August 25th 2010 10:35pm
This note pertains to the past weekend: August 19th-August 22nd
In my previous note I mentioned my Environment and Health course brought in who they call the "Snake Shyam." It wasn't until 30 seconds ago that I google "Snake Shyam" and there are several links and his pictures all over google. They said he was famous and featured on the National Geographic but I ddin't think he was this well known! The first thing that pops up is his wikipedia page, which is pretty awesome. Now I'm seriously happy I was able to get a picture with him :) Well he bought in a whole bunch of snakes for us to look at and play with. Except I only looked, and didn't touch any of them. This is his Bio in short taken from wiki:
M.S. Balasubramania, popularly known as Snake Shyam, is a snake enthusiast, wildlife conservationist and lecturer in Mysore, India.[1] Though not a trained herpetologist,[2] he is known throughout the Mysore region as a "naturalist on wheels".[3] Shyam rescues and rehabilitates snakes and educates the public about them.[4] He is also sometimes consulted by local hospitals to identify a species of snake prior to treating a snakebite victim.[5]Shyam has been widely recognized for his work. National Geographic featured him in its Croc Chronicles: Snakes, Karma, Action special.[5] Mysore city has named a street for him and has dedicated its first "urban forest" to him and fellow environmentalist Hyder Ali Khan.[2][6]Shyam is also known for his personal flamboyance and has been described by The Hindu as "easily the most recognisable characters [sic] of Mysore, complete with his sun hat, overflowing beads and multiple rings that adorn his fingers".[1]
It's pretty awesome that they brought him to the institute to speak to us. What he had to say was amazing! I wouldn't be able to do justice to what he told us that day, but I did take video of course, which I'll post sometime soon! He talked about 5 things to be thankful in life. Listen for that!
SO later on that day, the students from the University of Michigan who were there doing a music program put on a show of what they all learned. They were only here for one month and they sound like they have been playing for at least a whole year. There was drumming, classical dance, the flute, the sitar, and singing. It was so exciting to watch them because we get to learn the same things while we're here as electives. I also took video of their performances!
On Aug 20th we were given a tour of the main attractions in Mysore. (Where I am staying in India) At first I thought we were going to get in the van and the driver was going to take us to the first site and we were going to meet our tour guide, but that's not how it was at all. We were just given an itinerary for the day and we were to pretty much do all the exploring on our own. Our bus driver was pretty much given a schedule and told us to meet back at the bus at a certain time. Our schedule looked pretty much like this:
8am- depart to Chamundi Hill
8:30am-10am- visit Chamundi Hill
10:30am-2:30am- Visit Mysore Palace
1pm- lunch back at the hostel
2:30-3:30pm- St. Philomenas Church
4pm- Jaganmohans Palace
6:30pm- back to the hostel
These places were all so nice and I already put up pictures so you can look at that whenever! However...taking pictures in Mysore Palace was forbidden, which is unfortunate because out of all the places I listed, that was absolutely the most amazing. That was the first Palace I've ever been to in my life. Words won't even describe what I saw that day...I snuck 2 pictures I think...if you look at the photo album...they're blurred of course because I took them from inside my tote. Before we entered we had to take our shoes off. It was enormous! And we got special attention because Dr. Rao (who is our Study Abroad advisor in India) is well known in ALL of India...no joke...everyone knows of him, and usually if we mention his name we get special consideration. So we went on a separate tour than all the other visitors. For example: there was art work and sculptures and jewelry and all sorts of stuff behind this glass case, and we got to see the stuff up close because we were right next to the glass versus the other people who had to stay a couple far behind the rope. SO we end up getting a better look at the things behind the glass. He also took us in to a couple rooms that were not for the public which was SOO awesome...it was room full of swords and torture devices and also another room that lead to wild animals that were preserved and stuffed. They looked soo real like I felt like I should even be that close to it because It would bite me at any time! There were so many rooms in there and it was just crazy to walk around and thing that 100's of years ago people were walking the same marble ground barefoot just like I was. There was a turquoise area that was themed after peacock that was beautiful and lead to the outside where the king would come and just stand so all the people in the land could see him and everything was just so huge and high up and cut outs in the archways and pillars the whole nine. Then there was a room that was painted in 22 karat gold. I'll just leave it at that. There was also a door leading into this room that was built from sterling silver and I know that doesn't sound amazing...but if you see it in person it's crazy!!
