Back from the Big Apple

My parents and I flew back to Kentucky today. My mom has put some of her New York photos online. Here is a photo looking towards the Brooklyn Bridge (Statue of Liberty is in the far distance) and one of us at Yankee Stadium:

The Onion

I knew that The Onion is an online satirical newspaper that leans a little bit to the left politically. What I didn't know is that there are newspaper stands all over New York City distributing the paper for free. The current paper has a headline poking fun at President Bush. I generally find the paper funny, even if I don't always agree with the political points it makes.

Boot Camp at NYU

Classes don't start until next week. So why am I at NYU now? Well, I'm attending an optional, free, "math boot camp" to review calculus, differentiation, integration, linear algebra, etc. The boot camp is meets 5 hours per day for 3 days. The two teachers leading the boot camp will be the two teachers who teach the two different sections of "Math for Economists" this fall. I thought one of the professors did a better job at explaining and was more logical in thought. After attending class today, I came home and switched sections!

This is Warren Weaver Hall, where the math boot camp is being held. Once the semester begins, however, I will not have any classes in this building.

This is the giant arch in Washington Square Park on NYU's campus.

In a basement surrounded by Jews

After being back in the US for just six days, I found a new apartment. This is quite a feat, as I've been told it is really difficult to find descent safe apartments for an affordable price. For example, apartments in Manhattan cost $1500 for some studios and recently I saw an advertisement at NYU for a 3-bedroom apartment for $3500 per month! My new apartment (rented on August 25th for $720 per month) is located in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Midwood, where most residents are orthodox Jew. My studio apartment is about 300 square feet in the basement of an office building. Above me is a psychologist's office called the "Phobia Life Line" and beside me in the basement is a podiatrist's office. It's really just one big room with a kitchen on one side and a couch and desk on the other. The couch is my bed!

Kentucky Birthday at the Otolaryngologist!

This is my first birthday in Murray since, well when? Here's where I celebrated my past birthdays: 2005 (Beijing, China), 2004 (Pasadena, CA), 2003 (Kihei, HI), 2002 (New Orleans, LA), 2001 (Detroit), 2000 (Champaign), 1999 (Champaign), 1998 (Murray). Wow, it's been 8 years! That was 5 college degrees ago.

Yes, today is my birthday! How did I celebrate? I went to visit my otolaryngologist! What's that? Well, it's a doctor who deals with nose, ears, and throat. So you know I must really be old - that's what old people do - go to the doctor on their birthdays! I have been having some trouble with my nose over the past two years, and so I went to get it checked out. This past summer I did visit the Tian He hospital in Tianjin regarding this, and they took a Catscan and had me come for treatment on three consecutive days. I took my catscan with me and the doctor told me I have a really bad sinus condition which will probably require SURGERY. Thanks, happy birthday to you too.

Tomorrow, my parents and I will fly up to New York. I need to find an apartment and get ready for life at NYU. I don't really have time for surgery!

Via Kyoto & Colorado Springs

Well, I'm back in America. After 55 hours of travel and 5 flights (Beijing-Osaka-Los Angeles-Colorado Springs-Denver-Nashville), I finally made it back to Kentucky!

I left Tianjin around 10am on Friday morning to go to the Beijing airport. Fortunately, I was accompanied by 4 wonderful friends of mine. After an emotional goodbye, I checked 2 very large bags each weighing exactly 30 kgs (66 lbs), and continue on with my 2 carryons (one of which weighed 35 kgs (77 lbs)! I then boarded a short international flight to Osaka, where Japan Airlines put me up in a hotel for free because there were no connecting flights leaving until the next day. This was no accident - I intentionally purchased my tickets in this manner to take advantage of a free hotel and a free trip to Japan. This was the first time in Japan, making it the 46th country I've been to. The closest I came before was when I changed planes in the Tokyo-Narita airport in 1998 after my first transoceanic flight. While in Japan, I only had time to see part of Osaka and Kyoto, of Kyoto Protocol fame. On Saturday evening, I continued on to Los Angeles, arriving on Saturday afternoon due to the Interntaional Date Line. This was only my 2nd time to fly across the Pacific in a eastward direction. (I've flown in a westward direction 4 times.)

At LAX, I had to grab my bags and go through customs and then recheck them. I then boarded my flight for Denver. The captain told us we would arrive in Denver early. Great! However, due to a serious thunderstorm in Denver, we just circled over central Colorado waiting for it to go away. After circling for some time, the pilot announced that we would run out of gas soon so we were forced to be diverted to Colorado Springs. Of course, by now I'd missed my connection in Denver to Nashville unless it was delayed because of the storm. Fortunately for me, the Nashville flight was delayed until after midnight, which mmade it about 4 hours late! I arrived in Nashville at 2am, where a different (and much older) set of 4 friends met me. We didn't get back to Murray until 4.

What travel! It hasn't sunk in yet, but my life is really going to be different now that I'm no longer living in China!