Labor Day and Dallas!

Hey, lovely people!

Last weekend was one of the most relaxing weekends so far since I am in the States. I visited Galveston, Texas where I spent a whole day on the beach of the Gulf of Mexico. Weather and water temperature was perfect! Probably in 2 weeks, I will have the chance to visit again!

This week was quite busy as usual. The week started with Labor-Day. This is the celebration of work and it is a Holiday, just like the 1st of May in Romania or Hungary. On this day, and basically the weekend before, all the shopping malls and supermarkets offer huge discounts on products. You can score a lot of good deals on clothes, electronics, gadgets, home appliances, etc. This Holiday is probably the second holiday after the Black Friday madness where you can truly buy products on discounted prices.

Of course, I had to do some shopping because of the deals. I went to a place called Allan Premium Outlets. Almost all the famous brands have a store in such outlets (Converse, American Eagle, Polo, Armani, Nautica, North Face, Columbia, etc.) The outlet features almost 100 stores where you can spend the time and money.

One of my favorite brands is Converse, so I had to stop by that store and I picked up 3 pairs of shoes. The only question remains how will I bring it back home, but I guess I will figure it out. Another one of my favorites is the Wilsons Leather store. Quality leather jackets for an amazing price. I bought my motorcycle jacket there 2 years ago and now I scored a leather motorcycle glove.

So basically Monday went by only doing some shopping. This is the only time I like to do this activity.

During the week I visited the University of Texas in Dallas. This University has also a huge campus and very modern buildings. Lots of students with Indian heritage attend this university. The campus has lots of green places and nice fountains.

This sign was posted on the campus of the university:

"Just like at home"... am I right Mr. Bolojan? (the mayor of our city who only cuts down trees and never want to replant one). You should take example!

Some fun facts about this university:
1. The number of students: ~30.000
2. Tuition/year: 15.000 USD
3. Housing/year: 6.000 USD
4. Parking/year: cheapest 144 USD, the most expensive 396 USD

Alright, enough about universities. :) Let me write some fun stuff!

Last year we searched our good friend, Google, "things to do in Dallas" and among the results was a free brewery tour. Of course, we had to try it out! So based on last year's success, we visited this brewery called Four Corners in Dallas. During the tour, you can have free beers, as much as you want, or as much as you can drink. They have lots of different beers, so I had to try as much as possible! One of the coolest things in this factory is that the cap of their beer can be entirely removed and you don't have to sip the beer out of a small hole, it is like you are drinking a draft beer. The beer is tasty and the quality is so good, I did not have a hangover the next day. You can check out their website (https://fcbrewing.com/year-round/) After the tour we stayed in the factory's pub and had a few more drinks. Great atmosphere and even greater beer! Every Saturday they have a free tour of the factory, so you can go and enjoy it! If you are in Dallas, I highly recommend this place!

Besides the brewing company, we visited the historic downtown of Dallas. Dallas is the city where J.F.Kennedy got shot. This first photo whit the X on the road marks the place where the president received the first bullet. A few meters away there is another X on the road for the second, fatal shot.

The following pictures were just randomly taken in Dallas.

You might ask, why there is no picture of Southfork Ranch, where the hit series Dallas was filmed. I have to tell you that I visited that place 3 times already. Once in 2012, another time in 2017 and 2018.
But just to make a clearer picture of the whole Dallas, I upload some pictures from previous years about Southfork Ranch. The most interesting fact about that place is that all the outside scenes were filmed here, but the inside scenes were filmed in a Hollywood studio.

Now I am off to San Antonio (my second favorite city in the USA, can you guess the 1st?) and I will meet with Laura and Derek and we will have a great time. Laura is my former host sister (when I was an exchange student in Texas back in 2003-2004) and Derek is her husband. They came to Romania in May 2019 and we did a small tour in Romania and Hungary for almost 2 weeks.

Until next time, have a great and productive week everyone!

“Traveling – it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller.” 

After 3000 miles...

Howdy from the hot and humid Texas!

It has been a month since I am in the USA and I just passed 3000 miles on the dashboard since I left Boston. I finished the last post that I was leaving Boston on the 9th of August.

