One Year in Windy City

5th Feb 2012

Ding-ding..."Passengers please note, we are about to land the O-hare Intnl Airport in 15 minutes". I woke-up from a deep sleep hearing this announcement in British Airways flight. Pilot did not forget to give a brief description of the temperature and the weather. Long 23 hrs of jorney covering half of the world was really a thrilling experience, especially the huge bare desert mountains stretch in afganistan followed by the colder ice covered mountains in turkey. I stood for hours near one of the closed doors in British Airways looking down through the window along with a couple of kids.
The ice cold wind decorated with snow flakes gave me a warm welcome at the windy city's own airport. Clearing the hazzles of security checks and I94 i walked with my lugage expecting my friends outside.
It was a mixed emotion, I couldnt realize that i am in the other part of the world. We were driving through I-294 one of the busiest highway in Chicago. All straight roads moving in a moderate speed along with other cars and trucks. Just looked at the odometer and to my amazement it was clocking in 75 miles/hr. Tried to convert, omg we were driving at 120 Km/hr, yes it was a good example of theory of relativity.
Though my friends were giving me bits and pieces of information about this country, the goods, the bad.. most of them were going over my head. I felt a bit lonely leaving my parents at the Bangalore Airport.
It was a week before Chicago got one of the heaviest snow fall in recent times, they named it as Blizard..it was a new name for me :). I still could feel the heaviness of the Blizard looking at heap of snow on the roadsides.
A year passed by, so fast so quickly.. lot of changes good and bad, lot of good friends around. All new experiences the Michigan, Chicago, the Las Vegas, mighty Grand Canyon, the Smokies, the Fall, the skydive, skieing.. the summer volleyball.. still going on..
Facebook albums got overloaded with photos... And ofcourse one of the game changing event in my life.. my facebook status changed... yes i found my better half.
I still feel the warmth of a happening year....

Thanks US for gifting me a wonderful year!