India at last!

After two and a half days of traveling we finally made it to Varanasi! The drive from the airport to the NGO where we will be living, NIRMAN, was an experience in itself! Cars share the streets with bikes, rickshaws, motor bikes, people, and animals, mainly cows, goats, dogs, and chickens. Lanes aren't generally used so people are swerving in and out of traffic constantly. If anybody drove like this in the States I would be terrified, but somehow it doesn't scare me as much here - they know what they're doing and everyone is on the same page. There is a constant sound of car horns but it is not the same as in the US - here people use their horns as a way to communicate with one another, let others know they are coming, which is very helpful as the cars, bikes, and people are usually inches from one another.

Here at NIRMAN the four of us are living in the guest house with two interns from U of Chicago. I share a room with Madee and we have a bathroom with a shower off of our room. Much more luxury than I was expecting!

This week we will be having orientation and we are starting intensive Hindi off with a 3 hour class tomorrow afternoon! We attended a seminar today with the director of the NGO that consisted of 2.5 hours of solid Hindi so we are looking forward to trying to learn some words...

We have ventured outside of the gate alone a small amount so far but it is very intimidating! Every street is packed full and there is a lot of starring, but we are very excited to get more acquainted with the city and be able to get around and see more soon! We plan to go to the Ghats sometime this week and also to start buying and having made Indian clothing so we can start to blend in a bit.

Something I have definitely been noticing and paying attention to throughout the crazy journey to India and the overwhelming first experiences here is my concept of being "O.K." I find that I am often thinking "if only x was different, I would be ok." At school it is often "if I was only done with this paper, everything would be ok." On the way here it was "if I only knew where my luggage was... or if only we didn't have to stay overnight in Delhi..." But I didn't know where my luggage was and we did stay overnight in Delhi and everything is ok! The trip is already putting me outside of my comfort zone and one of my first goals is going to be to realize that, unless I am dying, I am ok!

Also, a note on the grid crisis everyone is talking about - either it has not affected Varanasi or we just didn't notice. The power goes out fairly often anyway!  

Study abroad in Detroit Metro Airport and New York City

They warned us over and over again to be ready for anything on study abroad, but I was pretty certain I would be on my way to London right now... Instead I am sitting in a hotel room in New York City!

Madee, Arshia, and I were supposed to fly from Detroit to Chicago, catch an overnight flight to London, and then an overnight flight to Delhi on Saturday. Our flight to Chicago was cancelled because of the weather and then the next one was full. For a while there we thought we were going to have study abroad in the Detroit Metro Airport... Madee spent 2 hours on the phone with a representative from the airline because people were nearly rioting at the desks in the airport and we finally got a new planned worked out. So now we are happily holed up in a little hotel room in New York and will be leaving for London tomorrow evening.

I am fairly certain K did this on purpose to train us for the real world or something. It's one of those aspects of the K plan they keep a secret. 

So while I wish we were still on schedule and had more of a solid plan, I think this is good practice for the next 5 months. We are learning to take things are they come and look on the bright side. For example, we get to sleep in comfy beds tonight and I wasn't expecting to sleep in a bed again until Sunday! 

We're hoping that the rest of the journey goes a bit more smoothly but honestly, as long as we get there eventually I am happy.

Hello friends and family!

I am going to try to keep this page updated with stories and pictures of the things I am doing in India during the next 5 months! Hopefully I am not terrible at travel writing...

ANYONE can comment on this, so (PAPA) click on the button that says "comment" and then write something and sign your name so I know it's from you (although I would know your comments anywhere Papa...). If you would like to receive my posts to your email click on the "subscribe" button. And no, Papa, it does not cost any money. (Sorry for calling you out, it's just cause I love you... And you've given me a lot of shit for this thing)

For starters, here is a wonderful picture of me trying to have a photo shoot with my dog:

Ooh it works!

I'll talk to you from India!!