First Impressions

Namaskaar! (or Namaskaram in Telugu)

Another extremely long day. This is only the third day I've been in India, but it feels like at least a week already! So, impressions:

When the taxi cab driver finally drove me through the city, heading towards the university, I was completely overwhelmed. I feel like overwhelmed is a word I'll use quite a bit during my stay here. The traffic was the first thing I noticed, or rather, there is no choice but to notice it. I've heard people use the phrase "organized chaos" to describe the traffic in India... this is very accurate. There are lines on the road, but as we were driving toward the university, I noticed my driver was driving on top of those lines, not in one particular lane. Basically, there are no road rules, but very few people ever crash.

The next thing that caught my eye was the variety of color. This is mostly from the women. Even in the small shacks in the slums on the side of the roads, the women wear beautiful sarees (traditional Indian women's dress) or salwar kameez (consisting of a tunic like shirt: kameez, pants: salwar, and a scarf: dupatta).Our CIEE program even gave us a stipend of 3,000 rupees to buy an outfit at "Fab India", a store selling pre-made suits. The better (cheaper, more authentic) way to obtain the Indian style of clothing is to actually go to a tailor. One can just buy fabric, then go to a tailor who will make you an outfit to your specifications. I have yet to do this, but it is one of my goals!

Another thing that is very strange to me, is that there are a million stray dogs around the city, including on campus. Actually, there was a litter of puppies camped right outside our dorms. SO. SO. cute. Of course, we were warned not to pet them because of fleas. It really broke my heart that they are left out there with their mother, and would eventually grow up to become one of the many random stray dogs in the city. Today they were removed. They said that whatever is equivalent to the humane society in Hyderabad picked them up...

On a nicer note, everyone in our program is extremely friendly, and I feel like we all have a similar view on the world, which is an amazing thing and makes making friends very simple. Tonight for example, we went out for one of our group member's 21st birthday! It was a pretty big ordeal to be honest. They almost didn't let one of our members in because he didn't look 21 years old.. some of us didn't have ID's on them. With a lot of negotiating, mostly thanks to the birthday girl, we got in and had a great time.. ended up arriving at the dorms around midnight.

There is so much to say, it is difficult to remember all of it, even after only three days... which I suppose is the purpose of me writing things down. At the moment we are still in the process of orientation. We've been briefed on security, health, and cultural issues, among other things. I have to say, I am very impressed with CIEE. They've been very helpful, and I feel pretty confident about living here for the next four months. We'll know what classes we can take (and a lot of other information) on the 31st of December... it will be a most enlightening day. (One thing we've learned is that it's hard to get a straight answer in India.) Our program leaders are so nice and willing to help us in any way. My peanut allergy has been cleared with the cooking staff of our cafeteria (which serves delicious Indian food..we really are spoiled), so I don't feel too worried about that either. I'll stay away completely from street food, just to be sure. For this reason, I'm also not staying with a host family. This is kind of disappointing to me, but it would be very inconvenient for families to cook in a different way than they are used to, just for me. Peanut oil is pretty prevalent in Hyderabadi cuisine.

It's pretty late now... tomorrow we get a tour of the city during the daytime and we are visiting a mosque, which will be interesting. I'll also add photos to all of these posts once I actually get them on my computer!

So far, so good... I am loving India and all the confusion and joy that it brings!

Arrival in INDIA

I am now sitting on my bed in my dorm room, pretty exhausted, but wanting to write down the occurrences of the day before I begin to forget things, which is already starting to happen, ah!

The lovely trip started out with the flight in KI Sawyer being delayed because there was ICE on the plane and the de-icing trucks (pretty sure that's not the official title) were all broken for some reason? hm. Anyway, they received parts from somewhere else and it was fixed... off to Chicago I go! Good thing I still had like a 6 hour wait in the O'Hare airport... which was actually fine; I came prepared with books. That's one of the greatest things about traveling.. there is usually a decent amount of time for you to actually get through a few novels!

After a 14 hour plane ride, we arrived in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates. The end part of the flight (pretty much the only part I was awake for actually) was amazing. We passed over the Zagros Mountains (yes, I had to look that up) on our way there. I randomly looked out the window at one point and was instantly in awe. The sight of mountains from above is an amazing thing. These looked dry, brown, and barren, compared to the gray/green and snow covered mountains that I've seen in Austria, but they were beautiful... every once in a while I saw really bright lights down below in between some of them; I wish I knew what they were. Anyway, the Abu Dhabi airport is quite spectacular, as it should be, seeing as the UAE are pretty extravagant with their architecture. I ended up buying a scarf there already... hah I can't help it- I am seriously in love with all of the bright colors; I started to see them in Abu Dhabi, and they continue on to India.

