What Just Happened?

To commemorate my first month in Indian I had planned a blog post that summed up my whole experience thus far, but that will have to wait for my story of last night. Yesterday was an exciting day from the start, but I never would have expected how it ended. It was Krishna Janmashtami, a festival which basically celebrates the birth of Krishna, a god and a good king. Although there are celebrations the night of the 28th when he was born (at midnight) most of the celebrating takes place the evening of the 29^th. All around India clay pots, or Dahi-Handi, are hung high off the ground and people build human pyramids to break them. Yes, HUMAN PYRAMIDS. There are professional teams and people train well in advance for it. In fact, when I arrived in India (exactly a month ago!) I saw people practicing on the side of the streets. It’s all for good reason because the team that breaks the pot gets a huge prize. Most are around 1 Lakh (or 100,000 rupees or 1,500 dollars) but some are even more, and supposedly there’s one in Mumbai that is 25 Lakh! The week before a lot of preparation goes into the stages being set up and the streets decorated. Then the entire day of they play music (mostly Indian dance music) from the stages really, really loudly.

For me it started with a mini celebration at my society (or apartment building). After spending the day with some of my fellow inbounds I came home to practice for a dance I was performing. Some girls in my society in 8^th - 10^th standard had invited me to dance with them to the Bollywood song “Gun Gun Guna Re” from the movie Agneepath. That evening we performed it for most of our society in the area under the building. After that a pot filled with candy was hung above a Rangoli design (made out of colored sand) and we made a pyramid to reach it and break it. As one of the older and taller (yes you read that right, I am comparatively tall to 10 year olds) kids I helped form the base. Because of this I really don’t know what happened besides someone standing on my back. Eventually the pot was broken and everyone fought to recover some candy. The pot was basically a clay piñata, so unfortunately when it broke and the candy rained down so did shards of pottery. This made me nervous to crawl around blindly on the ground like everyone else, but some sweet little kids took pity on me and gave me some of their extra candy. After breaking the first pot there was a second one filled with layha, a kind of grain. Then everyone there ate a small dinner of a pattis, a cake, kala (a kind of grain salad) and strangely enough potato chips. While we were waiting I danced to music with the girls I’d performed with. 

Afterwards one of my host mother' neighbors invited me to her in-law's house to see a depiction of Krishna's village that their family had made. It was a combination of different statues, including some homemade ones, and lots of flowers. They welcomed me into their home and explained to me all about the different parts and even put a red dot on forehead and gave me a treat called ladu. This was just a reminder of how generous Indian people are. So far everyone has been very excited to share their culture with me and because of it I've gotten to meet new people and had lots of new opportunities. As I was leaving they invited me over again in early September for the Ganpati festival honoring Lord Ganesh. To have total strangers who are so kind and welcoming to a foreigner made me smile uncontrollably and even tear up a little bit.

After returning home we almost immediately left to go to the stage nearby my house. There was a stage set up with a crane off to the side and a huge, colorful Dahi-Handi hanging from it. Underneath it was a giagantic crowd of people dancing and getting excited for when the human pyramids would begin. At first we (my host mom's friends in the society and their kids and us) were on the outskirts, but we decided to climb up onto the stage to get a better view. There were a lot of tall men at the front so we couldn't see much, but when they saw that I was a foreigner they offered me a seat in the first row with the best view. This was incredibly exciting and (briefly) the highlight for me. Suddenly my host mom told me to stand up because the organizers of this specific Dahi-Handi wanted to "facilitate", or honor, me. Suddenly the man with the microphone was saying (in Marathi) that "Elisabeth Lee has come all the way from the United States to see the Dahi-Handi of Bhusari Colony (where I live)". Then he gave me flowers and a coconut and had me lead the crowd in a cheer. Although at the time I couldn't stop shaking and I'm sure my face was beet red I've realized that it was actually super cool. Apparently he phrased it as kind of a marketing scheme, but the entire crowd was looking at me and it was still really amazing. After me and the girls who I had performed with earlier went down into the crowd to dance. Although the middle was a mosh pit of guys there were a lot of girls my age or younger on the outside dancing in groups. Also the moms could all see us from the platform so it felt pretty safe. While in the crowd on the ground a few girls shook my hand and suddenly every person in sight wanted their hand shaken. A few even had their friends take pictures of them with me. Some girls invited me and my friends into their groups to dance and they were really excited and obviously felt honored that I was dancing with them. 

