Namaste!

Namaste from India!
Wow have I had quite the trip over here. I haven’t had time to blog since the moment I arrived we’ve been whisked away somewhere and have limited Internet, not to mention little time to write a decent blog post. Abbey and I had troubles getting over here from the beginning. We were scheduled to leave on the 26^th, but due to a dumb blizzard on the east coast, our flight was delayed until the 28^th. It was disappointing, but on a positive note, I had some “bonus time” with my boyfriend Pat and my family. Abbey and I left successfully on the 28^th—we left from the MSP airport and had a layover in Toronto and in Frankfurt before getting to our final destination of Delhi. This was my first international trip, and I was luck to be traveling with someone as experienced and laid back as Abbey. Despite my wonderful travel partner, the trip over was extremely stressful. Turns out my reservation from Frankfurt to Delhi was canceled, but Abbey’s wasn’t. After talking to two very (and surprisingly nice) German airport ladies, we were reassured we’d probably still get on our flight to Delhi even on standby. We waited and slept on in the airport, and eventually did get on the plane: the last two seats. Talk about stressful. For those who know me, when my plans are changed and I’m tired, I am not a happy person, but I think Abbey’s presence calmed me down immensely. No tears were produced on the trip over. Along the way I met quite a few people, but my favorite was an Indian woman I sat next to on the flight to Delhi. We talked the whole way and even exchanged emails.

When we arrived at Delhi at 2am, we were met by a horrifying smoggy smell and LOTS of people. After waiting what seemed like hours to get our bags, we were picked up by a man named Rajiv and were taken through the dirty streets of Delhi to our Guest House. Madhu (our program director) met us there and wow it was good to see a familiar face. I got a hug I longed for, which again, for those who know me, was so greatly appreciated. Abbey and I got only a couple hours of sleep before we had to get up, eat breakfast with our group (it was good to finally see them) and get on our bus to go to the airport (yes, again) and take a flight to Jodhpur, which is in the north east of India. We spent five days in this area of India, exploring this desert region. We spent 1 night in Jodhpur and then left for Jaisalmer. This was such an interesting place!! It was so dry there and wow, the women’s clothing is beautiful. So colorful. Madhu explained that the bright colors are worn to counter the brown sand that is all around. We spent New Years Eve in a Mandir Palace—a palace that was converted into a hotel. AKA super nice. We all got dressed up and had a dinner with the rest of the residents on the roof of the hotel. It was a nice way to spend New Years Eve, but I definitely missed some people at home… The next day, we went on a camel safari in the desert one of the nights. We all expected to be roughing it—sleeping in tents, not brushing our teeth, etc. But to our surprise (including Madhu’s) it was super touristy and super fancy. Running water and a queen size bed in each tent. Considering Jaisalmer hasn’t seen rain in 10 years, this was disgusting. We all did our best to not use the water, but it was still kind of shocking. It is important to keep in mind that we are the guinea pigs—next year will be completely different. This was such an obvious and really interesting sign of the kinds of things tourists who come to this area expect—running water, meat, electricity, etc (in the desert!). We came back to the main part of Jaisalmer the next day and were able to spend some time walking around the city. I bought some things, but WOW is it crazy to get just hackled by the shop owners. It was extremely overwhelming at first, but I somehow got used to it. We’ve been learning some Hindi and Bengali words, and we’re having a great time using them. This area of Jaisalmer is super interesting. It is a living fort. Its miles of streets inside this fort that people still live in; their families have lived there for hundreds of years. We spent some time over the next few days wandering around—very fascinating.

Well, this is all for now! I love all of you! I’ll write more when I get to Kolkata.

Love, Elizabeth