Random 2013 Pictures

Just did a massive cleanout of pictures on my phone, and wanted to share some random images from the last few months...

A Durham Bulls baseball game. If a cricket pitch is one-dimensional, then I suppose a baseball diamond is 2D. As with cricket, spectators of this sport detract from its mundane drudgery by consuming vast quantities of alcohol and junk food. Can't complain.

Some bants I came across on campus.

Panda Express attempting to flatter me via fortune cookie messages.

Harris Teeter show us how to stock a good selection of craft beer.

Exotic meats from the west.

The greatest doughnut ever created by the hand of man... or possibly God?

A tribute on campus to Knut Schmidt-Nielsen; a Professor of Physiology Emeritus at the University.

Probably my favourite area at the business school - sitting outside looking up at the sky.

I nicknamed it Halo. Obviously.

All hail Duke Basketball... and egg nog!

Firstly, this blog has been neglected badly, as life has been uber hectic over the last few of months. For this I apologise, and I hope to remedy this over the holidays and into the new year.

So I went to my first Duke basketball game on Monday. It wasn't a triple A rated clash of the titans - I'm not sure I could point to "Gardner-Webb" on a map - but getting to experience the atmosphere at the Cameron Indoor was something special. The Duke team is looking pretty solid this year (especially this kid who is totally on fire), so we're all expecting big things of them come March.

My one criticism of basketball as a game - way too many "timeouts" are allowed . It really breaks up the flow of the game, and makes for a somewhat frustrating spectator experience.

It's Christmas time, and we all know Americans do Christmas pretty big. Amongst all the flashing lights, tarted up Christmas trees and mad shopping sprees, I feel there is an unsung hero of the Yuletide season.

Egg nog - the greatest seasonal beverage of all time. Even better with a dash of rum / bourbon.

Egg nog makes me happy.

Walking... not gonna happen.

Having effectively not had a car for three years whilst living in London, I've been adamant that I would be able to manage by mostly walking around over here for day-to-day chores. Seems reasonable, right?

Wrong.

Here's why you can't walk around in the US:

1. Footpaths: Or more specifically, lack thereof. Every small excursion quickly turns into some sort of rambling / orienteering / Bear Grylls survival exercise.
2. Crossings: Or more specifically... lack thereof. Want to cross the road? Prepare to play dice with your life as you attempt to weave through six lanes of traffic in a real-life Frogger reenactment.
3. Heat: No, not guns (more on this later...). Walking around in sweltering >30*C temperatures is not cool at all. Pun intended.
4. Distance: Unlike the UK, space is not a premium in this country. Buildings and properties are naturally much more spaced out. The result, for your avid walking enthusiast, is the need to walk farther, and for longer.

I was always going to get a bicycle, but I definitely have a much greater sense of urgency now. Things should get easier once I'm set up with the Enterprise CarShare scheme, but I'm now unsure if I can totally avoid buying a car.

On the plus side, I did discover this local 'specialty store' on my travels:

La nueva casa - and Prank #1

Moved in to the new pad over the weekend - it's a brand new apartment complex, so feels pretty cool being the first ones in here.

My housemate has been super helpful - he drove all the way down to Charlotte to pick up me and all my luggage.

Sister and BIL also bought us some cutlery, crockery etc. which was really sweet.

Kinda lacking some basic stuff at the mo (bed, desk... lightbulbs!), but it definitely feels like home. Fairly chilled out here, so hoping that it will be an environment conducive to work.

View from our balcony:

The essentials:

Pranked my housemate on the first night here - needed to let him know that there will be a zero tolerance policy for any colonial uprisings ;) plenty more transatlantic banter to be had, I'm sure!

Here we go...

3 x suitcases, all hideously overweight.

Packed like an Indian, natch.

No turning back now... Slightly scared, but very excited :D

The storm before the storm

So I'm moving to the US tomorrow to start a 2-year MBA course at Duke.

In true Suman tradition, I'm doing all my packing at the last minute.

Why change the habit of a lifetime, right?

One suitcase filled, these two left to do...