performances and after 
the debacle with forestlimit, I thought it would be wise to identify the 
location beforehand. I was successful in finding it, so went back home to shower
before heading back. On the way, I stopped in Shinjuku for a little stroll.



Ok the concert I attended was the album release for an artist named MaMaNaMa. I 
had never heard of them nor any of the people in the lineup, I also had no idea 
what the genre of music was going to be nor the crowd makeup. Truly flying 
blind. I saw 4 artists perform. The first was a girl band with a drummer, 
electric guitarist, and keytarist/vocalist. They played folk-pop esque music. I 
didn't get to see the whole set as I came in the middle, but I enjoyed them. The 
second was 2 dudes, one DJ/vocalist and one guitarist/vocalist. They played what 
I can best describe as anime EDM rock? They were fun and the crowd was fairly 
hyped. Lineup is HERE. 



The last two artists were I think what people refer to when they say 'idols' in
Japan. They were singers who sang over pre-mixed tracks and had a very unique 
aesthetic and also choreographed dance moves. Their performances felt a lot less 
organic than the others, but they did a good job with crowd work. Or at least I 
think they did, they would spend some time chatting with the crowd and everyone
seemed to enjoy what they were saying.



At the end of MaMaNaMa's performance, she invited every previous performer on 
the stage to dance with her and it was actually quite cute.



I will say that the crowd skewed older and more male than what I would have 
expected from the music. After the last performance, they set up a merch table 
and were selling your typical things, but also were selling a signed polaroid 
with the 2 idol ladies. The crowd was very excited to partake in these, which
felt a tad weird to me. But I can't judge, because I ALSO got one. Very cool to
see a Japanese concert, I *firmly* believe concerts are some of the best 
experiences you can get for the monetary cost.

Ok, so concert ended and it's ~22h00, I take the train back to the hotel and 
freshen up as I have resolved to stay up all night so that I can guarantee a
spot at Sushi Dai near the Old Fish Market. People begin lining up at 4am, and
it is a 3 hour walk from my hotel, so I decided to go to the hotel have a 
shower, change and charge my devices before leaving again at around 1am. 

July 29

The night walk was fairly relaxing and calm. Not many people nor cars on the
road; but I would occasionally pass random people jogging around. Fun side
note, I did pass the Gucci store and they had like 10 people there at 3am
setting up displays. 



The wild thing is that I have never once seen a person enter a luxury store and
actually purchase something.

Also, watching the night sky transition from pitch black to purple and then blue
is enjoyable. I don't think I should do a significant number of annual 
all-nighters but maybe it's something I do a little more frequently.



In any event, I do it. I get there at 4 in the morning and there are 2 groups 
already waiting ahead of me. By this point, I am quasi-delirious. The Tokyo 
summer heat does not relent during the night and I have been walking for around 
3 hours, so I would not say I'm on my A-game. As we wait more people trickle in 
behind us until by 5 there is a sizable contingent of people waiting. Around 
then, an employee from Sushi Dai gets us and takes us to the restaurant where he 
logs our group sizes and preferred time to eat. I chose the earliest, and he 
tells me to come back at 6am. I decided to use this time to go to the old Fish 
Market and watch the TUNA auction. I should note that when I told the Japanese 
lab I was going to the old Fish Market for sushi they said that it is primarily 
a tourist attraction now as the main market moved a while back to a new location. 
The only people who stayed here were those too stubborn to change their ways. 



The tuna auction is a wild sight to see. Every morning, fishermen bring in their
catch and dump the tuna bodies in the warehouse. Then, bidders representing 
different distributors wander around and inspect the tunas. There is a core of 
the tuna that is put on top of each one and I guess that tells them something
about the taste? Unclear. Once the auction starts it moves incredibly fast, each
tuna's bid only takes a max of 15 seconds. It did force me to think about the 
sustainability and ethics of meat consumption, and not in a way that is 
conducive to eating high-end sushi in 40 minutes.

And yet, after pulling an all-nighter I do end up back at Sushi Dai at 6am for 
my omakase. Omakase which is basically chef's choice but I believe specific to 
sushi. I am one of those people who despises making decisions related to food;
so for me, if I see an affordable tasting menu somewhere I'm hitting it.



The sushi was very tasty. I was sat next to this American lady going to an 
immersive Chinese language school in Shanghai for the next 3 years. She 
previously worked in marketing for some AI startup, which was a little 
disappointing. Maybe it was the sushi, maybe it was the sake I drank along
with the sushi but I was feeling pretty good after this. Yes, I was still sleepy
and sticky; but it didn't feel as surreal as before.



Food was very tasty; I didn't have to pick anything, and everything was cheap. 
If the lady next to me was anything but a former marketer it would have been 
the Platonic ideal of a meal. 

After the rejuvenation of that meal, I took some trains back to the hotel and 
have some vague memory of going to sleep. I'm looking at the timestamps of these
photos though and I can't figure out when I actually slept. My last photo from 
Sushi Dai was 06h54 but then my next batch of photos is outside my hotel at 
08h00 and then I take more after 10h45, after which I'm definitely awake. So I 
think I only napped for ~2 hours between 8 and 10? It did feel longer. After
this nap, I decided to aimlessly walk. Along this walk a policeman gave me a 
plastic folder containing an English language manga illustrating proper protocol
during a earthquake or flood in Japan. 



