Spring Break, Act II: Texas

What a week. Between the island's natural beauty and exciting nightlife and the unfailingly entertaining antics of my travel mates, my time in Puerto Rico was a blast.

I'm currently back at home in Houston, where we are starting the second half of our spring break, a week-long road trip through the heart of Texas. Our first stop in town after our flight landed last night was the Capitol at St. Germain, a supper club located in the Kress Building downtown.

First floor stage

This morning, we are about to board a flight to Midland, where we will rent a car and begin our road trip. For those of you who might be wondering, we chose Midland instead of El Paso because we were able to snag $70 one-way Southwest flights from Houston. We had also considered driving across the state both ways, but we decided that starting out West would give us a lot more freedom to spend extra time in various towns rather than just on the road.

Here's our driving itinerary plotted on Google Maps, starting in Midland, heading south through Marfa to Big Bend National Park, and then winding east toward San Antonio and Houston.

One week, 963 miles of Texas

Let's go boys.

Avenida Universidad

If there is one incontrovertible truth that I have learned during my travels, it is that, throughout the world, local college kids know where to have the best time for the least amount of money.

So, after a grueling but relaxing evening class at the yoga studio we had spotted a few blocks from our rental house—owned and operated, incidentally, by two friendly transplants from Austin—when faced with the choice between paying a $20 cover to hang out with a bunch of other overcooked American tourists and exploring the local college student scene on our last night in town, the decision was pretty easy.

We were advised to head to Avenida Universidad, a crowded street leading up to the main campus of the University of Puerto Rico (UPR).

The street was lined with small bars and restaurants packed with throngs of local university students. For the first time since coming to Puerto Rico, I felt refreshingly out of place. Plus I finally picked up some new Spanish slang jaja!

And yes, the night ended with a mass karaoke session. There's nothing like belting out old Juanes songs with new friends and complete strangers.

El Yunque/Fajardo

Puerto Rico is small enough to reasonably go on a day trip to just about anywhere within its borders, at least on the main island. We decided to rent a van and visit El Yunque and Fajardo, a popular day trip route from San Juan.

El Yunque National Forest

Located in the northeastern part of the island, El Yunque is the only tropical rainforest in the U.S. National Forest System. With only a few hours to explore the area before continuing east to Fajardo, we weren't able to see too much, but we did go on a nice hike to a pretty impressive waterfall. The water, which originates in the Sierra de Luquillo mountains, was numbingly cold; naturally, we had to jump in.

Reminded me of my friend Scott's backyard

La cascada

Taking the plunge

Fajardo
After drying off, we packed back into the car and continued to Fajardo, a port town located in the northeastern corner of the island. Most of the tourists here seemed to have come for one of two reasons: either to catch the ferry to Culebra and other small nearby islands or to check out the bioluminescent bay. We were there for the latter, which can only be seen when dark, so we waited for the sun to set before heading out on our guided kayak tour.

One of the many natural harbors in the area

Tomoki gazing out to sea

After it got dark, we got into our two-man kayaks and paddled through a mangrove forest to reach the bay. Getting through the mangroves was actually an experience in itself—the guides would try to call out ahead of time when there were low-hanging branches, but the steady murmur of paddles dipping into the water was regularly punctuated by curses from people getting poked and scraped by branches. This is a very American thing for me to say, but I couldn't help but think that the dark passage—your eyes can only adjust so much to the darkness—was basically a lawsuit waiting to happen...

Half an hour of huffing and puffing later, we entered the famous bay filled with bioluminescent plankton that light up when disturbed, such as by waving your hand through the water. Quick tip: Try to make it here when the moon is relatively new—the full moon made the bioluminescence more difficult to see and less dramatic than we had hoped. Nonetheless, the science behind the biological phenomenon is pretty neat and definitely merits a visit.

San Juan

Most of our time here thus far can be summarized by the following photo.

But despite all the odds (and the sun and the friendly chicken kebab vendor down the beach), we did manage to make it out to a few local attractions. Here's the rundown:

Bacardi Factory
Pretty self-explanatory. Except that you don't actually see the production; they take you on a guided tour of their museum-cum-interactive Bacardi commercial. They do sell handles for cheap in the gift shop, but unless you're planning to become a rum exporter, visiting the factory isn't really interesting enough to justify paying for the cab ride/leaving the beach.