After the Palace we had lunch back at the hostel and then went to St. Philomena’s church which was built in 1933. This website does a pretty good job of describing the historical importance: http://www.mysore.org.uk/tourist-attractions/philomena-church.html Next we went to the last place on our stop which was Jagamohan Palace. It was more like an art gallery and had several floors. I wasn’t allowed to take pictures here either so that kinda sucked! Go here to learn a little more about it: http://www.mysore.org.uk/royal-buildings/jaganmohan-palace.html.
On August 21 we had fieldtrip for my Environment and health course which looked a little like this:
8am-depart Mysore after breakfast
10am-Gopal Swamy Hill (Nature Walk)
12pm- leave Gopal Swammy Hill
1pm- arrive in Bandipur
1:30- lunch
3-4pm- Safari
5pm-leave Bandipur
7pm- arrive at hostel
Some of the highlights from this trip were first the movie we got to watch on our 2 hour drive to Bandipur. Our whole group watched a movie called "Lagaan" which is in a nutshell about a village that is forced to pay double taxes because their king who is a vegetarian refused to eat meat and go against his values. So the British guy made deal with them that if they could beat them ( the British) in a game of cricket they will not have to pay taxes for the following three years. That's just the jist of the movie, it's actually really good
So our first stop was Gopal Swamy Hill where we had to park the van and walk the rest of the way up the hill. It was pretty chilly and very misty because we were in the fog, but very beautiful at the same time. My Hunter Boots definitely came in handy on this one! There was mud everywhere! There was pretty much a temple up there and it was very very high up so I took lots of pictures and just kinda took in the scenery and the clean fresh air. There were some guys up there I don't know what they were called but they were trying to scam us my putting some kinda bear skin cap looking thing on our head and say a chant and then right after they would ask for money lol I ran away when they came up to me. I didn't need a blessing or whatever it was they were doing. So after this we started are decent down the hill where we stopped off and had lunch at this restaurant. Interestingly enough the whole place was divided into non-veg and vegetarian restaurants with a quickie mart between the two. But then they actually made us sit all together in the non-veg side of the restaurant. I got Palau which is funny because it's like what mommy makes, except theirs is slightly different. I just wanted to be on the safe side. It was little bland...Well anyway this stop was actually the first time I had to use one of those "special" squat toilets...it was really weird...Nothing I ever want to experience again, anytime soon. Well then we left and got to the Safari part of the day where we were greeted by DOZENS of MONKEYs everywhere! They were cute at first until I realized that they were literally everywhere. Then they started coming closer and just started freaking me out. They were cute and all but then after they tried to climb up on Jackson (one of the students in my program) I was getting really scared. It's so interesting to see them up close though...I never been around so many monkey’s without a leash or any kind of barrier between us in my life. The safari was kinda wack mainly because we never got to see a elephant which is really what I was hoping to see and maybe even play with. We had to stay in the truck anyway, but we were also warned ahead of time that those were rarely seen or even the cheetah. After that we just made our way back to the hostel.
Later that night...
A few of us decided to do some exploring to see if there was any night life nearby and low and behold we found a place called Purple Haze that was just what we were looking for. As soon as I stepped inside I was automatically transported back to America. The lights were dim there were couches for lounging, modern furniture, and nice full stocked bar, purple accent lights, and plasma screen TV's. We definitely struck gold here. At first they tried to charge 500 rupees each but then Justin threatened them that we would leave and they let us in for free. (Here we realized that the people here know we’re American so they jack up the prices on everything, even “cover charge” for the bar.
It’s kinda sad because like I mentioned earlier the people on top of of the hills where the temples are would even put their things out to sell and try and sell you all kinds of things and are SO persistent. Even inside of the temples, they charge extra to be closer to the shrine.
Ridiculous right???
We were all very impressed with everything this bar had to offer. We had a corner lounge for our group and a personal waiter. We were given a drink menu and then menu that all kinds of delicious sounding snacks and desserts. I order chilly cheesy toast and fries for us to share and ordered myself a Peach Margarita which was very tasty minus the salt they put around the rim. Everyone had an awesome time, we were singing, talking, dancing, and screaming on the top of our lungs it was awesome. My only complaint was the music…the bar had rock theme and so that’s what was played.
