Made it back to the States!

We arrived at LAX on Tuesday, and the plane was not so quiet upon our touchdown! We were all happy to be back in the states, but I personally could have spent more time in India. The last couple of days of our trip were very busy with traveling, but full of fun as well. Here goes the quick recap of our final days in India:

We visited the Taj Mahal, which is quiet an amazing site, but at 6:00am with about 97% humidity, most of us did not need the hour and a half we were given to take it in. After the Taj it was back to the hotel for breakfast, a quick shower, and then it was back on the road again to see Agra Fort. I actually liked the fort more than the Taj, as there was more to see there. It also provided a nice view of the city, including the Taj, as well as more shade than the Taj! That afternoon it was back to the hotel for napping and packing.

We left the next morning to make the 6 hour bus ride to Jaipur, known as the Pink City. Upon arrival to Jaipur, we stopped at a temple, and then headed to our hotel to check in. The hotel provided us with evening entertainment, including two ladies dancing with fire and pots on their heads, as well as a puppet show. Several students also got their palms read, and others had bracelets made to their specifications. The next morning, it was on to Amber Fort, where we road elephants up to the fort, walked around the fort, and then went to City Palace. Jaipur was also hot and very humid, so after the palace, several of us elected to go back to the hotel pool, while others decided to take in the local markets.

The next morning brought a 6:30 leave time, when we piled back on to the buses to drive the 5 hours to the Delhi airport, and then flew to Goa. This was not our original plan, but given all that was going on in Mumbai (where we had our original connecting flight to Goa) it was decided that this was the better travel route. This route however meant we spent the entire day traveling. My flight reached Goa at 5:15, and we arrived at the hotel at 6:45. Some students were on a later flight, and didn't reach the hotel until 8:45 (their flight was delayed). It was a bit of a bummer to the beginning of our stay in Goa, but things certainly picked up the next day!

Our full day in Goa brought time in the pool and in the ocean. The ocean water was nice and warm, but the rip tide was pretty strong, so we couldn't go in very deep. The drinks at the hotel were pretty cheap, so most of the students spent the day visiting the pool side bar! That evening, we all had dinner together at a restaurant called Fisherman's Wharf, which was a 4 minute walk from our hotel. Following dinner, it was back to hanging out at the hotel bar, chatting the night away. The next day, we had a 3:30am leave time, so most students didn't go to bed that night. At 3:30, it was back on the buses, heading for the airport, to fly back to Bangalore.

We were all exhausted on arrival in Bangalore. We ate breakfast at our hotel, which thankfully let us check in early (we arrived there at 9:15am), and then most of us went up to our rooms to sleep. Other than sleeping, the day was also filled with repacking of suitcases, as the next day we were headed back to the states.

Delhi Delights!

We just arrived at our hotel in Agra, having spent the last 2 days in Delhi. Delhi was amazing, but with only one full day to explore, we were all very sad to be leaving so fast. Delhi is a much more mature city, with much better infrastructure than Bangalore. While the temperature was warmer than Bangalore, and the humidity a lot worse, the group consensus is that 8 weeks in Delhi would have been much preferred to 8 weeks in Bangalore.

The first night, we went out to a club that was open until 2am, which quickly had the students loving the city, and the late night scene it presented. On day 2 we took a city tour, seeing some of the tourist sites, including a Mosque, a temple, and a market. I was unable to see all of the sites with the students, as I had to return to the hotel to retrieve the passports of 2 participants that were departing from the trip, but what I did see I thoroughly enjoyed! The evening brought a trip to the mall where we walked around and had dinner. After dinner, it was back to the hotel via rickshaw, and then going back to the club we had visited the night before. Since it was Sunday night, it was only open until 1am, but we managed not to get back to the hotel until around 2.

This morning we departed for Agra, and the students were thrilled to get up by 8:00 to make this trip! The bus trip meant a lot of sleeping for most, and a 3:45 arrival at the hotel to check in. Tomorrow morning we leave the hotel at 5:30am to go see the Taj Mahal. We are all excited to see the Taj, but not so excited about the leave time! Seems tomorrow afternoon will be filled with naps for most of us.