Before I get into more details in this blog entry for those of you who don't know me, I have to write it down in a few lines what I do exactly. So back in Romania I have my own company which has several activities. The company is called ACTIVE BROTHERS SRL (LLC). My main area of activity is cultural exchange programs for high school and university students. What does that mean exactly? It means that within the:

1. High School Exchange Program I recruit and send exchange students from Romania and Hungary to the United States to study for one academic year, or just a semester, but we also have various short term programs through which youngsters between the age of 13-26 can experience what is like to live and study in the USA. For more info, you can visit www.highschoolinamerica.org. After students finish their academic year in the USA and for those who require we offer consulting services on which university to choose for continuing their studies in the USA.

2. Work and Travel Program I recruit and send university students for a short term cultural exchange program where they can work during the summer vacation (May-October) for an American employer. For more information, you can visit www.gtamerica.hu

The secondary area of activity is translations. Since I am a certified translator for English, I do various translations in various domains and I also have my collaborators for other languages.

My office is in Oradea, but for qualified, trustworthy clients we execute translations online or via e-mail as well.

So due to my main area of activity during this trip, I am not just traveling, but I am also checking out potential universities and gather information on them for future possible customers. So if you consider applying for a university in the USA, ask me with courage, I am your guy!

Universities in the USA

Well, this is a topic of which I could go on and on till the day after tomorrow. It is a very interesting topic, maybe I will write a more wast post in a separate blog entry on this.

In a nutshell, you have to know that universities are different in every possible way from the ones back home. Universities have giant campuses, basically, they are a small city within a city. Most of the universities have their own police station, fire department, bus line (that only run from one end of the campus to the other), post office, book store, fast foods, etc. Crazy! If you have watched some American movies about universities, they are exactly the same. The size of the universities varies from a few thousand to more than 60.000 students. I will tell you some fun facts in a minute.

So, my first destination on this journey was in the state of Georgia at the University of West Georgia. Not a huge university, approximately 13.000 students attend it, but the campus is really green and well taken care of. It was the first day of school and freshman students (those who are in the 1st year) are greeted during that day and during the entire week with a bunch of free activities, food, T-shirts. They get to know the campus quickly and start their classes. For those who does not live on campus in dorms, they come either by bus, or with their car. The parking lots are huge, but also there 4-5 level parking garages available. The infrastructure on the campus is on the top!

The nice and green campus.

Indoor multifunctional sports area! "Just like home"

The universities gym/work out rooms with hundreds of machines!

The second destination was Purdue University in Indiana. On the way, I stopped by the Indianapolis Race Track. I did not go inside the museum this time, because I already visited this place back in 2006 during the Work and Travel program. So from the parking lot of the race tracks, I could observe what was going on. The track was rented out by individuals who have brought out their cars to test it out in race conditions. Ferrari, BMW, Mazda, Porsche and other brand cars burning tire on the track. Also in a separate area of the parking lot, kids (maybe between 5-10 years of age) were practicing GoKart. They had an instructor and he told them what and how to do it.

Purdue University is a much bigger campus compared to UWG. 30.000+ students attend this university. The campus is beautiful, full of water fountains and giant walkways and parks. Fun fact: Neil Armstrong and Captain "Sully" Sullenberger (who saved all the lives on a commercial jet by landing the plane on the Hudson River in New York City) attended and graduated this university. Also, it was the first week of school here. On the first day of school, all the fraternities and sororities go out to the main lawn of the university and begin the recruitment for new freshman members. If you have seen the movie American Pie: Naked Mile, The Old School, Animal House, you will know what I am talking about. Maybe the movies exaggerate a bit (I don't think you have to blast horse semen in your mouth to get accepted or to win a challenge), but there is a pledging process that you have to fulfill if you want to join one of these social clubs.

 The main administration building of the university.

The amphitheater of the university with the boys' choir cheered by the girls' choir!

Every Thursday there is a Farmer's Market happening on the same lawn. Local farmers bring their products to the university with a food truck, they set up the market and from 10 AM till 3 PM you can buy fresh locally produced food. Prices vary from $2 for a pretzel to $10 for a home-prepared meal (rice, meat, stew, or similar). I think this is a wonderful idea to support local farmers. This way the local economy can also flourish and not just the owners of large hypermarket stores get richer and richer. Prices are of course higher than in the hypermarkets. For example, in Walmart, a pound (approx 0,5 kg-10-12 pieces) jalapeno costs 60-88 cents in the farmers market you get 7 pieces for $1. The difference is in the taste. It is more juicy and fresh.

