24 Hrs Homeless

I spent 24 hrs. homeless in boston and kept a detailed journal of my experience. It is amazing how much you can learn in 24 Hrs. about yourself and others with just a pen and paper. This is one piece I love to re-read.

Viva La France

I spent over a month sleeping on random peoples couch’s while traveling through France. The graciousness i received while traveling on a tight budget is something I will never forget. I met some of the most inspirational people I have ever met in my life on this trip.  (August 28th makes for a great story ;-) )

Other good ones:

Italy Trip  (The story from Ali on Jan 28th is wild.)

Turkey Trip (Another awe inspiring trip)

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This posting was long overdue on my part, but luckily Mesh was nice enough to write down some memorable moments from our family eurotrip in may. The memories were so great and she was able to capture them so well in this email summary she sent me i figured i would post it….Thanks mesh!

EURO TRIP JOURNAL- 5/07

TUESDAY
- Wake up, 5am.. Mehri then Answering service
- 7:40am departure, breakfast: Bagel. Breakfast again on the plain- Newark: 1 hr delay
o 4 boys with PSP- 3 white, 1 pink. “Mike” contact irritation- keeps playing. Asks “David” if HE has drops- drops contact on floor. No backpack.
- Flight to Frankfurt: movie, video games, music, dinner, tried to sleep, no seats

WEDNESDAY
- Arrive Frankfurt - White hanging seats in airport
- “You can’t bring luggage here”- waitress in restaurant in airport
- Train to Hamburg. Reserved seats- at table
- Meet David at McDonalds, with chicken in a bag- Hauponhof
- Dinner: Rice, chicken stir fry, tea
- Walk- Sternschanze, riot, gelato
- SLEEP

THURSDAY
- RAIN
- Mom and Ramesh with David on train to work. Tried to exchange travelers checks/ dollars to Euros- unable-
- Bakery smells amazing!
- Dad ASLEEP
- Walk around- Find tour
- Lunch with David @ Italian Restaurant. Tap water?
- Double decker tour- private- harbor- 10 Euro returned to family
- Spices museum- Saffron- Persian/ Afghan rug
- XING- David’s German has improved since internship
- Harbor again. “We are almost there” Boat. Stairs. I’m looking for a special place. Turkish. Afghan. Turkish. Yum!

FRIDAY
- David work
- City Hall- LA reporter/ photographer- Rainydaytraveler.com- Golosangeles.about.com
- Brunch buffet- with a view- Shopping- Hair salon- Persian family
- Jochen made us dinner- Salmon trout- garlic-sabzi. Salad/ yogurt dressing. Potato. White asparagus. Stories. Stories.
- St. Pauli… Reeperbahn!

SATURDAY
- Depart Hamburg- waited until 11am for David and mom to come home. Only to learn that the car they wanted (Audi wagon- automatic) which can not be taken anywhere we want to go.
- Tom/tom … Navi… Khanoom Koocheek “Please observe the speed limit”, “Continue until further instructions”
- Bird vs windshield, windshield wins. David is a traumatized.
- Feri’s house- Persian store- is this carbonated? Let me check
- Konigs Alle- Champs de’lysse of Germany
- Pari’s brother- Ali- airport security
- Dinner- Sabzi- Bademjoon

SUNDAY
- Mothers Day
- Breakfast with Feri (Goly) and Mahmood
- Drive to Frankfurt to pick up Mike from airport. Changed car. Immediately before changing car: CLEAN car! spill cookies everywhere, clea AGAIN. Possible Tom-Tom not working.
- Festival of tall buildings,  street fair and sausuges!- Champagne with Vertu phones… $76,000
- Café- croissant sandwich/ tuna salad
- Goethe museum
- Drive to Munich
- Intern working at hotel
- Mom, Ramesh, Mike Falafel, Dave asleep - Tight Hotel

MONDAY
- Mom and Mike out to get bread, feta, tomato, muffins
- David and Ramesh tried to go to gym… non- existent
- English Garden- “Azizam!”
- Town Hall, fruit stand, city hall,. david cant resist fruit he is allergic to.
- Turkey, cheese sandwich, paprika Pringles, yogurt
- Drive toward Munich concentration camp- closed (Monday)- walked around- saw church. Went to other side—Entrance to camp
- Drive to Salzberg (Austria)- BEAUTIFUL drive- happened upon Ferrari show- pulled in- we thought it was a hotel…. or wedding?!
- Begin hotel search…- Found hotel. Room across from spa.
- Spa, steam room, sauna, relaxation room
- Pizza 12am