Mumbai Terrorist Attacks

News of the Mumbai terrorist attacks made its way through our group yesterday evening, and for some, the proximity to such attacks is a little too close for comfort. A couple of students have changed their travel plans, and will now be flying home earlier, but for the majority of us, it comes as a reminder to be aware of our surroundings, and to take caution as we venture onto the streets of India. We are still in Bangalore, but will be heading to the airport on Saturday begin our travels throughout India. I am interested to see what sort of measures will be in place at the airport, but am not expecting too much out of the ordinary.

Should questions about our whereabouts come up over the next week and a half, here is my itinerary:

July 16 - Fly to Delhi
Stay at the Crown Plaza Okhla - Delhi

July 18 - Drive to Agra
Stay at Trident Hotel

July 19 - visit Taj Mahal

July 20 - Drive to Jaipur
Stay at Trident Hotel

July 22 - Fly to Goa via Mumbai
Stay at the Holiday Inn

July 24 - Fly to Bangalore
Stay at Chancery Pavilion

July 25 - Fly to LAX via Singapore and Tokyo
July 26 - Fly to Sacramento

Hope you all are doing well. We are very excited to leave Bangalore, and check out other parts of India!

Last Weekend in Bangalore

The final week of our stay in Bangalore has arrived. We were all excited to head out for our final weekend in Bangalore, which began with Hard Rock happy hour on Thursday night. Following happy hour, we headed over to UB City to check out Skyye Bar, a rooftop bar that has great views of the entire city. It is a cool place, but was pretty dead, so we headed to a club around the corner called Bacchus. Turns out Bacchus was pretty dead too, but it is a smaller club, and when 25 of us entered, we pretty much started our party. We didn't leave until after the cops arrived at 11, to inform the club that it was time to send people home.

Friday a group of students and I joined the professors to go look at an alternative location to house students in India next year. Turns out that housing American students that attend a university known for its partying at an ultraconservative Indian graduate school wasn't the best idea - and so using the some location to house next years students is no longer an option. The new location is much nicer than where we are currently, and most of the issues that the students are currently facing, most importantly the not so quality food, would not be a concern at the new location. Some of the students walked away from the viewing a bit bitter!

That evening a couple of the girls and I went to a restaurant called Little Italy, where we had some delicious pasta. We got there a bit before it opened (well, an hour) and therefore got to walk around the mall that was conveniently located across the street from the restaurant. After dinner, we went to Manchester United, a bar that was right around the corner from the restaurant. Many others from our group joined us at the bar, which had unlimited drinks for women for $10 and $20 for men. I have been asked more than once how they can make money off of this, and when the Americans are around, they don't. However, the Indians don't drink nearly as much as Americans, so they can make money off of the locals.

After 2 nights of going out, and with a big week ahead, Saturday and Sunday were spent on homework and relaxing. We leave Bangalore nice and early next Saturday morning - at 5:00am. Before then though, the students have a quiz, 2 tests, and a presentation to give, along with packing up all of our stuff. The week will be a busy one, but the count down to leave time will keep us all motivated!

4th of July Weekend

The weekend officially started on Friday this past week, due to Friday classes. However, since Thursday was such a fun night, we decided to take it easy, and only went out to dinner. The girls headed over to Crowne Plaza for dinner, taking in some wondeful non-Xime food. After that it was a night of watching movies and relaxing. Saturday morning, we headed out at 10:00 to do some shopping. We got dropped off at KFC (it took over an hour to get there), where we ate lunch, and then were offered a tour of the facilities. We gladly accepted, and were delighted to see how clean everything in the kitchen was and learn about their food storage policies (upon arrival back at Xime, we had a few pointers for the cafeteria staff). As we walked out of KFC we spotted a grocery market, and walked in, in search of peanut butter. We were excited to see that they had many American foods stocked, including Skippy peanut butter and goldfish. So, this was an excellent start to our day of shopping!

