Day 7 through 8 of My Trip Through North India

The very last post about my days in North India. I know, this is a very long, long time in coming. This will also be a shorter post as we only have a full day in Agra and a half day in Delhi. So, onwards we go!

Day 7 - Agra

The entrance to the bounds at the Taj Mahal

We woke up early today, at about 6:00 a.m., to go and see the Taj Mahal! Whoo! It's the one thing most people think of when they think about visiting India, seeing this beautiful place. And I was able to do this! I loved visiting this place, and I'm really glad that, even though this wasn't specifically on my bucket list, it did happen!

Anyway, once we got there, we all had to pay to get in. It was actually kind of funny because I had several native Indians tell me to go stand in the citizens line. I really do seem to look like an Indian. :) When we paid for our tickets, we headed inside. The dawn was just starting to break, enough that we could see, but it was still slightly cool. Well, cool for India at least. Now, just be warned, all of my photos after this will have scores and scores of people in them, even at early in the morning.

This was one of the first photos that I took once we got in. This was at about 6:30 or 7:00 in the morning. And yes, there are that many people there already. But the Taj. Just look at the Taj Mahal. It's beautiful! What's most interesting though, is that I never really know what it was. I never really knew what the Taj Mahal was, I just kind of assumed that it was a palace of some sort. It's not! It was actually built as a place of burial for a favourite wife of a Mogul Emperor. It's kind of  a romantic story. But it's actually pretty cool. Also, another random fact, the pillars that you see around the main building? They were built with a two degree lean outwards so that if something like an earthquake ever caused the pillars to fall, they wouldn't fall of the actual building. They would fall outwards. That's pretty cool.

So, the majority of our day was spent wander around the Taj Mahal, as well as just relaxing in the hotel room once we were done. So, I'm going to spam pictures now.

We wandered around everywhere while looking at all of building. It really is a magnificent building, and it was just so cool to go and be able to walk around the Taj Mahal as well as inside. You know how I told you earlier that it is the burial place for the favourite queen of a Mogul Emperor? Well, this guy loved symmetry, which is why it's all symmetrical like it is. But, when he died, his son, who was kind of pissed at him for spending all of the money on this building as well as on wars and other things, also buried his father with the wife, and now it's not symmetrical. At least on the inside it isn't. You go inside, and you look at the sarcophagi, one is right in the middle, and that one belongs to the wife. But you look to the side, and there is another one. It makes the inside completely unsymmetrical. It doesn't look bad, I just think that it's funny that the son would be so petty.

The Red Fort in Agra, India

So, yeah, once we were done at the Taj Mahal, and were making our way out, the line just to get it, snaked out and around the outside perimitter. It was kind of scary how many people were there after just a few short hours of us inside. And it was only about 10:00 in the morning. I kind of wish I had taken a picture, but it was still pretty awe-inspiring to see. When we got outside, we split into groups again. Steve, Jeannie, Kendra, Westen, and Jamie all went to explore the Red Fort, while Lizzie and Taylor went off somewhere else. I have no idea.

The Moonlight Gardens

Once we were done walking around, we headed back to the hotel. And basically just sat and vegged for the rest of the day in bed and with the TV on. That was great! Once we were all done resting of the day, those of us who went to the Red Fort headed back out. We were then headed to the Moonlight Gardens, which is a ground of gardens across the river from the back of the Taj Mahal. That was a pretty cool sight as well.

Jamie, myself, Kendra, and Jeannie all in our bed :)

After that we explored the gardens, we all headed out to dinner. It was a pretty damn good dinner as well. I normally wasn't much of a fan of the Indian food that we had while on this trip, both in South India and North India, but what we had that night at dinner was excellent! I loved it! If I could have any other kind of food from India again, it would be the food from that dinner that night.

After dinner that night, we all headed back to our hotel room and literally just crashed into bed. Till You've Got Mail was on TV. Then we got Jamie, Kendra, Jeannie, and myself into our bed and watched that movie. Seriously, one of the greatest chick flicks of all time, and I love it. That was a great way to end the day in Agra.

