The most adventurous trip. We had never ever dreamt of going shooting in a gun range with real revolvers and pistols, nor did we think that we would go on such wonderful pontoon rides and cruises. It sure has been a wonderful time here. The "food shelf" project from Uptown Rotary was of special interest to us. The last presentation brought happiness to us and also felt sad because we had to leave all these wonderful people behind. The trip so wonderful is almost coming to an end. Tomorrow we depart.
Yesterday, we had a party at Chris Holm's house where almost all of our host families came to say goodbye. We never realised how much we loved them till we said our last goodbye that night. We felt our cheeks getting wet instantly. We really really love you all and will miss all of you. Thanks for all the wonderful moments and we hope to meet you all again...sometime.
Adios...
GSE team
Leif's blog link: http://leifled2india.blogspot.com/
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
St.Louis Park (May 1st - 6th)
We were invited to present at a lunch meeting at Club #9 after which we met our host families from St.Louis park. However, after the club meeting, we excused ourselves for a retreat at KCs house for yummy Indian dinner. We also took a tour of his company: Taj technologies.
The weekend was planned by our individual hosts for us; although we met over the dinner hosted by a member of St.Louis park, where we met Chris Holm and Jesse, Leif, youth exchange student Avani, and others.
Next day was our presentation at St.Louis park. Harsha and Priti went to meet the Chief Justice of Minneapolis Supreme Court. Manju and GK took a tour of Japs-Olson printing company.
Maple Grove rotary hosted a breakfast meeting where we presented. Had a tough time with no veg breakfast. The meeting was followed by Priti going to Wright county Court in Buffalo, the rest visiting University of Minnesota. It was indeed an eventful day.
The weekend was planned by our individual hosts for us; although we met over the dinner hosted by a member of St.Louis park, where we met Chris Holm and Jesse, Leif, youth exchange student Avani, and others.
Next day was our presentation at St.Louis park. Harsha and Priti went to meet the Chief Justice of Minneapolis Supreme Court. Manju and GK took a tour of Japs-Olson printing company.
Maple Grove rotary hosted a breakfast meeting where we presented. Had a tough time with no veg breakfast. The meeting was followed by Priti going to Wright county Court in Buffalo, the rest visiting University of Minnesota. It was indeed an eventful day.
City of Lakes (26th April - 1st May)
City of Lakes was one of the many wonderful experiences for all of us. We went to port of Duluth and played in lake Superior...which looked no less than an ocean. Tour of State Capitol followed the next day. If VidhanaSoudha has lions, they have golden horses. It was an amazing architecture with stones from Europe and America. Harsha enjoyed another tour of a radio station (MPR), and so did we. 30th April was a visit back to Richfield for our presentation and also vocational visits. Haworth media, Meeting with Judge of Court of Appeals, Airport visit were all a part of our vocational visits.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
District Conference
District Conference( 22nd and 23rd April)
We are finally through with the much hyped up occasion of the GSE Program, District Conference. We presented on Friday afternoon, the 1st day of the Conference. Not too much crowd because, all the different events of the Conference were held in separate rooms, so the audience was segregated. Looks like we guys did a great job (thats the response from our audience). We had loads of questions but i guess we gave decently fair replies. :)
Later in the evening we were invited for dinner and ball room dancing. That was not much of interest though ;)
On the following day we attended the youth exchange talent show. We met the Indian Youth Exchange Student Aavni Joshi who is from Nasik and she happens to be the youngest amongst all the others (only 15) but quite mature and she also gave a nice Kathak performance there. We would be meeting her soon over dinner on the 3rd of May. Phew....the Conference was up by 2:00 pm :)
Guess what! Leif Hagen invited us over for dinner and it was amazing to meet him and his family. We had great food and a fun filled time with his three beautiful girls. (check out Leif's blog for more pictures.)
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Journey so far
Internet connection has been a challenge with each one of us so far and hence we were not able to create any new posts. We are now heading towards our mid-tour break and should be able to update blog for the next 3 days.
