Goodbye London, Hello India (prepare for a lengthy one)

 Before I even begin I just have to point out the irony in the fact that as I am writing this "end of London beginning of India post," it is currently India's independence day, celebrating its independence from the British empire. So I guess, in a sense, last tuesday was my own personal indian independence day, when I left London and came to India.

London Wrap-up 
The last week in London was somewhat of a blur, what with writing a paper, studying for a final and packing to leave. We went to Camden Market, back to Regent's Park, ate a lot more pizza, found a delicious wok place and ate a bunch of chinese food and finally experienced some good old fashion london rain (nothing compared to what was coming for me later). All in all I'm really glad i went to London and studied at LSE. It was a really fun few weeks, despite some minor frustrations with the british post system. Furthermore, I feel like I actually learned a lot in my class and now when I constantly have to tell people that my focus in international studies is development, I'll have a better of idea of what that actually means. The time went by really quickly and while I may not have seen as much as I would have liked to or studied as much as I should have, I had a lot of fun, loved the people I was there with and I feel like I did pretty well academically, so all's well that end's well (once I get my grade back). London is now one of my favorite cities and I really hope I get to go back someday. It has a spunky local culture while also feeling slightly more laid back than some of the more bussling american cities and is incredibly diverse. The only downfalls I see are the exorbitantly high cost of living and the mediocre food. I guess I should also add that, despite making world news every day for the last week I was there, I never experienced riots and would not have known they were going on had I not read the news. During the last few days, we did see a few trains of 8-10 police vans driving by in the evening, though. I missed drip coffee, but I'm ashamed admit I started buying it at starbucks so I could get my traditional drip. womp womp.

the crew at trafalgar

regent's park

lse building

walk home from campus

trafalgar again

the sherlock holmes, across the street

    My last day was pretty stressful, what with tracking down a package that had never made it to my dorm. As it turns out I had a customs fee to pay and they were holding it for me until I did so, which would have been well and good if I had had any way of knowing this was the case. Long story short I frantically ran around the city from post office to post office for a few hours and a lot of friendly Brits were nice enough to go out of their way to help me find mine; it was refreshing.  I finally decided to find my way back to campus and just as I recognized where I was, I overheard someone asking someone else where LSE was, so I overenthusiastically said "You're looking for LSE?! I'm going there! come with me!" So we walked for ten minutes down kingsway and I learned he was Albanian and due to start his masters in something business related in September, pending his success in an English class that he was on his way to for the first time. I wished him luck and went to study for my own fate-determining final, which went well. After my last class I stuck around afterwards to talk to my professor about India, as he'd mentioned having been there a few times. I had to wait for a while but it was well worth it because he talked to me for about twenty minutes about all the things I should try to see and which regions I should try to hit. Feeling a mixture of frustration that I had to attend classes five days a week and would probably not be able to see all that he described and excitement over how amazing India would be, I thanked him and was on my way.

last night in london

Getting to India
    On my way… to INDIA. Which, if you were not aware, is where I will be until mid December. Though it's been a few days, I'm going to try and describe how surreal it was arriving here late last Wednesday night. After lugging myself and my suitcase through the tube at 6am Wednesday morning, I made it to Heathrow with plenty of time to spare. It was before I even reached security and was in line to check in that I had my first wave of culture shock. I flew air india and was, thus, the only white person in line. However, an attendant noticed I was traveling alone and let me check in at the first class booth where I was given an exit row seat with no seats in front of it, so I was rich with leg room for the long ten hour flight. Despite being a day flight, I was so exhausted that I slept almost the entire time, except when I was either A. panicking about being on a flight to India or B. being served my first taste of Indian food, which was actually so tasty! I had to ask the man sitting next to me what everything was and how to eat it, but it was well worth the humility. Now, many of you are probably thinking "of course Indian food would be good, Indian food is great and everybody loves it," but those of you who remember the days when my diet consisted of hot dogs and mac&cheese can appreciate my new love for Indian food. So I landed at Mumbai and per the usual in India, things weren't quite lined up, so there was no jetway waiting for us and we had to stand outside the plane and wait for a bus. I will never forget the moment when I walked off the dry, chilly plane out into the hot, wet, sticky, dark, aroma-filled Indian night. Standing in a crowd of so many Indians, including some in the full burka, under the bright lights from the airport and hearing the loud engine noises, I felt like I was in a movie because it was so incredibly surreal. Customs went smoothly, I met up with my program director and before leaving the airport I started to understand what everybody meant when they said "everyone will always be staring at you." The drive to the hotel was an adventure, Indians drive like maniacs and I had a few near-death experiences (note: exaggeration). Honking is common and used as a "here i am!" signal, rather than a "you really shouldn't have done that" signal, as in the midwest or a, "please for the love of god move your automobile faster" signal, as on the east coast. 

