Thanksgiving weekend!

This year was my first Thanksgiving holiday in the United States. For this holiday, I flew down to Miami to meet my Uncle, his wife, and his parents. I was very excited about going to Miami as all I wanted to do was get away from Georgia Tech and the immense workload!

I flew to Fort Lauderdale from Atlanta on the 25th of November (Wednesday) at 8:00pm. I bought a ticket to Fort Lauderdale as the place where I was staying was closer to the Fort Lauderdale airport than the Miami one. I arrived at Fort Lauderdale around 10:00pm and was picked up by my Uncle and his father. I was very excited when I got into the car as I knew that Miami was a beautiful city and I was very eager to see it! I had been to Miami five years ago and remembered it quite well; although, the recent

developments within the city threw off my memory a little bit.

As soon as I reached my grandparents house in Halandale Beach I was treated to a nice Indian meal for dinner. Indian food never tasted so good! After a wholesome dinner, I went straight to bed, eager to go to the beach the next morning.

On Thursday morning, I woke up at around 11:00am and hit the beach. The beach is very

close to where my grandparents live and hence the drive there was very short. As soon as I got to the beach, I started smiling as I had been waiting for this day ever since I got my first math

grade back from Georgia Tech! I was finally in paradise. The beach was beautiful, with a nice cool breeze and sharp sun light. I love photographing the beach. I spent around forty five minutes walking up and down the beach taking pictures. I spent the rest of the time laying down on a beach chair and listening to music. I was relaxed and calm. A perfect afternoon. After the beach, I went to my Uncle's house with the whole family and started to cook the turkey. It was done in about two hours and then the feast began! The food was delicious (I love Thanksgiving food! Who doesn't?). I eat two dinners that night, and I was stuffed and ready

for bed at the end of it.

Friday morning was spent shopping for clothes at an out door mall. The prices were so low it was unbelievable! After a lot of shopping, I went down to South Beach with my Uncle and he showed me around. There were so many people all around! It was very different from Atlanta and a lot of fun!

Saturday called for more shopping. I realized that I had not got all the things that I needed so I went back to the mall. I had a nice Indian lunch at home and then went to Palm Island where my Uncle's best friend lives. He has a beautiful house on the canal. After spending some time there, I went to Lincoln road, another party hot spot. It was nice to see all the different people at this place. The atmosphere was very lively and happy.

I had to come back on Sunday, but not before driving around downtown Miami and Miami

beach. We drove around and looked at all the huge ships that were docked at the harbor. These mega cruise ships were preparing to leave at around 5:00pm for their destination (mostly The Bahama's). My flight was at 5:30pm from Fort Lauderdale so we had to get back across town so that I don't miss my flight. I got to the airport in time, said my thank you's and good bye's and before I knew it, I was on a flight back to Georgia Tech and FINALS WEEK.

Clean old fashioned hate

On November 28th, the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets took on the Georgia Bulldogs. The game was very important to both teams as the game resides on a historic rivalry between the two Universities. This rivalry has been going on since 1893. Georgia Tech is on it's way to winning the ACC championship on December 5th, whereas the Georgia Bulldogs did terribly throughout the entire season. Hence, understandably, we thought we would win this encounter. Last year, GT beat U(sic)GA at the U(sic)GA campus. The entire campus was buzzing with excitement as GT fans all over were determined to win and get a two streak win against U(sic)GA.

The game started off balanced with both teams playing well. The Bulldogs took the lead by scoring a touchdown. GT's defense was not doing too well. The first half saw a lot of injuries towards GT. The game itself was not going well for GT. We were losing, badly, but there was still hope. That hope was ignited in the fourth quarter when a GT player scored an amazing touchdown to bring U(sic)GA's lead down to only 6 points. All we needed was one touchdown and the game would have been ours by one point. We managed to stop the Bulldogs in four downs and their kicker missed the field goal, this game seemed to be ours! We had possession of the football and there was ample time on the clock for a late comeback. After three unsuccessful passing tries, Coach Paul Johnson decided that we should go for it and try another throw on 4th and 10. Nesbitt, our quarterback threw the ball perfectly to number 8 on our team. Everyone thought that he had made the catch and that we were on 1st down, but to our utter shock and dismay, the player fumbled the ball and the game was lost. U(sic)GA had possession of the ball and they just wasted time on the field.

We were so close to an amazing comeback at Bobby Dodd Stadium but unfortunately, luck was not on our side. We must pick up what we learnt from our mistakes this game and make sure that we win the ACC championship.

"What's the good word!?"

"To HELL with Georgia!"

"What's the good word!?"

"To HELL with Georgia!"

"What's the good word!?"

"To HELL with Georgia!"

"How bout em DOGS!?"

"Piss on em!"

Parties and Riots

Although parties can reduce students' stress, parties more likely harm the environment. Once students get into college, they earn freedom. That freedom, however, could turn out to be detrimental if not handled properly. Specifically, fraternities and sororities host parties during weekends and students become unstoppable whenever there is a football game. It can affect students' grade and can probably affect their whole life.

Penn State is notorious for parties and students go crazy when it comes to parties. The day before the football game, they get together and have parties. They drink, smoke, dance, have intercourse, and even more. Then on the game day, dressed in blue and white, tens and thousands of students start walking to the stadium filling up downtown and campus. In 2005, Penn State beat rival Ohio State and that night 20,000 students filled downtown and campus. They started breaking cars, windows, doors, lamp posts, and anything that was in their way. Then Police started seizing them and fined the students who were involved in the riot.
Some people may think that it is not bad to have parties because it reduces students' stress, but the parties are really harmful to the neighbors and the environment. The biggest problem is beer. According to National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, around 88% of college students including students under 21 have used alcohol. This percentage may not sound so big, but thinking about thousands of students drinking underage or drinking and driving in college really shocks all of us. Another problem is violence. When students get drunk, they tend to get violent and it leads to riots. They have fights with each other and start breaking windows and doors, so many business owners are affected. One small action leads to a greater action that requires greater responsibility. Hence parties should be reduced in college, no matter what, to make the campus a better place to live and study.