The Next day…
Was really our day to break away from the food the hostel had to offer and more of what was out there, since Sunday we’re only served breakfast. So Nira and I suggested the two places we were gonna eat at for lunch and dinner and they turned out to really great. In order:
King Burger: Yes, that was the real name of the place just like the Mad TV skit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZkdcYlOn5M
I ordered this sweet corn soup, which looked way different than I expected but was still good nonetheless and an order of naan which is a form of Indian bread. I was going to order the veggie burger which was actually really good but I was already full off the soup and bread.
Oasis: This is where we had dinner. We all ate out that night, all together. It was very delicious! They served North Indian food, which is my favorite. I got garlic naan and cheesy naan which was to die for, and then I ate my very first piece of chickens since I’ve been here. All that I have ate prior to that was vegetarian food because that’s the only thing that is cooked in the hostal. It was great! I also ordered creamed spinach on the side.
Then for Dessert…because it just happened to be right next door:
The Chocolate Room: Which so many ways was a knock off of Max Brenner’s Chocolate by the Bal Guy Restaurant in NYC. They even used the same cup that says drink me on it (from as in the wonderland) and their dished is printed in the same way. It was funny but the place was very nice and classy. They had a HUGE selection of desserts and I even think some of the pictures in their menu looked STRIKINGLY similar to the ones in the max Brenner’s restaurant…Well only a few of us went and it was pretty nice inside. It had the whole chocolate brown shades going on with modern furniture and it was really nice. I ordered from there a crème Brulee frappaccino and chocolate mousse. They were both really yummy.
In my next note I'll recap on my classes which have been going really well and I'm enjoying them SOOO much more than I would if I were in America...you'll find out why later!
Coming up:
This weekend we have another fieldtrip where we will be staying overnight. We're going to be seeing an organic farm, environmental park, and a tribal school.
Monday, September 6, 2010
One week Down
So it's been exactly one week from today since I've been here and I've seen so many things and experienced so much so far. There just so much to take in at once, and at times it gets to be very overwhelming. The food, people, mannorisms...everything is just way different than anything I've ever experienced.
<Classes>
Classes started 2 days ago, so Monday August 16th. I'm taking Indian Culture and Civilization, Introductory Hindi, Environment and Health , and Bharatanatym, which is classical folk dance. This morning I actually participated in Yoga, which starts at 6am when the sun is just rising and goes for a full hour. Since there are a lot of people who do it, the instructor moved us to the top of the building which was so amazing!! It overlooks the city of Mysore and I feel like those poeple on FitTV who do yoga in exotic places. I start dance next week since the instructor is peforming in different states this week. The most interesting one for me as of right now is Hindi, but it's probably because this class is more hands on or I guess you can say verbal. There's only four of us in it so it's more or less one on one at times. The culture and civilization class is ran by Dr. Rao, who is practically the "principal" for all intensive purposes. He's like in his 70's or 80's and is really passionate about what he teaches. He is also very quiet and his voiced is a little muffled so it's hard to understand him ,but thank God for powerpoint. The professor for the health and environment class is also very passionate she's actually a Doctor too so I hope to follow her around at some point and see what a day is like for her. Yesterday at the end of our class she asked our class if we have been through etiquette yet, which kinda scared us because we thought we were breaking all kinds of rules. and aparently I was...Well we have to take off our shoes before entering any of the classrooms, so I did, and sometimes the floor is a little crusty so I put my folder under my feet to avoid gettng my feet dirty. After class she talked about how it's disrespectful to have your feet touch paper because paper represents knowledge which represents one of the gods (Shiva, I think). If it happens accidently your suppose to pick up the paper put it towards your eyes, as a way of showing that you acknowledge what you did. She wasn't mean about it or anything, and she didn't expect us to know this, but I guess it was just a warning, so now I wear socks to class.