TUESDAY
- Organic breakfast buffet
- Sound of Music Tour bus o Chocolate banana cake o Strudel o Chocolate o Dad’s soup, with noodles al dente
- Bought sugar pourer/ Ramin’s keychain
- Church where Sound of Music was filmed
- Gazebo- closed because 80 year old woman broke her hip jumping from bench to bench
- Walked in rain- saw fountain from Sound of Music
- Mozart’s birth house
- Drum Festival
- Crazy Monkey for dinner
- Mike and Dave looked for Brewery (Monk) walked around

WEDNESDAY
- Organic Breakfast- Fresh OJ o Ricotta cheese croissant o Croissant Hot/ fresh out of oven!- Daf- left at hotel
- Festung Hitensalzberg - Fortress- Ramesh, Mike, Dave walked up stairs- Mom/ Dad took the train o 600 year construction
- Lunch at Indigo o Beef Curry o Tuna fish sushi o Spinach and feta/ Tomato mozzarella
- Modern Art exhibit (Ramesh, Mike, Dave) 9/11 exhibit
- Grocery shopping
- Drive to Vienna - Search for hotel… Congress/ club o Nh 2 rooms- OLD croissant 
- Park by Persian/French/ Italian embassy

THURSDAY
- Sun/ rain
- Police gave directions to Hopshlong (sp?) Palace— Schönbrun summer palace
- Call Jamshid- plan to meet for dinner
- Lunch (best of trip!)
- Dessert/drinks
- Gardens
- Appel Strudel show o Ramesh graduated!
- Train to Jamshid and Jewyandeh o Burned church- Jamshid found us hotel o 3 children?!
- Dinner at Kosher restaurant
- Ramesh, Mike, Dave back to embassy to pick up car- gelato on the way (David- “greatest Nougat ever”, Ramesh- raspberry)

FRIDAY
- Sunny!
- Breakfast buffet- left car in garage
- Hapsburg Art Collection o KISS by Klimt o Judah
- Belvedere- good view o Maria Teresa – 16 children - Garden
- Falafel- outside- Turkish owner
- Gelato
- Drive to Bratislava, Slovakia
- Hotel search  o No TV , 1st floor, no thank you
- Radisson - No dinner
- Mike and David casino- tripled $, saw fight,  hotel concierge offered drugs and women

SATURDAY

- Sunny!
- Breakfast outside
- Walked around- statues o Man at work
- Dad played $700 violin
- Mike, David, Dad took nap on park bench
- Mom and Ramesh bought lunch
- Boat ride/ lunch o River
- Bad Gelato 
- Mike/ Dad played chess- life size board
- Drive to Prague
- HOT restaurant

SUNDAY

- Breakfast at Café Liberty o Panini o Eggs o Crepes
- Jewish quarters o Spanish o Pincus (mom got lost here!) o Cemetery o Burial ceremony o Jewish traditions
- “Best chocolate ice cream in Prague”
- Ramesh, Michael, David- walked- pizza, chocolate
- Roohi, Mansoor- supermarket o Orange, cucumber, melon.  No weight… no purchase!
- Dad- Chinese to-go
- Mike/ Dave- appetizer
- Ramesh/ Roohi- Walked.. Italian dinner.. table next to us
- Mike/ Dave- Pizza—home @ 12am

MONDAY
- breakfast- pizza
- Persian mom with daughter from Irvine
- Gift shopping
- Drive to Frankfurt
- Depart 3pm
- Achieve global conversation… o Think beyond the moment o Lead by example o Focus on the issue, not the person o Maintain the confidence and esteem of those around you o Achievement o Order o Power o Recognition

TUESDAY
- Depart for home - luggage incident…

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I was on the other side of town when my roommate called and invited me to dinner. At first I was hesitant because I did not feel like making the short trek but after his persistence I agreed. The phone connection was weak and I didn’t fully understand why he was so adamant about inviting me to dinner but he gave me and address and at the end mentioned that someone wanted to meet me.

I showed up at the address he gave me note sure what to expect at all. It was quite dark when I first entered so I just went on through to the kitchen where my roommates (twin brothers) and a woman (most likely in her 50s or 60s) were standing around chatting and preparing dinner. The woman was quick to involve me in the conversation but I still did not know who she was, her relation to my roommates or why I was there.

