One week, infinite observations!

I have been in India for about one week now, but I feel as though I could already post a novel about all that I have seen, heard, tasted, smelled, and experienced-- from meeting my fellow students, to learning my first Hindi phrases. In attempts to not write forever, I am going to post a few observations that stand out in my mind, to give you a taste for the miraculous world around me. Now, where to start?!

• As you can see in my previous post, we already went shopping for Indian clothing. In fact, it was a built-in afternoon activity for the third day of orientation. We took a bus to a store called Fab India, and CIEE paid 3500 ruppees a student so that everyone could buy two outfits. Fab India has really nice, kind of Westernized Indian styles... definitely more expensive than shopping at the street markets, but you don't have to haggle for a price. We had so much fun in the store!! We were there for nearly three hours trying on different combinations of shirts, pants, and scarfs and having a little fashion show displaying our options to each other.  The colors are all magnificent, but we definitely need to get used to the different fit of the clothing. 
• The weather here is absolutely splendid. It is 70-80 degrees every day, sometimes with a nice breeze, sometimes with some afternoon showers. So far, we have only had one day that comes close to what I imagined to be monsoon season. We spent one day outside touring the city, and it did get pretty hot in our layers of modest Indian clothing, but nothing worse than a July day in DC!
• Since the weather is so amazing, the buildings around campus aren't completely separate from the outdoors, like in the US. Until my home-stay starts in a few weeks, I am staying where the rest of the students will spend the whole semester, in the Tagore International House. The building has several massive decks, and the entire roof is accessible! The Study in India Program building, where there are some special classes for international students, literally has a grassy square lawn in the middle of the structure. The University's School of Social Sciences (where I will obviously spend plenty of time) is also a half indoor, half outdoor space. I think it is so cool that I will be in class breathing fresh air and using natural lighting. While this openness does mean more mosquito bites (and a little lizard in my dorm room!!!), I really like feeling continually in touch with the environment. Here are some pictures so you can get more of an idea.

This is what most of the hallways look like in the social sciences building

You can see right through the wall to a courtyard, and then another side of the building

Theres just not wall at all here.. can walk down the hall and onto that roof

This is a courtyard on the ground floor- four walls inclose this little garden, but its open to the sky above!

Sorry to photo-bomb this one.. but cool, huh?!

• Besides exploring campus, I have also gotten a pretty good feel for the area surrounding the University, called Gachibowli. You can see stainless steal high-rises, with a neighborhood made out of bamboo and tarps right in front! Every building is so unique looking, and painted in bright colors, like orange and mint green. And there's a body of water running through the city.. which looks beautiful and smells horrific. We had the afternoon off yesterday, and we took a rickshaw to the mall.. which was QUITE an experience! Auto-rickshaws are these tiny little vehicles with one wheel in the front and two in the back, a windshield and roof, but no siding. Traffic operates differently here-- no speed limits, just go the speed you can to get by. There are no real lane lines, motorcycles, rickshaws, and cars of all sizes scoot by each other wherever possible, sometimes leaving just a few inches of space between vehicles. And the horn is used haphazardly, just to make all other drivers aware of your presence. Of course, i LOVED riding in the rickshaw.. kind of felt like we were on a roller coaster ride! The driver could tell that we were having the time of our life, so he weaved through traffic and abused his horn just to show off.  Unfortunately, driving the whole group in the tour bus in this traffic is much less enjoyable.  Once, the bus went over two HUGE bumps entirely too quickly. Two students in the very back of the bus actually hit their heads on the ceiling! 
• We spent yesterday seeing the big tourist sites of Hyderabad. Here are a few pictures of all we saw!

The Qutab Shahi Tombs

Charminar (Hyderabad's most well known monument)

The whole group and one "Peer Language Tutor" (translator) with Charminar in the background. (Heads are covered because we were at a huge Mosque called Mecca Masjid.)

Chowmohalla Palace

Golconda Fort

A view of Hyderabad from Golconda Fort

• Last night, we went to dinner at this amazing five star hotel for the official CIEE welcome dinner. Being in this fine restaurant was the first time in the whole week when we saw more than one or two other foreigners.  There was a ceremonial cake cutting by the first and last students to arrive in India, and then a very festive meal from an elaborate buffet! I haven't had much of an appetite since arriving, but I ate to my hearts delight last night :) 

Alright, thats enough for now! Hopefully, all of these tid-bits give you a feel for my world this past week.