10 hours in...

Well, here I am in India. Leaving Billy and my mom and dad was the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. I even considered backing out. But I didn’t. I made it on time: 9 pm. The flight really wasn’t too bad. It was roughly 7,800 miles, 13 hours, but it went fast because I got to sit by a fellow ISA traveler.  Delhi’s airport seemed very familiar to ours. Once we (me and two other ISA ladies) got through immigration, baggage, and customs, we walked outside and BAM! INDIA: tons of men, cars beeping, and SMOG. Luckily our ISA director, Rahul, found us and got us into a van.

The whole ride to the hotel my mouth and eyes were wide open. It was hard to see due to the thick smog (you can’t even see a block) and night time. The traffic has always been famously insane here, but you have no idea until you are in it. Driving is an art in this country. That’s about all I have to say about that. Outside of the windows I saw people, dogs,  street vendors, wore down buildings,  new buildings, fires, abandoned vehicles, lights, and of course a WHOLE lot of smog.

It seemed so fast when we turned into the hotel area: TONS of hotels, every which way, lined next to each other, on top of each other, etc. The streets were much narrower and much more packed. On the highways we were going 90 mph, here we were going 10. It was so bright too, with lots of lights.

We got to the hotel and checked in… it’s pretty nice. We have a bed and a toilet. The shower is interesting... It's just the shower head, that's all, in the middle of the bathroom with some buckets next to it. It gave me the most miserable shower of my entire life. I don’t mean to complain, but I will never take a hot shower for granted ever again. I could see my breath in the shower. Haha.

Last night I saw some men coughing and spitting a lot. It was not apparent to me until 4 am this morning that this is a very loud and common practice of Indian men. So much hacking! It does get humorous though, and I realized that the old cars sound like the hacking men when they are started!  Also awakening me this morning were roosters, dog barks, men yelling, cars honking, and about everything else the rooms next to me are doing.

So much has happened in the short time I have been here. I have already been impacted greatly by this mystical country, and the sun isn’t even up yet.