I find it hard to believe that a police force that hands out mangas to the 
public and drives cars as cute as they do abuses their power. This has actually
been one of my long-running ideas to strengthen public-police relations. Make 
cops drive pink Hello-Kitty tricycles and look ridiculous; as long as they still
wield the power of the State people have to listen to them regardless of how 
goofy they look. But maybe, if they look so goofy they won't commit brutality?? 
It can't hurt. But of course, no one ever listens to lil ole Arya.

After getting that magazine, I walked to Tokyo Dome which is right inside my 
neighborhood and is Tokyo's main baseball stadium. I had seen crowds in the
area walking through it before, so I spontaneously decided to try to catch a
game. I waited for the Tourist Information center to open at 11 and walked
around the area while waiting. 



Their gift shop is very cool. When the center opens, I ask the lady if there are
any games happening today and she says there are actually TWO games today, one 
after lunch and one in the evening.

I decided to attend the one after lunch, so grabbed some food and a canned 
coffee at a 7/11 before heading back to the stadium. I honestly had no idea what
to expect, I did not know the teams playing nor anything about the game I was 
about to see. Good lord, let me tell you that this match was one of the coolest
experiences of my life.



It took some mid-game googling to figure this out, but I had stumbled upon the
annual Japanese Inter-City baseball tournament. The teams I was watching were 
not representing different provinces or cities in Japan, but instead 
representing specific companies. The game I was watching was a semi-final match
between Sendai, a mid-tier Japanese logistics company, versus JR East, one of
Japan's private railway operators. And let me tell you, these companies were not 
fucking around; the level of play I saw felt professional these were very solid
baseball players. Also, both teams had a complete live band in their section of 
the stadium cranking out aggressive non-stop music along with a stage for 
performers to continually hype the crowd up. 



My favorite part was that they did not stop playing music while the game was 
happening. The batting team's band would just perpetually play music throughout
the entire inning which is objectively more fun than stopping the music abruptly
for gameplay as the MLB does. Both companies had also ensured their employees 
had shown up and equipped them in the company colors and given each some unique
noisemaker. 

I am incapable of conveying how cool this experience was, it was an absolute
highlight of my trip to Japan. It was far and away the best sporting experience
I have ever attended, and if the MLB was even a fraction as cool as this was I
would be attending every Red Sox game I could. I have so many videos from here
of these performances, if you ask I'll show you them.

Unfortunately, my team (Sendai) lost but the experience was SO cool I decided I
wanted to also attend the evening game. Before that, I did want to see the Muji
flagship store in Ginza so I booked it over. But before Muji, I grabbed a quick
sushi at this spot in the Ginza station. 



It's a standing room only sushi joint reccd by some friends I made in Rwanda. 
The best part was they had hot water on tap with matcha in a little pot, so you 
could make yourself some fresh matcha tea as much as you wanted. Honestly the 
sushi tasted on par with Sushi Dai, so the whole 4am lining up thing might have
been overkill. C'est la vie.



This was so fucking cool. It was very confusing at first, but some very kind
Japanese man helped me translate and figure out what to do. Basically you enter,
grab a set of towels and a locker key. Then, you strip everything and drop your 
stuff off in the locker and then take your towels into the bath area. There are
separate rooms (sauna, warm pool, steam room, sitting showers, cold pool) and
you can vascillate between them as much as you want. It's gender-segregated and
once the initial shock of being naked and seeing so many naked men wore off it 
was an incredibly pleasant experience. I love going between a sauna and a cold
pool so fucking much. 

I left refreshed and relaxed. On a side note, I did see at least one seemingly
Japanese person covered in tattoos and no one cared so it seems like tattoos 
aren't universally stigmatized across Japan?

After that I attempted to buy those hannya earrings I mentioned earlier but all
the shops were closed, so headed to the hotel for my last night in Japan.

July 30

My flight was at 08h00 so I was at the airport bright and early. Taking public
transit there was a breeze and as I was walking around the airport I came across
a Paddington themed cologne!



Thoughts on TOKYO? I loved the urban design of the city. It was stupid easy to 
get between different places, and it was such an easy city to travel in and
explore. I did not experience any moments of discomfort due to not being 
Japanese; however, I have heard from enough people who have that I think I just
got lucky. It's a definitely a place I would love to visit again and a country
I would love to explore more of! 5 days was not enough, but I do think I managed
to do quite a bit in the time I was given. :)






Footnotes

[1] - See On Travel for more on this.
[2] - My drink was a marmalade inspired Paddington cocktail from Please Don't 
        Tell. If that's not a sign from the divine then I don't know what is 🥺
[3] - Fun fact, Brittany is where Asterix and Obelisk is set! 
[4] - Rugby is a much more enjoyable sport to watch than football (American & 
        non-American kind).
[5] - Please do not worry Mom, I did not take them.
[6] - In general, I am a firm believer that everything should be between 0-100.
        See here.
[7] - Perhaps something to consider when designing the flag of the Mole Kingdom?
[8] - When I do write it, you will be able to read it here.
[9] - In general, I've noticed significantly better disability rights here than
        America. I'll write more about this in detail in the future.
[10] - See this.
[11] - N.B. MCR-T and Clara Cuvé were my favorite DJs of the night.
[12] - Remember to purchase 'The Stencil Graffiti Handbook'
[13] - LOL DID YOU SCRAPE THAT SENTENCE FOR YOUR LARGE LANGUAGE MODELS YOU 
        DWEEBS AT META, GOOGLE, OPENAI, APPLE, AMAZON
[14] - Achaar is pickled fruit, and chutney is idk how to describe it, if you
        don't know look it up.
            
Arya Kaul (C) now - forever