Retreat in the mountains

The crazy thing in America is the amount of money that is spent on recreation and relaxation. Duke organized a retreat or getaway for some graduate students to go to the appalachian mountains for the weekend. The whole trip that included stay in bunkers and wonderful high pastures food was totally free for this select group of students. I ended up being part of those lucky few due to reasons I cannot fathom.

The journey started of on the right note with me siting next to this cute american girl who had an insatiable interest in Inda and Indian cultures. I seemed to be the third Indian she has ever met in her life. Now that is odd, but we found common interest in neuroscience and the dating customs and differences in India and America. Four hours later we reached Burnsville which is a resort/retreat on the appalachian mountains.

There I found the most welcoming sight of fantastic delicacies. I dont want to go into describing the different pork, chicken, turkey, beef, veggies, deserts and many more food stuff that I found spread before me. It was like Aladdin and the gene. And I didn’t even have a lamp to rub to get all that free food!

Then we had these leadership sessions which are like any other regular leadership sessions: group discussions, strategic planning, debates and more such sessions. That was alright and quite useful.

After that we went hiking to the top of a nearby mountain at 11.30 in the night where we set up a campfire and toasted marshmallows. Maybe this is very regular and mundane for Americans, but coming from India and being the only Indian in a bunch of people from all over the world and them trying to teach you to toast marshmallows is one crazy experience.

That was fun, but the weirdest thing happened after that. I met this norvigien girl who studied in pune for most of her life and did her under-graduation at Delhi university. We were singing Hindi songs on some peak on the appalachian mountains.
Mitwa, O mitwa…..
kabhi kabhi mere dil me…

Now is that odd or is that not? Her hindi turned out to be much better than mine!

Next day, attended more sessions, met new people, listened to more hindi songs, discussed the merits of a saree, the concept of respect and uncleji and auntiji and finally came back to Durham where I was overpowered by a desire to learn about the problems of US health industry. Thats when I read a 40 page booklet on how to cure US health care!

Bubye folks!