First, thanks so much for all the prayers I know you sent my way since I left on Tuesday. They definitely helped, and made a long and sometimes frustrating journey manageable. I made my 45 minute connection in Zurich just fine, mainly because the plane leaving Zurich was delayed about 15-20 minutes. The flight itself wasn't bad, I was actually asked to switch seats with someone who was at the emergency exit, which meant more leg room!
When I arrived in India I was pretty tired though, as I hadn't slept well on either of the plane rides, and was grateful that my luggage also made the quick connection in Zurich! I couldn't use wi-fi right away because you have to have a local phone number to obtain the access code, so I figured I'd just use the hostel wi-fi once I got there. This was at about 1:00 AM Delhi time. When I walked out of customs I saw many chauffeurs with name cards and was eager to get to a bed as soon as possible. When I didn't see my name, though, I panicked a bit. After walking around for a while and waiting to see if the driver would show up, I decided to buy a phone so I could call the hostel and/or get a wi-fi password and figure out what was going on. The process of buying a phone took about an hour, and I then had to wait 30 minutes to activate the SIM card. As I was waiting to activate it I realized that there were people standing in a different area outside of the airport, and my driver had been patiently waiting there since roughly 12:50 AM!
He took me to the hostel, which is very nice by the way, and someone was waiting there to show me the room and give me my key. Since it was about 2:30 AM at this point I just wanted to call Mom and tell her I was in fact still alive and okay. But I got the wrong wi-fi password, which led a very anxious, exhausted, and lonely me to start crying. My Indian phone wasn't working so I couldn't call Vasu, the manager of the hostel, and I had no way of getting in touch with anybody. I didn't think anybody else was in the other rooms in the hostel, but I called out in the hallway anyways. Fortunately for me, a fellow American lodgee about my age must have heard my crying or shuffling about and knocked on my door. He gave me the correct wi-fi password and a much needed hug, then told me if I needed anything else to knock on his door. With that, I was able to call mom and get some much needed sleep!
I woke up today around 7:30 am, messed around on the computer for a bit until I got tired again, then went back to sleep until about 12:30 when my roommate, Urmi, arrived! She is as great in person as she seemed when we spoke online, and I think we will get along really well! Her parents came with to drop her off and to make sure that the place is safe enough. They're staying until Saturday just to be sure everything checks out! They invited me to go with them into the city today. We visited a famous Hindu temple, which was absolutely gorgeous—the inside of the temple itself is almost entirely carved out of marble, and the detail is incredible. We weren't allowed to bring cameras or phones inside, so I don't have any photos for you, but it was incredibly beautiful. We then went to get dinner (Indian food is as good as I remember it!) and returned around 10:00 pm. Her family was so generous!! Her dad wouldn't let me pay for anything, saying that his daughter's roommate is his daughter. He later let me know that if anything happened to us, he has his gun license and was ready to use it. Sound familiar, Dad?
Urmi and I are figuring out how we want to get to work tomorrow, and I think the plan right now is to take a rickshaw or hire a cab to drive us. The metro station nearest the CCS isn't close enough to really justify taking it, so we may just have to endure a long car ride. There are worse things, unless my carsickness is bad enough that I get sick every time. We'll just have to wait and see, I suppose.
I'm very excited for my first day of work tomorrow, and am hoping the other interns are as great as Urmi! Fun fact, Urmi told me that the CCS is in the top 50 think tanks in the entire world! Apparently this internship is extremely prestigious in India, and the process to get it is highly competitive. I didn't realize exactly how reputable the CCS was. I knew it was well-known in India and was an established program, but now I'm even more eager and excited to learn all I can from such a renown organization!
Well, that's all for now. I'll update later on the first two days of work!
When I arrived in India I was pretty tired though, as I hadn't slept well on either of the plane rides, and was grateful that my luggage also made the quick connection in Zurich! I couldn't use wi-fi right away because you have to have a local phone number to obtain the access code, so I figured I'd just use the hostel wi-fi once I got there. This was at about 1:00 AM Delhi time. When I walked out of customs I saw many chauffeurs with name cards and was eager to get to a bed as soon as possible. When I didn't see my name, though, I panicked a bit. After walking around for a while and waiting to see if the driver would show up, I decided to buy a phone so I could call the hostel and/or get a wi-fi password and figure out what was going on. The process of buying a phone took about an hour, and I then had to wait 30 minutes to activate the SIM card. As I was waiting to activate it I realized that there were people standing in a different area outside of the airport, and my driver had been patiently waiting there since roughly 12:50 AM!
He took me to the hostel, which is very nice by the way, and someone was waiting there to show me the room and give me my key. Since it was about 2:30 AM at this point I just wanted to call Mom and tell her I was in fact still alive and okay. But I got the wrong wi-fi password, which led a very anxious, exhausted, and lonely me to start crying. My Indian phone wasn't working so I couldn't call Vasu, the manager of the hostel, and I had no way of getting in touch with anybody. I didn't think anybody else was in the other rooms in the hostel, but I called out in the hallway anyways. Fortunately for me, a fellow American lodgee about my age must have heard my crying or shuffling about and knocked on my door. He gave me the correct wi-fi password and a much needed hug, then told me if I needed anything else to knock on his door. With that, I was able to call mom and get some much needed sleep!
I woke up today around 7:30 am, messed around on the computer for a bit until I got tired again, then went back to sleep until about 12:30 when my roommate, Urmi, arrived! She is as great in person as she seemed when we spoke online, and I think we will get along really well! Her parents came with to drop her off and to make sure that the place is safe enough. They're staying until Saturday just to be sure everything checks out! They invited me to go with them into the city today. We visited a famous Hindu temple, which was absolutely gorgeous—the inside of the temple itself is almost entirely carved out of marble, and the detail is incredible. We weren't allowed to bring cameras or phones inside, so I don't have any photos for you, but it was incredibly beautiful. We then went to get dinner (Indian food is as good as I remember it!) and returned around 10:00 pm. Her family was so generous!! Her dad wouldn't let me pay for anything, saying that his daughter's roommate is his daughter. He later let me know that if anything happened to us, he has his gun license and was ready to use it. Sound familiar, Dad?
Urmi and I are figuring out how we want to get to work tomorrow, and I think the plan right now is to take a rickshaw or hire a cab to drive us. The metro station nearest the CCS isn't close enough to really justify taking it, so we may just have to endure a long car ride. There are worse things, unless my carsickness is bad enough that I get sick every time. We'll just have to wait and see, I suppose.
I'm very excited for my first day of work tomorrow, and am hoping the other interns are as great as Urmi! Fun fact, Urmi told me that the CCS is in the top 50 think tanks in the entire world! Apparently this internship is extremely prestigious in India, and the process to get it is highly competitive. I didn't realize exactly how reputable the CCS was. I knew it was well-known in India and was an established program, but now I'm even more eager and excited to learn all I can from such a renown organization!
Well, that's all for now. I'll update later on the first two days of work!