The lectures at XIME were very interesting. One thing that distinguishes India from the U.S. is that there are electrical outages every day sometimes for a few seconds to a few minutes. It’s just something that students and professors can expect.
Driving in India is CRAZY. It’s like there are no rules for cars or motorcycles. Driving in traffic is like rush hour in Cleveland without laws on stopping. Turn signals aren’t usually used, instead people use their horn. The motorcycles make their way to the front of the traffic by squeezing through the tight spaces between the cars and big transportation buses. We were amazed to see four people on one motorcycle. The funniest thing was when there was a cow laying right in the road and people were driving past it like it was nothing. Along with all these vehicles on the road there are dogs, cows, goats, donkeys, and people all walking alongside or on the road. Sadly, poor adults and children would come up to our car and knock on our windows when we were stopped begging for money or for us to buy what they were selling. Another thing that amazed me was that people do not get out of the way for emergency vehicles like ambulances. They get stuck in the traffic just like everyone else. They are treated like any other car.
The food was amazing. I loved the Indian style barbecue. The naan and different types of bread were also very good. The spices are what makes the food.
The weather was pretty nice in India. Delhi is much hotter than Bangalore. Bangalore was in the 70s and was windy and raining a few days. Dubai, however was 115 degrees with really dry air. While we were in Dubai, Ramadan was taking place so many places were not open until sun set.
On the buildings and in cars there were pictures and statues of the gods. The carvings were incredible on top of the buildings. Many buildings were also very colorful, in pink, blue, yellow, or orange.
I loved the wild life. In Delhi there were camels walking down the streets. We saw a person riding an elephant down the road. Between the roads there were pigs. When we were walking back from Taj Mahal there was a family of moneys playing in the grass and trees. When we were driving to Coorg we drove through the jungle and saw a lot of deer and two big elephants with a baby one.
At the coffee plantation we relaxed for the day. It was so quiet and peaceful. It rained most of the time we were there. The next day we went white water rafting and it was so much fun. No one fell out but we flew to the opposite parts of the raft during the rapids. We showed great teamwork and the guy who was with us told us our team was very good at it.
The forts, palaces, and Taj Mahal were beautiful. It’s amazing how they were built and with so much creativity and filled with art.
Shopping was really fun too! Amanda, Bethanie, and I got to try on sarees which were so pretty. We also went to local shops where we could buy wooden craved boxes, little glass elephants and other types of Indian souvenirs.
This was a great experience!