mumbai hotel

To Manipal We Go: day 1
    After a night at the Mumbai hotel spent listening to dogs barking and cars honking, I met the rest of the people in my program in the morning and we embarked on  the rest of the journey to Manipal. First we flew from Mumbai to Mangalore, (which was only about an hour flight and we still got food! ) and finally took a hot, sweaty, un-airconditioned bus to Manipal, a lovely college town situated atop a hill in the Indian jungle just a few km from the town Udupi and the arabian sea. Our first few days were orientation where we learned a little more about the area, got to know some of our professors and other important maniple figures and were served a whole lot of delicious food. Dinner the first night was really a good time, despite everybody being pretty exhausted/jet-lagged from days of travel ( I lucked out in coming from London, where the time difference is only 4.5 hours). A bunch of important Indian International Relations people were there, in addition to some of the students doing their masters in geo-politics (basically IR) at Manipal. Everybody was so welcoming and excited to talk to us.  By the end of the two hour meal, the geo-politics student sitting next to me was urging me to try food off his own plate. What I decided I really like about Indian eating is that a meal tends to involve several small things, rather than one large entree. Plus, it always ends with something deliciously sweet, which always tastes better and more deserved after a meal of spicier foods. After eating for what felt like an eternity, we finally turned it in for the first night in our hostels (dorms). My room is very nice and pretty big, plus I have my own bathroom! However, two of the girls from my program who live on my left and right have both had water issues in their bathrooms, so I'm a little nervous. I have air conditioning and a fan, but have yet to determine which is most effective in cooling my room and, more crucially, drying it out a bit. They always leave the front door of the hostel open and I live on the first floor, so it's always like a jungle in here.

