India Days 6-9: Mumbai Farewell, Goa, First Night in Bangalore

I'm so sorry for the delay in getting these up...wifi has been entirely unavailable for multiple days.  I finally have unlimited access in the evenings to use email and post blogs, so I'm trying to get everything caught up.  My poor family thought I'd been kidnapped and I was being held for ransom.  Anyhow, I'm working on it.

Day 6:  Last Evening in Mumbai & Farewell      
Today was our last day in our first city in India.  Not one of us can believe we’ve already been here a week!  It’s gone so fast and we’ve done and learned so much!  We spent the morning in a lecture, another by Professor Ambulkar and I enjoyed it just as much as the previous.  Again, it was on entrepreneurship in India.  It’s fascinating what can be done with a little ingenuity!  We saw short videos; one was of a young woman living in a rural community who created a clothes washer that consumes no energy.  It is a bicycle with a large box attached to the front.  The user pedals the bike which turns a cage inside the box, after tossing in water and detergent.  So in rural areas where there is limited or no electricity, or where there simply isn’t extra money to have a clothes washer, this is a viable option!  

We then each gave a dreaded “presentation” about our reflections on our trip thus far, our ideas as to whether or not we’d consider doing business in India and where we fit in, and opportunities within our majors here in India.  I discussed the fact that it’s been an incredible journey so far, and that the students who’ve been with us have been very kind.  Professor Dembla asked what I haven’t liked, so I told her (and Professors Navin and Shamira and the students present) that the lack of schedule and subsequent chaos has been quite overwhelming for me.  I explained that at home we have very set schedules:  We’re up at 7, at work by 9, leaving by 5, in bed by 11…Professor Navin whispered to Professor Dembla, “is that really how it is?”  She responded, “Yes, it’s true.”  I thought that was a bit funny.  I also discussed that I don’t see a place for myself in business here, mostly because Erik and I know we want to own a retail store and I haven’t seen any interest in the sort of business we want to go into.  I told him I’d come back to visit, though, that we really want to see the north of India and Nepal.  I think he found that interesting.

We spent the afternoon shopping for “traditionals” (traditional Indian attire) to wear at our farewell dinner.  We didn’t know we needed these on our shopping day, so none of us purchased them.  It was interesting seeing as none of us knew what to look for or what is acceptable.  I chose a white outfit with a pale aqua-esque paisley print.  It’s so pretty and there are pictures to follow.  After shopping we joined our new friends and classmates at a party in our honor.  It was nice to interact with the Indian students in such a laid back setting.  They showed us traditional and modern Indian dances, helped us make wishes in the Hindi spirit, and we laughed and ate until it was time to leave.

It’s a bit overwhelming that it’s time to leave our new friends already.  They were asking us to find ourselves on their Facebook accounts on day one—literally!  I can’t say, though, that I’m not excited to see what the rest of India holds.  Mumbai, while a very interesting city, is not my love.  I don’t care for the noise, the hustle/slug pace all at once…I learned that I’m surely not a city girl.  I will miss the experience, though.  I was so overwhelmed before, and now, after the farewell, I’m glad I came.  I enjoyed myself and was happy to have the opportunity to say goodbye to everyone.  They gave us each a very nice gift, a wooden box with a photo of the whole group in the lid.  Inside is a beautiful blown glass bird which we can keep and remember our time here.  We felt badly that we had nothing to give to them.  We intended to exchange gifts, but in all honesty, time simply got away.  I will send gifts after we return home to some of them, the people I felt I connected with.  And we’ll have to do much better in the future!  

And I should add one note:  The drama that was spoken about from the other night and the club and such was apparently a very big misunderstanding.  I have apologized and the apology has been accepted, and it’s behind me.

Tomorrow is yet to be written…until then, keep on burning!

India Day 7 & 8:  Goa

After rushing to the airport on Friday morning (we really can’t seem to get anywhere on time), we boarded a plane to Goa where we spent the weekend.  We touched down and found our bus to our resort, “Baywatch Resort Goa.”  It was beautiful!  The rooms were nice and clean, the service was ok though no hustle was found at any time, there were American food options which our stomachs were in need of, and the Beach!! 

We each had something to eat and went about planning our following day.  There was interest in massage, para-sailing, banana boat rides, and jet skis.  We had a tour planned for 1 o’clock, so we tried to plan accordingly. 