<Your Invited>
So a couple days ago we were invited to attend a puppet show, that was only spoken in Kannada. It was called a Leather Puppet Show and is native to Karnataka, which is the state at which I'm living in right now. It is a traditional form of entertainment that has been preserved for hundreds of years or more, and was performed by this family. It was over 1.5 hours of non stop drumming, singing, talking, and everything that goes into a puppet show. It was very entertaining but may have made more sense to me if I understood what was being said. I guess for us it was merely for the experience, and not so much learning the story or lesson behind it. A few days before that we attended a show lead by one women who danced for what was almost two hours straight. At the end I found out she was my dance teacher for the Bharatanatym class. It was very dramatized with lots of sharp movements, facial expressions (especially with the guys) and just LOTS of energy. Halfway through her performance all the power shut off, and they had to get someone to fix it then it began again. It was reallly long, and just her by herself performing the whole piece with guy playing a violen, a women singing, and another guy on the drum. It was yet a again another cultural experience that for me, was a little hard to follow and lasted more than my attention span could hold. Finally, August 15th marked India's Independence Day, which our group was invited to attend in the celebration. So we were up bright and early in the morning to join in the ceremony. It was held outside right in from of the institute. Lines were drawn in dirt on the red sandy floor and in front they assembled a picture of Swami Vivekananda and in brightly colored powder Independence Day was drawn out in the colors of the India's flag. There was a whole ceremony which I recorded (which you can find in my videos, sooner or later) Lots of singing and speaking and lectures.I concluded this week that in India, cultural things take lots of time and can last for hours before you know it. In America things like this are very limited in time, whereas here they take as much time as they need. This is my opinion of course, noone sat me down and told me this, it is just from what I have observed so far. Even the weddings, which is something that last for days.
Hmm Lets see just some random things I noticed:
Well tomorrow I get to look forward to "An encounter with the Indian Kind" Which of course means snakes!!! The professor said "you cannot have India without snakes" So I'm sorta looking forward to that even though I'm terrified of snakes. And on Friday we have an all day field trip to the wildlife sanctuary! Very excited about that!
<Classes>
Classes started 2 days ago, so Monday August 16th. I'm taking Indian Culture and Civilization, Introductory Hindi, Environment and Health , and Bharatanatym, which is classical folk dance. This morning I actually participated in Yoga, which starts at 6am when the sun is just rising and goes for a full hour. Since there are a lot of people who do it, the instructor moved us to the top of the building which was so amazing!! It overlooks the city of Mysore and I feel like those poeple on FitTV who do yoga in exotic places. I start dance next week since the instructor is peforming in different states this week. The most interesting one for me as of right now is Hindi, but it's probably because this class is more hands on or I guess you can say verbal. There's only four of us in it so it's more or less one on one at times. The culture and civilization class is ran by Dr. Rao, who is practically the "principal" for all intensive purposes. He's like in his 70's or 80's and is really passionate about what he teaches. He is also very quiet and his voiced is a little muffled so it's hard to understand him ,but thank God for powerpoint. The professor for the health and environment class is also very passionate she's actually a Doctor too so I hope to follow her around at some point and see what a day is like for her. Yesterday at the end of our class she asked our class if we have been through etiquette yet, which kinda scared us because we thought we were breaking all kinds of rules. and aparently I was...Well we have to take off our shoes before entering any of the classrooms, so I did, and sometimes the floor is a little crusty so I put my folder under my feet to avoid gettng my feet dirty. After class she talked about how it's disrespectful to have your feet touch paper because paper represents knowledge which represents one of the gods (Shiva, I think). If it happens accidently your suppose to pick up the paper put it towards your eyes, as a way of showing that you acknowledge what you did. She wasn't mean about it or anything, and she didn't expect us to know this, but I guess it was just a warning, so now I wear socks to class.
<Your Invited>
So a couple days ago we were invited to attend a puppet show, that was only spoken in Kannada. It was called a Leather Puppet Show and is native to Karnataka, which is the state at which I'm living in right now. It is a traditional form of entertainment that has been preserved for hundreds of years or more, and was performed by this family. It was over 1.5 hours of non stop drumming, singing, talking, and everything that goes into a puppet show. It was very entertaining but may have made more sense to me if I understood what was being said. I guess for us it was merely for the experience, and not so much learning the story or lesson behind it. A few days before that we attended a show lead by one women who danced for what was almost two hours straight. At the end I found out she was my dance teacher for the Bharatanatym class. It was very dramatized with lots of sharp movements, facial expressions (especially with the guys) and just LOTS of energy. Halfway through her performance all the power shut off, and they had to get someone to fix it then it began again. It was reallly long, and just her by herself performing the whole piece with guy playing a violen, a women singing, and another guy on the drum. It was yet a again another cultural experience that for me, was a little hard to follow and lasted more than my attention span could hold. Finally, August 15th marked India's Independence Day, which our group was invited to attend in the celebration. So we were up bright and early in the morning to join in the ceremony. It was held outside right in from of the institute. Lines were drawn in dirt on the red sandy floor and in front they assembled a picture of Swami Vivekananda and in brightly colored powder Independence Day was drawn out in the colors of the India's flag. There was a whole ceremony which I recorded (which you can find in my videos, sooner or later) Lots of singing and speaking and lectures.I concluded this week that in India, cultural things take lots of time and can last for hours before you know it. In America things like this are very limited in time, whereas here they take as much time as they need. This is my opinion of course, noone sat me down and told me this, it is just from what I have observed so far. Even the weddings, which is something that last for days.
