Well I've officially arrived back in Pune after my two week trip around South India! It was an amazing time, we saw incredible sites and I fell even more in love with India. Unfortunately all of the travel took a toll on us and by the end most of us had a cough and everyone was exhausted. Technically I got back over a week ago, but I've been resting and trying to recover. After a mix of cough syrup, 4 different pills and a variety of Indian home remedies I think I'm all better. I'll post all about my trip with tons of pictures but it won't be for a few days. I took almost 900 pictures and I need to go through all of them first.
It's hard to believe but while I was on the trip my 4 month anniversary passed. And now just over 2 weeks later I'm getting scarily close to 5 months or the halfway point. Right now I'm so worried about finishing college essays that it hasn't really sunk in yet, but I know once it does it'll be an emotional rollercoaster.
After the trip I arrived home ready to get back to school. Unfortunately (but not too bad) right now there are oral exams going on. Then we have about a week off between Christmas and New Years. Basically the Indian school system is plotting against me ever attending classes. I'm keeping busy though. In early February all of the inbounds are performing a dance at the district conference. We actually had another dance performance in October. Now I realize I never talked about it, sorry! It was at a program to promote Rotary Youth Exchange for students interested in going next year. (If you want to see it here's the links: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgvtzjvcbMQ and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbk7cE8mcUA) Anyway, those were folk dances and this time we've decided to do some Bollywood songs. It's difficult but also very, very fun! Other than that I've just been relaxing, shopping for Christmas presents and hanging out with friends and my family.
Speaking of which, it's almost Christmas! Though we were told that it would be especially difficult for us to be away from home during the holiday season I'm doing pretty well. I had such an amazing time on the trip and right now I really am in love with India. It's feeling like home and I am incredibly happy here. Even so I've been missing home some. Well more specifically the cold, SNOW, Christmas decorations, huge quantities of Thanksgiving food and all of the cozy parts of winter. I even (sort of) miss shoveling the driveway. Right now it's becoming "Winter" here. It makes Audrey, Hugo, Gustav and I laugh but everyone is freaking out because it's been 10 or 15 degrees. Oh, and that's in Celsius. I've mostly figured it out (multiply by two and add 32) but it's still weird for me. That makes it in the 50s and 60s in Fahrenheit. For Pune it is significantly cold, but for me it seems nice after too much heat and sweating the past 4 months. I'm definitely missing Christmas. I know that I'm going to have an awesome Christmas with the family of exchange students I've made here and I'm planning to try and make cookies and other food for my host parents.
It was decided this week that I'm going to change host families in the beginning of January. I'm both excited and nervous. I have loved my family (the Tilaks) so far, but I'm excited to see what my next family is like. Audrey, Tamara and I are rotating among our three families so luckily I've already met my new family, the Satputes. Our 3 families get together every few weeks and we went to Konkan together during Diwali (I promise to write that blog soon! I don't have much else to do) so I know them at least a little. Their son, Ronak, is in Mexico and because he was the last outbound of our 3 families to leave I got to know him some before he left. Overall I'm excited for my next family and not very worried. Plus the policy with Rotary here is that for the last month I return to my first family, so I'll be coming back for the end which is really nice.
Anyway, I'm settled back at home and glad to be back in Pune. Not much is happening and I promise, promise, promise to post soon!
Merry (Indian) Christmas,
Elisabeth
PS Here's a preview of my trip:
It's hard to believe but while I was on the trip my 4 month anniversary passed. And now just over 2 weeks later I'm getting scarily close to 5 months or the halfway point. Right now I'm so worried about finishing college essays that it hasn't really sunk in yet, but I know once it does it'll be an emotional rollercoaster.
After the trip I arrived home ready to get back to school. Unfortunately (but not too bad) right now there are oral exams going on. Then we have about a week off between Christmas and New Years. Basically the Indian school system is plotting against me ever attending classes. I'm keeping busy though. In early February all of the inbounds are performing a dance at the district conference. We actually had another dance performance in October. Now I realize I never talked about it, sorry! It was at a program to promote Rotary Youth Exchange for students interested in going next year. (If you want to see it here's the links: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgvtzjvcbMQ and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbk7cE8mcUA) Anyway, those were folk dances and this time we've decided to do some Bollywood songs. It's difficult but also very, very fun! Other than that I've just been relaxing, shopping for Christmas presents and hanging out with friends and my family.
Speaking of which, it's almost Christmas! Though we were told that it would be especially difficult for us to be away from home during the holiday season I'm doing pretty well. I had such an amazing time on the trip and right now I really am in love with India. It's feeling like home and I am incredibly happy here. Even so I've been missing home some. Well more specifically the cold, SNOW, Christmas decorations, huge quantities of Thanksgiving food and all of the cozy parts of winter. I even (sort of) miss shoveling the driveway. Right now it's becoming "Winter" here. It makes Audrey, Hugo, Gustav and I laugh but everyone is freaking out because it's been 10 or 15 degrees. Oh, and that's in Celsius. I've mostly figured it out (multiply by two and add 32) but it's still weird for me. That makes it in the 50s and 60s in Fahrenheit. For Pune it is significantly cold, but for me it seems nice after too much heat and sweating the past 4 months. I'm definitely missing Christmas. I know that I'm going to have an awesome Christmas with the family of exchange students I've made here and I'm planning to try and make cookies and other food for my host parents.
It was decided this week that I'm going to change host families in the beginning of January. I'm both excited and nervous. I have loved my family (the Tilaks) so far, but I'm excited to see what my next family is like. Audrey, Tamara and I are rotating among our three families so luckily I've already met my new family, the Satputes. Our 3 families get together every few weeks and we went to Konkan together during Diwali (I promise to write that blog soon! I don't have much else to do) so I know them at least a little. Their son, Ronak, is in Mexico and because he was the last outbound of our 3 families to leave I got to know him some before he left. Overall I'm excited for my next family and not very worried. Plus the policy with Rotary here is that for the last month I return to my first family, so I'll be coming back for the end which is really nice.
Anyway, I'm settled back at home and glad to be back in Pune. Not much is happening and I promise, promise, promise to post soon!
Merry (Indian) Christmas,
Elisabeth
PS Here's a preview of my trip:
Audrey, Leon and me in front of a palace in Mysore!