After a while they announced that the teams would be building the pyramids so we went back to the platform to watch. The first team was wearing matching shirts and they had obviously practiced a lot. Instead of people frantically climbing each other they had a predetermined order and calmly lifted each other up. At first they couldn't reach the Dahi-Handi, but after lowering it a few times they easily broke it. The money wasn't actually inside it, instead it was filled with butter and they collected it afterwards.  While watching all of this I stood on a chair in order to see above everyone's heads. Some boys a little younger than me started asking me about where I was from. However they soon lost interest when they found out I wasn't from Los Angeles and as I was about to leave they eagerly asked me how we spell "socks" in the United States. That definitely helped diminish my ego after being honored in front of the whole crowd.

Now that I've had time to calm down and reflect on all that I happened I've realized that this would never have happened if I hadn't done this exchange with the Rotary. Instead of being announced to all of an Indian street at a festival I would be spending time enjoying the last few days of summer before my Senior year of high school. It actually really put things into perspective and I know that although there are things that I will miss this coming year, I am having experiences that are a once in a lifetime chance. 

Just Say Yes

I’m sorry I haven’t written the past few weeks. I’ve been getting adjusted to going to college (more on that later) and having so many crazy and fun experiences that it’s been hard to sit down and write them down. That being said I'll try to write more and make this post entertaining. Here’s a few of the exciting things that have happened to me.

School: I’ve started school and have been getting used to the structure. The Indian school system is very different than the American one, so I am going to devote an entire post just to that. I'm just gonna say so far it's been a lot of fun and very little learning (which I don't mind one bit).

Making friends: I’m still a little overwhelmed by all of the new people at school who I’ve met, but I’ve started to make some great friends. Tamara and I go to school with 3 other girls who live by us and they’ve been super nice and interesting to talk to. We also officially have 6 Rotary inbounds (including me) going to school and more to come on the way! There are Audrey and I from the US, Tamara and Jesus from Mexico, and Gustav and Hugo from Sweden. The 6 of us have been having so, so, so much fun being foreigners together and they are some of the best people I’ve ever met and some of my best friends already.

Learning Marathi (and some general observations on language): I’ve slowly been working on learning Marathi, the language of the state of Maharashtra where Pune is, and the language that my host family speaks at home. Before I left for India I had a wonderful tutor named Shreshtha that helped me with the basics of Hindi. I got down the simple theory and some basic words, but it was a challenge. Hindi and Marathi are extremely different from any language I’ve ever experienced and it’s going to be difficult to get really good at speaking it. I’m really not able to decipher anything when people are speaking to each other, so it’s a major victory when I pick out a word or two. It usually goes something like: “They said Tum!! That means you! They’re saying ‘you...and something else.’”

Because of this I’ve been working on learning to read the characters. Since I am surrounded by them constantly this has been going much better. Whenever I am out on the two-wheeler or on the bus or in the car I try to translate everything that I see. Yesterday at the Police Station while in line I made a fool of myself by translating (with a lot of help from my host Mom) every sign in sight. Some of the letters I am very comfortable with, but the rest look the same. Its difficult because Marathi has 12 vowels and about 35 consonants. Each vowel can be added to a consonant for tons of combinations. There’s also a lot of nuance in the sound of the characters. I’m convinced there’s at least 4 different variations of Sh. There’s really 6 vowels, but 2 variations of each: one long and one short (I = e and ee). With the consonants there is similar confusion. My phrase book (thank you Mom and Dad!) gives prononciation for two different sounds as "ka" and "k'a". Apparently the latter has more emphasis. Even then though the "a" isn't really an "a" sound, but more of a "u" sound (making it kuh and kUH) and then vowels must be added to give it other sounds. Even with all of this difficulty I can see the progress I've made in the past month and I am becoming more motivated to really work hard at learning Marathi.

