And so it begins...

Jun 02- 11:14 pm-

I have finally got some semblance of internet and have set up my computer without an explosion that I was dreading due to the voltage conversion. The first thing I check is Facebook, some things never change. After getting only 5 hours sleep in the last 48 hours I feel surprisingly awake perhaps due to the excitement and anxiety of being in a foreign country. From arriving at 330 am local time to spending a full day at the university, I have noticed a few aspects of India that are seemingly unlikely to change during the trip.

1.       There are people everywhere no matter what time of day it is

2.     All locals will pretend that they can’t speak your language, especially if service is involved

3.      It is hot, really hot. 

Despite the uncomfort that I would normally feel in a crowded, noisy inferno (there is actually garbage burning on the streets since there is nothing else to do with it), I am already enjoying the trip. The early chaos has already provided me some interesting and odd new scenes. One that pops into mind is the somewhat tragic and puzzling sight on the taxi ride to the college of a family of four all cramped on a small motorcycle weaving and honking their way through traffic with a relaxed ease. 

When going to a school in a city you can forget that animals can exist as more than just pets or pigeons. One creepy, seemingly eternal, night walk through the dark forest to reach the dormitory where some of the others in the tufts group stay can make you feel as if you are in an episode of ‘Planet Earth’. The wild monkeys (I find them scary because they look like the monkey from golden compass) and stray dogs (I still find them cute) scurry and howl in a primordial fashion in search of their next meal. The dozens of fruits hanging upside down from the trees turn out to have eyes and wings on closer inspection. When trying to calm myself down I try to forget that some of the first words we heard from the Doctor in charge of us were “watch out for cobras in the grass”.

A great day one has been filled with 2 longs plane rides, (one where I had my own personal Natalie Portman marathon as I watched ‘Black Swan’ and ‘No Strings Attached back to back’), a 3 hour van ride, and lots of entertaining uncertainties. Time to scratch the jet-lag itch and go to sleep with hopefully no nightmares of killer golden monkeys that hang around Nicole Kidman. 

 

- Nemo