We then woke up the next day, and then caught the train to Delhi.

Day 7 - Delhi

Hard Rock Cafe in Delhi

Once again, we caught our last train to New Delhi. I took a nap. For being hot, unair-conditioned
sleeper car, they are actually quite excellent for naps. When we got there, we checked back into our first hotel, and then Kendra, Jamie, Steven, Jeannie, came with me to the mall where I could finally eat at the Hard Rock Cafe in Delhi! Whoo! That was very nice for them to come with me, as I had wanted to go the first time we were in Delhi earlier that week. And it was just so cool to be able to go to the Hard Rock in Delhi. When we were done there, we headed back to the hotel to sleep.

The view from our table in Hard Rock

The next morning, we literally just wandered around the city till it was time for our flight back to
Vizag. Once there, we visited this amazing place, where unfortunately we could take any pictures. Which kind of sucks. There were carvings of elephants EVERYWHERE! And it was just such a huge and large structure, and it was beautiful!

When we were done exploring, we still had a few hours till our flight, so we decided to wander around the little shops just to see what it is that we could find as some last minute gifts for everyone at the main house and for everyone back home. Then it was time to go back to Vizag. We caught an underground to the airport and we took off, heading back to Vizag.


If there is one thing that I could say about this trip, is that it was something that I never thought that I would ever be doing. I am so grateful to everyone who helped me come on this trip as well as everyone who supported me throughout this trip. My parents, my husband, my friends. Without them, I wouldn't have felt that I would be able to leave all that I know and am familiar with and live, literally, half-way across the world in a place unfamiliar to me.

I'll hopefully have more adventures to talk about more soon.

Talk to you later,
Ashley

Days 5 through 6 of My Trip through North India

So...days 5 through 6 of my trip through North India. Let me tell you, day 5 has been my favourite day. And I'm pretty sure once I explain why, you'll see why it's my favourite day! ;) And yes, I know, I'm way behind!

Day 5 - Jaipur

This was a great day! The first thing that we did was wake up super early to head to the Amber Fort! The reason for this was because we needed to get to the Amber Fort early so that we could RIDE ELEPHANTS UP TO THE FORT!!! Now that was pretty friken' awesome! We also had a pretty awesome rickshaw driver, well, two of them. The driver for the rickshaw that I was riding in, his

Amber Fort

name was Shampoo. *giggles* Shampoo! The reason for the name, he said, was because it was a nickname that he got when he was younger, for using to much shampoo when he washed his hair. He was a pretty cool guy, he was around my age, so about mid- to late-twenties, spoke excellent English, and knew a lot about a lot of things. I kind of wish I had a picture to show you, that's the one thing that I tend to forget to do, was take pictures of the people that I connected with.

Jamie and I on our elephant!

Anyway, we wake up early, catch our rickshaws and drive out to Amber Fort. Amber Fort is in Jaipur and is the one place where we could ride elephants! Now that was super cool! We actually got to ride elephants! Yes, the most super, cliché thing that someone could do in India, but it was still pretty awesome! And elephant rides only go in the morning for a few hours, which is why we needed to get there early in order to be able to get to the elephant rides. On our way up to Amber Fort, we actually started passing the elephants that would be used for the rides. We stopped and were able to touch and get close to them. They were big! And very gentle creatures too. We weren't all the way up to where we needed to be, so once we were done saying "hi" to the elephants, we climbed back into our rickshaws and finished driving our way up. We then got ready to ride the elephants up to the fort. That was pretty awesome!

Like I said, beautiful architecture...and Jeannie, of course.