Even with the complexity of the language some parts of it are quite simple. Easily 1/3 of the words (mostly nouns) people say are in English because the languages have become so intertwined. My host dad was just explaining to me that no matter what order you put the words in in a given sentence the overall meaning doesn’t change. This takes away some of the stress with learning an entirely new language. And considering I am completely surrounded by it and so many people want to help me learn it I hopefully will become quite good at Marathi by the end of this stay. I have an added incentive since I’ve recently learned that the US State Department runs a program to help people learn difficult languages (mostly Asian ones like Mandarin, Japanese, Turkish, Arabic and...Hindi!). In part this is to encourage more people to learn these difficult languages, but another big reason is because they may be security threats to the United States someday. Not the best reason, but I'll take whatever opportunity to learn Hindi!

Audrey and I are definitely at a disadvantage because we don’t speak a language that no one else understands. Gustav and Hugo can speak in Swedish, and Tamara and Jesus (and Hugo) can speak in Spanish and have no one else know what they're saying. I have resorted to translating in the minimal Spanish that I know. They’ll say something and I’ll respond “Casa means house and queso means cheese!!!” and then smile proudly while they laugh at me. Who knows, maybe I’ll pick up a little Spanish (and Swedish?) this year. In order to cope with not being able to speak about things in a language no one else understands Audrey and I have resorted to saying nonsensical American landmarks to try and pretend no one can understand us. It goes something like this:

Audrey: “Montana Lake Superior Tennessee!”

Me: “I know!! Alabama Mount Rushmore…and Salt Lake City!!”

Then we laugh together and leave everyone else confused.

Being a foreigner: I have realized just how much I stick out on the Indian streets. At first I didn’t think that I was getting stared at too much, but as Audrey pointed out, I hadn’t been walking around on the streets much. Now that I'm out of the house more I've been noticing it a lot. And not just a lot of glances either. People staring at me (sometimes completely surprised) and not even stopping when I stare back. 

I had my big “Aha!” moment about how different I look around my 2^nd week here. While going somewhere on the motorbike I saw a white man walking on the side of the street. He looked maybe American or European, tall with light eyes, pink skin and blond hair. Back in Minnesota I wouldn't have looked twice at him. Instead though I stared in shock at him (which hopefully he didn’t notice). Not only did he really stand out on the street, but I realized that he was the first white person I’d randomly seen on the street. Then I realized that that must be what I look like to Indian people. Audrey describes it best: “like a giant blob of sunshine”. This may apply to her more as she is blonde, slightly fairer than I and tall by Indian standards, but it’s not far from how I look. Especially when the 6 exchange students are in a group we really, really stand out. It’s made all of us automatic friends with any other foreigners. Two days ago at school I went up to 2 girls who obviously weren't Indian and asked them where they are from and they ended up being fellow Rotary inbounds from Rotary! I think I scared them by how excited I was to meet them, but I'm just happy that more people are arriving!

Looking really different has its benefits and its drawbacks. In school I’ve had people strike up a conversation with me just because they can tell I’m an exchange student. In these instances I don’t mind obviously not being Indian. However at times it can be really frustrating. When I’m walking to the store with my host brother or sitting in the canteen sometimes I would just like to be anonymous. However I know I can’t change how I look. Even when I completely cover my face except for my eyes (the style for women when riding 2 wheelers) it is still evident that I’m not Indian. As I’ve gotten more comfortable here I’d really like to blend in a little more. When I'm walking down the street I can tell that every single person looks at me, and most don't look away. The novelty of this attention has passed and it's getting annoying and sometimes kind of creepy. I may wear some Indian clothes (Kurtis mostly), but I can't change the fact that I have brown hair, green eyes and white skin. It can be really frustrating because no matter how comfortable I get with living in India I will always look different. It's a hard reality to accept (and I still haven't completely) but I'm going to try and learn some sassy phrases in Marathi to say to people who stare too much.

Going to a pooja: Earlier this week I went to a Pooja. Although it can be celebrated for different reasons this one was because someone Rashmi knows just got married. It's basically an offereing to the gods and involves eating and socializing and playing games. I didn’t have any idea what to expect and as I wasn’t feeling my best I tagged along slightly reluctantly with my host mother. Going was one of my best decisions so far. The games turned out mostly dancing and a lot of singing and they were so fun to watch. They were actually really fast and complicated and my host Mom told me they were really good exercise. All the women were wearing the most beautiful saris and so much gold jewelry. Overall it was just entertaining and exciting to watch.

