1) The Dalai Lama is incredibly social. I think it is a big part of his good health.
2) Tibetans had to adapt into a new world from Tibet into India. They have become very practical about life and are very adaptable in how they live. They still maintain their own culture in a beautiful way.
3) The lecture itself was about Emptiness as written about by Nagarjuna in "The Middle Way". It's complex and googling it can explain it far better than me.
4) I believe that the Dalai Lama understands that he may or may not be a 'chosen one'. Yet, the Tibetan culture understands the value of a symbolic leader and they value the continuation of that. I hope they continue that.
5) The Dalai Lama has the same intonation in speech as Obama. It's very captivating.
6) Educating someone from a very young age with very good teachers (the way the Dalai Lama was trained), can shape an individual completely. One can argue that the Dalai Lama was picked and groomed into the 'Dalai Lama'.
7) That smile and wave! The Dalai Lama's smile is so contagious! Oh and he's a funny dude too!

You can see the lecture schedule here:

https://www.dalailama.com/schedule

How to attend:
If you go for his teaching you need to go to the Security Office in Dharamsala (10 minutes walk from the temple) atleast a day in advance to get a ticket. You can show them Aadhar card or passport with a passport copy. It costs 10 rupees. You should then go to the monastary to 'reserve' your seat by writing your name on a piece of paper (brought yourself) and placing it on a mat on the ground with tape or stones. Make sure to bring a radio + headphones as well as most of the teachings are in Tibetan but are translated in real-time.

The Dalai Lama also meets a lot of people outside of his teachings. If you go to the temple, (preferably not around the time of the teachings), the people in the temple will direct you to where you can place a request to meet with the Dalai Lama. I heard that he loves to meet new people. They usually call back to give an appointment after 2-3 days. You might also be able to do this through email.

Wish me luck!

Anant

To start, my parents and I flew BKK-NRT-SFO-PDX and reached Portland around 3:30PM on August 22nd, 2013. While I stayed with them for the first night, I was dropped off for orientation the following morning. I spent most of the day setting up my room while mom and dad went off to see the campus. Truthfully, I told them that I wouldn’t be able to give them much time in Portland. Unfortunately, that upset mom in particular. To justify myself however, I would be spending the next few years here. I therefore NEED to make friends. It would only become exponentially more difficult to make friends later in the semester.

I really tried hard to get to know people during international orientation meeting around 50 people in a period of 3 days. I did however hit saturation point when 300 more freshmen and the upperclassmen all arrived. This made me take a step back in the socializing process. While I enjoy getting to know people, it showed me my weakness where I get tired while socializing too quickly. I also need to be better at introducing myself to women, as I tend to become a turtle; either very awkward or in a shell. Unfortunately, I’m in wedding season right now, and it seems that I still have the same weaknesses, albeit in a slightly more challenging environment. I really want to learn how to fix this.

Apart from the socializing, orientation had many great highlights. I won the freshmen pool tournament, remaining undefeated throughout! I watched Arsenal beat the Spuds at 7AM at Beulahland! I went to Noize parade, which was one of the best parties I’ve ever been to. No drinking, just wacky, intense dance, with a purely joyful atmosphere. I also had my first proper American experience as the cops busted a college party I was at. I even recorded us leaving the party, sort of! I’ve put some footage from orientation below.

Overall, orientation was an extremely exciting and intense ten-day period. It showed me what an exciting and happening place Reed is.

"The best thing we can do is try to improve the scope and scale of consciousness and gain greater enlightenment which will in turn allow us to ask better and better questions, because obviously the universe is the answer, so what is the question? All questions, I suppose." - Elon Musk, on the purpose of life

"Opinion is no substitute for Thought" - Warren Buffett

"If American's want to live the American dream, they should go to Denmark." - Richard Wilkinson, on the importance of Economic Equality

"You've got to start with the customer experience and work backwards towards the technology" - Steve Jobs, on Design

"Let's Just Agree to Disagree" - Unknown

"The economy works by stealing the future, selling in the present and calling it GDP" - Paul Hawkins

"and if we keep stealing the future, we will run out of future very fast." - Alex Steffen

If you ask you stay a fool for 5 minutes, if you don't ask, you stay a fool forever. - Chinese Proverb

I buy expensive suits, they just look cheap on me. - Warren Buffett

THE GAME (Why I'm blogging):
1) Writing about my life might make it clearer
2) My life is LEGENDARY. It needs to be stored.
3) My online presence is tiny. I can grow it.
4) I've been told I should work on my writing
5) Over time, I should be able to see my growth

...and...

THE RULES:
1) Be honest with myself, with everyone.
2) If you want to remember it, blog it.
3) Blog often. Or atleast try. Short blogs are great!
4) Be concise. Don't waste words.
5) Reflect on my posts. Go back, see how I can improve.

Finally, thanks @ Abhi for helping me put this up.

:),
Anant