Jamie and I on the elephant :)

When we got up to the fort, we all climbed out and started our time exploring the old fort. It was a beautiful fort, one that had a lot of awesome architecture. If there's one thing that I've grown to appreciate since my time in India, is that I love the way the buildings look and how they are shaped and just how it all looks. It's just beautiful! By the time we were done exploring the fort though, we were getting tired enough that we needed to sit, eat, cool down, and get something to drink. I swear I drank more water while I was in India than I had my whole life. Which is a very good thing, mind you. But still, a lot of water. Once we were done with recuperating from our trekking and exploring, we decided that we needed to head up to the next fort. There was a fort, above?, the Amber Fort. so we walked the "secret tunnel" to the fort that is above the Amber Fort called the Jaigrah Fort. The walk up to the fort was long and hot, but it was worth it for the amazing view! And the small breezes that came very so often also made it very enjoyable. The tunnel was cool to look at as well, but the view from the top of Jaigrah Fort was simply beautiful!

"Secret tunnel" :D

View from the Jaigrah Fort

If there's one thing that I will say about India, there is a lot of beauty in just some of the smallest of things, be it the amazing tunnels that were created to walk from fort to fort, or the view from the top to see the green, rolling hills as far as the eye can see. It's a wonderful place and it's a place that is beautiful to see. You can almost see what India would have been like when these forts would have been up and running. It's like stepping back in time.

Also, random thing, I GOT TO DRIVE A RICKSHAW! Shampoo, our rickshaw driver for the day, is a guy who is about our age, mid-20s, and he was a blast! And he let me drive his rickshaw! How many other people do you know can say that they drove a rickshaw from Amber Fort in Jaipur? Heck YEAH! ;D

After the forts, we headed down and went back to our hotel. We were able to relax and enjoy our last day in the hotel before we head for Agra the next day. We spent out last night in the hotel in Steve, Jeannie, and the boys' room watching BBC and just enjoying the time that we had in an air conditioned room.

Day 6 - Agra

This was the day that we headed to Agra and we all rolled out of the hotel and headed to catch our sleeper train to Agra. It was some time till we were able to actually get to our train, so we headed to check out this museum. It was an interesting place, as it was the palace, I think, of a man that just
wanted to collect the things he liked. It was a pretty cool place, but what interested me most about the museum was the Egyptology section. And I love looking at all the statues and mummies, and figures, and everything from Egypt. So this is the only part of the museum to have pictures, though I probably should have taken more, but you know, whatever. :)

When it came time for us to catch our train, we got on our train, a non-AC sleeper, and just sat in to ride on our way to Agra. One of the coolest things about this train ride was that I was able to get some cool pictures of the scenery out the window and the train door. And then I settled in to sleep for a few hours before we get to Agra. We were actually getting into Agra really late, so the nap on the train was good to have.

So, we get into Agra, and it's really late! Like, late enough that we all just want to eat and then collapse into our beds. We're set up into two rooms again, me and the girls in one room, with Steve, Jeannie, and the boys in the other room. We order Domino's Pizza, and literally just fall into bed and sleep. We had to get up early the next morning in order to get to the Taj Mahal! WHOO! But that is an adventure for another time.

Talk to you later,
Ashley

Day 3 through 4 of My Trip through North India

So, I need to continue my latest blog posting...my last major trip in India. I've been lazy lately and haven't updated like I should have been doing. But I'm fixing that now!

Now, to continue:

Day Three - Amritsar

If you remember, when I last left you, I was just getting on the sleeper train to head to our next destination city, Amritsar. We had 10 hours to kill on the train, and we were all split on too. I was luckily next to Jeannie and Stephen, so I wasn't completely by myself, which I am very thankful for. It's hard enough to be in a foreign country without being left alone on a train as well.