Hmm Lets see just some random things I noticed:
- Well my key has this plastic extension that youit slide into this other things on my wall which gives the room I'm in electricity. I gues this is their way of preserving electricity.
- At night I can't fall alseep unless my headphone are in because there is construction going on right outside my window, even after 3am in the morning.
- The electricity goes on and off constantly and I've already experience approximately 15-20 power surges, where the electricity in the building shuts off completely
- Cows walk around randomly everywhere (it's true) and they also leave behind their presents all over the road, so my shows never enter my room. I guess this is why they adopted the "take off your shoes before you enter" policy
- There are geccos all over the the place. And yesterday I saw a mini dinosaur run in front of me crossing the road (j/k...it looked like a iguana, it was running...kinda funny)
- There are other students here who are here to learn the different Indian instruments, so every now and then someone is playing their flute down the hall, and it makes me feel like I'm in a movie or something lol reminds me that I'm in India. It's kinda fairytale-esque.
- I met a girl name Jyothi whose really nice and speaks really good English with a heavy accent. I painted her nails a couple days ago and she requested that I paint her hands two different colors and one with polka dots because she saw my hands had polka dots on it.
- The weather is actually really nice, its not scorching hot like I thought it was going to be. It's very cool. I guess because it's monsoon season, every now and then it would just start raining out of nowhere.
- Our food is brought in by a family and we have cut papya every morning and it's always very sweet.They get offended if you miss a meal and if you don't eat everything on your plate, so I take really small portions to avoid that, because you all know how I am with food.
- In India, Chai tea is very common. After classes we have tea and coffee breaks and there is always some kind of biscuit/cookie to drink it with.
Well tomorrow I get to look forward to "An encounter with the Indian Kind" Which of course means snakes!!! The professor said "you cannot have India without snakes" So I'm sorta looking forward to that even though I'm terrified of snakes. And on Friday we have an all day field trip to the wildlife sanctuary! Very excited about that!
~*Charmed*~
6:27 AM July 13th
So I've been in and out of sleep since 3:30am. Apparently when your jet lagged you tend to wake up in the middle of the night for no reason, and it's suppose to take about a week for that to stop. Yesterday I met the Dr. who is in charge of the Institute. It's called the Swami Vivekanada Institute for Indian Studies. He's like over 70 and talks really low, so it's hard for me to understand most of what he says.
<The basics>
yesterday we did some more exploring and we actually went to the city of Mysore, where there was an actual Palace! I've never seen a palace before it was amazing but we only passed by, we were more focused on the shopping and stuff. The streets were packed and of course almost every stereotype of India I discovered that day. For one, there was a little girl that followed me around forever saying biscuit. It took me forever to understand what she was trying to say lol I felt bad but I gave a what was left of the cookie thing I bought which was practically nothing. We're told not to feed the children...or anyone for that matter. Then these group of boys come out of nowhere with GUESS WHAT?! A few baskets with cobras inside...and OMG was a I about to die...they were charming them I Guess...he was doing something with his fist. And then the boys that was in our group played with it!!! I took video and pictures of course...He also had a monkey on a rope. I immediately thought...Abu from Aladin. And if that wasn't enough...the cows practically took over the place. I mean they walk wherever the hell they want. And they also take dumps wherever they want too...kinda nasty, most of the time I was watching where I was walking because there were piles all over the place. And finally, I discovered that it is true...Everything in India is practically dirt cheap. I bought a belkin 3 pin surge protector for $8.
Well breakast is almost ready.
bye <3
So I've been in and out of sleep since 3:30am. Apparently when your jet lagged you tend to wake up in the middle of the night for no reason, and it's suppose to take about a week for that to stop. Yesterday I met the Dr. who is in charge of the Institute. It's called the Swami Vivekanada Institute for Indian Studies. He's like over 70 and talks really low, so it's hard for me to understand most of what he says.
