Sushrut

Now I have spent more than 3 weeks here and yet there is no single local resident who knows me by name or knows who I am. Excluding the work-place off-course, though that does not matter beyond 8-6.

And yet I am in no discomfort and still vocal about how great this place (and this phase) is.

Davis is one little town with outstanding mix of businesses, people and attitudes. Its not a super small super warm town where everyone knows everyone and so on. Its a biggish town, swells incredibly due to college students during semesters and then almost dries up summer, both literally and figuratively.

And this reflects. Everything around here is like a typical college town. But just to make this place different, the attitude of people is not the same. Many times I have seen landlords, business owners and people, not treating the "college students" well. But Davis isn't that way. Even the government, city council, police and the business owners take special care of the students and are open to accepting them. May be its the California's open nature or may be a conscious effort. But this is striking.

There are special bike routes in Davis, which are dedicated bike roads built and can be used by bikers (cyclists) and pedestrians ONLY. Its not just like a bike lane. Bike lanes are present too, but these roads, which literally go through back yards and lanes etc. are small 8 ft wide roads which greatly make biker's life easy, safe and ride-able. Davis is anyway on a flat land to encourage biking and these distance saving, safe, shadow bearing short-cuts (aka Davis bike loop) make it special.

Talking about businesses, I have seen all the "chain-restaurants" in here, from Wendy's to McD to every single one of them. But along with them, Davis has incredible number of special, one branch, (mostly) family owned restaurants. This little town has more than 7-8 Sushi places, a bunch of Thai, Mexican, Italian places for the savors. I just saw an Ethiopian place which is to open soon. I think its just fantastic. Even in the third week now, I continue living my dream of thinking of a type of cuisine and then walking into that restaurant a few steps away somewhere in the downtown to treat myself to a great meal! And I have never been disappointed. (If interested read about Davis' Murder Burger, a place which was and is popular for its burgers yet had this terrible name - and the residents made them change it.)

The life is pretty peaceful though. Perhaps as peaceful as it was in the final years in IIT. Largely due to this hotel stay, where everything is taken care of (thanks to DTL) and with no study after coming home, I have almost everything very peaceful out here except...

Anyway, so that's how the time goes, and with the new toy that I've got, I now feel the urge to explore beyond just the walking-distance-Davis that I now know pretty well.

Thanks to my internship, I am back to blogging!

This post mostly captures my first impression of the place where I will be spending my next 2 months and I am glad that it is so!

This situation is kind of a dream for me. I always wanted to be in a place which was exotic, away from home, beautiful, scenic and yet completely unknown to me. I always thought it would be great to just go around the place, figure things out all alone, be on my own for some time and live worry free. This is exactly what I am doing.

I am staying in a hotel, which by every means is a real hotel, with all plush amenities, breakfast and other servant-done things. The hotel has its own pool (not seen yet though) and is situated right in the downtown! I have a huge suit to myself, 2 TVs with all possible programs, internet and what not. After staying with flat-mates and cooking on my own for most of the last 2 years, this surely is a great respite.. but that's just a small part of the deal.

I get to stay in this place, which is outstanding in many aspects. May it be the downtown and classy restaurants, or may it be the bike paths, or the university campus and students or may it be the old-feel buildings or may it be the crisp air. I don't know but this town has a great feel and I am absolutely loving it.

As of now I do not know a single person in Davis (I am here 3 days). Absolutely no one! But still I am in no discomfort at all.

I have the best vehicle one could have in Davis - a bike - (more in a separate post) and I am living a life of a tourist! Like the one in Lonely Planet! I go to a new eatery/hotel every time to eat, think of a country every evening and search that cuisine. Many times it is somewhere next to my hotel and I end up strolling over. Not only I get interesting food, I get to know more about the town and people too. Its such a laid back, friendly community that almost feels untrue. Yet it by no means is sloppy or sluggish. The town is super clean, buzzing with students (undergrads) even in summer, has friendly people all over and is very safe to wander even at 1 am!

I hope I will be able to know some more people here, get to go to all the different eating places :D and also manage some good research while I am here!