Hello!
I apologize for my awful, awful discipline on recording and reflecting upon my trip. I don't know why it's so hard for me to do! Maybe it's because I feel that I don't want to take the time and really process all the things I've been seeing and doing...or that I don't really know how to. I'm realizing more and more how comfortable I'm getting here, and how different it's going to be when I get home. The beginning of March basically marks the half-way point of my trip. I feel like I've been here forever, but at the same time I feel like I just got here.
I apologize for my awful, awful discipline on recording and reflecting upon my trip. I don't know why it's so hard for me to do! Maybe it's because I feel that I don't want to take the time and really process all the things I've been seeing and doing...or that I don't really know how to. I'm realizing more and more how comfortable I'm getting here, and how different it's going to be when I get home. The beginning of March basically marks the half-way point of my trip. I feel like I've been here forever, but at the same time I feel like I just got here.
I'm savy at lots of things now--eating with my hands (with only the right hand of course), showering with a bucket, being stern with taxi drivers, flagging down autos, hopping on and off metros, speaking in class so that my professor understands my accent (usually that means pronouncing every consonant including your "t's"--that's something Americans aren't good at), navigating around Kolkata, sleeping on an extremely hard and lumpy bed, and not screaming when I see a cockroach in my bathroom. What I'm not used to yet is the heat. It is so hot! And it's only getting hotter... this is like mid-July weather. I'm going to die.
I've started Yoga! Me, Katie, Ashley, and Kathryn have yoga 3 times a week at 6:30pm. This nice man named Jamal comes and teaches us yoga for an hour. It's so great! I'm not very flexible but I'm getting there :) We haven't had a regular week of school since we've been here. Either because of holidays, excursions we're taking, or a professor cancels class...we just haven't had a set routine yet. I'm starting to really believe we never will have a full, normal week of class. I'm okay with that.
I'll give you an update on some of the things I've been doing!
A few weekends ago, we all were invited over to Madhu and Munu's house to have a party and try on their saris! It was so fun! Saris are so much fun to wear! They each have like a billion of them- most women do, because you never "grow-out" of a sari because it's one long piece of fabric (like 6 feet) that you wrap around you in a special way. You wear a blouse and a petticoat beneath the sari itself. You tuck the sari into the petticoat. The picture below shows me in a sari. The gold shirt I'm wearing is the blouse. Madhu actually gave it to me because she doesn't fit into it anymore. I guess all I need to buy is a sari to go with it... :) But it was so fun to hang out with the whole group and I love wearing saris.
Katie, Ashley, Brynn, Michael, Kathryn, and I went to College Street last Saturday. We got off on M.G. Road Metro Stop and made our way to College Street. The first thing we visited was Presidency College (Madhu, our program director went to this prestigious college). We walked in the campus and took a look around—it looked like a great school. Then we walked past all of the bookstalls- they lined the streets! It seemed impossible to find anything unless you were to go for a specific book in mind, and even then, so many of the books were for engineering, business, microbiology. The only thing that I bought was a map of India to hang on my wall :) The only question is how I will get it home... Anyway, one of the things that made College Street so historical seems to be the bookstalls, which sounds to me, have been compromised and diminished over the years. Yet despite this, I was fascinated by the intelligence of the area. Numerous colleges (quite famous colleges) find their home on this street. We walked past Calcutta University, Hare College, and the Hindu College. We even managed to find and order coffee at the famous College Street Coffee House. I’m glad I went, but overall the significance of the location seems to be more historical and nostalgic than anything interesting in the present day.
Katie and I visited the Indian Museum last Sunday after Kia and Danny’s play (yes they were in a play!). We paid 150 rupees (Indian tourists only had to pay 5...) and set about exploring this vast museum displaying almost everything possible about India’s history-Art, Archaeology, Anthropology, Geology, Zoology, Botany, Egyptian displays, and more. The museum’s website says that it has over one million specimens on display. I believe it; if we would have taken the time each room deserved, we could have spent an entire day in the museum. It was information overload. I like to think that this museum is the way it is because of the great diversity that is found in India. They couldn’t be selective on say, the “geology of India” because there’s such a diversity—so instead they include every rock ever found in Indian soil. In any case, I enjoyed seeing a 4,000 year old mummy and a huge Blue Whale skull.
We had a three day weekend this weekend so we planned a TON of things. The entire group ventured over to Tagore’s family house. We got of the metro at Girish Park and walked a ways until we found our destination. It was a really fascinating, old building. I always like to think about the days that people actually lived in these huge mansions. We convinced the ticket counter man that we were in fact, students at St. Xavier’s, so we got the student discount and headed into the museum. It was pretty interesting to see the rooms Tagore and his family lived in. We’ve heard so much about him, visited Shantiniketan, and now getting to see his house was great. I loved walking through the art that his family produced—amazing!
The same day some of us visited Missionaries of Charity- Mother Teresa's Mother House. It was incredible. We were able to see the room in which Mother Teresa slept and the building in which she worked. There were nuns everywhere, because this place isn't just a historical museum- it's a living, working convent! The coolest thing we were able to do was celebrate mass surrounding Mother Teresa's tomb. Every Friday at 4:30 they do it, and it was such a powerful experience. At the end of mass, we all got the chance to be blessed by her relics and kiss them. I consider myself so lucky to be able to say that I've been to the Mother House. I plan on going back for Mass again. It's incredibly easy to get to.
The same day some of us visited Missionaries of Charity- Mother Teresa's Mother House. It was incredible. We were able to see the room in which Mother Teresa slept and the building in which she worked. There were nuns everywhere, because this place isn't just a historical museum- it's a living, working convent! The coolest thing we were able to do was celebrate mass surrounding Mother Teresa's tomb. Every Friday at 4:30 they do it, and it was such a powerful experience. At the end of mass, we all got the chance to be blessed by her relics and kiss them. I consider myself so lucky to be able to say that I've been to the Mother House. I plan on going back for Mass again. It's incredibly easy to get to.
Yesterday (Saturday) Katie, Ashley, and I took the long trip over the Howrah Bridge to see the famous Botanical Gardens of Kolkata. It was beautiful! This area was a nice break from the dirty and noisy streets of Kolkata. It was very hot in the sun, but I enjoyed it anyway. The most fascinating thing was the Great Banyan Tree. I was expecting a huge singular tree, and instead it was a forest! I was so amazed at the sheer number of roots existing in that tree, and even more fascinating—the original trunk doesn’t even exist anymore! It is 250 years old with 2800 prop roots covering an area of 1.5 hectares. Pictures will come soon. After that, I got my first Bollywood movie experience. Some of us went over to Danny and Michael's house and we watched a movie called "3 Idiots." So great! But they are 3 hours long. Turns out I love Bollywood movies.
Today Katie and I are taking it easy. We had quite the weekend of being on our feet and riding tons of public transportation which can get very exhausting. I've got some homework to catch up on and a nap to take. We'll see if I can fall asleep with the noise that is perpetually filtering through the walls from the street. Kids are playing cricket literally right outside my window.
Well I miss all of you, I'll be home in a little bit more than 2 months! Crazy!
Love from Kolkata,
Elizabeth
Pictures!
