Kerala

Friday morning we woke up at 4:45 and went to the airport. A few hours later we were in Kochi, Kerala. Then we drove to the backwaters and got on a house boat and rode around the backwaters all day. We were served several types of fish along with chicken and duck. We also had pineapple, fried bananas, and tapioca.

Saturday morning we toured the palace. For lunch we ate at a revolving restaurant. Then we went to Jew Town and walked around all the little shops. Some men here wear something called a dhoti which we have been calling a "man skirt" when describing it and one of the guys finally got one. He had a lesson on how to wear it but as we walked down the street everyone smiled and then came up to him and said that he wasn't wearing it right and then tied it in a new way. We came to the conclusion that everyone wears them a different way. But basically you can wear it long or if you want to show more leg you can fold it in half and tie it again.

Sunday we drove about three hours to the hills. We stopped at a waterfall for a little while and we were able to climb up it and get behind the water. Then we stopped at tea plantations and walked through the tea plants.

Mocha Mojo's

Last Friday a few of us went to a Hookah/Coffee Shop called Mocha Mojo's that some people in our group recommended. The food was amazing! It was a nice break from Indian food, which is good but was starting to taste the same.

Pondicherry

This weekend four of the Auburn students traveled 2 and a half hours South to Pondicherry with 6 students from Michigan state. Pondicherry is in a different state than Chennai making it okay for them to have cheaper alcohol and beef. Pondicherry was also colonized by the French so it looks different from the other Indian cities. We arrived late Friday night and stayed at a hostel that was a little outside of the city's center. Saturday morning we moved to L'Escale guest house on which was a much better place and was run by a British man so less communication errors. We went to the beach and then enjoyed steaks for dinner. Sunday we went to Auroville which is this utopian type area outside of Pondicherry where they do a lot of experimental things with food and housing. It is also where Matrimindar is located (giant gold dome ashram) but it was closed by the time we got there. There were some neat shops that sold crafts and food products including Kombucha (a health promoting tea made from fungus).

This Week

On Monday we went to the wedding reception, everyone dressed in sarees and kurtas. We were slightly overdressed for the South Indian style. Everyone stared at as when we walked in and some people asked to take pictures with us. One thing I have not been able to get used to is the stares. People shamelessly stare at us all the time. I have gotten the habit of just looking down when I walk to avoid all of them.

On Wednesday we went to a restaurant called the Rice Bowl and it had great food but it took a long time. One of the guys in our group is working with some people from Michigan State and we had a chance to meet them there. They seemed to be having a very similar experience to us and I think we are traveling to Pondicherry with some of them this weekend.

Yesterday at work we had presentations to update everyone on our projects. One thing that is different in presenting here is that the higher up people will interrupt you in the middle of a presentation to ask questions. The way that I am used to doing presentations is to go all the way through and then go back depending on questions. The Indian way seems to take longer, like most things over here.

Weekend Update

Our group was invited to a wedding reception so all the girls needed sarees to wear. Saturday morning we took a taxi to TNagar to shop for sarees. All of us ended up buying them from Kumarans. We walked in and kept going upstairs to the nicer sarees. Everyone got something different. Mine is a blue/green with some red embroidery and brown beading. The colors and beadwork on all of our sarees is amazing.

On Sunday a few of us went to mass at St. Thomas's Basilica which is built over the remains of Doubting Thomas. The mass was a little different, the music was very modern. After we ate lunch at Sarana Bhavan and I had a mini meal with different types of rice and a delicious desert that was made of rice, milk, and sugar.

We found black coffee at work. The coffee at our hotel is either instant or already has a ton of cream mixed into it so all of the black coffee drinkers get really excited about going to work in the morning. They also bring us snacks occasionally which is very nice.

Beach Trip

Yesterday after our meetings we all got a little bored and two of the guys decided that we should go to the beach so everyone that wanted to go went downstairs and Pramod (the graduate student who is babysitting us here) bargained for an auto rickshaw which was very entertaining to watch. He eventually got the right price and nine of us piled into 3 cars and started swerving through Indian traffic, where laws are merely suggestions. It was a little scary at times but it was fun. We all met up at the beach and put our feet in the Indian Ocean and then walked around. We had cotton candy, roasted con with lime and chili, and ice cream. One of the girls had her palm read and all of the girls got some colorful bangles.

Today we had our first individual meetings with the person we are working for at Larsen and Toubro. Our leader made very efficient use of time an we were done within an hour, but we were the only ones. So we walked around and got juices, I had a banana lissi which similar to a banana and yogurt smoothie. Then we walked around some more and just decided to leave because we weren't doing anything productive. We bargained for an auto rickshaw and then the driver tried to charge us more but we did not allow it.