After the grocery market, we headed out to find Commercial Street, a street lined with small vendors as well as larger stores. The Indians only like to give you directions for as far as they can see, so it took us a while to find it. However, eventually we got there, and were excited to look at all that they had to offer. After about 2 hours of shopping, we took a rickshaw back home, where we quickly changed our clothes, and headed back to town to the Hard Rock. Rumor was that the professors were going to be eating dinner there, so several of us headed over. Turns out the professors changed their plans at the last minute, but we still had a good time there, and enjoyed their food yet again!

After dinner, we were ready to do some dancing, and headed over to the Ice Bar at the Taj Hotel. We were there until they closed at 11:30. Our rickshaw on the way home was stopped at a police checkpoint, and it turned out his license was not up to date. So, after some talking and a 100 rupee fine (the equivalent of $2) we were on our way. We were all ready for bed when we got home! Sunday was a day of relaxing for me, and a day of homework for the students.

Since we are not in the U.S., we had class on Monday, but we still celebrated in style. The boys played a game of basketball against the Indian students, and despite having been partying for several hours, still managed to easily win. The girls and the professors watched and cheered on the guys. After the game, it was off to the showers, as we headed out in buses to Crowne Plaza for dinner and fireworks. While we didn't have bbq, dinner was still amazing! It was a buffet, complete with a burrito station, pasta and fried chicken, and ice cream and donuts for dessert. After dinner, it was out to the patio where fireworks (large ones with big explosions) were set off less than 5 feet in front of us. As the embers were falling on people you heard quite a few murmurings of "only in India!"We had a good time that night, but 9:00 class the following morning wasn't as crowded as usual!

With only 2 weeks left at Xime, we are all getting really anxious to head out on our travels in northern India. This certainly has been an amazing experience, and an opportunity for tremendous learning, however, if you ask any person in our group how many days we have left, they will be able to tell you, and will probably mention that we are now into single digits (9 days!).

Fabulous Thursday

On Thursday, one of the students, Tara, and I walked over to a local salon (about a 30 minute walk). While there, we got pedicures for $6, Tara got her eyebrows threaded for less than a dollar, and then got a free ride home from the salon owners. When we got back, we quickly changed our clothes, and then headed over to Hard Rock for happy hour. Us girls are big fans of their raspberry lemonade, which are available in pitchers during happy hour! After a couple of hours at Hard Rock, we went to a local mall - UB City - which is a very upscale mall, on the opposite side of Bangalore from where we are staying. Several of the others in our group, as well as the professors, were eating dinner at the mall. We met up with them, and moved on to a different bar, called City Bar. Pawan joined us, and so did a few of his childhood friends. It was nice to meet them, seeing as how we have spent so much time with him. One of his friends had to head to work at the end of the night, and works right around the corner from where we are staying, so we got a free ride back home at the end of the night as well. Only paying for one rickshaw ride in a day is pretty unheard of, so that along with our cheap pedicures and happy hour drinks, made for one of the best days in Bangalore yet!

First Week of New Classes

When we got back from our weekend out of town, reality set in with the start of new classes on Monday morning. This section of classes includes finance and business communication. During the first week, the students had 2 quizzes and a test - when classes are only 4 weeks long, there is a lot to fit in! On Thursday night, the classes were completed, and all that stood in the way between the students and the weekend was a business visit on Friday morning. Well, they didn't let that stand in the way of having a good time. We all loaded into auto rickshaws and headed to Hard Rock to celebrate making it through a week of the new classes with happy hour! We had a good time at Hard Rock, but some/most of the students found getting up the next day for the 8:30 leave for the business visit a bit difficult.

Friday's business visit was to Infosys in Bangalore. The visit to Infosys in Mysore was a lot more interesting, so that made the students despise the 8:30 leave time even more. But, we were done there by 10:30, and had the rest of the day free. That evening, some of the girls and I went to the Taj Hotel for ladies night. After that we met up with some of the guys in our group at a club that was open till 3am. We didn't stay that late (got home about 1:45), but in Bangalore most places close by 11:30, so this was a real novelty.