<The basics>
- Our breakfast,lunch, and dinner is prepared for us and put out buffet style in the cafeteria everyday. I'm not really sure who makes it but it's brought in fresh. It seems like its a family who brings it in but i'm not sure. Every meal is of course Indian style. I don't think I've ever had curry for breakfast but I guess thats normal. I've been eating extremely small portions because for one: I don't want to get sick and two: you all know i'm a picky eater and I don't want them to see me waste their food. They also put out freysh fruit every morning, mainly sliced and skined papaya. It's really sweet and juciy
- Showering is pretty interesting. There are 3 spikets...The main shower head and then two lower down like where your knee caps are one hot water and the other cold. So far i haven'tactually put the shower head on because it's just cold water so yeah, i've been bathing out a huge bucket lol.The bathroom is set up kinda different...no shower cuttain and there is like a step down which is where the shower is. The toilet and sick and everything is in there with no kinda of divider. Hey, at least theres hot water!
- Internet is from what I heard unreliable. For the most part it has been good for me, but it didn cut out a while ago. Apparently there is one switch somewhere in this place that control the internet and people flick it on and off sometimes accidently. I can't imagine why...
- There is a total of 10 of us in the program that I'm in. Lets see...Nira (whose also from SU) Sarah (my current roomate) Ryan, Jackson, Alexandra, Ohmar, Justin, Julia, and Matt. Everyone gets along really well. It's only been two days and I feel like I've known them for at least a week, but that could be because time passes by so slow. They're all really nice though.
yesterday we did some more exploring and we actually went to the city of Mysore, where there was an actual Palace! I've never seen a palace before it was amazing but we only passed by, we were more focused on the shopping and stuff. The streets were packed and of course almost every stereotype of India I discovered that day. For one, there was a little girl that followed me around forever saying biscuit. It took me forever to understand what she was trying to say lol I felt bad but I gave a what was left of the cookie thing I bought which was practically nothing. We're told not to feed the children...or anyone for that matter. Then these group of boys come out of nowhere with GUESS WHAT?! A few baskets with cobras inside...and OMG was a I about to die...they were charming them I Guess...he was doing something with his fist. And then the boys that was in our group played with it!!! I took video and pictures of course...He also had a monkey on a rope. I immediately thought...Abu from Aladin. And if that wasn't enough...the cows practically took over the place. I mean they walk wherever the hell they want. And they also take dumps wherever they want too...kinda nasty, most of the time I was watching where I was walking because there were piles all over the place. And finally, I discovered that it is true...Everything in India is practically dirt cheap. I bought a belkin 3 pin surge protector for $8.
Well breakast is almost ready.
bye <3
Journey to India
Namaste!
I figured the best way to keep everyone updated is to just write a note every once and a while and just tag everyone in it so everyone on the same page and I wouldn't have to write the same thing over and over. With that being said:
I made it to India. My flight arrived in Bangalore at 2:40am and then as soon as I stepped outside the airport there was guy holding a sign with my name and helped me carry my things to a van that had 4 other students in it that's in my program. We had longgg drive to Mysore and got here maybe around 6:30ish. Then at 7:30am they served us traditional indian breakfast. So far everythings been good.
The group of students I came with wanted to go into town so after napping a bit I went with them and we just walked around the village. There were small little stores everywhere, the ground was pretty dusty, and we definately got a lot of stares but not bad ones. The people were more curious than anything. They would just walk up and talk to us. As you would expect in India, cows really are everywhere, but they don't even bother with you, they're kinda in their own world. One guy actually followed us around most of the time. ( We couldn't shake him) He was trying to offer us a tour, but we told him no thanks and he still followed us around anyway. Then when we were heading back to our dorm, he tried to drop us a price for the tour, and he was laughing hysterically when we told him no, we never asked for a tour. It was actually pretty funny.
Well before I actually got to India I had a 12+ hour layover in Dubai which was nothin less than amazing. I booked a hotel which included a shuttle service to and from the airport. It was a 4 star hotel called The Lotus, located in downtown Dubai. Everyone there was soo nice and helpful. They don't let you lay finger on anything, they practically do everything for you, which was awesome. Oh btw, walking around in Dubai was almost like being baked in an oven. I don't think I've ever experienced heat like that before. What was even more weird is that I tried to take a shower as soon as I got to the hotel and the there was so cold water...it was blistering hot. Even the water in the sink. I litrally tried to blow on my rag to cool and down and stop it from burning my skin.