There were 2 girls my age there and one of them, Suyoga, invited me to try one of the games. I was more than a little terrified and embarrassed to be up in the middle in front of everyone, but I agreed to try it. It turned out she didn’t know how to do it either and so we had fun bumbling through the steps together. Afterwards I talked to them and it turned out the other girl, Pratiksha, goes to Symbiosis (my school) but to the School of Photography. They two of them volunteer with an organization that hosts Americans who are in Pune for a few months. They show them around the city and have fun getting to know them. Suyoga and Pratiksha offered to show me different sights and once the Americans get here in a few weeks to have me come hang out with them. In the end I had more fun than I thought possible, got to see a new side of Indian culture, met some amazing new friends and will get to show some fellow Americans the city I am growing to love soon!

Happy Raksha Bandhan: This past Tuesday I celebrated Raksha Bandhan, or “Brother Sister Day”. On this day girls tie a bracelet (or Rakhi) on the wrist of their brother (or cousin or good friend) and in return get some kind of present. Tamara and Audrey came over to my house on this day to give bracelets to Sahil, who at some point this year will be their host brother. I also got to meet the sisters of my host Father, Sameer, and their families. It was also a fun day since we didn’t have school and I now have an Indian brother!

A revelation: Two days ago I was in a rickshaw on my way home from playing laser tag and pool with some other Rotary Inbounds and kids from my class when I had a revelation. My thought process went something like this: “First, I’m in India. A country halfway around the world that is incredibly different than the United States. Second, I have successfully communicated with a rickshaw driver (not the kindest of people) about where I wanted to go and haggled for a reasonable rate. Third, I know my way around the streets near my house and I feel comfortable with where I am and if need be I could walk home. If I can do all of these things…then what can’t I do??” It was such an amazing feeling of confidence and happiness and excitement that I smiled stupidly to myself the rest of the way to my house.

Before I left everyone said stuff like, “This year will transform you!” and “You’re going to learn so much!” I always agreed politely, but I didn’t really think about it until now, when I am actually feeling the effects that 3 and a half weeks in India have had on me. Although I have a giant support system with the Rotary and my friends and family, I really am on my own this year. While all of these people will help me figure things out, only I can embrace this amazing opportunity and learn from it. Only I (and I suppose Audrey too) are being ambassadors for our communities and all of the United States. This is exciting, but also a little scary that so many people have placed their trust in me and believe that I can make this year a learning experience for myself and others.

This (almost) first month has taught me so many things. I probably don't even recognize everything that I have gotten out of it. My biggest take away has been to trust myself and my instincts, to try new things and push myself, to say yes to every new food or opportunity and most of all: to believe in myself. As cheesy as all of that is, it's the best way to sum up how amazing only the beginning of this incredible journey has been.

Off to a Good Start

My first week in India is officially over! It’s been a crazy one full of emotions and new experiences, but on the whole it has made me incredibly excited for the months to come.

I’ve (mostly) gotten past the initial shock phase and I’ve begun to adapt to life here. It was hard at first because I was both overwhelmed by how different (and AMAZING!!) India is as well as getting used to a new way of living. Every family has a different way of doing things and it’s just the matter of becoming familiar with those of my host family. So far it’s been going well and my host family, especially my Mother, has been incredibly accommodating.

When I decided I was going to write a blog about my year I set a goal to write one every week. I assumed I both wouldn’t enjoy writing it very much and wouldn’t have much to say. Instead it has turned into a weird combination of therapy and personal journal and now this is the 4^th entry in a week. It’s been enjoyable documenting all of my experiences on here and a good way to reflect on things.

For the next 3 weeks I have decided to cut myself off from Facebook, Skype and other than anything really important, e-mail. Instead I am going to immerse myself in India and all of the incredible things it has to offer. I may be writing a little bit less, but in order to have some material to write about it is necessary that I have some experiences!

