the past 2 weeks...

This is my first update in a while... sorry about the delay. I've had a lot of important shit on my mind for the last few weeks, and updating the blog just hasn't been up on my list of priorities.

On June 7th, I woke up in time for work as usual, and, as usual, ate breakfast and checked my email before I left the house. What I would find in my inbox would be the thing which would take up a lot of my time for the next two weeks...

I had been accepted into UT Austin as a transfer student from SMU into their Electrical Engineering Department. I had turned in an application during a completely miserable first semester at SMU. At the time, I really didn't think anything of it, as I had heard that it was near impossible to get in as a transfer student (3.8 GPA, rolling admission etc.). So I turned in application with the intention of "learning the ropes" of the transfer process for sometime during my Sophmore year, when I knew my best shot of being accepted would be.

Anyways, for the Spring semester, I promised myself that I would abandon my dreams of tranfer and focus instead of trying to better my life at SMU while I was still stuck there. To say the least, it worked. A lot. I moved away from my fratboy roommate, started joining more clubs, meeting new people, and found myself a significant other. I had managed (finally) to establish myself at SMU.

So now that I had unexpectedly gottin into UT Austin, I had a huge and potentially life-altering decision to make. When I didn't get into UT The first time I applied, I promised my friends who did get in that I would transfer there as soon as possible. My previous reason of leaving because I was unhappy was now void, as I had a pretty good thing going for me. On the other hand, UT Austin is better academically, and would cost my parents a lot less than what they were paying now. I was sure I could pursue a successful career at either university, regardless of the fact that UT is some 20 spots higher in the rankings.

So, that's basically what i've been doing for the last few weeks. Debating, deciding, and changing my mind. I finally decided that I will be attending UT, my reasons for going being that ever since i've been a kid, I've wanted to attend there, and it would be too big of an opportunity to pass up. Also, my parents are about to put a third kid through college, and I know for a fact that they're really concerned about finances, so I want to help them out too.

So what exactly am I leaving behind? I have great friends there, it was an easier school, and I had an amazing girlfriend. Will I regret my decision sometime later? Maybe... To tell you the truth, I'm pretty durned scared of the whole thing. UT is a pretty intimidating school, and everything I'm leaving behind constantly makes me feel like I'm making a huge mistake... But I guess all I can really do is accept my choice, and try to make the most of the situation. Wish me luck!

Pictures... as promised!

Well here are the pictures from Oman I promised. I took a buttload of pics while I was over there, something like in the 100's or so, so I've limited the ones i'll post to like 15 or 20, and that's STILL a lot! Anyways, if you want to see more, then let me know foos.



Our hotel, the Crowne Plaza, Muscat! AND, it's shaped like a cruise liner!


The view from outside our room... check out the mountains and the beach!


A shot of the mountains and a neighborhood of Muscat.





The fish market, they have these in Saudi too


The huge Sultan Al-Qaboos Grande Mosque in the center of Muscat


Inside the gates of the mosque...




Inside the mosque itself...




(Still inside) They say it's the biggest chandelier in the world...


Some random hott guy just jumped in front of the camera...


What the previous pic should have looked like...


The Twin Forts of Muscat






The Sultan's Palace! We didn't have time to go in :-(


A Middle Eastern Starbucks


An ordinary mosque in Muscat... Can you believe they have one of these every few miles???

That's all for now, but I have tons more... If you want to see them, let me know.

Oman... O MAN!

I just got back from Oman.

Oman is slowly emerging from its hermit shell, revealing a land of friendly people and dramatic landscapes peppered with forts. Although it remains, in many ways, the most traditional country in the region, it's often more outward looking than it's given credit for.

Although Oman is viewed by many as one of the most traditional Arab countries left in the Middle East, it is far more developed than Saudi Arabia. Unlike Saudi, alcohol and pork are allowed in the country, and women are allowed to vote (with 5 already serving as the heads of ministries). Although there is still censorship here, the people seem to be very proud of their government. The Omani government, unlike the Saudi government spends a great deal of its money towards the welfare of the Omani people. Whether it’s starting a business, buying a house, or receiving health care, the government pays a huge portion of the cost. I thought this was pretty phat.

Oman is a beautiful country which has far less than Saudi Arabia in terms of resources and money, but I believe has far more to offer its people. When I first stepped off the plane at the Seeb International Airport in Muscat, I admit I had my misgivings about the whole trip. The airport was run down, and kind of dingy, and we had to take a bus from our airplane to the terminal, which overall, spoke “ghetto” to me. The entire place also did not look all too different from Saudi, with buildings of traditional Islamic architecture, which made me wonder what exactly there would be for me to see here. It WAS 12 midnight however, and dark, and little did I know that any misgivings I had that night would be completely erased the next day.

We stayed at the Crowne Plaza hotel in Muscat. We tried to gain a reservation for the prestigious palace-turned-hotel Al-Bustan Palace, but that place was full. Oman has amazing scenery to offer all who make the journey to its land. It is honestly the only place I have seen where huge mountains, barren desert, lush vegetation, and blue ocean have existed all right next to each other. This is the view I awoke to, and as it turns out, was the typical scenery on an average drive to anywhere in the city. It really was beautiful. The moist, fertile conditions served as an ideal environment for green vegetation, making Muscat appear nothing like the dry, sandy landscape of Saudi Arabia which I was used to seeing.

The biggest difference I saw between the people of Oman and Saudi lay in the personalities of the citizens Strangely, this can be summed up each nation’s cab drivers. In Muscat, many of the cab drivers actually took the time to learn English so that they could converse with any tourists they took around. They were incredibly nice, and sensing that we were tourists, they were always giving us bits of history of Oman, or telling us which landmarks were the best to see and when they were open, what dress code was appropriate. I had always heard from other Arabs that Saudi Arabia was among the most hated by all of the other Arab nations, but until now, I did not believe or understand why. One of our Omani tour guides told us of how he tried to visit Saudi, and the customs officials mishandled his passport, hassled him, and almost threw him in jail. This stuff had happened to me as well (except for the jail part), but I usually thought it was because I was an American teenager and they were profiling or something. Omani people just seemed to be a whole lot more laid back, social, and nicer in general. Now, I’m pretty sure the fact that we were tourists with wads of cash to spend helped them be just a liiiiitle bit nicer, but hey – I’m just going on what I saw.

Culturally, Oman did not seem to offer as much as Saudi Arabia, and this is my only complaint. But then again, it would be hard for ANY Islamic country to compete culturally with Saudi, the Islamic capital. Because we were only in Muscat for four days, we did not get a chance to venture outside of the capital, and I believe this is also a big reason why we didn’t see more culture than we did. There is tons to see in Oman, with large, colurful mosques decorating the city every few miles, the most beautiful being the Grand Mosque. We also saw the official palace of the ruling Sultan, as well as a few old mud forts built by the Portuguese in the 1600's. In all seriousness, the wads of pictures I took cannot even begin to do justice in portraying the coolness of all I saw.

Although tourism is fast becoming one of the major industries of Oman, and, like Dubai, it is starting to feel like much of Muscat has been built specifically to fuel the growth of this industry, I still had a great time. I took tons of photos (which will be posted in the next few days), and even brought one of the funny hats which the locals wear (which, if you're cool enough I'll wear for you). So if you're looking to visit new land with a beautiful landscape, a strong middle eastern flavor, an open minded view of westerners and western ideas, I would mos def recommend Oman at a place to go.