So I had to walk to the metro station from the hotel which was like a 3 minute walk and take that to the district where the mall of Dubai was. Then from there hop a bus to the mall. The mall was actually connected to the worlds tallest tower called the Burj Khalifa, but apparently tickets to see that has to be purchased way in advanced so I only got to look at it, which is still not bad. The mall is GINORMOUS! over 1,500 retail shops. I saw like less than half of a quater of the mall I'm sure. Definately a lot of upscale fashion designers in there like Gucci and Versace and there was some other stores i've never heard of as well but I did see a forever 21! lol didn't get to go in it though, that might have taken up the whole day. While I was there though I went to the worlds largest indoor aquarium and did the whole package so I was able to take a boat ride in the aquarium (on top the water) They gave us fish food and a little tour which was nice. Btw...there was no separation from the sharks so everything that was in there, was in there. They told us sharks never usually come to the top though...pretty scary. There was also a walk through aquatic zoo, and that was fun. I took lots of pics i'll post up later.There was a really huge candy store I spent probably an hr in because I couldn't decided what I wanted lol. The last thing I had time to do was get a pedicure and it was really classy and nice. I wanted to get a manicure but my time was coming to an end.
{The Scary Part}
So I didn't think time was going to be an issue, but it is when your trying to catch a flight. Long storey short I had to take the bus back to the metro station, hop the metro and then get back to the hotel for 7:30pm which is when the scheduled a driver to shuttle me back. No joke, I almost got lost after I got off the metro station because it was darker than I thought it was going to be and I had to ask their police to guide to the hotel...luckly I had a hotel brouchure that had a map ofwhere the hotel was....
....ready for this??
I arrived at the hotel TEN minutes before my flight started its boarding process. I thought I was gonna have a panic attack on the spot. So I ran upstairs jammed everything into my carryon and hailed a taxi to the airport.When I got there I had to go through customs and security check...and typically it wouldnt take a person long to get to their gate...but not in Dubai...everything was soooo spread out it was rediculous. I literally sprinted to the gate and just in time!
{The good part}
So at this point my lungs were about to collapse because I was breathing so hard and I ran to the first and business class line by accident. There were still people checkin in so I was fine. I handed the guy my ticket and he pulled me over to the side... Ithought they weren't going to let me board! But then he handed me a ticket and it turned out he upgraded my seat to business class! Probably the coolest thing that's ever happened to me.
{The funny part}
So I still had anxiety after I boarded the plane. I was tripping over stuff, weak, and still breathing all hard. I pulled out the dinner menu and said meal plan for Dubai to (some other place in India) I went to ask the stewardess where the flight was going and she said "Chennai" I almost lost it! I really almost had a breakdown and then she said "just joking" . The stewardess have a real sense of humor... lol She didn't know I almost missed my flight and I was in panic mode until later on int he flight when she was talking to me.
Emirates is the nicest aircraft I've ever been on. Even economy is treated like your first class. During the 12 hour flight they passed out hot towel to wipe up 3 different times. There were also 3 complete meal and snacks in between each, so your like never hungry. Each chair is equipped with an entertainment center that has a remote/phone, touch screen lcd display that has movies, shows, music, and games, a outlet and usb port. I can go on but i'll stop that.
I guess this sums up my travel experience and first day in India. I just realized how much I wrote and it's pretty long but I don't intend on writing that much everytime, there was just a lot of ground to cover.
Ask questions if you would like :)
originally written: 8/11/2010
I figured the best way to keep everyone updated is to just write a note every once and a while and just tag everyone in it so everyone on the same page and I wouldn't have to write the same thing over and over. With that being said:
I made it to India. My flight arrived in Bangalore at 2:40am and then as soon as I stepped outside the airport there was guy holding a sign with my name and helped me carry my things to a van that had 4 other students in it that's in my program. We had longgg drive to Mysore and got here maybe around 6:30ish. Then at 7:30am they served us traditional indian breakfast. So far everythings been good.
The group of students I came with wanted to go into town so after napping a bit I went with them and we just walked around the village. There were small little stores everywhere, the ground was pretty dusty, and we definately got a lot of stares but not bad ones. The people were more curious than anything. They would just walk up and talk to us. As you would expect in India, cows really are everywhere, but they don't even bother with you, they're kinda in their own world. One guy actually followed us around most of the time. ( We couldn't shake him) He was trying to offer us a tour, but we told him no thanks and he still followed us around anyway. Then when we were heading back to our dorm, he tried to drop us a price for the tour, and he was laughing hysterically when we told him no, we never asked for a tour. It was actually pretty funny.
