Phone or Email?

Living in this modern age, I have multiple modes of communication available. And for most of my friends, email is the mode of communication that I use most frequently. And being accustomed to using email for so long has reduced my phone usage a lot. I don't talk to my old friends on phone. There are many reasons/excuses behind not talking on the phone. For one, it's hard to synchronize timings when you are living in different timezones. Even if timezones are same, phone-talk requires that both of you should be free at the same time, which may not always be the case. And perhaps making a phone call requires more effort on your part than sending an email. But, the mode of communication, indeed, has an effect on the closeness of your relationship. In decreasing order of effectiveness of the relationship, you can categorize the communication modes:

Face-to-face conversation > Phone-talk > IM-chat > Email > Facebook.

Comparing phone with email, talking on phone indeed gives me a sense of closeness that is missing in the email. I may want to start using my phone more than my email.

Belgium Trip: Day 3

Belgium Trip: Day 2

September 15, 2011:

It's the second day of my solo European trip, and since yesterday, it really has been an interesting experience. Leuven, the town where the workshop was held, is a nice little university town brimming with students, bikes, stony roads and outside-eating-places. I was surprised to see so many unpaved roads that were made of just neatly-arranged-stones. The university seemed to be the central point of the town, with many university buildings spread around the city. I went around the town, visiting the monuments that were tourist spots.

But more than the buildings, I think it were the people that I met that made the trip more interesting. On my first day, I was going around with a map in my hand, trying to figure out the workshop venue. I was just asking randomly to people around. And I met a Nepali man, who immediately responded in Hindi in reply to my question! Both of us were equally amazed to find someone belonging to Indian subcontinent. I felt nice to just have talked to him. At the workshop, we had round-table lunches which would help you to network with people. Yesterday, on my table, I talked to a Spanish man who was residing in UK and was in the university. Today, I met German students studying in Germany. We mainly talked about each other's research or our countries etc. Not that these talks would be helpful in "networking" part of my PhD. But, just the realization that its not really difficult to get started with talking to people was a good find, specially after my initial resistance to join an unknown group. I was a bit overwhelmed initially by all unknown European faces and it seemed that everyone except me, had found a way to be part of a lively discussion. But slowly, I also was conversing with others which felt good.

Belgium Trip: Day 1

Wanted to post this for so long. Had written this while in Belgium, but never got around to post it.

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September 14, 2011:

I started my first solo trip to another country.

My first day in Belgium. Reached Brussels, Belgium at 7:45 am. It took me around 45 minutes to clear the customs, get fresh and reach the train station downstairs. Most of the instructions/notice boards were written in non-English language. But thanks to my accidental finding of a podcast that had oral directions about getting to Leuven from airport, I had no difficulty in getting to the train station. Bought the ticket, but just missed the train that was at 8:39 am. Actually, I didn't know that the these trains take a halt at the station for at least 10 minutes! Otherwise, I would have gone to the platform to take my chance of boarding the train. But thinking that the train would have been gone by now, I didn't go the platform. And my laziness resulted in me waiting for the next train for another 40 minutes. The train arrived at 9:22, and left the station at 9:30, which seemed to me like forever. Saw a clock on the platform whose seconds-hand had a continuous motion, without acknowledging each little stops that our usual seconds-hand makes. And it reminded me of being a tourist. Otherwise, now in USA, I fail to even notice about such little things. Watching out of the window from train, I realized that I am heading towards a very small sort-of village. The houses seemed neat, but small compared to US and also more closely packed with respect to each other. There were green fields or farms and the place really seemed like a village.

Got out of the train station, asked somebody about where the taxis would be, and headed towards it. Got into taxi, which transported me to the hotel. I checked-in the hotel, came to the room, and first thing I did was to inquire for the internet access. I had tried on the airport to start my phone, but it refused. So had to let AJ and parents know that I reached safely. Then, even though I had to reach the workshop venue, looking at the bed, I couldn't resist sleeping (considering that I had a jet-lag of 6 hours.) Slept for an hour, got out, took shower, got ready in formals, and set out to the workshop.

Leuven seems like a little town, with so many people either biking or walking. And that makes it lively. Some roads are so narrow as if only a single car can go in either direction at a time. It's a little university town, with university buildings spread all over. A small hilly street from my hotel was not a paved road, but instead had just stones and rocks which reminded me of a street back home in front of my house.

Serenity Prayer

The best prayer I have ever heard.