my dorm, before sprucing

look at those pretty sheets

 day 2
    The next day was filled with more orientation activities, talks with some of our professors and other Manipal faculty and of COURSE, tea breaks. Tea breaks are great because even though you're already full from all the other food, you grab some tea (or nescafe coffee, if you're cool like me) and a pastry just because its tasty and you're tired. So lunch with the faculty was nice, they're all very impressive and have a lot to say. It's especially interesting listening to the Indian IR guys talk because, despite my classes at AU and LSE doing their best to present different perspectives on issues, now I'm hearing the Indian perspective firsthand and it's pretty cool.  Plus, because I'm the only one in my program doing the Indian studies track, rather than public health, and am an IR major, they're all very interested in what I've been studying and what courses I'm taking here. Though I love SIS (school of international service at au) and I wouldn't ever think of leaving it, it does become easy to feel like just part of the crowd, seeing as  about a third of AU majors in Intl Studies. In India, the idea of studying international studies (or geo-politics, as it's called here) is more unusual, so not only do the Indians who are doing so or have done so really enjoy meeting people with similar backgrounds, they're very proud in what they're studying and excited to talk about their interests, it's refreshing. I hope this made sense to all of you. Anyway later that afternoon some of the geo-politics students took us around the town of Manipal to show us where to load up our cell phones, where some of our classroom buildings are and, most importantly, how to take a rik (auto rickshaw, the best form of transportation around here. just rs 20 to go anywhere in town! [approx. 50 cents]). It started to pour ,so after eating some ice cream we went to one of their apartment buildings and hung out until the rain ceased, it was a good time. Manipal is a pretty small town that consists of one circle, called Tiger Circle, and a bunch of streets that stem from it. Only about 25,000 people live here and 18,000 of them are Manipal students. There are a bunch of schools that make up the university, including  one of the best medical schools in India, a jewelry management school and MIT (maniple institute of technology, GET IT?!), just to name a few. There's also a very incredible and somewhat ostentatious gym that is supposedly the best in Asia. Later that evening we went to the neighboring town of Udupi where we visited a Krishna temple, got blessed by elephants (email me for the thrilling details of this experience) and ate dosas at the restaurant where they were supposedly invented. Dosas, one of the only foods I've eaten that I can actually name, are kind of like crepes with spicy potato stuff in the middle. I don't really get the hype, but don't kill me. Two things I tend to enjoy a lot are paneer (fresh cheese, popular in south asia) and gobi (cauliflower). Oh and Naan, so much naan. In the case that the food is unappetizing or you aren't feeling well, you can take comfort in knowing that most Indian meals will come with some sort of plain bread, always a safe bet.  I More on food later if I ever learn the names of what I eat.

Manipal

rik outside tiger circle

outside the temple in udupi

krishna temple in udupi

cows in udupi

day 3
    The next morning we ate breakfast in the mess hall for the first time. The food was alright, but it's going to be hard for me to adjust to spicier foods in the morning. I will never again take for granted my morning cereal and, for now, I just get to appreciate bread day, which is the day on which the mess serves toast with butter and jam. There's also about a million little places to buy food on my walks to class, including one with hot banana chips, so I have a feeling I'll survive. Street food is something we're told to avoid, at least at first, due to the likelihood of consuming unsafe water in food that isn't cooked, but places with hot foods are safe. Hooray! I am considering easing myself into the water here, though, so I can eat the street foods that often look so delicious. (sorry mom & dad, but don't forget that one of the best hospitals around is just a 5 minute walk away!). Everybody told me I would get sick when I got here and I've felt just great so far, so I urge the rest of you to avoid spreading such nerve-wracking lies. Anyway, after breakfast we took a bus tour around campus and stopped by the campus temple (damn, why didn't I study up on Hinduism before I got here?), and some of our academic buildings. One cool thing about Manipal is that a j every school has a campus area and they all look very unique from one another. That day we also heard a few speakers, one on India's role in global affairs and one on the philosophy behind getting educated. The first was Professor Nalapat, . He's really important and has a wikipedia page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madhav_Das_Nalapat). Another important person who's been hanging around with us at our lunches and such is MV Kamath, another important person with a wikipedia page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M._V._Kamath), plus he's met MLK, gandhi, been to east berlin when nobody was allowed there and ridden in a US president's golf cart. That evening we attended a Yakshagana performance which is an old traditional form of theater in which a story from the Ramayana is told with music, dance and crazy costumes. It's also in the local dialect, Kanada. I was very tired, did not understand the story without the dialogue and still frustrated over how little I know about Hinduism.

