It has been a quiet few days here in Pune. For those of you wondering, the Chinese food was quite similar to something you would find at a good Chinese restaurant back in the US. We went to a very nice restaurant called Mainland China. I didn't recognize many of the names, but they were self-explanatory. We shared a few dishes including my favorite, chicken fried rice. Well, technically second to pork fried rice, but you would be hard pressed to find pork here, and beef is the same if not worse. I will miss having a wide variety of meat this year, but chicken will suffice.
School has continued to surprise me, but not in an exciting way. The part I am having difficulty adapting to is that many classes are canceled and I have no idea why. Yesterday I only missed French, but today I only attended two classes before being sent home. It seems very futile to go to school at all except to meet friends. I have begun to form some relationships with classmates, made easier by the fact that I finally have their names down. One of my peers, Dhara, has also agreed to share a rickshaw with Colby and me to and from Symbiosis everyday. She is dropped off at my house, then we pick Colby up on the way to school. It is good to have her help talking to rickshaw drivers and crossing the street. I feel strange admitting this, but I am genuinely afraid of walking across the streets here. You would think a relatively high-functioning almost 19 year old such as myself would feel comfortable walking all of 20 feet across traffic from the rickshaw to Symbiosis, but you would be surprised. Then again, if you have been keeping up on my adventures, you probably saw the video of driving I posted and understand my anxiety. Each morning I revert to the toddler who is led by his mother across the street, and have to fight the temptation to grab Dhara's hand and never let go.
After we miraculously survive this nerve-wracking ordeal, my day becomes much less exciting. Lectures are still long and uninteresting, but at least I have the other exchange students to talk to. We have added one to our numbers! Today I was introduced to Trent, a would-be 10th grader who lives just outside of NYC. He seems like a nice guy, and we had plenty of time to talk during some of the canceled lectures. I look forward to getting to know him better, and eventually meeting the rest of the exchange students. It is beginning to seem like it will never happen, but I am trying to be hopeful. I know it will be worth the wait!
In other news, my life here is becoming daily routine as I get more and more comfortable with my surroundings. I have moved past the acceptance phase I mentioned earlier, but I am not sure where that leaves me now. However, I am enjoying my time here more than ever, even if I finally did exhaust the last of my US food. In terms of meals, I am slowly weaning myself off of comfortable food and into cultural norms. For example, I have switched the jam in my peanut butter and jelly sandwich lunches from familiar strawberry to cultural mango! A more impressive change is that instead of bread and jam in the mornings, I have begun eating some Indian dishes. It seems as if breakfast here is simply another meal, because I have seen many of the same foods served for breakfast as dinner. I may miss my rice krispies (I actually prefer the Malt-O-Meal version, Krispie Rice), but I will survive. I am gradually shifting away from the early beginning of exchange and into the heart of my learning, and I look forward to moving past the obvious cultural differences and into the exciting part.
Before I tie up this blog post, I would like to thank all of you for loyally following my blog and your continued interest in my adventures. For those of you wondering what the picture is at left, it shows the number of views of my blog from individual countries. Now, I don't know who in Russia, Ukraine, or Latvia enjoys reading about a US exchange student in India, but please, keep reading! I love that my blog has such an international following, it makes me feel like a true world ambassador. With that said, I am about to cook my first American meal for my host family: spaghetti! I guess we cannot truly claim it as our own, but it is one of the few meals I know how to prepare and I like it a lot. I hope they enjoy it but if not, all the more for me!
School has continued to surprise me, but not in an exciting way. The part I am having difficulty adapting to is that many classes are canceled and I have no idea why. Yesterday I only missed French, but today I only attended two classes before being sent home. It seems very futile to go to school at all except to meet friends. I have begun to form some relationships with classmates, made easier by the fact that I finally have their names down. One of my peers, Dhara, has also agreed to share a rickshaw with Colby and me to and from Symbiosis everyday. She is dropped off at my house, then we pick Colby up on the way to school. It is good to have her help talking to rickshaw drivers and crossing the street. I feel strange admitting this, but I am genuinely afraid of walking across the streets here. You would think a relatively high-functioning almost 19 year old such as myself would feel comfortable walking all of 20 feet across traffic from the rickshaw to Symbiosis, but you would be surprised. Then again, if you have been keeping up on my adventures, you probably saw the video of driving I posted and understand my anxiety. Each morning I revert to the toddler who is led by his mother across the street, and have to fight the temptation to grab Dhara's hand and never let go.
After we miraculously survive this nerve-wracking ordeal, my day becomes much less exciting. Lectures are still long and uninteresting, but at least I have the other exchange students to talk to. We have added one to our numbers! Today I was introduced to Trent, a would-be 10th grader who lives just outside of NYC. He seems like a nice guy, and we had plenty of time to talk during some of the canceled lectures. I look forward to getting to know him better, and eventually meeting the rest of the exchange students. It is beginning to seem like it will never happen, but I am trying to be hopeful. I know it will be worth the wait!
In other news, my life here is becoming daily routine as I get more and more comfortable with my surroundings. I have moved past the acceptance phase I mentioned earlier, but I am not sure where that leaves me now. However, I am enjoying my time here more than ever, even if I finally did exhaust the last of my US food. In terms of meals, I am slowly weaning myself off of comfortable food and into cultural norms. For example, I have switched the jam in my peanut butter and jelly sandwich lunches from familiar strawberry to cultural mango! A more impressive change is that instead of bread and jam in the mornings, I have begun eating some Indian dishes. It seems as if breakfast here is simply another meal, because I have seen many of the same foods served for breakfast as dinner. I may miss my rice krispies (I actually prefer the Malt-O-Meal version, Krispie Rice), but I will survive. I am gradually shifting away from the early beginning of exchange and into the heart of my learning, and I look forward to moving past the obvious cultural differences and into the exciting part.
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