So all of this was smooth sailing until I arrived in Bombay/Mumbai (most people working at the airport still used Bombay). I was required to get my luggage at this point and go through customs, then check it in again while getting my boarding pass. Ugh. So I missed my flight to Hyderabad because the baggage took FOREVER to show up on the trolley. Tip for future travelers: if you are taking domestic flights within India... leave a good amount of layover time in between. At this point I was more than a little frustrated... I forgot to keep in mind that when you're traveling, you should expect SOME kind of problem. Luckily, this wonderful woman from New Jersey, Usa (pronounced oosha) (she was born in India and was visiting there to attend a nephew's wedding), took me under her wing and talked to some people that probably would not have listened to me. Eventually, I booked a flight for noon instead of the 6:25am flight on which I was supposed to be. In Mumbai, the first thing I noticed when I was traveling between terminals were the slums all around the airport. It was shocking for me to see them in person. Because the airport is out of the city, people with no money were drawn to the area because they had no where else to go, and others would pay them little attention out there. However, the airport is expanding now so that they can accommodate all of its travelers, so the slums are being pushed back even more... it's sad to see people living in such an extreme state.
On a happier note, something that made my waiting at that airport better: I was reading a book and noticed that this cute little girl had been eyeing me for a while. I smiled at her and she came up to me, said hello, and started to have a conversation with me. Her name is something that was difficult to pronounce, much less spell, but we talked for a bit, then she asked if she could take a picture with me. I really regret not getting my camera out as well! Little things like that are just so so nice; I love them.

FINALLY, around 2:20pm, I arrived in Hyderabad, India. There was a man waiting there to pick me up and bring me to the University of Hyderabad. My first impression there was that there were a ton of palm trees.. hah. The car ride took a while, and most of what I saw was barren land and a huge amount of construction. When we drove through a part of the city, I was completely overwhelmed. Too many things to look at, to take in. I'm going to continue this tomorrow perhaps, because I am veryy sleepy.  Whew, good night.

Last Minute

So, I have two days left in Marquette before I'm off on my journey! Everything is in order...besides my suitcase...still working on that one. Recently I've just been trying to spend time with friends and family as much as I can, and getting as many winter activities in while I'm still surrounded by feet of snow! Snowshoeing and xc skiing have been accomplished, as well as sampling my favorite local restaurants with friends... not really a winter activity, but enjoyable all the same. Marquette really is beautiful this time of year, before and during Christmas and New Year's... before we are all sick of the insanely long winter hah.

I'm pretty excited for the change of scenery, however. I say pretty excited because it STILL has not fully hit me that I am going to India...and I believe it won't until I'm actually on the plane. Ah!

I also found out that I will be reimbursed for my change of flight charges, which is relieving. I tried to call the airlines with which I'm flying about bringing my EpiPen on the planes (it's a needle), and it was the most frustrating thing ever. You can only speak to a computer for so long over the phone before you feel like throwing said phone against a wall. Finally, I reached an actual human being and found out that all that I need is a copy of my prescription, so I'm hoping they were correct. As I was reading up on Hyderabad, I found that peanuts are actually used quite commonly in foods there... a difficulty to be sure, but it just means that I'll have to be extra careful... and probably avoid food from vendors.

I am now off to figure out how much I can fit into one suitcase and one carry-on bag... I feel as if I've done OK with packing light in the past...we'll see. I don't have as much to say as I thought I did... I'm sure that will change considerably in a few days :) I'll miss all my friends and family while I'm gone; I'm very dependent on them. I am opening my mind to the new experiences ahead, however. I've lived abroad longer than four months before, though not so far away! I can't wait to live in this completely foreign (to me) place and to gain so many new points of view, so much more appreciation for the incredible beauty/diversity/challenges that life brings.

 
   Parents' house with lights and snow!

Preparations

So the process of studying abroad has been fairly easy up until now. There are complications and misunderstandings, which are bound to happen, but nonetheless frustrating. I had to pay extra (a decent amount) to change my departure date from India, as the police department apparently changed a policy or something? So I am now leaving on April 30th, 2011 instead of May 1st.  Only now can I send in my visa documents... so hopefully there are no complications with this!
         Edit (Dec. 2): And now I find out that we did not in fact have to change our ticket? Lovely. It's hard to get straight information when the main individual in the CIEE office is not available for a week. However, there is nothing that can be done now, so I suppose the only thing to do is accept it.

On the upside, I found out that I received a scholarship through CIEE, which is extremely good, seeing as I'm paying for a lot of this through loans (or my parents are... thank you to them!). I still have work to do getting things in place before I leave, but at least I'm more confident now.

Finals are coming up and things with classes are stressful, but that is to be expected. After that, a little time with family and friends and I'm off to India on Christmas day! I'm a little disappointed about that... I'd be nice if I could have left after New Year's Eve (also my birthday I might add), but it IS India... I'm fairly certain it's worth it :)

So... a little bit about Hyderabad....

- It's the capital of the state Andhra Pradesh (India has 28 states)

- As of 2010 it's the 6th most populous city in India...which is saying something... over 4 million people
- Telugu and Urdu are the most spoken languages in the city, though Hindi and English are also spoken, as well as a smaller percentage of others (I will be studying Hindi while at the University of Hyderabad)
- Hyderabad plays a large role in the IT industry (information technologies) ... a lot of computer companies there
- The second largest film industry in India is set in Hyderabad (the Telugu film industry)... it's known as Tollywood (opposed to Bollywood)
- There is a mix of Hindu and Muslim tradition in India (the population is about 55% Hindu and 41% Muslim)
I have much to learn...

CIEE will be taking us on small trips in Hyderabad and to a few other states, which I'm very excited about. Also, I'll be in India during the Holi festival, which sounds like so much fun!
http://www.holifestival.org/

I just want to be able to take everything in.

The Beginning

This is me testing out my blog. It will be December in about 24 hours... it scares me how fast time goes by, quicker every year. In basically 25 days I will be on an airplane headed towards India. Amazing, wonderful, and completely scary. I hope I'll be able to keep updating this page when I'm in Hyderabad; I don't want to forget a thing! I will write more about where I'm going when I have more time. (Meaning after finals are over).