Its past midnight here in Chicago and Election Day 2008 is finally here. This past year has been very intense as candidates battled it out in the primaries and now the general election. A young freshman Senator from IL won the Democratic nomination from the widely known and powerful former First Lady and NY Senator. I, like many others was drawn to Senator Obama after reading his first book "Dreams from my Father", and then later "The Audacity of Hope". His story was relatable to all kinds of people, because he is all kinds of people. His story is powerful, its a tale of struggle, finding one's identity, their place in the world, in their nation, society and finally setting out to help the underprivilieged, and making a difference, creating CHANGE. That has always been Obama's message and it is not just some nifty campaign slogan as others may want you to believe. He gave a speech as a young Harvard Law student, his message then was also that of bringing about a change in this country, it still is the same.

The world is watching as Americans go to the polls today, the USA that they are looking at is not the same USA Clinton left. These past eight years have compromised America's standing in the world, our economy, our foreign policy and our reputation is at an all-time low in the world. I spent the past three months abroad and heard this first-hand from many people. And not just those foreigners who love to hate America, but people who actually admire this country and want to visit and live here but are just frustrated by the actions of the current administration, mainly in foreign policy and the world economy. Those of us who live here, are also, combined with the social policies and lack of transparency prevalent in this administration.

Obama vows to change all of this, to have an administration that is trusted, respected and works for the people. How do I know to this to be true? Look at how he ran his campaign, it started as a small grassroots movement and now has raised three times more than his rival's campaign. And, Democrats traditionally hardly ever manage to do that. Just the fact that millions of people who never cared about the electoral process, voting or elections are now registered and standing in long lines mainly due to one man and the message he has for his country is enough to inspire me. I know it has inspired many others and that is why I wholeheartedly support Barack Obama as our next President. He stands for equality, fair chances, good government and a fair and non-violent foreign policy, and those are reasons plenty for me. We are in 2008, and just the fact that McCain's Vice Presidential candidate supports a ban on abortion, on gay marriage, does not believe in evolution, and has barely been to two countries shocks me! I am sure she is a very nice woman but she is not the person I want to be second in command of this country, and you never know she could be in command one day, noting the fact that Sen. McCain is well in his seventies and has not always enjoyed the best of health.

Obama draws comparisons to Kennedy in my mind. They both represent a certain youth, vigour and energy, that has been lacking for the past few decades in the Presidency. They also both come from groups traditionally under-represented in American politics, most certainly in the White House. Kennedy was the first Catholic to win the Presidency, Obama might be the first African-American. Our future generations deserve a country which is not bogged down in senseless wars, has a huge deficit, a highly negative image in the world, and practices intolerance for ethnic and sexual minorities. A vote for Obama will be vote for this country to get back on track and to become what a lot of us believe it can be again. So go out tomorrow and do that. You won't regret it.

 

So I am back from my whirlwind summer in Europe. In St. Louis, MO right now at my mom's beautiful house in the suburbs. Its nice to see the family of course and to be grounded for a little while, have some good food and a comfortable bed. I sit here and look back at this summer which started in New York. I had left my job in mid-May and had a good six weeks of partying and enjoying the city with my friends, which got pretty excessive if I can say so myself! I left for London on the first of July, flew to Paris a few days later, which was a great trip. I had not been to Paris in 7 years and had a great experience this time. Met up with some friends from New York and we had a great time there. Also went to Chambord to see the Chateau with my friend Samira. Headed down to Aix-en-Provence after that to see  my good friend Anjuli. Beautiful, little city, great feel, very unlike Paris, quaint, medieval looking, and everyone knows each other. Had a lot of great nights there with Anjuli and her friends. Headed to Nice after that, stayed in a beautiful hostel in the hills called Villa de Saint Exupery, which used to be a monastery. Met a good group of people there, we went to Eze and Monaco, enjoyed the Nice nightlife, walked a lot, made baguette sandwiches, pasta dinners and definitely hit up the nice beaches of Nice! After that I headed down to Spain, to Barcelona by bus from Marseilles. I had lived there for 2 months 4 years ago and the city had not changed that much, I still love it and the life and the spirit and had a fun four days there. Wanted to go to Valencia after but there was no lodging available so I did Alicante before which was a good idea because I needed a relaxing couple of days to undo the damage of France and Barcelona. Was there by myself, did a lot of walking, reading, had some good food, went to the beach. Made it to Valencia after a few days and stayed in a great hostel called Home, met some cool people there and we had some great nights at the bars and long, lazy beach days together. Valencia definitely joined Barcelona in my list of favorite Spanish cities. Afterwards I headed down to Granada where I was interested in subletting an apartment for six weeks and breaking journey for a while. Stayed in another beautiful hostel called Oasis in the Albaizin district, which is the old Arabic quarter. Met a cool Aussie there, who would become my housemate for the next month, since the apartment I rented had two bedrooms. Granada was great, the six weeks went by so fast and I met a lot of amazing people and have some great memories and photographs. The Alhambra was spectacular, especially the Palacio Nazaries, everyone should go there at some point in their lives, although ideally not in August like I did! My housemate Georgie and I took a week long trip to some other Southern Spanish towns: Tarifa, Sevilla and Marbella. Tarifa was gorgeous, beautiful beaches, great little town center and streets, and full of Italians! Sevilla is a gorgeous city, also among my favorite Spanish cities, "the fiery capital of Andalucia" as my Lonely Planet described it. Gorgeous people, sights and nightlife. A little hot but not unbearably so, its just dry heat, no humidity. We got to Marbella when their annual festival was peaking and the streets were filled with drunk, festive people in traditional garb. We got some great shots and I enjoyed a one liter Mojito only for 6 Euros! Georgie left for Italy soon after, and I started two weeks of advanced Spanish, and also opened up a CouchSurfing account so I could share my second bedroom with travellers. I hosted a bunch of people, and made some good friends. Stay tuned for the next part.

Pakistan's opposition leader and former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto killed in gun and bomb attack while campaigning for next month's elections - December 27, 2007