From the get go conversation was great. We sat down for a homemade dinner of fish, rice, and some tomato based salad. Throughout dinner we touched upon just about every topic. Religion, politics, travel, love, life, culture, evolution, our pasts, futures, and & present. After a great dinner and even better conversation the woman left the room to get something to show me. She came back with her “Poisie”, a book filed with poems, advice and decorations from her grade school friends. Despite the fact that the various poems were dated back so the 1950’s the book seemed to be in perfect condition.

When the woman had left the room again, I quickly asked and found out the woman was the step mother of my roommates. Over dessert conversation continued… I learned of all the places she had experienced. Her time in France, South America, Asia and much more. What was the best was she didn’t just mention her travel destinations but rather share a personal story. Like he experience enduring an earthquake at a love hotel in Japan with her language teacher.

Before we left she showed me what she does for a living. Now with the lights on in the hall I could see how beautiful the apartment was. It had many rooms and the hallway and foyer were filled with interesting pieces of furniture of all styles. As she took me down a long hallway toward one room she saw me admiring 2 large flattened animal furs hanging from the wall. One was the skin of a leopard the other for a zebra. She stopped to tell me she was given the furs by a man she fell in love with while living in Africa.

We continued on to a small room with bouquets of fresh roses. She told me to smell one bundle then another. She worked as an organic botanist. She had a request to provide a company with the best smelling roses. We went on to the next room. The ceiling was filed with dry flowers hanging upside down, an amazing site in itself. Then we continued on to the backyard to see her outdoor garden. Just before we left she showed me one last thing. It was a type of plant sitting in a cup of water. She said “most people use this drug daily, do you know what it is?!” I thought for a minute and guessed coffee. She then showed me a jar of dried beans we cracked on open to see an actual coffee bean. After that we left and walked home.

The dinner reminded me of a couple important life lessons:

1) Never decline an invitation to meet someone new.

2) As much fortunate as I have been to see so much in my life, I still have much to see, learn, and experience.

Then I began to wonder what if I do see more and more, aside from understanding more cultures how would I apply this my life, my career my interests and goals. A couple of hours later I was thinking about dinner and I realized that understanding coffee at its simplest form is the only way to fully understand why it has become a phenomena and why places like star bucks come to be such hits. Of course there is much more to it. But something I took away was to understand something fully you need to be able to understand it in its simplest form and through travel and experience there is often the opportunity to appreciate, observe and understand things in their simplest, original and natural form.

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I had a lot on my mind the last few days, so i just now decided to take some of it off, literally…I gave myself a haircut :)

 It is the shortest it has ever been. I did it all with a buzzer, GI jane style, it was pretty fun. Note: I didn’t really cut my hair cause I had a lot on my mind, I just cut it because I find it a great challenge to cut my own hair and I like challenges. Plus it always grows back, so it’s the ultimate artisitic canvas. You cant mess up and if u do, it will correct itself over time.

 As to the things floating around my head…my internship is coming sadly to an end at the end of the month. I have truly enjoyed my time at XING especially with the guys in my “Block”. I have also begun to think about my plans for the summer.  I will most likely be travelling through France on my own and staying with other friendly and open minded travellers through couchsurfing.com . This should really help me keep costs low, as I am travelling for an extended period of time, on an extremely tight budget. After France, there is a possibility of road tripping through Ireland, with my friend Neevus. And if the opportunity exists, perhaps island hoping with the original ‘Factor’.

 I have also begun to think about my thesis paper for my school here in Germany. It is supposed to be about 40 pages. For me, the most important thing is that I find the topic interesting and it is something that will be directly useful for me and its readers. I would like whatever I write about to have an actual value off paper. For example, a business concept put to action.

 I have also started investing for shorter term gains through zecco.com. My current strategy isn’t anything new. I keep up to date on industries that interest me and check out the historical trends of companies I am interested in. I do a bit of technical analysis. Invest a little money and hope for positive news releases. It makes for a fun hobby and I have already learned a lot about the game. It is important to be able keep a clear head in times of great gain or loss. Reminds me of a quote from the film ‘Blow’:

 “…when you’re up, it’s never as good as it seems, and when you’re down, you never think you’ll be up again, but life goes on.”