Last night I Skyped with my whole family on my Dad’s side who are on vacation in South Carolina. It was so good hear everyone’s voices and see their faces, although a little overwhelming to have fifteen people trying to cram themselves into one screen, but it made me really, really miss them. However they were all so excited to hear about what I’m doing here and what India is like that I didn’t really have time to be sad. Instead I got to tell them all about my time here and how much I love it and how happy I am. It did remind me of many of the things that I’m missing back home, but I’ve been able to find a way around that too. I’ve been finding ways to introduce Minnesota to my host family and new friends, mostly through food. Two nights ago Audrey and I made a (slightly improvised) chocolate cake for my family and I’m already planning on Kraft Mac and Cheese and wild rice soup! I’ve also used street view on Google maps to show my house as well as other landmarks around Edina. The most interesting thing to explain has been the State Fair. There is no even remotely close equivalent in India so it’s been a little challenging to explain all of it. Especially the food. I would be lost without the aid of Google images to show what exactly a “Scotch Egg” and all of the other weird foods are.

I did say that it was an emotional week, so I’ll explain a little more about that. Let me first say that homesickness was not one of the things I thought I would have to deal with this year. I have never really been homesick and although I’ve also never been alone in a different country for almost a year I naïvely assumed I would be fine. Therefore I was completely caught off guard on the morning of my first day when I was completely homesick. I was tired from the flight, but I couldn’t go to sleep so my mind started racing. While lying in bed I started thinking about my family and friends and questioning why I ever thought it was a good idea to go to another country for a year, especially to India. I actually didn’t recognize it as homesickness at first, since I’ve never experienced it, which would be funny if I hadn’t been so miserable. I did finally fall asleep from exhaustion, but not before I realized that homesickness would happen and I needed to accept that and not suppress it. I had no idea how to do this, but it was the advice I’d gotten from Rotex (former Rotary students) so I decided to figure out how to do that. So far my strategy has been staying busy so that I literally don’t have time to be homesick. Getting out of the house running errands and meeting new people has distracted me, and I’ve found so many things to love here! Once I start school (next week!) that will be even easier. I’ll be busy most of the day and I’ll be able to meet tons of new people and make new friends.

There’s so much to see and do and it gets me excited about my upcoming year. Pune is really an amazing city and I’ve already made some amazing friends. It can really only get better from here!

Things I’ve learned in the past week:

-Even if my windows are completely shut and curtains are drawn I still get noise from the street at all times of the night

-No one on the road slows down or stops for pedestrians

-Wearing long jeans actually isn’t too hot and it’s what younger women wear most of the time

-No matter where you are from if you meet any fellow exchange students they automatically become your best friends

-Pigeons are essentially the same all over the world (although the ones outside my window sound like they may have a respiratory problem due to the pollution)

-Potholes and road work in Minnesota are nothing compared to those in India. “Road construction” usually means that instead of any sort of road there is mud and no sign of anyone working on it

-The dashed lines that “divide” lanes are completely ignored and traffic lights mean nothing. Basically the only traffic rule here is that there are none.

-I take a lot for granted, including knowing my way around town and not having to turn on the boiler and wait 15 minutes for hot water to take a (bucket) shower

-It’s guaranteed that I always forget to pack something

-It’s possible to make chocolate cake in a convection microwave

-Food is the best way to cross cultural differences

-I need to try new things and say yes to everything, because I don’t know when a new experience might turn out to be really good. My best example is a weird and delicious fruit that looks like an artichoke and tastes like banana mixed with mango and has black seeds inside of it. According to Google it is called a “Cherimoya” in English, but all I know is that it is delicious and I’m glad I had the courage to try it. Who knows whether the weird combination of vegetables or mystery fruit will be utterly delicious? So I try everything.

