Fulbright Hays India

The Summer of Ridiculous Awesomeness continues, and I'm on my final adventure... 5 weeks traveling around India with 15 amazing teachers as part of the Fulbright Hays Seminar Abroad program. I'm so excited since I've always wanted to visit India, and this experience will give us an opportunity to really get to know the country and its people. The main purpose of the program is to allow us to "explore issues, challenges and strategies related to India's developmental goals and to better understand the impact on local communities and on Indian society at large." We're also going to be exposed to India's "rich and diverse cultural heritage." Can't ask for much more to get to know a fascinating country!

The group at UT Austin

The program began on July 4, when we met as a group in Austin, Texas for three days of pre-departure orientation. Saif, Kiran, Ani, and the rest of the UT South Asia Institute put on a great program, with talks on travel tips, the caste system and social injustice, religion, gender and sexuality, and even a brief lesson on Hindi 101. Shoe-kri-ya, Texas friends!

Bat-lovers on the South Congress Bridge

Not only that, but our hosts arranged a great bat dinner cruise under the South Congress Bridge, where a colony of maybe a million Mexican free-tail bats fly out every evening to hunt for food. So cool seeing and hearing them fly out at dusk!

Giancarlo, Mario, Chris, Kara, and Brittney checking in to our hotel

On Friday morning, we flew as a group from Austin to Newark (where we had a 7-hour layover) to Delhi. It was a long 14.5 hour flight, so it was lovely being greeted at the hotel with a jasmine-flower garland, fresh fruit juice, and welcome bag.  Since it was around 11PM when we drove from the airport to the hotel, it was difficult to get any impressions of the city other than 1) traffic lanes are basically ignored, 2) traffic lights are basically ignored, and 3) it's really hot and humid here.

Looking forward to the next 5 weeks!