One important thing I learned from this getaway was that we should embrace the smallest of things that are happening to us and enjoy the present, and it is okay to take things slowly. Actually, it is beautiful to take things slowly.

A drastic change in your life doesn’t have to warrant a drastic change in your personality. I just understand that while my life here is amazing and it is okay to feel contended without wanting to prove this happiness by some extreme action.

One of my favorite quotes is “Everything happens for a reason!” which is synonymous to keep trusting the process. I love this particular line because it has not only helped me stay strong during my difficult times but it keeps me motivated most days. I know it is easier said than done but just think about it for a minute, what action you did last month or last year would have impacted you this week or yesterday. It is a cause-and-effect sequence looping through time.

As I was writing this piece I was stuck after the intro, but I did not want to drop this topic. With midterms coming up I wanted this piece to be a reminder for everyone to keep doing what they do and trust the process. But after a few hours of not getting any lead, I was frustrated yet I trusted that I would complete it no matter what and push it before the deadline. That is when I asked one of my friends to help me. She narrated this beautiful story which I think everyone must know.

I sometimes feel that public safety people blocked my contact number. You may ask why? well, they never attend my call for some reason (yes I checked and outgoing calls are not barred on my device). Every single time, I have to use someone’s phone to call public safety for an escort service. It might sound like a joke, but it is not, I am serious. I think public safety’s escort service here at Illinois Tech works more according to their comfort than our safety.

Thanks to the citizen application, it always makes sure to remind me of the huge number of crimes occurring on a daily basis in and around the Bronzeville neighborhood and I freak out when I see a lot of these incidents (like being shot by paintballs, getting mugged) happens within the campus perimeters (near state street and 31st, 33rd and Indiana). Yet to avail of escort service, most of the time I have to walk all the way to Herman Hall or Paul V Galvin Library. That is the part I want to be escorted, if I am brave enough to walk up to the library after dark why will I even need an escort service to go home which is further east (just a couple of blocks from McCormick Tribune Center). 

It sets a confusing double standard when people wear their masks all week in class and at the grocery story, then turn around and go clubbing unmasked on the weekend. 

2021 has been a difficult year for almost everyone or was it? Think about the tech industry for a second. It has not changed or for that matter, it has been booming, with online classes, virtual events - streaming weddings to funerals online, work from home, virtual interviews, and many more. The tools used for such purposes are usually commercial and the source codes for these tools are proprietary. These proprietary source codes are closed source and are not open to everyone. And I believe this raises several questions while using a company’s tool, many related to morale and some even related to security. How can one be sure if the company doing what they say they do and they don’t what they should not. We can be sure of it if the code is open for review, but that so often is not the case.

Food is something that connects people and brings culture together. Every food brings out some sort of emotion from within us. I personally do not care if it is a fancy place or a street vendor. If the food is good, the place that serves the food is good. If the food is not good, that place is terrible in my opinion, even if it is a Michelin star restaurant. Every country, every state, every city, or for that matter every locality, has its own specialty dish. 

Are we really humans or just programmed bots? In my opinion humans and computer science technologies, have enough resemblance to prove that we are nothing more than bots. Let me try to convince you, but please try to keep an open mind.

In the modern era when everyone is in the search of where they belong, arises the question for their country, are people today just patriotic about their country or do they have a nationalistic feeling behind it. We need to know what these ideals are and how the history has shown us the need for both ideals, be it nationalism or patriotism around the world. Today we ask, how these ideals turns into actions, but first we need to learn what the extent of their results can be.