So much Bacardi...

Very animated in-house bartender

Viejo San Juan
The old part of the city. Fairly touristy—the streets are lined with kitschy souvenir shops and trinket stores—but the area has some interesting colonial architecture and is actually quite charming. Definitely worth a visit, especially for history buffs. Also home to the best restaurants on the island—the mofongos at Café Puerto Rico were definitely a highlight of the trip.

Streetscape

Fort San Felipe del Morro
16th-century citadel designed to guard the entrance to San Juan Bay, designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Beautiful grounds.

Beautiful grounds

Castillo entrance

La Perla
Just when I thought I was starting to understand real estate. Possibly the largest discrepancy between sketchiness and prime location/natural beauty I've ever seen. Details upon request.

And here's the Morse courtyard!

Kidding, unfortunately: apparently this monstrosity exists in multiple parts of the world.

Spring Break, Act I: Puerto Rico

2012: That year when we actually got our shizzle together (debatable) and planned a two-part spring break.

Rented a house for eight in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where we'll be spending the first week of break (along with what seems to be most of the senior class). No itinerary, no rental car, no guidebook, no local friends. Just keys to a house two blocks from the beach with a grill and hopefully unbreakable furniture. It should be a refreshing, not to mention highly entertaining, break from my usual travel M.O.

My advisor made me promise not to work on my thesis during break. Between that and the sun, it shouldn't be too difficult to loosen up a bit.

In case you're overly concerned/surprised, no need to worry: week two has a very detailed itinerary.

出其不意攻其不備

Despite having studied the multiplicity of self in the context of both philosophy and cognitive science, I still tend to be caught off guard when I'm made aware of some of my own less-than-fully conscious motivations...

But hey, it's kinda nice to be reminded that I can still surprise myself sometimes.

In other news: Went back to yoga class last night for the first time this semester and now I'm sore in all kinds of funny places/hobbling around campus like an old man.

Spring break 2012: T minus 18 hours

Federleicht

Listening to:
"Barfuss" - Clueso

« Manchmal macht mir der Nase nach
Einfach das unbeholfne Spaß
Beweg mich gerne mal im Kreis »

Es scheint, dass der Lauf der Zeit noch ein paar unerwartete Vorteile hat...

KSL Moment

KSL mental block in Korean class this afternoon:

During our discussion about Korean politics, Professor Choi used the abbreviation 반미 (反美), which means anti-American, as in anti-U.S. policies or sentiment.

It's not a rare or difficult word—반미 is a common term in the news, and even the hanja are quite basic—but, perhaps due to my hunger, the first possible definition that popped into my head was bánh mì, the delicious French-Vietnamese sandwich with which I have been known to be obsessed.

Clearing my head of images of pâté and pickled carrots, I began thinking about possible hanja matches and correctly concluded that the 미 was equivalent to 美. Unfortunately, I also thought that 반 might refer to 半, meaning half. Logically then, 반미 would be half-beauty or half-America (the "beautiful country"). What an interesting word for 'butterface'!

The next iteration finally reached the correct hanja (反美), but it occurred to me that this might mean anti-beauty. "How unfortunate," I thought. Haters gonna hate, right?

Finally, I remembered the correct definition of 반미, and suddenly the world seemed a less amusing place. Granted, this entire process of hanja mixing and matching probably lasted for less than five seconds, but it was five seconds of absurd hilarity that had me laughing out loud by myself in the middle of Professor Choi's rather serious explanation of Korean party politics.

Oh, the strange and solitarily humorous things that happen inside my brain...

Public Transportation

On the Metro-North train:
Belligerently drunk homeless-looking man trying to start an argument with me and a bunch of random kids from Choate about Tom Brady.

#PerilsOfPublicTransportation

H-Town Weekend

Houston weekend: La Traviata, deb ball, antiquing, and library alphabetizing. Here we go!



Really looking forward to hearing Shagimuratova in person.

Deep Winter

Admittedly pretty cliché and somewhat emo (welcome to New England winters), but hey, at least I've learned enough of this language to do both of those things!