So, I had the top bunk on my side of the compartment, while Stephen and Jeannie had the two bunks next to me, only they were across the way. And since it was a sleeper train, we all settled in to just relax and read or do whatever it was that we could in our little bunks. It was also a time where we could get some food. I was STARVING as well! But me, I was worried about my money a bit...I didn't really want to spend a lot of money, so I bought a candy bar first. I, naively, thought that it would keep me filled up till we got to Amritsar the next day. Sadly, Stephen then had to buy dinner
and that just smelled HEAVENLY! I had to buy it and eat some actual food. Warm food too, mind you. Let me just say, it was delicious and I was really glad that I had bought actual food. And it was funny as well. Jeannie had an interesting way of eating her food. But that's just what you have to do when you're really hungry and want to eat food without spilling it everywhere and letting it go flying onto the train floor.

Once we were all feed, it was by the time that we were all settling down to sleep and hopefully rest enough to enjoy seeing the Golden Temple the next day. So, that's what we did. We all did random things, reading, working, listening to music, writing in our journals (well, I did), and all the other things, and we all just turned in to bed. Now, let me tell you...sleeping on these sleeper trains...so not comfortable. Nor is it so easy to get a deep night's sleep. I swear, while I may have slept for a full six hours, I didn't sleep deeply the way a person should.


We end up in Amritsar the next morning at about 6:30 in the morning. We make out way to the free bus ride that's near the train station to take us to the Golden Temple. That was a heaven send actually, as we didn't have to pay for a rickshaw. And when we got there, we all had to cover our heads in some way. The girls all had scarves, and the boys had to wear these pirate head wraps. It was kind of cool to wear the scarves in the way I've seen some girls wear them. A cool thing about the Golden Temple was that, even though were a lot of people in the area, and there was a lot of talking, but the thing was that it was a noisy quiet. It was beautifully reverent and quiet and just a nice place in general. Compared to a lot of the other religious sites that I've gone and seen and just been around in general during my time in India, this was one of the more spiritually reverent and connected places that I've seen. Let's just say, it was one of my favourite places to be on our trip.

After we had visited, and walked about the complex, as well as actually go inside the temple (which was pretty cool!), it was about 8:00, maybe 8:30 in the morning. Let's just say, that by this time, we were all STARVING!! There was a McDonald's close by, so we all trooped over there with our super super heavy backpacks, and ordered some hotcakes (pancakes) with the hash brown thingie and this really cheap, crappy orange juice drink that said it was Minute Maid orange juice. Yuck.

Once everyone had eaten, we all split off into groups. Lizzie and Oliver went off one way, Stephen, Jamie, and Westen went of to see the Indian/Pakistani broader. That left Kendra, Jeannie, and I in a group by ourselves. We wandered around Amritsar, looking at all the booths that sold those random little necklaces and trinkets and things like that. All three of us eventually got bored and ended back at McDonald's, just talking and waiting for the others to show up. By the time everyone did, we decided that we wanted to eat at Domino's for lunch, which was delicious! Pizza in India seems to just a little bit better than the pizza here. But that may just have been because I really really missed American food.

When we were done with lunch, we headed back to the train station to board our sleeper train for our 17 hour train ride. Now, that was a LONG train ride. I read for most of the trip, being in a top bunk again. I got quite a ways through the fourth Game of Thrones book, "A Feast for Crows". I then proceeded to fall asleep.

Day 4 - Jaipur

We roll into Jaipur. Let's just say that the after two nights on sleeper trains and not showering....we were SO happy to get to Jaipur. And our hotel. Which also had a Western shower. HALL-AFRICKEN'-LUEIGH! (if I even spelled that right...). It was so nice to shower and just let it feel like I'm a clean human being again. So, all the girls are in one room, and the boys and Stephen and Jeannie were in another room. When we were all clean humans again, we got ready to set out for the day. The first thing that we did was eat breakfast! I was starving and it was good to have some actual food.

The guards outside the Textile Museum.

We first headed off to a place called City Palace. It was a big museum place. There was a textile

Just some cool looking
architecture.

museum, an artillery museum, as well as a place that sold a lot of hand made items for very expensive. And I mean very expensive. But it was still a good place to just wander around and see what's what.

