It seems this blog is slowly evolving into a mini-travelog. One of the perks of being a grad student is free trips to conferences located in interesting places.
Speaking of interesting places, recently I went to present a paper at a conference in Cancún. I have to say, out of all the different locations I have visited recently, Cancún is probably the least interesting.
This is what Cancún is like:
virtually all the restaurants are large American-based franchises (Chilis, Hooters, McDonalds, Hard Rock Cafe, Starbucks, Burger King, etc.)
most of the hotels are large American hotels (e.g. the Hyatt, Best Western)
all the gardeners on the steets and the workers in the hotels, restaurants, taxis are Mexican
practically all of the people frequenting the hotels and restaurants are middle to upper-class American tourists
almost all the signs on the street are in both Spanish and English, and most of the locals are bi-lingual as well. You don't have to know a word of Spanish to get around fine.
Remind you of anywhere? To me, it reminds me of Almost Every Major City In The United States. The only difference was that Cancún had nice beaches, a huge number of extravagant hotels, and that all the plants and roads were impeccably groomed. In that sense, I would more accurately describe Cancún as Disney Land or Disney World, minus the rides.
I did try going into downtown Cancún (about 10 minute drive away from the hotel area) to see if it was less American, but as we approached downtown, I saw a big Office Depot on the corner, and apparently the Walmart and Sam's Club were a couple blocks away.
Actually, I did find one part of Cancún pretty interesting. As my plane approached the airport in Cancún, we passed over a huge (maybe a hundred miles or more) and completely flat plain covered with a really dense, dry-looking ravine-like foreboding forest. Later, I found out these are apparently dry rainforests that don't look like your stereotypical rainforest, which was probably why it was interesting to me - I had never heard of this type of ecosystem before.
It extended literally as far as the eye could see, virtually uninterrupted except for the occasional narrow dirt road carved out of the forest, extending straight as an arrow into the horizon. Also, there were occasional "neighborhoods" of old or perhaps abandoned shacks at the end of cul-de-sacs that jutted off these roads, like mini-housing developments. I found this pretty bizarre - I can't think of what those roads and structures were for at all - there were no farms or towns or anything else nearby.
Anyways, other than the rainforest, I can't think of much else to say. My recommendation would be that if you are a connoisseur for
beaches, then go to Cancún. Otherwise, pick someplace else. If you're
going to travel overseas, you may as well go someplace different from
home.
I guess now is as good a time as any for another post... Looking back at my previous post, I realized that I made a mistake by saying that I will probably graduate in 2008. This was a mistake because in general, things tend to not go how I originally plan (such as going for a PhD in the first place, going to Illinois, going to Wisconsin, going to Yahoo!, etc.). It turns out that I will probably not graduate in 2008 anymore -- for certain specific reasons I decided instead to push graduation back for a few more months, even though I could have escaped graduated this year. But I'm hesitant to say 2009, because if I say I will graduate in 2009, that means that I will graduate in 2010, which really means 2011, and so on.
So, instead I will say I will graduate in the year 1,002,008, and maybe that will make me graduate sooner. Actually, maybe I should instead say that I will never ever graduate and that I will be a career student for life. Then, I could graduate right now!
I've moved around again so it's time for another update. Quick itinerary:
Finished five-month internship at Yahoo! Research at the end of August
Drove back to Wisconsin from California at the beginning of September
Prepared a presentation for a conference
Spent a week in Vienna, skipped half the conference sessions to look around, gave the presentation on Thursday
Got back to Madison today
I'm in a bullet-point mood, so here's a bullet-point summary of the past six months:
Life in California again
Too many cars!!
Agree or disagree: Medium-sized midwestern towns are an easier place to cultivate relationships than in sprawling and overcrowded suburbia because you don't have to make an hour-long roundtrip just to see one person.
Exploited a lot of friends who work at Google and ate a lot of free food there.
But seriously, it was great to reconnect with a lot of old friends, both at Google and elsewhere :)
Was near family again, so I got to see them frequently which was really nice
Reconnected with home church. Also, was part of three different small groups/fellowships (at home church and in the church I went to in college, near work), made some good friends there too.
Also took a weekend to visit my sister and Burch (college friend) in New York. On a whim, saw the Jersey Boys with $26 standing room tickets. It was actually very good.
In general, if you're in New York and want to see a musical, try hopping around to different theaters with sold-out musicals to see if you can get cheap standing-room tickets. They're not bad "seats" at all.
Vienna, Austria
Have you seen the movie "Amadeus"? Vienna looks like that, but with cars and trains.
If you want good food in Austria, go to an Italian restaurant.
Austrians really like "weiner schnitzel" (deep fried breaded meat) and french fries.
Almost all Austrian pedestrians follow street lights, even when there are no cars coming.
The dollar is worthless against the euro, everything there is super-expensive. Next time you visit Europe, make sure the Fed doesn't slash interest rates the week before you go.
Other than that, I would definitely recommend it as a place to visit. Very clean, convenient, pleasant, and it has some very interesting museums/palaces/cathedrals to see.
Madison, Wisconsin
Got back in time to see my former roommate Asher finish an Ironman race. He is crazy.
If you're driving through the midwest and find yourself in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and you want good ribs, then try out Al & Irene's Barbeque House.
Overall, Madison is the same as how I left it. If all goes well I will graduate in 2008 sometime, and I will unfortunately have to say goodbye to a lot of people again, but I'll cross that bridge later.
