The first day was rough... especially after that dream I had. It just kept messing with me... like, I'm here... I'm here right? this isn't a dream? right? Its more real now. I am still soaking it all in though.
The airport experience in Delhi was insane. I had to wait outside the airport terminal for 3 hours, then inside, waiting for my ticket counter for another 2, then inside walking around for another 5. It was just way too much to handle without sleep. Luckily, I teamed up with a guy named Nick from the UK, and Yoef and Emily from Israel. We all looked after the bags, taking turns sleeping in the chairs until our respective flights. My flight was the latest... but thankfully for me, Delhi has a smoking room. :-) I had a can of American Spirit Tobacco and ZigZags, and smoked myself silly. I caught my flight at 6am, and arrived in Hyderabad at 9am. Once I arrived in Hyderabad, a cab driver (hired by my program) swooped me up, and took me to Tagore International House at the University of Hyderabad or HCU.
I have a roommate from North Carolina. She is awesome! She is a political science and gender studies major at the University of Charlotte, NC. She's interested in domestic violence, sex trafficking, and so many other things that I too am interested in. We get along well, and respect each other's space.
The other students in the house are from different programs. I am the first and only student who has come to Hyderabad from New Mexico State University, although we have many Hyderabadis on campus at NMSU. Most of the other students I live with are American. There are 10 other hostels on campus though. Ours is the only mixed gender hostel on campus, and we are the only ones with hot water, generators, housekeeping, and kitchen staff. We are not allowed to have any visitors inside the Tagore International Hostel (They say it is for our safety). Some of the classes I might take are: Yoga theory and practice, as well as... The Philosophy and Science of Ayurveda..... Women's movements in India........ and an Independent study with a professor here who teaches Sociology and gender equality issues. I will be doing an independent study on the social and cultural constructs of female homosexuality in South India. I will be working with Masters students at HCU in collaboration for this project.
Campus is HUGE!!! It's 2500 acres, w/ over 500,000 trees, 4 natural lakes, 120 species of birds, 21 species of snakes (most are non-venemous)... peacocks, mongooses, water buffalo...and that's all just the U of H campus.
It should be a city in and of itself. We have a hospital, a post office, a market, buses, rickshaws, 3 food centers. The city outside of campus is so alive and amazing! I'll adventure out there with the group on Saturday. I went out the day that I got here. we rode the train all the way across the city to a market where I got some clothes. We rode the train... and a shared auto bus thing. We were traveling w/ a group of 7 white girls, and 1 white guy (all American)... It was a little weird to have people staring at me and us constantly. We were making a scene because of our skin color, which is my first time experiencing that. It's not something you can just hide... 7 blonde white people stand out in a crowd of 7.7 million Indians with darker skin.
I woke up in time to see the sun rise... It was beautiful! I am so glad I brought my binoculars... but my camera can't take pictures of what my eyes are seeing. The birds this morning were singing beautiful songs. These ones are called Baban (I think). I asked the guards what they called these birds, and that's what they told me.
