Not Just Phone Savings

While I blabbered more than once on phone savings, no one can just endlessely be a couch potato and just phone talk. You gotta go out in the real world. Entertain yourself.

Be it movies, concerts, stand up comedy, nba basketball games or driving on highway 1 in california, a student has to spend smartly and yet live it up.

It would be interesting to hear from students who have entertained themselves in traditional/creative ways and saved along as well. Or one cannot have fun without blowing wads of money. Lets share..

Write in to share your own entertainment secret and how you creatively saved $$$$$$

Cheers

Quote: "I am amazed at radio DJs today. I am firmly convinced that AM on my radio stands for Absolute Moron. I will not begin to tell you what FM stands for."

— Jasper Carrott

LIGHTEN UP!

Hello everyone,
Lets face it. Life does sometimes become drab and nothing perks life up than a dash of humor.

Cross accents, how you doins' from strangers, the overt American friendliness, no trash thrown around does take time getting used to.

I remember how my Indian roommate would try very hard to teach me the correct pronunciation of Cool (Kewl). He would go. "Sharad, stress on the o, say it slow, say it fast, get it right". He did try hard. Maybe not as hard as Kishore Kumar in Padosan, teaching Shorrrrrrrrr. Arre baba Shor. Did I get it? No. But when I look back, his serious efforts to teach me to pronounce the "correct" way was funny at the very least.

And please don't think you are facing life's music alone. When an international student moves to an alien culture, it’s a ready-mix of fauxpas waiting to happen. And if that is not enough, Anurag mathur's classic "The Inscrutable Americans" ensures that an international students experience are remembered for posterity.

Consider these lines from the book.

As I am picking up bags he is looking directly at me and saying "Watch your ass". Now, brother, this is wonderful. How he is knowing we are purchasing donkey? I think they are knowing everything about everybody who is coming to America.

Or

They are rolling down a screen and showing a film but I am not listening because air hostess ladies are selling head phones for 2 dollars which is Rs.60 and in our beloved Jajau townwe can sit in balcony seats in
Regal Talkies for only Rs.3. I am asking lady if they are giving student discount but she is too busy. I am also asking her for more Coca-Cola but she is looking like she is weeping and walking away. I think perhaps
she is not understanding proper English.
It’s a must have in your book collection. Of course you can borrow it from the library or buy it used or have a peek online at http://download-bookz.blogspot.com/.

While some Americans have criticized it for killing the language, it does tickle the funny bone.

Have you had any recent experiences that could count as "funny"? Maybe not when it happened but in hindsight. A visit to the supermarket, a misunderstood accent, throwing trash, jaywalking or maybe at the airport. Do write in and let’s vote for the most humorous one.

More later..

My promised quote

"Smartness runs in my family. When I went to school I was so smart my teacher was in my class for five years." George Burns

CALLING HOME

Hello everyone,

My last entry requested information on telecalling experiences. Since our blog is not indexed yet, I will continue from where I left and you can join in once we are live. So here are some  tele-alternatives.

1. VOIP: Besides skype (incase you haven't tried, download from http://www.skype.com/ and voila you can free calls to skype users anywhere and cheap calls to regular phones), another interesting one that I found is http://www.mydigitallife.info/2008/07/04/free-international-calls-from-pc-to-phone-with-google-talk-and-talkster-gtalk-to-voip/. Has anyone tried this, any good/bad/great experiences. Considering  both these options are free, the sound quality is excellent. Have you experienced it otherwise. Any tips. 
2. From Phones: I am told Airtel one happens to have the best rates (1 cent/min), giving about 600 minutes for about $10 (inclusive of monthly rentals). Although difficult to believve, I also hear there are some issues with customer service, call drops etc but the voice clarity is top of the line. Any interaction
3. Calling Cards: Obviously there are many providers but callingcards.com seems to have excellent options.

 Are their any other services, besides the above, that you have experienced and would heartily recommend as well as comment on the alternative mentioned above.

More later

So You have landed

The Eagle has Landed. The famous quote when some dude landed on the moon. While you certainly can't get to the moon, for now at least, this landing is nothing less than the moon.

Either way, I hope you have happily settled in your abodes. And have your computers up and running.

I am going to ramble off and on and use this platform to share each others experience of living and studying in the US. And yes, I also happen to be a one time US student, went back home and now again away experiencing unexplored parts of Asia.

I thought it would be nice to exchange notes with the current lot. Please chime in and share what all of you are up to.

Since most of you who landed in Fall have had around 8-10 weeks, how has been your experience till now. Anything unusual, exciting scintillating, embarrassing.

And how different was your first Diwali in the US.

On the serious front, how many of you have spent money on calling home to your friends and family. And lets see who has made the longest call till now. More when you all respond.

I am also going to dish out a parting thought for every login. Here is for this one.

"Enjoy every moment while it lasts".

Until next time.