Monday June 28th
We landed at about 2am and were met at the airport by a bus from the University. Our first experience with Indian driving and I thought it was crazy but hadn't seen anything yet! Lanes seem to be just a suggestion, as do all other traffic rules, including stop lights which our driver ran repeatedly. Luckily at night there is not much traffic and we made it safely to the University. We stayed in the guest house the first night and it was nice to have a roommate so I wasn't so lonely and homesick. This day seemed like the longest day of my life I swear. We had to meet the Resident Director at 9am for a mini orientation . They had some of the Indian students walk us through town and we had to have our picture taken for our police registration, which is required by all foreigners within fourteen days of entry into India. I think that it is interesting that they require foreigners to do this but there is no Social Security system or other way of keeping track of Indian citizens. Anyways, we also went to the Big Bazaar which was like a Super Wal Mart to buy a chudidaar to wear. These are like long shirts which the girls now wear over leggins and is a very cute/hip fashion statement. Although, I don't look good in leggings so it is not that great for me. This trip was our first experience with crossing the street and that is even scarier then the driving! Pedestrians definitely do not have the right of way and basically do not count at all so you have to make a run for it and hope a Rickshaw isn't gunning for you. Hopefully we will get the hang of crossing the street but for now it is the scariest situation here!
After we got back from shopping/getting our pictures taken a small group of us went to the Police Comissioner's ofice to register. We had to take an Auto Rickshaw to the office and the bus was nothing compared to this! The Rickshaws swerve in and out of traffic and almost hit motorcylces and pedestrians constantly. It is an indescribable experience but I am going to take a video to better illustrate it. Registering with the police was one of the craziest situations I have ever been in, we each had to give Florence, the lady who was taking us, 1,000 rupees to "lubricate" the employees to allow us to register. We were to wait outside while she worked out this bribe with all three stations we had to go to. Apparently, it worked with two stations but not the last one so we were out of luck and had to go back the next day.
Those of us living in the dorms were able to move in when we got back to campus. The room is very nice and very big but is a little lonely by myself. This first night I learned that I am not cut out to live by myself and this has been emphasized again every night! After I showered I decided I wanted to blow dry my hair since it is humid here and my hair and humidity do not mix. I plugged my power converter into the outlet and plugged my blow dryer into the converter, the light went pop and there was no more power in my room. At first I thought is was normal and would come back on in a second as it is common for the power to go off but it comes right back on. But, no, not this time, the lights stayed off. I went and knocked on the girls' room across the hall (Indian students) because I had met them earlier and they said if I needed anything to knock on their door. They had power which made me even more discouraged and they told me there was nothing to be done because the warden wasn't available to speak to this late at night. (Yes, that's right the warden. In the dorm the residents are referred to as inmates and the dean is the warden, weird) So, I had to spend my first night without power, which sounds fine right? I mean who needs lights when you are trying to sleep? But that meant that my ceiling fan, the only source of cooling in the room was also not on. Bummer.
Tuesday June 29th
Happy Birthday to my Love!
More students have arrived so we had the full orientation today. After which we went back to the Police Comissioner's office to register. This time it worked and we were told to just hand them the papers and say nothing. I have no idea how anyone does this process alone because I saw person after person get turned away because their documents were completely correct. I am so glad we had someone to help with the process. The bribe apparently worked too because we were able to get our papers the same day instead of waiting until the next day which is what is supposed to happen so that was good.
After our registration a group of us went to Commercial Street. This is like the Garment District in LA where you can buy the chudidaar's and leggings and even get them custom made for very cheap. I can buy an entire outfit for around $5 so score! I also bought a beautiful pair of black and pink beaded/sequin shoes for around $6.50 so get ready for lots more shoes in our closet Rex!
Tonight proved again that I shouldn't be living by myself. When I got out of the shower I slipped and fell and almost hit my head on the step leading from the room into the bathroom. I caught myself with my hand and it is swollen and painful even two days later! It reminded me of the 30 Rock where Liz is afraid she is going to die alone in her apartment and no one will know she is there. No one would have known to come and look for me! Maybe I should get a cat...
Wednesday June 30th
(Rex's actual birthday as we are one day ahead)
We went for a campus tour today and the campus is so beautiful and lush with fountains and exotic birds. I hope I remember where everything is! We went back to the Big Bazaar today to buy some necessties such as toilet paper, which they do not actually use here, so it is not in any of the bathrooms and you have to carry your own with you.
Today was pretty uneventful besides trying to get better at crossing the street, which we are still terrified of and try to avoid as much as possible.
I did unfortunately get sick for the first time this night. I guess that's what I get for bragging that I have a strong stomach. I was throwing up, and being sick made me homesick and even more sure that I am not cut out to live alone.
I never actually feel hungry here but know that I need to eat and so I do. I'm not sure if I am going to lose weight or gain weight since I am not eating much but a lot of the food is deep fried. I felt to sick to go to the gym tonight and pretty much just passed out around 8:30pm.
Thursday July 1
(Today)
Since it is not even 11am not much has happened today. I slept in longer than I have been able to which was until about 730. I am actually a morning person here, generally getting up at about 6am, too bad that can't come back to the States with me. I am feeling weak from being sick last night and am nervous to eat anything. I had a "veg mug noodle" which is a vegetarian cup of noodle for breakfast since I knew I should eat something.
We are meeting our professor for lunch at noon so I hope that I am feeling better by then.
Tomorrow we are going on a Bangalore city tour and then almost all of us are going on a trip to Goa, which is a coastal town. They helped us arrange for bus transportation, which will be a twelve and a half hour bus ride, so we are travelling overnight. Hopefuly it is a fun trip!
I will post pictures as soon as we have internet in our rooms! I hope everything is going well with all of you at home!