Saturday was a day of getting some stuff done, and lounging around. The electricity kept going out, so getting things done (which for me was mainly on the internet) proved very difficult. That evening some of us headed over to the Crowne Plaze Hotel (one of the few things relatively close to where we are staying) for dinner. We had heard that their burgers were delicious, so most of us opted to try that. The burger didn't disappoint! During our dinner, the manager came over to ask if we were with some of the others in our group who had previously eaten there and recommended the burger to us - we are really making an impression around here!

Sunday was a lazy, hazy day, with little electricity yet again. The list of things we now realize we take for granted in the states gets longer everyday! The students seem to be getting home sick, and are counting down the days till we are done at Xime and get to travel again. With 5 weeks already gone by, I know we will be leaving here in no time. Man, how time flies!

The Fun Continues

On day 2 in Kabini, we woke up to heavy rain. By 11:00 it had died down and the sun broke through for a bit. Which worked out well, as we were then able to see the elephant that the resort has as a pet. We got to pet the elephant and then the elephant headed down to the river, where students were able to sit on the elephants back and have the elephant give them a shower. I had already showered, so I opted out of that experience.

Later in the afternoon, it was my groups turn to go on the safari. The rain had started to fall again, but  they provided us all with ponchos and away we went! We had to take a boat across the river, where we loaded into a jeep, drove through a small village, and into the national forest. Our group got very lucky on the safari, and saw more animals than any other group including monkeys, deer, elephants, wild pigs, wild dogs, and a leopard. Leopard's are very difficult to see, and we were lucky enough to see one climbing out of a tree.

After the safari, we were all cold and a bit wet, so it was back to our huts to shower and warm up before heading to dinner. After dinner, most of us hung out in the bar, waiting to head over to the designated party huts. 3 of the students had birthdays the next day, so we were celebrating that night! Pawan and I arranged to have a cake delivered to my hut a bit before midnight, and then moved the party on over, as a surprise for the birthday boy and girls. The party continued till 3:30, and then it was off to bed.

The next morning I was up at 5, as I had the privilege of going on a second safari - this one leaving at 5:30am (we wanted a teacher or t.a. on each safari and so, I sucked it up and went again). There were suppose to be 16 of us on the safari, but for some reason, only 5 of us made it. We got to take a smaller jeep and check out different areas of the forest, but didn't see as many animals as I had seen the day before. This second safari was a bit more difficult to stay awake for.

When we arrived back at the resort, it was time to quickly eat breakfast, and then shower and pack up all our stuff. At 11:00am, we sadly loaded on the buses, and headed back to Bangalore. The bus ride back was pretty quiet, as most of us were catching up on the sleep we had failed to get during the trip. The weekend was amazing, and really brought the group closer together.

On to Kabini

After 2 days in Mysore, it was time to head to Kabini. On the way, we stopped at a silk factory and got to see all the steps invloved in getting the silk from the worms to the finished goods - sarees and ties in this case. It was very interesting to see the process! After the silk factory, we headed down the road to a sandalwood factory, where soap and incense are made. This factory tour wasn't terribly entertaining, as our guide spoke very little English and was difficult to hear. However, we did see the factory workers hand packaging the incense, manually counting out bundles of 100. In India, labor is so cheap that the idea of automating these processes doesn't even occur to them. After a stop at a liquor store (students had to stock up for the next 2 days) we were finally headed down the road to Kabini.

After 2 hours, one of which was spent on a dirt road full of potholes, we arrived at Orange County Resort. This place was amazing! It is an all inclusive resort, on the river, and very secluded. Once we got there, there was no leaving until the buses rolled out 2 days later. Each set of roommates had their own hut with a jacuzzi in it. I don't have a roommate, so I had my own hut, and due to all my hard work on this trip, got upgraded by Pawan (our tour guide) to a hut with a pool!