When we were done wandering around City Palace, we started trying to find other places to explore. We actually tried going to see another museum to explore, but we ended up getting lost. When we figured that out, we headed to a place near City Palace called the Palace of the Winds. There was a lot of little shops right out front, all along the street. There was so many things that you could buy from cheap little elephant keychains to these awesome genie pants! We all ended up buying at least one thing on the way there. I got a scarf for my grandma, bartered all the way from 600 rupees to 300 rupees. I also bartered for a nightie from 800 rupees to 150 rupees. Am I good or what? ;)

The view from the top at the temple.

A mother and her child at Monkey
Temple

Anyway, after we went through all the shops, we decided that we could either head up to the Monkey Temple or back to the hotel to rest and then the Monkey Temple. We decided that going to the Monkey Temple then back to the hotel would be a better course of action as then we wouldn't be wasting as much money. Monkey Temple was pretty cool though. It was a long walk up to the temple and there were monkeys everywhere! And when we got to the actual temple, it was a beautiful site to see! To see all of Jaipur below as well the sky at the sun was heading towards sunset. It was just a wonderful site to see! And the monkeys were kind of funny as well. There weren't a lot of monkeys up at the temple, but on our way down, we saw a TON of monkeys. And we got to feed them. They were so used to humans coming around and just giving out food that they were would just come up and grab the bag of peanuts right out of your hand. It happened to Jamie. A monkey stole both of her bags right out of her hand and ran off with them. Luckily, Westen was brave enough to go after it and get at least one bag back for her. It was kind of crazy at the same time.

We get back to our hotel, and we eat at the restaurant that the hotel has in it for dinner. And then we just chilled in Stephen and Jeannie's room for a while, watching their TV as it actually worked before we all headed to bed. It was a wonderful first day in Jaipur.

Talk to you later,
Ashley

I'm Officially Back From India!

Yep, it's amazing! I am back in the USA and I am so happy to be back! Super excited, I know, but I just am. I loved India and I loved it a lot, but I am SO happy to be back home!

So, first things first. My trip up to North Delhi. I haven't told you guys about that, and I have got to say that it was the most exciting and wonderful thing to happen on my whole trip to India. Yes, it is partially cliche, but this is the truth. I got to see so many wonderful and amazing sights, and I did it all within about 8 days. It was a long and hard 8 days but it was worth it to see all that I did as well as do all that I did. And seeing as I have a lot of pictures and places to cover, I had better get started. And just as an F.Y.I., it may take a few posts to do so.

First day - Delhi

Our first day of the trip, we took a flight to Delhi. A cool thing about Air India - they'll feed you on every flight! Doesn't matter that the flight is only a few hours long, they'll still feed you something, whether it be a full fledged meal, or just some peanuts and a drink. They'll still feed you. It's pretty cool!

Anyway, our first day in Delhi, we go to some really amazing sites! We ended up splitting into two groups by accident, and my group ended up in going to the museum at The Martyrdom of Mahatma Ghandi. It was an amazing place to see. It was at the site where Ghandi took his last steps. We could actually take the pathway that he did before he was shot.

After the Ghandi Museum, my group then headed to the Lotus Temple. It's a beautiful place. It's a temple that was built in the shape of a blooming lotus. It was wonderful. We didn't go inside, as we didn't think we were able to without paying a fee, but we we able to wander around the outside and it was a noisy quiet atmosphere, but it was surprisingly spiritual. It was one of my favourite places that we visited while in Delhi.

Jamie at Iskcon Temple

After we had explored the Lotus Temple, my group decided to head off. That's when we got a call from the other group to see where we were at. When we explained that we were at the Lotus Temple, we decided that we would wait there and meet up with them in order to decide when and where we would meet up for dinner. Once that was decided, my group headed off to visit another temple that we could see from the grounds of the the Lotus Temple. It was an Iskcon Temple. Now that was an interesting place.