The journey so far has been like a dream. We have seen suburbs, downtown and the country side of Minnesota. A brief update of our visit is as below:
Richfield: 10th April to 14th April
We spent our time touring different lndmarks of Richfield like Mall of America, Spring flower show, Bartholomew museum, Cathedral, Minnehaha falls, Golden flour mill (Mill city tour), Guthrie theatre, Timberwolves NBA game at the Target centre, celebrated easter at the host family, Richfield elimentary and intermediate school. Also adding to the flavor was the visit to the Hennepin county Government center where we met the former commissioner Randy Johnson at his office and also visited the Law library in the same building.
On the 14th, we made our first presentation at the Minneapolis South Rotary club.
Rogers: 14th April - 18th April
It was more of a country side where we saw huge farms and houses with barns.
Our second presentation was on 15th at the Rogers RC meeting. Our visits were as interesting as those in Richfiled; it included Cabella's Best buy, Hindu Temple visit (where we met the priest from Kolar :) He has invited us for a traditional lunch and not sure if we will have the time for that). 16th April started with a Toastmasters meeting followed by our vocational visits to BOB FM, Prison visit, Printing company which uses machines of 1960's. Evening was colorful with shopping at Target and dinner at Bombay Bistro, Minneapolis.
17th was our third presentation at Robbinsdale - Crystal - New Hope RC, where we met Tim Kudalis. This was followed by visits to Earl Bakken museum and Pavek Radio museum where we all hosted a mock radio show (sans Harsha: He was ill). Our trip at Rogers ended with horse back riding classes and a sore back due to the same.
Glenwood: 18th April - 21st April
Even smaller town with 2500 people. Most houses by the lake side. We were awestruck by the beauty of the town. Splendid place and wonderful people. Most of the dwellers of Glenwood are farmers owning farmland as big as 1500-2000 acres.
The next presenation was as soon as we reached Glenwood. The trip comprised of visit to Alexandria: Coldest day in Minnesota so far for us :( . Visited Douglas machines, Mechatronics department of Alexandria College, Aerowood resort for lunch, Maritime museum and Alexandria community museum. Harsha was on the local Radio channel for an hour on a program called Open line where he was interviewed and was taking calls from his listener fans of Minnesota ;)
Next day was Healthland solutions, Printing company and Courtroom of Pope county. We also went Ballroom dancing at the Lakeside. GK missed the ballroom dance as he was too busy trap shooting.
Sauk Centre: 21st April - 23rd April
Slightly bigger tow
n this one. Wonderful lakes and houses again. Here again, the presentation was as soon as we reached followed by lunch. Sauk Centre Senior high school and Hospital visit were on the agenda for that day. The following day was a visit to Lake Itasca, the starting point of River 
Mississippi, where we walked through freezing water....Brrrrr.
We are now off to Minneapolis for our mid tour break and the District conference.
The journey so far has been like a dream. We have seen suburbs, downtown and the country side of Minnesota. A brief update of our visit is as below:
Richfield: 10th April to 14th April
We spent our time touring different lndmarks of Richfield like Mall of America, Spring flower show, Bartholomew museum, Cathedral, Minnehaha falls, Golden flour mill (Mill city tour), Guthrie theatre, Timberwolves NBA game at the Target centre, celebrated easter at the host family, Richfield elimentary and intermediate school. Also adding to the flavor was the visit to the Hennepin county Government center where we met the former commissioner Randy Johnson at his office and also visited the Law library in the same building.
On the 14th, we made our first presentation at the Minneapolis South Rotary club.
Rogers: 14th April - 18th April
It was more of a country side where we saw huge farms and houses with barns.
Our second presentation was on 15th at the Rogers RC meeting. Our visits were as interesting as those in Richfiled; it included Cabella's Best buy, Hindu Temple visit (where we met the priest from Kolar :) He has invited us for a traditional lunch and not sure if we will have the time for that). 16th April started with a Toastmasters meeting followed by our vocational visits to BOB FM, Prison visit, Printing company which uses machines of 1960's. Evening was colorful with shopping at Target and dinner at Bombay Bistro, Minneapolis.