Well before I actually got to India I had a 12+ hour layover in Dubai which was nothin less than amazing. I booked a hotel which included a shuttle service to and from the airport. It was a 4 star hotel called The Lotus, located in downtown Dubai. Everyone there was soo nice and helpful. They don't let you lay finger on anything, they practically do everything for you, which was awesome. Oh btw, walking around in Dubai was almost like being baked in an oven. I don't think I've ever experienced heat like that before. What was even more weird is that I tried to take a shower as soon as I got to the hotel and the there was so cold water...it was blistering hot. Even the water in the sink. I litrally tried to blow on my rag to cool and down and stop it from burning my skin.
So I had to walk to the metro station from the hotel which was like a 3 minute walk and take that to the district where the mall of Dubai was. Then from there hop a bus to the mall. The mall was actually connected to the worlds tallest tower called the Burj Khalifa, but apparently tickets to see that has to be purchased way in advanced so I only got to look at it, which is still not bad. The mall is GINORMOUS! over 1,500 retail shops. I saw like less than half of a quater of the mall I'm sure. Definately a lot of upscale fashion designers in there like Gucci and Versace and there was some other stores i've never heard of as well but I did see a forever 21! lol didn't get to go in it though, that might have taken up the whole day. While I was there though I went to the worlds largest indoor aquarium and did the whole package so I was able to take a boat ride in the aquarium (on top the water) They gave us fish food and a little tour which was nice. Btw...there was no separation from the sharks so everything that was in there, was in there. They told us sharks never usually come to the top though...pretty scary. There was also a walk through aquatic zoo, and that was fun. I took lots of pics i'll post up later.There was a really huge candy store I spent probably an hr in because I couldn't decided what I wanted lol. The last thing I had time to do was get a pedicure and it was really classy and nice. I wanted to get a manicure but my time was coming to an end.
{The Scary Part}
So I didn't think time was going to be an issue, but it is when your trying to catch a flight. Long storey short I had to take the bus back to the metro station, hop the metro and then get back to the hotel for 7:30pm which is when the scheduled a driver to shuttle me back. No joke, I almost got lost after I got off the metro station because it was darker than I thought it was going to be and I had to ask their police to guide to the hotel...luckly I had a hotel brouchure that had a map ofwhere the hotel was....
....ready for this??
I arrived at the hotel TEN minutes before my flight started its boarding process. I thought I was gonna have a panic attack on the spot. So I ran upstairs jammed everything into my carryon and hailed a taxi to the airport.When I got there I had to go through customs and security check...and typically it wouldnt take a person long to get to their gate...but not in Dubai...everything was soooo spread out it was rediculous. I literally sprinted to the gate and just in time!
{The good part}
So at this point my lungs were about to collapse because I was breathing so hard and I ran to the first and business class line by accident. There were still people checkin in so I was fine. I handed the guy my ticket and he pulled me over to the side... Ithought they weren't going to let me board! But then he handed me a ticket and it turned out he upgraded my seat to business class! Probably the coolest thing that's ever happened to me.
{The funny part}
So I still had anxiety after I boarded the plane. I was tripping over stuff, weak, and still breathing all hard. I pulled out the dinner menu and said meal plan for Dubai to (some other place in India) I went to ask the stewardess where the flight was going and she said "Chennai" I almost lost it! I really almost had a breakdown and then she said "just joking" . The stewardess have a real sense of humor... lol She didn't know I almost missed my flight and I was in panic mode until later on int he flight when she was talking to me.
Emirates is the nicest aircraft I've ever been on. Even economy is treated like your first class. During the 12 hour flight they passed out hot towel to wipe up 3 different times. There were also 3 complete meal and snacks in between each, so your like never hungry. Each chair is equipped with an entertainment center that has a remote/phone, touch screen lcd display that has movies, shows, music, and games, a outlet and usb port. I can go on but i'll stop that.
I guess this sums up my travel experience and first day in India. I just realized how much I wrote and it's pretty long but I don't intend on writing that much everytime, there was just a lot of ground to cover.
Ask questions if you would like :)
originally written: 8/11/2010
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