Living the Good Life after Graduation: Week 1 & 2

16 days since I graduated. It’s already been such a ride that my parents (in India) have to call me to ask “Where am I?” instead of “How’re you doing?” or “Is everything OK?”

13th May – Champaign: Graduation and the sadness of leaving college. Left as soon as the graduation ceremony was over, and headed to Chicago with my family. Checked in to the hotel and passed out instantly.

14th May – Chicago: Walked a good part of the magnificent mile, did the boat architecture tour, saw the sunset at the Skydeck in Sears Tower and the stars at Adler Planetarium.

15th May – Chicago: Went to Navy Pier and spent a good part of the morning and afternoon there. Went again to Adler to get one final look at the Chicago skyline before heading to the airport to take a flight to East Brunswick, NJ with my grandparents. Reached in the night and after meeting my aunt, uncle and family slept.

16th May to 23rd May – East Brunswick: Stayed for a week with my grandparents at my aunt and uncle’s place. Slept a lot, ate a ton of food and had too much fun.

Highlights:
– Ate home cooked breakfast, lunch and dinner almost every day. Bonus: Home made Paneer Tikka and BBQ vegetables with goat cheese
– Watched an amazing play on Jainism enacted by members of the Jain Association of North America
– Witnessed the opening bell of Facebook live from Times Square with my grandfather
– Roamed a lot of uptown Manhattan while trying to get my Greek visa
– Took grandparents shopping in at least 3-4 different malls, and bought myself some clothes as well

After my brother and sister-in-law came to NJ, we headed to Boston to attend my sister-in-law’s graduation at Harvard.

24th May to 29th May – Boston: Spent almost a week at my cousin sister’s place to attend a graduation and spend some time with the family

Highlights

– Attended my sister-in-law’s graduation and had an awesome day at Harvard Square. Congrats Bhabhi!

– Went to Melting Pot and ordered 6 fondues (serving size: two each) to share between the 5 of us. So much cheese and chocolate!
– Spent a beautiful day at Boston commons and Quincy market. The live shows there were particularly good.
– Saw wonderful exhibits at the Museum of Science and ate fantastic coffee ice cream.

Today, I took a train and am headed to Rochester to stay at another cousin’s place. Currently, I’m tethered to my phone’s 3G connection and trying to figure out what I’ll do for the next 5 hours till I reach there.

Plan for next few days? Read about it next week 🙂