17th was our third presentation at Robbinsdale - Crystal - New Hope RC, where we met Tim Kudalis. This was followed by visits to Earl Bakken museum and Pavek Radio museum where we all hosted a mock radio show (sans Harsha: He was ill). Our trip at Rogers ended with horse back riding classes and a sore back due to the same.Glenwood: 18th April - 21st April
Even smaller town with 2500 people. Most houses by the lake side. We were awestruck by the beauty of the town. Splendid place and wonderful people. Most of the dwellers of Glenwood are farmers owning farmland as big as 1500-2000 acres.
The next presenation was as soon as we reached Glenwood. The trip comprised of visit to Alexandria: Coldest day in Minnesota so far for us :( . Visited Douglas machines, Mechatronics department of Alexandria College, Aerowood resort for lunch, Maritime museum and Alexandria community museum. Harsha was on the local Radio channel for an hour on a program called Open line where he was interviewed and was taking calls from his listener fans of Minnesota ;)
Next day was Healthland solutions, Printing company and Courtroom of Pope county. We also went Ballroom dancing at the Lakeside. GK missed the ballroom dance as he was too busy trap shooting.
Sauk Centre: 21st April - 23rd April
Slightly bigger tow
n this one. Wonderful lakes and houses again. Here again, the presentation was as soon as we reached followed by lunch. Sauk Centre Senior high school and Hospital visit were on the agenda for that day. The following day was a visit to Lake Itasca, the starting point of River 
Mississippi, where we walked through freezing water....Brrrrr.We are now off to Minneapolis for our mid tour break and the District conference.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Marvelous Minneapolis
It was a wonderful flight of 28 hours with good food and good movies. By the time we reached Chicago, we made friends with atleast 10 people sitting around us :) ...
Adding spice to the journey was:
1) Priti's credit card was stuck in the phone booth. A well built, handsome airport officer helped us remove the card in a jiffy...the entire lounge clapped and "wow"d him.
2) Chicago immigration authorities held back Manasa and Harsha's passport for further inquiry.
3) Because of the above we missed the connecting flight to Minneapolis. Had to skip another flight to manage boarding.
4) On arrival GK's baggage was received at the baggage counter with half the contents of it hanging out of the suitcase. The airport authorities were very sweet to replace the suitcase with a new one.
The BEST part of the journey was when we landed in Minneapolis.
There was a "Namaskara. Chennagideera?" that we heard in chorus by Leif, Tim, Barb and Jean. We checked in to the hotel and now about to hit the sack. Like the saying goes.."All's well that ends well"...goodnight....zzzzz
Adding spice to the journey was:
1) Priti's credit card was stuck in the phone booth. A well built, handsome airport officer helped us remove the card in a jiffy...the entire lounge clapped and "wow"d him.
2) Chicago immigration authorities held back Manasa and Harsha's passport for further inquiry.
3) Because of the above we missed the connecting flight to Minneapolis. Had to skip another flight to manage boarding.
4) On arrival GK's baggage was received at the baggage counter with half the contents of it hanging out of the suitcase. The airport authorities were very sweet to replace the suitcase with a new one.
The BEST part of the journey was when we landed in Minneapolis.
There was a "Namaskara. Chennagideera?" that we heard in chorus by Leif, Tim, Barb and Jean. We checked in to the hotel and now about to hit the sack. Like the saying goes.."All's well that ends well"...goodnight....zzzzz
Monday, April 6, 2009
Phew...Finally!
I don't remember a single day of my school days or college days, when I worked so hard. District 3190 made me do it. 6 months of preparation and now all set to visit District 5950, Minneapolis. And must say, one thing I am yet to do is packing... Before bidding adieu to Bengaluru, I would like to say that all of us eagerly waiting to board the flight. Looking forward to an action packed month ahead....
.......See you in USA...bubyee
Me (Manasa), Priti, Harsha, Manjunath & GK
Send off Party
We thank all the members of South Parade for a wonderful send off party. We sure did have a blast.
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