 I have also begun to think about my options after college. A lot of this decision is dependent on my last semester of university in Boston, starting in January. It seems like forever since I was on campus at NU and I am not sure what to expect when I get back academically and socially. The fact that I was able to become comfortable in a new language and experience a new culture in the short period, that will amount to about a year and a half is very satisfying. And something that I would like to challenge myself to again. I would love to test myself again, in somewhere even more remote and foreign to me, perhaps in Asia, Africa, or south America. However the thought of settling somewhere more home feeling is also very appealing. There are many things I want to do, but I put off until I am able to truly embrace them (or at least have a house to keep them in), for example, kite-surfing is something I am eager to try, as well as drums, larger paintings, perhaps sailing (sport sailing a hobie cat), more skateboarding, and rock climbing, to name a few. I suppose there is always a middle ground between the options and that is most likely how they will develop. It is just difficult to foresee an outcome in this point in time.

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    Lets take it back to when I first moved to Hamburg. I rented a car with my buddy Ruppert and we put it to the test as we drove up the autobahn from Reutlingen, in the bottom of Germany, to the top, here in Hamburg. I was moving to Hamburg to begin my internship in Business Development with XING. I moved into a WG (shared apartment) courtesy of XING. Because of how nice the apartment was, the people at work always refered to it as “Melrose Place” The apt was in in Eppendorf, a wealthier and and in some areas rather stuck up. The apt itself was very impressive, old construction, crazy high ceilings, and a modern kitchen. I lived in what was referred to as “the aquarium” a small room meant to be a garden room with large windows on all sides…not much privacy but great natural light. I lived at Melrose for about 2 months while I tried to land a place of mine own. I quickly learned getting a good apartment in a nice area in hamburg is much harder, than one would think. People are constantly moving apartments, the supply and demand are both good but the market moves fast. I eventually moved into the apartment I am living in now. A great place that I was able to land with the help of a boss of mine at work. Im living with 2 twin brothers and their father. A very laid back apartment. I lucked out again with the beautiful Hamburg old construction. My room is the largest in the apartment (about 25ft by 15 ft), boasting a king size bed, a chandelier, an antique furnace, and two huge windows. I felt more comfortable in this apartment within the first week than i did at the end of the two months at Melrose. The atmosphere is much more inviting here. Not long after moving to this apartment I bought my first boat. Well it is actually more of a raft. I bought the raft in Mallorca…
   Let me sidetrack quickly to explain why I was in Mallorca. Mallorca (the small island off the coast of spain) was home this year to IBWE. IBWE is short for international business weekend, an annual weekend where each of the partner schools that my international business program works with, meet up for spirit and sport contests as well as a couple great parties. This was my second IBWE, I also attended IBWE in Skaggnis, England as a freshman. It was a very different experience being 3 years older, having lived abroad, being able to speak german, and knowing people form both germany as well as my northeastern friends. In short it was one of the greatest party weekends of my life ;) 
    Back to hamburg…so I bought the raft in mallorca and brought it back to hamburg to take it on the lake in the middle of the city, the alster. I have yet to take it on the main alster but I have taken it through the canals that spread through hamburg including across the street from my apartment. The raft didn’t come with oars, so I ventured out to make some. And I bought some bamboo broom sticks, trimmed them down with a saw and bagged and taped the bristly part so they would be firm and water proof. The oars didn’t work sooo great. A couple weekends later, I went to a nearby flea market. To my surprise I saw some oars that would be perfect for my raft. I picked up the new oars and a large painting of a Spanish matador, oil on canvas for the ombo bargain price of 8 euro. The painting now stands proudly in my room.
    I spend my weekends exploring all hamburg has to offer, which is a lot. The reeperbahn, is our redlight district but it also offers lots of wholesome opportunities for a good time. Good bars, clubs and dance clubs. But you wouldn’t start the night off there, we normally start off in Sternschanze, an area popular with students, liberals, artists, hippies, punks, and ultra leftists. It makes for a nice scene. When I say “we” go out, im referencing a small tight group of friends that I have made in hamburg. Mostly students from my university in Reutlingen that are also doing internships in hamburg. Namely: Achoo, Zone, Import, Jojo, and guest appearances by Deuce. And of course we randomly meet up with people that we have come to meet here in the city or other places. thats a good overview of life in the Burg, but of course i have not included any of the numerous anectdotes that make life interesting. ill get some more stories out soon… 

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