-And finally: Indians are the some of the most welcoming and most generous people in the entire world and I know that the coming ten months will be some of the best of my entire life

New Friends

Yesterday was the best day so far. It was “Friendship Day” which means that people get together with their friends, exchange bracelets and generally have fun. I got to meet a huge group of my host brother Rohit’s friends. Audrey and an exchange student from Mexico named Tamara were also there and the three of us have become fast friends. It was also my first time on a motorbike. I haven’t explained very much about the roads here, but a majority of the vehicles are “two-wheelers” (which is what everyone calls them). They’re smaller and can maneuver into tiny places, so they were basically made for Indian roads. Anyway, motorbikes are also my new favorite mode of transportation. It was a little terrifying at first (every time we turned a corner I was sure I’d fall off) and I held onto the bar behind the seat tightly. Eventually I got more used to it and it is completely exhilarating. It makes me sad that there’s nothing like that (other than maybe motorcycles) in the US, but I’ve vowed to ride one as much as possible.

            With Rohit’s friends we first met at a park and then walked around the neighborhood. It was a little overwhelming to meet everyone all at once, but they were so friendly and welcoming it didn’t matter that Tamara, Audrey and I couldn’t remember anyone’s names. After walking around and talking it was decided that we were going to McDonald’s. Normally at home I don’t eat McDonalds, but I was just excited for some meat and familiar American food. My host family, the Tilaks, is vegetarian for the most part (like nearly half of India). Although I’ve considered becoming vegetarian after 5 days of it I’m certain I wouldn’t survive. I love (almost) all of the food here, but I find myself craving meat a lot. In addition to getting my meat fix I was also excited to try McDonald’s because, like many American chains here, it is “Indianized”. Which means in addition to many of the favorites (Filet-o-Fish, Chicken Nuggets) there are Indian versions, like the Maharaja Mac and McChicken Masala sandwich. The McDonalds looked about the same from the outside although it was very new and two floors. I ordered my personal favorite, the Chicken McNuggets with fries and a coke.

While I enjoyed the delicious, and familiar, food I had fun talking with all of Rohit’s friends about anything and everything. The boys asked me about what American sports teams I followed and what music and books I enjoy. With the girls we talked about school here, the different languages and they boasted about all of the amazing malls. We also passed around people’s phones comparing American, Mexican and Indian movie actors and talked about movies in India. Of course we mentioned that we want to learn Indian cooking and in return Audrey and I promised to make a big Thanksgiving meal for everyone. It was amazingly easy to talk to everyone, especially since their English is nearly perfect, and it reminded me that if you're friendly it isn't hard to make new friends.

Me, Tamara and Audrey

With my new friends outside McDonald's

I’m so glad that I’ve gotten to meet them because once Rohit leaves for Mexico in a few days it means I will have some people to hang out with. A song that has been running through my head the last few days is "I Can Tell That We Are Gonna Be Friends" by the White Stripes. (If you don't know it I suggest looking it up, it's a good song.) Not only do I have new Indian friends, I will make more friends at my new school soon and I will get to know other exchange students here. Even bigger than that I know that India and I are going to be friends. I really, really, really, really love it here and it hasn't even been a week. Although I know there will be ups and downs to come through it all India will be my friend. 

Welcome to India!

I only got internet access today (the 3^rd), but here is the journal I wrote on my first day:
Well I’ve officially arrived in India! Right now I’m writing this in my bedroom in my host family’s apartment. It’s about 6:30 in the morning on August 1st and it’s been a long almost 48 hours of packing and travel.  As I write this I’m in my pajamas and going to try and get some sleep soon. Meanwhile the city of Pune is waking up. Outside my window I can hear a mix of birds, alarm clocks and car horns.  I’m going to try and type everything up before I forget it since I probably won’t be able to upload this to my blog for a few days. This is going to be long, but here it goes:

After sleeping the whole flight to Newark, Audrey and I had to take a shuttle to get to another terminal for our flight to Mumbai. On the shuttle we met some lovely older women from North Carolina who were going to Ireland. They were very interested in where we were going and were so nice! After finding our way to our gate we had to get our visas checked and then waited around for a while. We met an Indian student named Ria from Mumbai. We had a fun talk and hopefully will be able to see each other sometime in the coming months. Also at the gate we met a girl named Mariana from Mexico who is being hosted by a Rotary club in Mumbai.

