This day last year..

The Paris riots, took my thoughts down memory lane, to the exchange program I was on last year. And browsing through my photo archive, last time this year, I was in
Piaza San Marco - St. Marks Square in Venice.

The exchange program was awesome fun. Three months of total freaking out. And I can recollect some really crazy things that happenned, for instance.. It was our first weekend in Paris. Mahesh, our friendly neighbour in India house, offered to take us (Me, my roomie Sasikanth, and a couple of others) to Gare Du Nord, a desi area to buy "suppplies" (chow :D) It was early evening. We stopped at a signal. A few bikes had stopped. There was this commical "scooterette" which had a back rest kinda thing going straight behind from the end of the bike, over and above the head and joining a wind shield glass that rose up from the handle bar. A couple of hefty African American (or maybe Algerian) guys were walking down. Suddenly one of them picked the rider up, dumped him on the ground like a sack of potatoes, the other started the bike, the first guy jumped on, they jumped the signal and sped way. All in a matter of three seconds. The poor guy, got off took off his helmet and shook his head in disbelief..

And then time flew. Three months of freaking out backpacking Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Brussels, Bruges, Berlin, Copenhagen, Oslo, Stockholm, Helsinki, Venice, Rome, Barcelona,Hamburg

Learning to cook in India house in Paris, finding out Thomas Cook ripped me off by charging me a extremely high rate and then giving me TCs that couldnt be encashed for free in France, exploring a semi inhabited island called "Hovedoya" in Oslo where we found about INR 7k (worth Norwegian croners on the ground, and managing to return it to its owners as well - the couple in the photo below),
The 200 kroner couple

spending hours poring over Eurolines time tables to figure out optimal routes, only to find out mid route that the time tables aren't fully accurate, going on a "cruise" from stockholm to helsinki, hunting for vegetarian food in carnivorous Europe, making Rasam and Urlakizhangu karamedhu in india house with Vijay, getting drunk on too many vodkas and tequilas at the ESCP EAP "free" party thrown before the elections by some candidates (or was it a "political party"), free riding totally in academics.. those were the days :)

And this year, this time round, California beckons.