Now, it was time to start heading to meet the others up for dinner. This was the complicated part. We were to meet up at the mall, this HUGE mall! but the thing was, we're in Delhi, we honestly have no idea how to get around nor how far places are to go to them or how much rickshaws would be. So we took a rickshaw, then the metro (my first time ever taking the metro!), and then another rickshaw. Though, by the time we got to the mall, it was too late for dinner. So we only had time to grab some fast food, and then head back to our hotel.

I gotta say though, for our first day in Delhi, it was a pretty exciting day. And it was a very hot day. But I got to say, it was an exciting first day.

Day Two - Delhi

Our second day of our North India trip and our second day in Delhi. We packed our bags, as we were heading out that night to visit Amritsar the next day, and we headed off to enjoy our day. We started off to Starbucks for breakfast. A double chocolate chip frappe and a double chocolate chip muffin. It was so delicious!!!

Once we had our breakfast, we split into groups again, and took rickshaws to see the India Gate. Now, that
was great! It was built in the form of the conquer's gates, one of the most famous ones being the one in Rome. It was built as a memorial for the Indian soldiers that have fallen in wars over the last 75-ish years. It was an amazing site to see. It was also there that we got to buy these cool little flying toys. Cool thing, they were very cheap. Bad thing, one of the guys that sold them, he WOULD NOT LEAVE US ALONE! It was bad, we were literally plagued by him, till we finally decided that it was time to leave and start the long walk to the President's House. That was a fun time. We just walked along the grass all the way up to the President's house, talking, eating Popsicles, and just enjoying all the time that we had to walk around. It was pretty fun actually!

Once we were done seeing the President's house, it was time to head to the train station. We needed to make our sleeper rain to head to Amritsar. There wasn't a lot to do once we were on the train, other than to talk and then sleep while we could. We had a while before we would be in Amritsar.

That's all that I'll talk about for now, I'll continue this in my next post!

Talk to you later,
Ashley

Live Fish Pedicures and The Fault in Our Stars!

Hi again...sorry that my last post had some negative vibes coming from it. I didn't mean to be negative, I just wasn't very happy nor very occupied with my time, so it all came out badly. But I promise that this post will be much happier! Much much happier! :)

So, happiness number 1: I got a live fish pedicure last week! And it was pretty funny! Let me explain why. What happens, with a live fish pedicure is that you go to the salon, and you have to roll up your leggings (because that's really all people wear here instead of pants), wash off your feet and remove all jewelry. The "removing of jewelry" part was a bit more complicated for me as I have anklets on that are harder to get off than normal. So, after a bit of struggle to remove said anklets, I then had to walk over to where the fish tank was and then stick my feet in the water.

Now picture this, you see the tank of fish, and they're little fish, almost like the minnows you would see in a river or a creek. You stick your feet in the water and they literally swarm your feet. And it TICKLES!!! Holy
crap does it tickle. Like, someone grabbed your feet and just started dragging their fingers along the bottoms of your feet. Only it's just to the point where you can stand it, you just giggle and laugh a lot.

So yes, the fish swarmed and tickled and made my feet wonderfully smooth. It was kind of cool. They just ate the dead skin cells off my feet and it was a pretty cool experience. Is it one that I would do again? Probably not. Was it worth it to do just this once? Hecka yes!

Also, while I was at the salon, I got my eyebrows threaded. Now that was interesting. I actually liked that more than I do plucking my own eyebrows. You literally just sit back while a woman takes a thread and just pulls the hair using the string somehow, I have no idea how, and your eyebrows look amazing afterwards. Like, really amazing!

Funny story though, all while I was there, I had several of the Indian ladies asking me if I wanted a wax, once they saw how hairy my arms were. I would kindly say "no, thank you." and they would just give me this funny look, like "are you sure?" It's like they almost didn't believe me. But yeah, I'm totally fine with my hairy arms. Having smooth arms kind of freaks me out. I shaved them once, in like 7th grade. Never. Again.

