The people I have been meeting these days ...

Well, today is saturday and so am here in the lab, but there is no one else. The lab which on normal weekdays hosts about 70 phds/postdocs furiously going about their research is empty today except for me. So, its true, people here dont work on weekends, even if they are research geeks :D.

Everyone in my research group has a girlfriend. And thats everyone except me (and the married and except the girls also .. ofcourse). And some of them are going on 2 week, 4 week vacations to exotic places like the Carribean, China and Malaysia etc.

Life is cool and awesome for people like me and others in my lab who get paid decently. But for international students without aid its really tough. Some Indians I know work in a supermarket everday from 5-9 and yet have to be careful about spending a single penny. A Pakistani whom I met once, is a 3rd year phd student in Coastal area management and lives by cleaning tables at McDonalds (he was just too delighted to meet me).

People are kind of laid back. Havent seen them in a hurry except when they drive cars .. most of the cars whooze by. The buses do not come at the exact minute as per the time table as in Swiss/Japan. But they are spread over well and do not come all at once either as in Hyd ;)). And the people who smile when going past you on the road are generally british than of any other origins.

What else? Well my fingers are freezing because my new desk in close to the air conditioners and there is no one else in the lab to soak up the cold .. so I shall logoff and goodbye.