Almost a month had passed by since I came here and I had seen a lot, but one still missing thing and one thing that everyone talks about in Florida is the beaches. So finally I did manage to see one of the much acclaimed beaches in Florida, the one at St.Augustine which is one of the oldest cities in US. The whole trip was organized by two pals of mine and they had a nice car to take us all to the place we wanted to go. It was my first trip outside the campus city and only after I had been there did I realize how much I needed to see the US and how much more the US has to offer.

The ride was awesome and we guys touched the Inter-State highways denoted by the Is (I-94, I-89 etc) for the first time, driving was so fast that we guys were almost thrilled with the speed; sure felt like being a part of the Car Games I used to play in my childhood. It is surprising that the Inter-State Highways here not just have an upper speed limit but a lower limit too and one is not supposed to drive slower than that, and speed limits are enforced each and every mile of the highway. It took 2 hours to reach St.Augustine and we stopped right at the beach.

The weather was pleasant and the long unending spell of Ocean Water really captivated our imagination. Actually I felt really strong about the whole thing because I hadn't ever been to the beach and that made me enjoy every minute of the whole feel of cold and salty ocean water, sand and beautiful girls. I saw, for the first time, many attractive and shapely girls, dressed only in swimsuits or even bikinis, moving about freely on the beach, without being self-conscious. Unlike India where girls cover themselves up and those in tight or low-cut clothing are considered "modern" or "forward," this seems to be the norm here. People here seems quite comfortable about revealing more of their bodies.

People sure come out to have fun in groups on weekends and I could see many of them there. After a brief spell in the water and a change, we guys set out on foot to the old city center. There were small streets with people dressed in traditional attire and small gift and antique shops all around. The city centre also offered rides through the whole place. We guys went into a really nice restraunt which served awesome food and drinks with light music. We were so overwhelmed with their hospitality that we tipped them with 20 dollars (that reminds me of how important tipping for personal service is, in this part of the world). Well every place which involved personal service tipping is necessary including a hair cut, a cab ride or a restraunt. The effect of being to a nice place in US stayed for a while and motivated me to start planning another trip to a bigger city in US in the next break.

As days passed by, getting a good bath in the morning and shaving everyday was becoming an impossibility. Very soon I discovered that beside everything, my hair was growing out of proportion and I desperately needed a haircut which was going to be another thrill. It sure costs a lot for a hair cut here as compared to in India but I guess it deserved every penny I paid for it. Might sound weird, but most haircut shops out here are entirely run by women and they are the people who give you the haircut. As a matter of fact it's hard to find a woman in the US who doesn't work. I had to do lots of window shopping before actually landing in a haircut shop which charged 6 dollars for a simple haircut. I was really carried away by the next-to-bald hair style most of my American friends had here and thats's the way my hair was supposed to be. When she began cutting my hair, first thing she said was "You have too much of hair" and I giggled and retorted "Shave it off" coz I am paying 6 dollars and I don't wanna need a hair cut for some time, she promptly catered to my demand and I was so happy to see a new Nitin Ahuja in the mirror. I was sure getting into the system pretty well. Next day, I entered the class with a new look and I sure felt more at home.

Life was getting busier and I was getting to notice this: homeworks, assignments and projects were stuffing my bag and I had to cope up with lots of it. I really felt wise to get most of the textbookks from India because to my surprise, textbooks in US were much much more expensive that I had ever imagined. I was glad to have most of them and I would advise everyone coming next to carry as many textbooks from home along with them as possible. The professors really lay stress on using the textbooks and sometimes the questions for the assignments are specified from the textbook which makes purchasing them mandatory. Another good idea was to buy used books (which are called used for the name sake coz they are pretty much next to new) or to search the web for discounted books. Needless to mention the idea of getting the books copied is absolutely not feasible and amounts to copyright violations which may finally lead to legal proceedings. It is advisable to copy one chapter of the book at a time rather than the whole book or text which might put a student in trouble.

US had lots of opportunities for enjoying but sure within limits and I had to be aware of these things all the time because being an International Student getting involved in a sensitive issue could be detrimental to my, or as a matter of fact anybody's, career so I always preferred and still prefer to go the way everyone is supposed to go and abide by the rules and regulations.

Letter 4

Nitin Ahuja

Letter 6