Arrivals

yay, i made it to india in one piece!

after an 8-hour flight to frankfurt, 3-hour layover, 8-hour flight to bangalore, and 4-hour bus ride to the mysore campus, i am finally "home". first impressions: the campus is tiny, especially compared to the friendly, pedestrian-oriented, walk-on-the-grass campus of Notre Dame. yes, i have already gotten in trouble by the security people for walking on the grass. i only moved to avoid running into a big group of people.

anyway, my room is bigger than my ND single, and i have my own bathroom. i exchanged a bunch of dollars for rupees and can now actually buy stuff, like lunch. more impressions: very little meat in our diets so far; just a little chicken and some mutton, which was surprisingly good (especially after a day or two of airline food).

another fun thing to note is the incredible lack of efficiency here. our group (~55 US people plus 13 UK people) was turned loose yesterday morning after we arrived (5 am or so) and we literally haven't seen anyone in charge or been told anything about rules, where / how to get meals, etc. the "information desk" just looked confused when we asked about curfews or any sort of common space, since males and females are not allowed near the other genders' hostels. also, we were told that we must show up to make 8 copies of our passports / visas today, and the copier is open from 10 am to 12 pm. for almost 70 people.

electronics are also an issue; so far, i have my computer, hair dryer, and shaver working. the entire room only has 4 outlets, including the bathroom sink outlet. more on that later.

finally, pictures will come as soon as i get my camera battery recharged.