The following morning (Saturday), Dr. Dembla, Ria, Rebeca, Zaheer, Connor, and myself walked on the beach.  A few of us para-sailed (all 10 minutes were amazing!  Don’t worry, we only paid 700 rupees/about $10) and then joined a couple of others at a beachside shack.  We sat, ordered a couple of drinks, a snack, and before we knew it, it was noon.  We were relaxing in over sized beach chairs under a sun shade with a beautiful breeze and a view of the Arabian Sea.  When the suggestion was made that we skip our 1 PM tour, we all quickly agreed!  We had such a nice, relaxing day with too many drinks, a couple of snacks, and a really nice employee who helped us with questions and our orders.  His name is Deep, and he is entirely awesome!  He gave us discounts on our drinks “because we ordered more than 10 mojitos.”  At some point or another we said goodbye and wandered back to our hotel to take showers, have dinner, and go out for a bit…Which wound up leading us back to the little shack on the beach (called Rendezvous).  We each had a couple of drinks and said goodbye, explaining that we wouldn’t be back tomorrow because we were leaving.  Deep was, again, gracious and kind, wishing us well on our journey and asking us to return another time.

We went back to the hotel and I got ready to leave in the morning.  Most everything was packed so all I had left to do was get up for my Massage!!  It wasn’t nearly the best massage I’ve had, but it was relaxing and enjoyable.  Relaxing and enjoyable just in time to run to the airport again:  We’re on our way to Bangalore!  

Keep on burning….

Day 9:  Settling in Bangalore; the Prison

So...What can I say?  We arrived in Bangalore to an impressively pretty airport after an airplane ride that can only be described as a bus ride by air.  We made 2 stops during which we all stayed on board while the plane was quickly cleaned and re-boarded by more different passengers than the previous leg (45 minutes tops to turn it around).  The drive to Alliance University in Bangalore started beautifully with pretty roads, plants and trees, and an exciting teaser of what was to come.  As we continued to drive, the roads soon became reminders of Mumbai with kamikaze “scootie” drivers and crazed bus drivers.  Following a nail biter of a drive (we all had to cover our eyes multiple times as the driver accelerated before hitting the breaks mere centimeters behind the car, truck, or scooter in front of us), we arrived to a beautiful campus full of trees and grass and we were pleased to arrive to a warm dinner which included a non-veg dish (read:  Meat!).  After our tasty meal in a nice dining hall, we were shown our rooms.  They are decent as far as dorm rooms go, but we were shocked to find that the boys and girls would stay in different buildings.  We were also quite shocked and not too terribly happy about this, as we’d expected an experience similar to those we’ve already had.  We’ve become a close knit group and we were bummed to be so far apart. 

After our room assignments, we went for a short tour of the campus with Suchey.  We talked to her and her friend Ashwan about life in America, MBA programs, and other topics.  On our way back, part of the group stopped and was looking at something on the ground.  As we approached I asked what they were looking at.  It was a scorpion, and though some were a bit freaked, I thought, “oh, no big deal, we have those at home.”  Oh my goodness, we don’t have these at home!  It was HUGE!  Like the big, black, venomous, actually-do-damage type of scorpion.  Oh. My. Goodness!  Suchey told the security guard posted outside our dorm (across the street).  He came over and started blowing a whistle.  I’m not sure what that was meant to do, but eventually he found a broom handle like stick and smashed the tar out of the big, black, venomous, actually-do-damage scorpion.  It’s still there, dead on the street.

Little did we know after all of this excitement, that being housed in separate buildings was the least of our worries.  We were informed that we would be subject to an 11 PM curfew, and we would not have wifi access as we were told we’d have.  A few minutes later at 11 PM, the doors to the building were locked from the outside, and the common area lights turned off.  Apparently, we are to not only be in at 11, but also in our rooms.  And it doesn’t end there!  The girls were all chit chatting in our rooms (connected by a jack-n-jill bathroom) when we heard Ria screeching.  When she came hopping in and told us that there were bugs in hers and Rebeca’s room, I thought she was just being dramatic.  And then I went into their room to check it out.  She was NOT being dramatic!  There were a hundred big mosquito/mothy looking things flopping and flying around their room.  Long story short, The “Warden” (literally what she is called) came and turned off all the lights telling us that they would be gone in a minute.  After about 30 minutes, we finally convinced her that the window was broken and sitting in the pitch black would not fix the problem.  She killed the bugs put paper in the window, and swept the room.  It was quite an event.  We’re all exhausted, we’re worried about our group-mate, Alex, who made a visit to the hospital tonight due to food poisoning, and we are trying not to freak out about our current conditions.  Poor Ria wound up half crying/half laughing at the debacle in which we found ourselves. 

We all couldn’t stop laughing at the fact that we haven’t spoken our loved ones in days, we feel as though we’re in prison (“warden” and all) and we are stuck here for a week and a half.  Like Connor said, though, these 9 days will be only what we make them, so we better make them great!  I like the attitude and tried to remind the girls of this fact through our hysterical, tear-stained laughter.  A plus; Suchey told us that we don’t have lecture as we’ll only attend site visits while here, and we don’t have to be at breakfast tomorrow until 10:30 AM!  A late morning for us is a nice surprise!

Until Tomorrow…Keep on Burning!