So there are those things. Happy thing number 2: I just saw "The Fault in Our Stars"!!! And it was amazing and I want to own that movie! So good! So, for those of you who have no idea what I am talking about, let me educate you for just a little bit.

"The Fault in Our Stars" is an amazing book written by the also amazing author, John Green. It's this amazing
love story between two cancer patients, yes, it sounds cheesy, but it is NOT. It's extremely well-written and one of my favourite books ever! So, when I heard that the movie adaption for this book would be premiering on June 6th, I was estatic, as I was/am in India, so I would be able to see it when it premiered. Now imagine my disappointment when I look on the website for the premiere date, and see that there is none. No premiere date for India. Anywhere, in India, for that matter. I was really disappointed. But I got over it, told myself that I would see it when I got back home, so it gave me something to look forward to when I come home. Then imagine my surprise, when last Saturday, Jeannie, the wife of Stephen, the only other anthropologist on this study abroad, showed us that "The Fault in Our Stars" was now playing in theatres. Jamie and I got so excited that we immediately made plans to go and watch it this Monday, which was yesterday. And let me tell you, I am so glad that it did decide to come to India. It was an amazing movie, and I was teary and cried for about half of it. And I'm not ashamed to admit it.

Yep, those have been my happy things of this past week. And they have been wonderful. All that I've really been doing now is just typing up my notes from interviews, and just making sure everything is ready to go for our trip up North. Yep, we leave this coming Sunday for North India and I am so excited! It's going to be great! And I'll be sure to take lots and lots of pictures, cross my heart. :)

Talk to you soon,
Ashley

Trunky Feelings and Telugu

You know it's been either a very boring week or a very exciting week if I'm writing twice in the same of a few days...I'll let you guys try and guess which it is.

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Time's up! Guess what? Those of you that said boring, you win virtual cookies and my my adamant sympathies for playing my game...I'm really this bored.

I'm also getting slightly trunky. Trunky as I want to get home really soon. I would love to be home right now. I have learned a lot about myself while I've been here in India, but I've also learned that I would love to be home right now. I miss my home. My work has slowed down a bit, I haven't had a interview in a few days, and I haven't been doing much of my work. This is not a good thing, as that means that I am falling behind in what I should be doing. But I seem to have lost a little bit of my enthusiasm for doing my work. This. Is. Bad. I need something to spark my interest in my work again and I really have no idea what to do. Maybe I should buy another movie to watch that has Hindu marriage ceremonies. I have already bought one and watched it. It was pretty good to watch actually. Slightly cheesy, but good. It made me smile and laugh and react to the people in the movie.

I can actually tell you how bored I have been these past few days. I've been watching a lot of youtube videos. More than I usually would, especially when I only have so much data on my Internet stick that I use here to have Internet on my laptop. There is this girl, her channel is called NerdyandQuirky, and she is HILARIOUS! Her and the Vlogbrothers have been awesome now. And I have just been fricken' LAZY these past few days. One way I know that I am super lazy right now is because I have a Telugu quiz in the morning (hence, the second half of my title today) and I. Am. Not. Studying. I'm horrid. I should be studying, I shouldn't be on my blog, creating a new blog post, and I definitely shouldn't be watching youtube videos. Yet, what is it that I am doing? I'm creating a new blog post and watching youtube. I fail at this part of life right now. Horribly.

And this is Mumuksha. I love this kid!
I seemed to have become a backup baby-sitter
for him this past little while, which I do not mind
AT ALL! Love this little boy!

Good news though, due to my trunkiness, I know how many days I have left here in India. I have literally 30 days left here in India. Yes, this sounds like I have a lot of time left, and I keep telling myself "You can do that later, you still have a long time before you go home, just enjoy your time here." and yet, another day will go by and I haven't really done anything of note. It just may be that I have gotten used to being in India and so I no longer feel the need to wander around my neighborhood, or go do things, or anything else like that. And that it just a horrible attitude for me to be taking! You want to know why?! Because who know when I'll ever be in India again?! I should be out in the world doing things that I won't have the chance to do again. But what do I do? I sit my apartment all day, reading my Nook. This just may be because I've hit a rut and I'm being really lazy and just really don't want to do anything. This is also a horrid excuse. I shouldn't need excuses as to why I haven't done anything that would be a good memory or something that I can tell my family I have done when I get back to the U.S.

