A Typical Day (Sort of)

My day usually begins around 7am to give my roommate and I both enough time for our bucket bath and getting ready for class.  Then we walk to the program center for our breakfast of a hard-boiled egg, banana/apple, yogurt, a sweet oatmeal-like dish, and a random Indian breakfast food (usually something spicy).  Then we have to basically run to our 830am class after having 20ish minutes to eat.  I think I’m still jet-lagged or just not getting enough sleep, because I started walking to class today without my backpack... it was a little embarrassing.

I made it on time for my first Contemporary India (CI) class though.  The Professor is great and seems more interested in having us learn useful information rather than giving us some random boring historical material to read.  He also encourages discussion on any topic of our choosing, whether that be the caves we should visit in Maharashtra, a discussion about Maoist rebels, or what we should order for lunch on F.C. Road.

After CI, I have a 2 hour break before my next class so I wander over to a coffee shop, Cafe Coffee Day (CCD) which is a big chain here.  There is air conditioning and their bathroom has toilet paper so I am happy! I do some of my course readings and enjoy my Chococinno (they have more inventive names than Starbucks!) It was 85 rupees.  After some time, I head back to campus for my 12pm class, Social Justice which I’m really excited about! It is such an interesting course and the professor is a great speaker.  She just has such a captivating way of speaking - you can't not pay attention.

After class, a few of us went to a local restaurant to grab some lunch.  I had a cheese masala dosa for around 60 rupees I think.  It was delicious! It was basically like a giant crepe cut into four parts and slightly crispier.  Inside was some sort of spicy rice-like or potato-y mixture, onions, and cheese as far as I could tell.  Either way, it was tasty.  I also had a lime soda, but it was sweet and had some sort of spices sprinkled on top.  I don’t ask questions...

While walking around in between classes, I managed to not pay attention to where my feet were slipping and sliding to (monsoon season, remember!) and I gracefully fell into a hole in the sidewalk.  It was actually somewhat terrifying because when my foot first got caught, I thought I had tripped, and then my left foot quickly sank, knee-deep, into a bottomless pit of God-knows-what.  I’m making it sound a little more dramatic than it really was, but that’s because I just finished cleaning my wound which covers the length of my shin, and it was so painful.  Alcohol wipes are not your friend.  But the giant roll of gauze in my First Aid Kit came in handy - thanks Mom & Dad!

Today’s Lesson: don’t place your foot in unidentified holes...