So Purdue is one famous university in the US, but not as famous as TEXAS A&M University. Everybody in the nation knows this place. I've promised you some fun facts, well here they are, but you better sit down for these or at least hold your jaw from dropping:

1. More than 66.000 students are enrolled (Largest in Texas and 2nd largest in the USA)

2. One year tuition costs approximately $26.000 (it is not a typo..twenty six thousand USD) - that would be $1.7 billion income for the university just form tuition/year

3. It has the 4th largest American football stadium (Kyle field) in the USA (110.000 people can fit in there) Imagine, that is more than the half population of my hometown Oradea.

4. The Aggie football team's coach (Jimbo Fisher) earns $7,5 million / year :O - In Romania Dan Petrescu at CFR Cluj soccer team earns approx $700.000 / year. What a difference!!

5. A ticket price for the football game depends on who does the team play. If it is not a rival team, tickets start from $9, but if the game is with a rival team you will not be able to find tickets cheaper than $145-$195.

The 4th largest football stadium in the USA behind me from the outside. 

From the inside (photo credit: Google search)

Now, this is what I call a lawn!

So if you are considering attending this university, reach deep into your pocket, or your parent's pocket, because we are talking about some serious money. After housing, food, entertainment, cost of living, tuition you will end up getting rid of roughly 35.000-40.000 USD / year. How is that sound? 

But trust me it is worth it! College life is totally different in the US. Lots of activities, events happening around the campus and you have so many possibilities not just from academics, but from sports, social clubs, student life points of view as well. I wish I was attended a modern, well equipped university like this, where student life is truly outstanding. Oh, well! Maybe in my next life, or maybe my kid will have the chance to experience it and tell me all about it.

I have 4 more universities to visit during my trip: 1 in Dallas, 2 in San Antonio and 1 in Louisiana.

Labor day is around the corner so my next post will follow this one really soon, because I want to share with you the madness that is going on nationwide with all the sales and discounts that companies offer in today's world of consumerism where they try to shove it down your throat the idea just to spend your money that you might not even have. 

"𝒩𝑜𝓉 𝒶𝓁𝓁 𝓉𝒽𝑜𝓈𝑒 𝓌𝒽𝑜 𝓌𝒶𝓃𝒹𝑒𝓇 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝓁𝑜𝓈𝓉..."

For the 10th time in the United States

Hi everyone!

So I have decided to write a blog due to the fact that lately I am traveling quite much and I thought this could be a great way for everyone to learn a bit about the places I visit and the things I see and experience. Also, this blog could serve as an archive, which later I can print and publish for myself and show it to the future generation so they can try to imagine how was the world these days.

2019.... where should I start?!

Well until now this year has been quite full of adventures, traveling and work. I promise that I will write some posts about my previous visits to Lithuania, Poland, Ibiza, the Balkan tour with the motorcycle, I just have to find a little time to gather my thoughts.

But first things first, since I am currently in the United States, I will write about this.

On the 5th of August, after a short week that I've spent in Ibiza with some friends, I was on the plane towards New York City with a layover in Moscow. Aeroflot is a Russian airline, which we took to get to the Big Apple. It was quite nice in economy class, plenty of leg space, but compared to other major airlines, they only had beer and wine in their menu, no other spirits. Anyway, after approximately 15 hours, I and my friend, Krisztian, have arrived at JFK airport. The customs took me approximately 5 seconds to get through and since we did not have any checked-in luggage, we were on our way to Manhattan with the New York express metro, which will take you from JFK to Times Square in approximately 35-40 minutes. So in order to celebrate my 10th time in the US and Krisztian's 3rd time, we bought a beer and drank in the middle of Time Square. What a feeling!

We had a white night ahead of us since we had our bus to Boston early in the morning (6:40 AM). We had plenty of time to kill, so after meeting with a friend, we've decided to visit a sky bar in the city that never sleeps. The chosen one was close to the Square and we found it randomly on Google maps and the name of it was SpyGlass Sky Bar. It had an amazing view of the Empire State Building.