Upon arrival we had an amazing lunch - all meals there were amazing, as they had a very large continental buffet, and served butter naan at the table. Following lunch the students headed to the pool with the professor, while I worked out the details of the upcoming safaris that we would all be taking at some point over our 3 day stay. After the pool, it was on to naps, showers, and taking in a cultural dance before dinner. After dinner (which lasted about 3 hours as we would sit and talk for some time afterwords) we had designated party huts, where the majority of our group of 66 gathered. We had a ton of fun, and given that there were no curfew or noise rules, didn't manage to get into any trouble (the first on a Friday night for our group). For me, this meant I actually got to relax, as I knew where all students were, and that they were all safe.

When we finally made it to bed, we all slept well that night!

Sightseeing

The 2nd day in Mysore we were off to see the training center for Infosys. The site was amazing - a city in itself. They have the facilities to train and house 14,000 people at any given time, and have all one could ever think of onsite: gym, bowling alley, pool, salon, doctor, bank, grocery store, cafeteria, walk climbing wall, and more. The students wanted to stay there for the rest of the time we are in India, as the accommodations are much nicer than at Xime. When our tour of Infosys was over, it was back on the bus to head to Chamundi Hill.


Chamundi Hill is a hill that allows for amazing views of the entire city of Mysore, as well as is home to a temple. It is named after a powerful goddess. The road to get to the temple was lined with vendors trying to sell us just about everything one can imagine. There were monkeys and cows in the streets, and since this was our first time seeing monkeys, we were very excited! We didn't spend much time on top of the hill, before we got back on the bus, and headed down to see Nandi - a 16 ft. elephant statue carved in granite. After a quick view of the temple, it was off to lunch at a local hotel.


Following lunch, we headed over to Mysore Palace. The palace was huge, had amazing wood work, as well as stained glass work. One of the professors that was traveling with us, brought along his family, which included his 3-year old son, Seth. Well, in the process of spending the day sight-seeing, the two of us became best friends. So, I can't really tell you the details of the palace, as Seth and I took a somewhat abbreviated tour of the palace. I can tell you that the Indian people love little kids with blonde hair. Seth had his picture taken at least 12 times while we were in the palace.


When the palace tour ended, it was back on the bus to head back to the hotel. We were all pretty tired at this point, and so most of us elected to eat dinner at the hotel restaurant. After dinner it was back to the rooms, where the American college students did what they love to do - hangout and drink!

Bus ride to Mysore

In heading to Mysore, we left the city and headed through more rural/agricultural areas. Here are some of the pics I took on the ride:

Mysore!

The students finished their first session of classes on Wednesday, and so we left that afternoon for a long weekend exploring other parts of India. We were all very excited to be leaving Bangalore, and to spend the weekend in hotels with nicer beds and better food. The hotels did not disappoint!

From Bangalore, we traveled by bus to Mysore, a 4 hour journey. Mysore was the original capital of the state we are staying in, Karnataka. The first night we were greeted with a wonderful buffet/bbq poolside. Good food and a pool really got the trip off to a good start.  Following dinner, a group of students and I decided to walk through town and visit a local market/bazaar. The market was outdoors, with a row of vendors selling fruit, veggies, and spices. The 2nd isle we walked down had vendors selling wood works and jewelry. The third isle was full of saris and silk goods (Mysore is the silk capital of India). Walking through the market was a fabulous cultural experience.

Getting back to the hotel, I was very excited to take advantage of the bathtub, and to sleep on a comfy queen sized bed (amenities the dorms do not provide).  I had a terrific first day in Mysore, and was excited to explore more of the city the next day!

Another week down

It was a dramatic week, which makes the weekend so much more welcome! Today (Friday) we had a business visit to Biocon, a biotech/pharmaceutical company. I found the visit to be very interesting for several reasons:

1. Biocon was founded by a female back in the 70s, who remains the CEO today. This would be pretty cool in the U.S., but is amazing in India, a country which continues to be mainly male dominated to this day.
2. Two of the XIME students are interning their this summer. I had the opportunity to discuss their school and internship experience with them, which allowed for comparison to the U.S. experience. Here, summer internships are mandatory, and are actually a class MBA students must take. At the end of the internship, they have a lengthy paper they must submit to the college. At U of A, internships are only highly encouraged, and no credit is given for them.
3. We toured part of the facilities in which the drugs are created, packaged, and shipped. It was amazing to see such a sterile environment in a country that otherwise seems very unsterile and not clean. The facilities were huge, taking up 240 acres - much larger than anything else we have seen in Bangalore thus far. 