The fifteen hour flight was actually pretty good. I watched a lot of movies and got a few hours of sleep. We also got served surprisingly good in-flight food. I lost track of how many times during the flight Audrey or I would turn to the other and say, “We’re going to be in India!!!” The TV screens had a flight tracker so we were able to track our progress across the globe. Finally we landed, still in disbelief, in the Mumbai airport. As we left the plane we first got hit by the heat. We knew it’d be hot but it surprisingly didn’t seem too terrible until we remembered that it was 9 o’clock at night and the sun wasn’t even out! It was incredibly humid (according to my host mom 95%) and pretty soon the bottoms of my feet, of all places, were sweating. As we left the plane we went over to the side of the terminal to get all of our bags figured out and to change into our blazers. As we were doing this we realized on the other side of the glass wall a group of boys about our age were staring straight at us. Although we’d heard we would get stared at (since we definitely do not look remotely Indian!) it still made us uncomfortable. So much so that we stared laughing uncontrollably, which only made other people stare at us too.

Finally after going through customs we went to find our luggage. It took us some time but an airport employee took pity on us and helped us with our bags and going through the final security checkpoint and passport check. Then we headed outside to find our families. Luckily Audrey’s host father, Ganesh, was near the door and he showed us over to the exit, where host parents, Sameer and Rashmi, were waiting for us. My host mom had flower garlands for us and we took some pictures before heading out to find a taxi. It was even hotter and busier outside the airport. The waiting area for passengers was completely full and there were cars and taxis all around. We got into a taxi and headed out of the airport.

Audrey and Me: hot and tired, but excited!

My host mother, Rashmi, and me

Although Pune is only about 100 km (or 60 miles) away from Mumbai, but my host parents explained it would probably be a 4 hour drive. This was extra concerning once I realized that although I had a seat belt I didn’t have anywhere to connect it. So I held onto the door and tried not to imagine how concerned my Mom would be. Instead I looked out my window and watched the city go by. For the biggest city in India Mumbai looked very different than I imagined. It was actually pretty spread out and the buildings, along the road at least, weren’t that tall. Compared to New York or Chicago, where there are narrow streets and tall buildings right next to the road, it looked totally different. What it lacked in height however it made up for in crowdedness and sheer size. There were also people and stray dogs all over the place and if it hadn’t been dark out I would have assumed it was the middle of the day. It took what seemed like forever to get out of the city, but once we did we stopped at a sort of gas station-rest stop. I had fallen asleep, but as soon as I got out of the car I realized that I really was in India. Audrey and her host dad had also stopped and the two of us were the only non-Indian people there. We didn’t get flat out stared at, but I was really aware of how much we stuck out. I went to the bathroom and was a little surprised to find my first squat toilet. We also got some food, a sort of soup and bread and some sweet corn. I ordered some pineapple juice, without ice in the hopes of not exposing myself to unclean water within two hours of my arrival in India. I had assumed that it was prepackaged juice but it ended up being cut up pineapple in a blender, so I’m hoping my digestive and immune system can handle it.

On the long drive I got my first taste of the roads. Because it was night there were cars, but mostly trucks. The trucks are quite different than American ones. They are smaller, more colorful and highly decorated. Most have designs painted on them as well as the phrase “Honk Please” on the back. This confused me, but my host mom explained to me that in India people honk more as a means of communication, such as notifying others of your presence. The horns also sound completely different. They are all different tones and many sound like trumpets or musical chords. The horns are almost constant and make the noise of traffic more exciting.

We finally got to my host family’s apartment at 5:30 in the morning after more than 6 hours of driving! Before I even came inside I was greeted by a welcome sign design made out of colored powder that the friend of my host mother did and inside there was a mat made out of flowers that according to tradition I had to walk over. Even though it was the early morning I was totally awake so I unpacked my room and got set up.

The beautiful welcome sign

The welcome mat of flowers

My room

The view from my window

It still hasn't really sunk in that I’m in India for the next 10 months. Now that I’m in my host family’s apartment it’s more real. When I was sitting in the taxi every few minutes I would have a moment of clarity and realize that I am in India! It’s a mix between my stomach dropping and feeling like I could fly. Just a year ago I was excited by the idea that I might spend a year abroad and now here I am in a different country. The year which I’ve been waiting for is about to begin and I can barely believe it. My adventure is about to start!