hello from Hyderbad

I had a super smooth trip here. Amsterdam was kind of crazy because of security but other than that I had no bumps. I had a lovely night in Mumbai then right off to Hyderabad. My school is in the northwest part of the state and it's like a desert which I wasn't expecting. My campus isn't beautiful by any means, but I love it. The campus, with gates guarded by police, is something like 23,000 acres and we are the farthest from anything. There are buses that run (sort of) and we're getting bikes so it will be a little easier to get to and from classes but whoa is it a change from Agnes. As is the registration process. Some classes started 3 weeks ago while other departments haven't even posted a schedule (like the dance department)and classes are 1-3 hours so everything conflicts and I have noooo idea how my schedule will turn out. We can start going to classes if we want, but I think most of us will wait until Monday. Today, if all went as planned, is a bundh, which means everything is closed. The opposing party is pissed about something doing with the division of my state so they just do whatever to stop the flow of daily life. We still have our wait staff and some classes are still going because our school isn't government run. We have a wait staff in our 'hotsel' which is so weird but they are so nice and so cute. They take a lot of pride in serving us and it's rude to try to help them. I went to get more toast today and one of the guys brought it to me instead and looked very accomplished. The food is pretty good. I always opt for the consistent fruit (bananas or pineapple usually) white rice, and roti bread. Not a huge fan of the yogurt but it helps with the spices to just mix it with everything. We get a special treat of coke or orange soda and have really good ice cream-it's like whipped cream texture and really flavorful. We've had about 6 power outages today because it rained a lot so I'm going to stop here before I lose all this. We have a campus tour today and hopefully I'll get a bike!
Miss you all....but I love it here.

the final countdown

The reality of all of this is finally setting in. For months I told people I would go to India to study and come Saturday I will be en route to foreign lands. To prepare myself I'm doing all things American (eating steak and delicious hamburgers, enjoying Christmas carols, driving my car, ect.) with a mix of some things Indian (spicy foods, Lagaan soundtrack, Slumdog Millionaire). All sorts of emotions come out of this practice: intense excitement, spurts of stress and terror, and nostalgia for things I haven't even left yet. I've already started the good-byes ("this is the last time I'll see the Atlanta skyline") but five months is no time at all when I really think about it. I'm pretty good about going into things with an open mind and a blank slate, but I do have expectations for this trip. Although it will still be an adjustment, I feel prepared for whatever comes up in India. But I have personal expectations. So this is my pre-departure check-list:

-make solid friendships (but of course not neglect my friends back home)

-eat and enjoy new foods, especially vegetables

-travel as much as possible

-do well in school (gotta represent)

-avoid life-threatening diseases

-defeat negative American stereotypes (I'm leaving the fanny pack behind) and totally own up to the good ones (these colors don't run)

-enjoy everything, not make excuses, and let things happen

One of the most exciting parts for me right now is my suitcase, or more accurately, my backpack. I have transformed from an over-packing monster into a lovely light traveler. Most of my packed materials consist of medicine and candy so I'm pretty much set. Thanks to the invention of the interwebs, I don't feel like I'm leaving much behind. I have skype, cwtv.com, adultswim.com, and let's not forget facebook, to keep me up to date but I don't plan on spending much time on them.

In future posts you can look forward to detailed accounts of my ailments, bizarre encounters with locals, and an extensive amount of pictures.