The visit was a great way to finish off the week!

After the visit, we all headed back to campus to change our clothes (no need to stay in business casual longer than absolutely necessary!) and finalize dinner plans. A group of 7 of us decided to head to the Hard Rock Cafe. We were excited to get burgers actually made with ground beef, real bacon, ranch dressing, and soak in the Americana! Turns out the Hard Rock proved to have both ground beef and bacon, but not so much ranch as we are used to back in the states. Two out of three was fine with us though! We had a good time, thoroughly enjoyed the food and music, and all walked out very full. There is a good chance we will head back there another time before our stay in India is over.

Didn't Make it out of Round 2

While I made it through round 1 of the stomach bug without being caught, I wasn't so lucky when it came to round 2. The good news is that round 2 didn't seem to be as bad, but I was still down for 6 days. So, I spent last week doing a lot of sleeping. The students on the other hand had a marketing paper due and 2 tests. I had the pleasure of grading the marketing papers, as well as creating and grading one of the tests. So, I was pretty busy when I wasn't sleeping!

All of this not feeling well made for a pretty dull weekend, which turned into all kinds of fun on Monday morning! Seems that on Saturday night, while I was busy sleeping, the students were busy partying in the male dorms. The dorms are actually across the street (a kinda busy street - the students equate crossing it to playing frogger - did I mention that pedestrians definitely don't have the right of way in India?) from each other, so I had no idea what was going on. Well, apparently at 11:30, 12:30 and finally at 1:30 the Dean of the college had to ask them to be quiet. Here, it is the law that noise not be heard outside of one's home after 10:30 at night, and this is why the Dean was concerned (breaking this noise law is grounds for arrest). So, these actions led to a talk with the Dean this morning (Monday) as well as Dr. Umashankar (head professor on the trip). Normally, my job is to make sure all students are in their dorms (girls in girl's, boys in boy's) and are quiet by midnight. Fell down on this job since I wasn't feeling well. Not to worry though - next weekend I will be back on duty!

We are Americans...

On Thursday, the students had their first test, and so that evening they were ready to celebrate one milestone of this journey being complete. After over a week of little meat, and almost no red meat, the students discovered a steak house here in Bangalore. So, Thursday evening we all loaded into cabs to make the almost 2 hour trek (but only about 17 miles, more proof of the horrible traffic) to Millers 46. We had made reservations, and so they had a whole floor of the restaurant set aside for us. It was a very fun and authentic place, complete with a picture of  John Wayne on the bathroom door! The steaks were large and cheap (about $8 each).

We are walking entertainment where ever we go, and Thursday night was no exception. The Millers 46 waiters seemed to thoroughly enjoy our visit. When we finished dinner, we headed back to Purple Haze, where we were met by hellos, handshakes, and hugs from the staff that fondly remembered us from the prior week. By the time we piled back into the cabs to head home, I think everyone in our group had had their picture taken with at least one person working at Purple Haze. It was a great evening, and a great start to the weekend!

8 days in...

So, I have been a little busy lately. Doing what, you ask? Mainly taking students to the local medical clinic to get checked out. 8 days into our stay and the stomach issues hit us; 8 students in the last 3 days have been seen by a doctor. The clinic is much nicer than I ever imagined. And much cheaper than imagined as well! One of the students was pretty dehydrated and had a very low blood pressure, and thus had to be admitted to the hospital. Her 7 hour hospital stay was less then $65, with about $12 worth of meds. The charge to be seen by the urgent care doctor - $6.

The nurses and doctors all recognize me at the clinic at this point, and are all very kind. When I visited with a student today, they asked me about the student who had the hospital stay, wanting to know if she is feeling better. At first I had a local person who works on campus go with us to the clinic, but now I am a seasoned veteran - taking the students by myself. Luckily, I have not gotten sick yet!