Spending a few hours here, and sipping on two $9 beer was not too bad. Well, what can I say, I could get used to this view. the bar was closing at 1 AM, so we had to leave and we started to just walk a bit in the city during these hours. I would say, New York, is the city of controversies, at least for me because you either love it or hate it. During the day, the city of filled with tourist in a way that you are not able to walk comfortably on the streets, you keep bumping in people, who are following their daily routine, you see all these foreign street vendors selling Kebab and all other fast food for good money. Piece of advice: DO NOT TRY PRETZELS in New York. They are not worth the $5. It is rock hard and tasteless. During the night the city is getting quieter and is becoming dirtier. By dirty, I mean that every place (hotel/restaurant/business office, etc.) is putting out the trash on the street, which will be cleaned by morning, but when you walk in Manhattan, you will see tons of trash everywhere. So, I love New York, whether it is day or night, but ONLY to visit! I could not imagine myself living there. It is just way too crowded and freakishly expensive. Its architecture although is not that old as the buildings in Transylvania or Hungary, but they are still impressive as all the skyscrapers stand out tall and almost every morning you can not even see the top of them because the clouds are so low. Also, other modern buildings are built, just like this one:

So this time I did not have to much time to spend in New York but I will tell you all about it in another post during my travels.

So at 6:40AM, we departed to Boston and it takes the bus a good hour just to exit Manhattan. Crazy! Another 4 hours to get to Boston, so we arrived somewhere at 11:45 AM to South Station. During the bus ride, through an application called TURO we have rented a car, which was a Chevrolet Spark Electric Vehicle. TURO application lets you to rent somebody's car for a lot cheaper than regular rental agencies do it. The price for a 2 day rental (including basic insurance) was 80 dollars. The limitation in TURO is that you have to bring back the car from where you picked it up and the mileage is also limited, which means if you go over a certain mile while the car is with you, you have to pay extra for each mile. But if you plan to visit locally, this is the application through which you want to rent.

With the car, we drove to Hampton Beach, where I've met some of the Work and Travel students that I've sent to the US to work during the summer with this cultural exchange program. I checked on them and we've grilled some chicken and shared some stories. It was really nice.

The next day was a beach day to rest out our jet lag and travels. Hampton Beach is a famous tourist place in the US. During the summer, the place is packed with families spending their holidays and their money in this resort. The beach is wide and long, though the water is very cold. Not a lot of people were in the water. Along the beach, there are hundreds of restaurants, shops and ice cream places where you can go nuts and max out your debit/credit card.

Later that day, around 4 PM we started to head back to Boston, since we wanted to spend a night in the city center and have a few Pitchers. On the way back to Boston our Electric wonder car told us that we need to charge it more so we can get to our destination. We stopped by a Range Rover auto dealership that had an electrical charger. I had to call the guy from whom we rented the car, so he can explain how this recharge works. I had to register online, download an app and then unlock the charging station. Complicated, but we left the car to charge for one hour and the cost was $1. Ridiculous. 

We managed to get to the hotel where we plugged in the car into the wall charger and left it there for the entire night. We headed to Boston City center with the metro to a pub called Sissy K's to drink those well-deserved pitchers of Samuel Adams beer. 

At the entrance, of course, my ID was checked if I am 21 and legal to get in. Don't I look 21? Come on! Seriously! In my opinion is crazy that people in the US and have their driver's license at the age of 16, but they can not have a drink until they are 21. This is stupid. Dear Mr. Government, people are still drinking even if they are underage, they are just finding the perfect place and the perfect time to do it. The more you forbid something, the sweater is the fruit! I think everyone can agree with this. 

The two $18 dollar Pitcher felt like a taste of Heaven after the long day. It was karaoke night, and the best singer could have won $200. Initially, we wanted to sing a Hungarian song. If we would have had one beer more, we would have had the courage, if we would have had one beer less, we would have been able to do it. :)) So we've ended up not doing it, so I don't know the reason why it happened, but on our way back to the hotel we got soaking wet due to heavy rain, which could not wait another 30 minutes. I believe some dude back at the pub was singing and dancing the rain song. Oh, well!

The next day we dropped off the rented vehicle in Boston and waited for another friend to pick us up. 

On the 9th of August, we left Boston, but that is the content of my next post.

I will close each of my post with one motivational advice:

The best dreams happen when you're awake!