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.