Getting around

As I have alluded to before, traffic in Bangalore is horrible! Lane lines are clearly only suggestions, horns are used instead of signals, vehicles of all types share the highways (buses, cars, motorcycles, rickshaws, horses) and pedestrians have no right of way. What is amazing to me, is that I have yet to see an accident. This is one place where I could never imagine driving!

We have now ventured out using all types of public transportation - taxis, city buses and rickshaws. Transportation here is cheap - so far the most we have paid is about 30 cents per person to travel by bus one way, $2 by rickshaw one way, and $10 per person to take a taxi into town, have it wait for 3 hours, and take then us back home. Students seem to prefer the rickshaws, as they are airier than the other options, and therefore don't get as hot. I'm not sure how many of them will be getting on the city bus anytime in the near future, given how crowded they are, making getting off difficult, and also for a very warm ride.

We are learning our way around, but the fact that we are about a 10 minute car ride (given very little traffic) away from town, makes getting around a bit more difficult than most of us are used to. However, we continue to have a good time, and entertain the locals wherever we go!

Class Days & Purple Haze

Classes started on Thursday, which has helped to develop a daily routine. For me, it is up by 7, shower and get ready for the day, then breakfast at 7:45 followed by class at 8:30. Morning classes end as lunch is ready at 12:30. Twice a week the students have afternoon classes from 2 - 4:00, otherwise the afternoon is spent doing homework and getting ready for the next day. Dinner is served at 6:30, and bedtime has been coming early these days. By 10:00 all have been asleep!

After 2 days of class, the students were ready to learn about the nightlife in Bangalore. We piled into cabs and headed into the city. Since Bangalore traffic is some of the worst in India, it took us about an hour and 15 minuted to get to our destination - Purple Haze. Purple Haze, of course inspired by the great Jimi Hendrix - is a pub that continuously plays rock music from the late 70's, 80's and 90's. The music was loud, and pub fare was good, and the drinks were plentiful. Needless to say, we all had a really good time!

Open Bar...

To celebrate our first full day in India, a welcome dinner was arranged at the Crowne Plaza Hotel for us. The hotel was a little nicer than our dorm rooms, and we were feeling pretty good about putting on nicer clothes for a nicer meal. When we arrived, we were informed of the open bar. Who doesn't like an open bar?? Certainly not the 56 UA undergrads (almost all of whom are under 21) who finished finals, packed and moved in the 3 days leading up to the departure from India. When we were heading out the door at the end of the evening, one of the bar tenders noted that he had never seen a group of people drink so much. It was a  great evening in which everyone had fun and really began to bond as a group. But, I don't think another open bar will be seen on this trip!

India, We have Arrived

It was a long, tiring journey, but as of 1:00am Tuesday May 17, we had finally made it to XIME (Xavier Institute of Management and Entrepreneurship) in Bangalore, India. The trip over was 46 hours long for me, however longer for some of the students. My trip started with leaving my newly emptied and cleaned apartment for the Tucson airport. From Tucson I flew to Las Vegas, where after about an hour, it was on to San Francisco. San Francisco is where the staff and students met up, and after a 4 hour layover, we departed for Hong Kong. The flight to Hong Kong was 13 hours, and when they gave us the choice of deplaning or staying on board, we all quickly gathered our belongings for the chance to walk around the terminal for an hour, while the airplane was refueled and a new crew boarded.

Next up was Singapore, where we spent 8 hours. That airport is huge! Several of us took the free city tour, an amazing idea of showing the passengers waiting for connecting flights around the city. The tour proved to be a success for the tour guide & the Singapore tourism council, as many of us are now looking forward to visiting Singapore in the future! Departing Singapore, we were exhausted and ready to finally be done with the traveling. Our next stop was to be our final one - Bangalore. We all vowed that we would stay awake on the flight to help us get on local time, but as soon as the plane started taxiing - that clearly wasn't going to happen.

After getting our luggage, accounting for everyone, we were off to XIME - about an hour bus ride from the airport. Once again we tried to stay awake, but failed! However, after 46 hours, 6 airports, and 4 countries, we had arrived!