On The Move

Pfew, while I've had quite a few difficulties with the wifi at this hotel and the power has gone out twice tonight, I figured I should blog about the past two days in Pune and before heading off to our next destination, Dahanu.

Still a little uneasy about my experience a few days ago, but my time here in Pune has definitely been enjoyable. While I'm really missing Delhi, Pune has been a nice change of pace.

Yesterday started very early with a 7:30AM departure from our hotel. We were supposed to get picked up at Fergusson College around 7:45AM, but we had the joy having to wait for the taxis until 11:00AM. Needless to say that we were all pretty grumpy because we knew that we could have slept a few hours. One of Pune's most important lessons: Indian time is elastic.

Once we finally got into the cars, the mood turned around as we made the hour-and-a-half long journey to the Bhuleshwar Temple. A Hindu Temple of Shiva, the old structure was situated gracefully atop a hill and provided us with beautiful views of yet another new side of India. We loved seeing the intricate carvings of basalt within the Temple, as well as taking in the countryside atmosphere.

The way back to Pune took a bit longer because we stopped at a roadside restaurant. Although there was quite a bit of confusion about what we thought we ordered and what we actually got, we all thoroughly enjoyed our dishes. The waiter asked us if we were from France... that was a new one.

We arrived back to Hotel Ketan and chilled for a little bit before meeting up with some Indian students from Fergusson for dinner. We ate at a place known for "sizzling" dishes and I, for one, was a huge fan of the sizzling brownie. Noms.

We had the chance to sleep in a bit today, being that our lectures did not start until 9:00AM. I got up a bit early to FaceTime with Larz, which was much needed. I've realized that all it takes is a nice, long conversation with your bestie to get over any feeling of homesickness. Thanks, chicka.

While I hate to admit it, the longggg morning lecture did not resonate with me. I didn't really become alert until a field trip to Agakhan Palace, which is known as the Gandhi National Memorial. It is the place where Ghandi was held on house arrest for a period of time and is now the location in which a small portion of his ashes are kept. It was really interesting to tour the palace and learn more about one of the most, if not the number one, influential figure in Indian history.

After lunch at Starbucks (I'm really going to miss easy access to coffee during the next two weeks), we headed back to campus for another lecture. Once the discussion ended, the American crew spent a few hours shopping and returned to the hotel to re-pack our suitcases, talk to friends and family, answer THON emails (perhaps one of my fave parts of the day) and cozy up before our early departure tomorrow morning. Dahanu is about 5-6 hours away, so it's going to be a long trek.

I'm really looking forward to our visit Dahanu and Tamarind Tree, it's going to be unlike anything we've seen and experienced so far.

Well, off to catch some zzzzz's. Can't wait to see what funky dreams the malaria pills cause tonight!

Could really go for some Kiwi fro-yo,
Kirst