day 4
    Although it was incredibly exciting to be in India, orientation still had its very boring moments, what with learning about how to deal with culture shock and knowing when its unsafe to walk around the dark streets of Mumbai alone. However there was a light at the end of the tunnel and that was our outing to Sringeri, a town towards the top of a mountain on the western ghats. My LSE professor had urged me to check out this area and once I was off the bus and drinking tea at the base, looking at what we were about to drive up, I knew why. The ride was bumpy, but the steep roads were no match for our triumphant green tourist van. After stopping at an outlook and almost seeing a woman fall to her death, we made it all the way up. The scenery was amazing, I've never been anywhere so tropical. The town of sringeri is considered to be very holy, as it is one of four Mathas that Adi Shankar founded, one in each corner. (read more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adi_Shankara). The temples were beautiful and I have learned to not mind walking around barefoot with thousands of my indian chums. However, it was in Sringeri, which was packed full of Indian tourists visiting the holy spot for a long weekend, that we were constantly asked to take pictures with people. "Just one snap madam?" gets old, but it was particularly hilarious when a few of them jumped into our group picture. But no temple experience is complete without enjoying some holy food at the temple cafeteria. It seats around 3,000 people and after being seated on the ground, volunteers walk down the rows passing out the plates and food while everybody ferociously eat everything with their hands. Indians eat very quickly. I do not. I'm still working on eating with my right hand only, as Indian culture is such that the right hand is considered pure, for eating, and the left hand impure, for toilet things. (hint: this is why you carry around toilet paper). After a long, hot, but beautiful day in Sringeri, we were ready to load up in to the van and drive back to Manipal.

way up to sringeri

halfway

temple in sringeri

tunga river

pre indians

post indians

ready set eat

day 5
    Monday was Independence day and the first day we had no planned activities. hooray! I reluctantly woke up early to attend the campus celebration. It was pretty funny, each school picks a few students to represent it in a march off, no surprise in the fact that the engineering students win it every year. After hearing Dr. Kamath speak again, I went to find breakfast with a friend. Later in the day we went to Udupi to do some shopping, which was only partially successful. It was incredibly hot and shopping in India is just a little different than in the US. First you have to find someone who understands english well enough for you to ask what you're looking for, then you stand at a counter where an employee throws tons of whatever it is you're looking for on the counter for you to sift through. We were in search of salwar kameezes, the tunic and pants (specifically, "jumbo jumbo" pants, as one employee called them) look that many Indian girls sport. After a few stores and a few purchases each, we stopped for a snack and decided we were hot, sweaty and ready to go back. So we hopped back on the bus between Udupi and Manipal that costs just rs 5. This weekend we're planning to go to Mangalore, where the shopping is apparently much better than anything around here. Because the few things I've bought have all fit me kind of funny (nothing really has sizes), I'm really looking forward to what will hopefully be a more successful shopping experience. Gotta get me some cool bangles, too!

independence day

main campus building

SO, to summarize, and provide a sparknotes version of this post for those of you who do not have unlimited time at your disposal, India is pretty great. Very hot and incredibly humid, but great. It's definitely different and, though I've only been here for just a few days, it's still hard for me to explain exactly how it's different. I think pictures are better for that. I guess as far as everyday life goes, the differences are minor; things are less organized, streets are dirty, people honk a lot and the papers in my room are always curled from the humidity. Being in a town focused so heavily on education means I'm not experiencing a lot of the "bad scary" parts of India. There's only a few beggar children here(any ideas on what I'm supposed to give them would be much appreciated, I can hardly stand ignoring them), very little crime and no devastating poverty. I can get in a rik and know that the driver probably isn't going to drive me to the middle of nowhere and steal all my money and that's a very good thing. That being said, it's important to understand that a nice single dorm with a big fancy gym is hardly representative of the rest of this country, though it does show the stark contrasts that are evident here. The other day I asked an Indian student "if beef is banned in Karnataka (the state I'm in),  do people wear leather jackets? He laughed and said "of course we wear leather jackets, it's just one of the many contradictions in India" and that's really stuck with me.

I'm going to leave it at that for now, I'll update towards the end of the week when I regain some energy to write again after such an intense blogging marathon. I finally got internet in my room after a long holiday weekend of nobody wanting to do this girl a favor, but it's been absolutely wonderful to hear from everyone now that I'm reconnected. This week is my first week of classes, so eventually I'll be able to fill you all in on the mundane details of my everyday life. Get pumped!
<3 Julia

ps, I do have an address if anybody is interested in trying to send me love letters, etc.
pps. monkey