Saket Vora

The trip to Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon was great. It was a small family reunion with the Vora Family, my uncle and his family, and my cousin Anup all getting together. We went up and down the strip but after a while things look the same. I put $12 on NC State winning the BCS College Football Championship in 2008…the odds are 200-to-1 but that’s school spirit, right? Sapana tried her hand at blackjack but ended up even handed. I loved the Bellagio fountains.

Complementing the glitz of the Strip was a trip to Red Rock Canyon, just a 20 minute drive west of the city. It is a spectacular reserve, with diverse geological rock formations and an awe-inspiring mountain wall that instantly reminds me of the ‘Shield Wall’ protecting Arrakeen in Dune.  We also spent two nights at the Grand Canyon. A bunch of played poker in the backseat (the notable stops along the way were the Hoover Dam and a classic Americana diner). The Grand Canyon is a lot more…well, grand than I last remembered. We saw the sunset both nights. One morning Sachi and I took an 11 mile hike along the rim of the canyon which was really great. I was too tired in the mornings to see the sunrise. One notable thing were the tram drivers — the absolute best park tram drivers I’ve ever seen in my life. Friendly, lively, informative, everything.

Pictures of all three places can be found at my photo gallery.

I’ve spent the past two days spending time with my uncle’s family before the four of them leave back for India on May 31st. Then, my sisters and Naman are scheduled to leave on our roadtrip on June 2nd. It has been a lively fun couple of days.

My cousins Adit and Aditi are starting the 7th grade in India. They learn English, Hindi, Marathi (all three are languages), Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Environmental Science, History, Civics, and Geography.

All at the same time. In parallel. From the 5th grade to 10th grade, with each year adding more topics and material than before. Yeah. American kids are doomed.  Oh, in the 9th standard they can drop a language if they want….they will still be fluent in 4 languages by the time they are 16.
Looks like I got my housing assignment at Stanford — a 4 bedroom apartment in Rains. I’m scheduled to move in September 15th. I gotta take care of some business there before I leave, like submitting a transcript, a photo for the ID card, filing the FAFSA, etc.

I’ve also done some reading that I’ll share with you later.

Last Friday my family and I joined my friends and professors at Reynolds Coliseum for our department graduation. It was a nice commencement ceremony where many of my friends and a few professors got to meet my family for the first time. Afterward, we drove to the Park Alumni Building for the Park Scholarships Senior Gala, a get together and commemoration for the achievements that our class of 2007 Park Scholars have had over the last four years. We followed this by going to my friend Mary Elting’s home for dinner. Mary is a Park in my class but graduated in 3 years and went to Stanford on a prestigious NSF Graduate Research Fellowship grant. I went to her wedding to Matt Elting last summer and visited her and Matt in February when I was in Palo Alto for a conference. Their family is unbelievably gracious and wonderful. They have a wood fired pizza oven they imported from Italy which is simply divine. I got to meet Caitlin’s family for the first time as well and caught up with Jessica.

On Saturday I joined the family and went to my sisters’ department graduation at Chapel Hill. There were a lot more graduates than I thought. We were going to go around the campus and shoot photographs by the iconic Old Well, but it started to rain so we cut it short. Later that evening I went to a post-graduation get together at Caitlin’s home in Raleigh. Many of my good friends were there and their home is inspiring.

During this time, my uncle and his family were touring the country. They visited Disneyworld, then flew to Chicago and then saw Niagara Falls. They visited a friend in Washington, D.C. and on Monday the rest of my family drove up to meet them then continue up to New York City. I stayed by myself in Cary. I had a meeting at RTI International, where I will be working in July-August, and had some errands to run in town. On Tuesday I joined my friends for a portion of the Hillsborough Hike, where you walk along the length of Hillsborough and have a beer at every establishment you can. They started at 12pm but I joined them around 5:30pm. We left the final place at around 10pm.

Tomorrow the whole group (my family + uncle’s family) are leaving for a weeklong trip to Las Vegas & the Grand Canyon. The last time I was in Las Vegas it was 1992 or 1994, so both the city and I have changed a lot. My cousin Anup is also meeting us there, so we are going to have a great time.

On June 2nd, my friend Naman and my sisters will leave for a month long road trip across America. But more on that later.

Yesterday I took my last exam at NC State. I walked out of Daniels Hall, the same building that I had my first class ever at NC State, in the morning and honestly I’m not sure if I felt any different. I think the feeling will hit me later.

My graduation ceremony is Friday afternoon and then the Park Senior Gala is in the evening. I’ll start move things out of my apartment in the next few days, because with Peyton’s help I might have found a person to sublease my room for the summer.

On May 19th I’m heading to Las Vegas & the Grand Canyon with my family. My uncle and his family are here visiting the United States for the first time. My cousin Anup will join us there. Then for the month of June I’ll be taking a road trip with my good friend Naman and my sisters. We’re going cross country!

For July and August I’ll be working full time for an internship at RTI International, a research institute in RTP. It’ll be a good experience.

There will be more to come…