한겨울

겨울이 되면서 낮이 짧아지고 날씨가 추워진다. 그러다 어느 밤 한중에 아무 소리 없이 눈이 내리기 시작하고 다음 날 아침에 창 밖으로 보면 가루 설탕으로 뿌린 것처럼 눈이 쌓여있다. 나뭇가지들에 달린 고드름은 시간이 멈춘 것처럼 얼어있으며 햇빛에 반짝거린다.

그러나 사계절 중에서 내가 겨울을 가장 좋아하는 이유는 겨울 풍경이 아름다워서가 아니다. 이면에 한겨울은 춥고 심심하고 외롭기 때문에 특별하다고 생각한다. 새들의 노래도 안 들리고 눈이 쌓여서 발걸음의 소리도 침묵을 깨지 않으며, 자기 인생에 대해서 깊이 반성을 할 수 있는 시간이다. 물을 한참 못 마시다가 시원한 것을 마시면 더욱 즐기듯이 맑은 겨울 공기를 들여마시면서 내 삶에 대해서 생각할 수 있는 좋은 기회다.

게다가 날씨가 추워지고 낮이 짧아지면서 실내에서 보내는 시간이 많아지고 외출도 약속도 줄게 된다. 그래서 체력상 어려운 데에다가 가장 외롭고 심리적으로도 힘든 계절이다. 그러나 바로 이 이유 때문에 우리의 삶을 버티어 주는 기둥이 무엇인지 깨닫고 인간 관계가 얼마나 중요하고 소중한 것인지를 배우게 된다. 물론 이 사실들은 어느 계절에서나 중요하지만 한겨울의 꽁꽁 언 경치 속에서 특히 느끼게 된다고 믿는다.

Of Masala and Men

N.B. Don't wear jeans to the Yale Club of New York; they won't let you in the building.

Unfortunately, I did not know this when visiting Kevo on Friday, interfering with his plan to spend the evening there.

Silver lining: Psychedelic Indian restaurant, the oldest Irish pub in New York, lemon shells, and a speakeasy or two.

Milon

McSorley's Old Ale House

In honor of French monks

F. Aniversário

A few conclusions from tonight:

• Soaking calamari in milk before frying helps make it more tender.
• There are only about 1.5 degrees of separation at a place like Yale.
• These boots are made for walking.
• Rob McElhenney may have been on to something.
• Dio salvi l'Etiopia.

Listening to:
"Idilio" - Willie Colón

P.S. Officially on my list of places to visit this summer: Cali, Colombia

Happiness Hypothesis

Had the opportunity this morning to listen to a guest lecture by Jonathan Haidt, professor of psychology at the University of Virginia and author of The Happiness Hypothesis.

Professor Haidt argued that the question we should be asking ourselves is not "What is the meaning of life?" but rather "How can I live a full, rich, satisfying life? How can I find purpose and meaning within life?"

His primary thesis was that "happiness comes from between," that is, from interpersonal relationships. Indeed, the importance of relationships is a theme throughout The Happiness Hypothesis. He urged us to work on existing relationships, cultivate new relationships (especially in groups), and engage in happiness-boosting activities based on our relationships, such as writing gratitude letters, which have been shown to raise self-reported well-being for longer periods of time than material pursuits.

He also encouraged us to "lose ourselves" in something larger than our individual interests, whether through nature, social causes, academia, or any number of pursuits that lead us to abandon pure self-interest and instead behave as humans sometimes do according to his "conditional hive psychology" hypothesis. Here, he quoted Willa Cather, which, incidentally, transported me back several years to a certain Massachusetts farmhouse in late winter:

I was entirely happy. Perhaps we feel like that when we die and become a part of something entire, whether it is sun and air, or goodness and knowledge. At any rate, that is happiness: to be dissolved into something complete and great. When it comes to one, it comes as naturally as sleep." (Willa Cather, My Ántonia)

It was particularly interesting to hear from Professor Haidt in person today, as I am planning to include a discussion of his moral foundations theory in my cognitive science senior thesis. But more on that another day...

새해 福 많이 받으세요

灯火数添油 / 未厭冬夜長 -良寛