Office Visits

Yesterday we went back to IIT and met with a professor there and discussed projects that we will be working on. I will be working with someone on Lifecycle Costing Analysis, meaning if you have a light fixture how many bulbs will it use over 15 to 20 years. Another project is working with qualitative and quantitative data so that engineers and architects/designers can work together better. There is also a project dealing with thermal comfort in buildings and material comparisons. Then we ate lunch at a typical Indian restaurant and everyone ordered a different side and we all shared and ate them with naan and it was delicious. I ordered chenna masala which is chickpeas and a tomato spice sauce. Mangos are also in season here so everyone had fresh mango juice. Then we all went to Larsen and Toubro which is a huge construction and engineering firm that has projects all over India and in other countries. The projects that we discussed in the morning meeting will be taking place at L&T. The buildings were really neat, all of them were different geometric shapes and I think that a lot of them were LEED certified as well.

Today we had another meeting at IIT but with a different professor and we visited his lab which was pretty interesting. He does a lot of research with X-rays and microwaves and what not. I am also noticing cultural differences because when we were in the meeting he answered his phone several times which would have been rude to do in the states but is fine here. Also, time is not an exact thing here, they usually give you a 30 minute to 1 hour time to meet somewhere which is strange because if you are meeting with a professor at home you better be on time or else you look like a bad student.

Now we are all back at the hotel cooling off. I don't think I will ever get used to this heat.

Adventures in India

My mom dropped me off at the Atlanta airport around 11 and then it was hurry up and wait for about an hour until I got to my gate. I made some phone calls and then sat with my group until the flight at 1:55. We got to Chicago around 3 and got some food (the last salad I will be eating for awhile) and then left Chicago around 5 and got to Brussels around 8 a.m. Our next flight was delayed a little because of maintenance issues and we left around 11. Sometime after midnight we arrived in the Chennai airport in India.

The first thing I noticed was that it was hot and crowded, even that late in the night. The group of 12 piled into a van with all of our luggage and headed to our hotel. At night, it did not look like we were in the greatest part of town and we realized the next day that we aren’t.

Our first day we all woke up in time to get the complimentary breakfast provided by our hotel and then most of the group walked to the IIT Madras campus, where some of us will be working. Our hotel is next to a slum, but there is a fence with guards around our hotel to keep us safe. On our walk to the campus we saw plenty of goats, chickens, and dogs in the street. The campus is very pretty, lots of trees keep it a degree or two cooler than outside. On campus there are a ton of monkeys but don’t make eye contact with them because they try to take things from you. We visited a lab and then walked back to the hotel and got the rest of the group and then went for lunch. We walked to a food court in an Industrial Park and noticed that there is a KFC, Pizza Hut, and Subway, which will be nice if I’m crazing something familiar. I had some Indian foor, chicken curry with a steamed rice noodle patty and some sort of bread (sorry I don’t know the names) which was a little spicy but delicious. After that we came back to the hotel and soon after that Autumn and I worked out in the tiny gym here. There is a strange machine called a “CrazyFit Massage” and we looked it up and it claimed to be “Australia’s favorite vibration work out.” I’ll keep you updated on that. There is also a bike, treadmill, and weights. It’s really hot outside (around 100 everyday) so I think I’ll stick to the gym, at least until I’m more familiar with the area, but probably the majority of the summer. We ordered a pizza for dinner and it tasted basically the same as pizza back home and then went to bed around 10.

Today we got up around 8 and had breakfast. The coffee here is already mixed with milk and not very strong so I think Autumn and I are just going to make coffee ourselves in our room each morning. Now we are waiting to go to the grocery store and watching Indian television. I have noticed that a lot of the advertisements are for making your skin paler which is the opposite of what the commercials are at home right now which is interesting.

patagonia is a place...

So when I told people that I was going to Patagonia over Christmas break I was surprised at the amount of people that did not know it was an actual place, many people just know of the company Patagonia. But it is an actual place and a beautiful one at that.

My friends an I spent 3 weeks in Chile, 2 and a half in Patagonia (10 backpacking) and 4 days in Santiago. My bag was lost on the way down there and we had a difficult time trying to communicate with the airport workers what had happened. Luckily the hostel owner in Punta Arenas had a sister-in-law that forked for LAN and took care of getting my bag. It only pushed us back a day but luckily we built extra time into our schedule. We spent 2 nights in Punta Arenas and then one night in Puerto Natales and then went into the Torres Del Paine National Park.

When I look at my pictures it is still hard to believe that I was there. It is easily the most beautiful place I have ever seen. We were extremely lucky with weather. We had one bad day with 60 mph winds which knocked me over and took Omar's glasses. Liz got stuck in a bog on the day we went through the pass but Omar helped get her out. We met people from all over the world and someone that goes to Auburn. We had a trail family from Texas.

We hiked for 10 days and then went back to Puerto Natales for 2 days and then to Punta Arenas for 2 days. On our way to the Punta Arenas airport there was a strike and we had to walk around it and were luckily picked up by an airport worker and our flight to Santigo was only delayed 20 minutes. We spent 4 days in Sanitiago and met up with someone from home who guided us around the giant city.