Alright, I will say this about my time here. I haven't completely wasted my time here. I have done some really cool and crazy things, like riding in a rickshaw (which people call "autos" here), as well as ride on the back of a scooter. I have never done that in the U.S. I have also learned how to bargin, at least a little bit. The reason I have learned how to bargin is that you have to bargin for rickshaws in order to, you know, not get completely ripped off for being a white person. Also, another cool little fact that I have learned about myself and talking with Indians here. I apparently look like an Indian. Like, if I could actually speak Telugu or Hindi, I would blend right in. Sadly, I do not speak any of these languages...so I don't blend in. Well, I do, but then I open my mouth and English just pours out of my mouth.

A girl who helped me with an interview. Her name is
Srisha. She's a great girl!

Wow...this was just a weird...weird post. I'm again sorry to those of you who actually read this, there's just no rhyme or reason to what it was that I was trying to say or write here. But good news, there is something of an actual update in here, somewhere. So yeah...enjoy your reading and enjoy your summer, where ever my wonderful readers are!

Talk to you soon,
Ashley

Again...It's Been a While

Yes, yes, I know...I know...I've been crappy at keeping up with this blog, but give me some slack. I've been writing in my journal that I have here in India with me, as well as writing up field notes, so I may not always write to write again online. So yeah, just deal. Anyway, just want to let you all know that I am indeed alive and that this past week has been great actually. And I'll tell you why. :)

I haven't gotten a lot of interviews this week, but those that I have gotten have been so full of information and so amazing and just interesting! that I don't regret not having a lot to do. Relatively speaking anyway. I still have a lot to do, but it's just been so interesting and just so amazing!

Just some thoughts though, that I think I at least need to write down. First things first, leaving in another country...it's a bit like madness! Such a different culture, different food, and just everything is different. But it's a good thing, it's been stretching my mind as well as my opening my mind to other things that I would have never expected in this life. Don't get me wrong, this is a great experience! This has been an excellent experience for me and I am lucky and happy to have done this! Wow...so many exclamation points....

Thought number two: sometimes, there are personalities that don't quite mesh together the way that people want them too. Yes, these people can be the nicest, kindest, more adorable people in the world, but there's just something about them that will rub you wrong. And you have no idea what it is, but they will just rub you wrong. It can, and is, super annoying to deal with it. That's the thing about this Study Abroad for me. I have learned that there some very annoying people in the world, and you just have to deal with it. Even if that very annoying person is yourself. And it has been me, I can tell that I have been very annoying at times, as well as been very annoyed at others. I will say this though, I have learned how to better work with others, at least a little bit.

And my last thought: I have a little over 4 weeks left. I am ecstatic that I will soon be home with Richard and my friends again, but I am also a little sad that I will be leaving those people that I have made friends with here as well. Like the girls in the house, Durga, Gowri, and Sailaja. They have become my friends and I don't want to leave them. And I can't forget Mumuksha. He's Durga's baby boy and I have grown so attached to that little boy that it's going to be hard to leave. It's one thing to say that I'll be a little glad to leave India. It's a completely different thing to say that I'll be glad to leave these wonderful people behind, which I won't be. I feel like I've come to know them in such a way that I don't want to leave them. But I'll have to. This chapter of my life will be closing soon and so I'll have to. This has been an amazing chapter!

I know that I sounded really depressing just now, but trust me, I'm not. I glad to have been able to come to India and to experience something that will both further the use of my education as well as make me a better person in general. At least, I hope that is what will happen.

Talk to you soon,
Ashley