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.