Passing the Time

As I have mentioned before, I am currently a grad student in an engineering program. In addition to that I am doing research full time for a stipend and am a teaching assistant part time. Since this experience of up to 70 hour weeks will probably last until August 2010 (and RTW trip time), there are a few things I have planned to pass the time, as well as to have things to look forward to that are closer than 22 months away. The first one was accomplished two weeks ago when I flew out to Las Vegas for a long weekend over my mid-term break.

While I did spend a considerable amount of money for the 3 day stretch (~$1100), I did it since I had a "free" (discounted) plane ticket that needed to be used. I do not think I could take the next 22 months without a few small trips, even if it means my overall budget for the big one is slightly lower. As you can expect, the 3 days were jammed pact with lots of alcohol and gambling (ok nickel machines) as well as world class cuisine and Cirque Du Soleil shows. (Full blog outlined here). (Picture: Las Vegas Strip from the South at night) 


From what you can expect, the only few things I would prefer doing with my free time (when it comes longer than a weekend) is travel more. Not only is it something I love, but it helps me hone my photography skills with my SLR at unique locations. There are only so many parks, flowers, and butterflies in Dayton, most of which are only pretty in late spring so getting unique and colorful places to practice is a bit of a challenge. For my sanity, getting out of here every once in a while is not only a luxury but a bit of a necessity.
(Photo: Beatles' LOVE entryway at the Mirage - October 2008)

With that being said, I have a few more trips planned out for the duration of my graduate school tenure, in order to break up the long spell of 70 hour weeks of working, working some more, taking classes, and working even more. They are as follows:

April 4-9th, 2009: Northern Florida for Scuba Certification

August 5-22th, 2009: Egypt and Jordan on GAP Adventures' Egypt and Jordan Adventure tour.

(Photo: Luxor Hotel with Sphinx, multiple combined destinations that I will be seeing in Egypt - October 2008)

I think that, even though they will cost about $3750 combined for 2 1/2 weeks, it will be well worth it in order to do something a bit different. I have decided to do Egypt independently from the RTW trip as it would add on more costs to the plane ticket to hit the extra continent. Since money will be tight, justifying an extra continent would be difficult and is something I cannot do.

I see them more as an investment anyway, especially the Scuba Certification. When I make it to Thailand and Bali my goals are to definitely participate in some dives, and getting certified will make that dream a reality. Nothing sounds better to me than to be able to dive in the pristine waters off Koh Phi Phi. Hopefully I can get an underwater rated camera or camera housing to get videos and pictures while doing so.

In addition to travel, some more things I have decided to do in order to pass the time is to start learning languages. Currently I speak a bit of French and thats about it. Once this semester is over I am going to try and continue with French in more depth and begin basic Arabic to help while traveling around the Middle East next year. Hopefully after the 8 months of studying I will be able to grasp the language enough to be basic conversational if not higher. If that goes well I would like to move on to a few languages to prepare for the RTW trip. I haven't decided yet, but Japanese, Mandarin, and Spanish sound like they would be in the running to attempt. I seem to have a knack to go after the difficult things in life, huh?
(Photo: Bellagio Fountains with Paris in the background - October 2008)

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