karnataka

Hey! This week we have been touring the state of Karnataka which is a bit North of Tamil Nadu where Madurai is located. We started off tour in Mysore after a long night train. In Mysore we visited the royal palace, the bazaar and after a two hour van ride to the largest monolithic statue in India which was atop a hill 600 steps up! The vsiew was just as amazing as the much larger than life statue. Our next stop was Hopset where we are now. Were staying in the city which is about 30 minutes outside of Hampi. Hampi is a vert interesting place but also conjures up a lot of personal questions and dillemas for me. First I'd like to tell you about the city itself. hampi is an old ancient city which is mostly in ruins now. It is beautiful to go see the ruins, and magnificant as well. But what bothers me is the type of tourist it attracks. Most tourists we saw were "dirty hippies" aka European tourists with dreds who clearly did not try to understand the culttural norms of India, especially in dress. Most wore extremely revealing clothing at least by Indian terms. But I loved the environment of the city and I thought that the attractions were amazing to see. I just don't want to be seen as that kinda tourist, although pur group certainly was not because we dressed the proper Indian way. Just makes me wonder about post program travel. Today I am just resting because I don't feel 100% and we have a night train tonight, I'd like to recover before I'm on the train for a long time. I can't wait to post some pics when I get back to Madurai!

Syracuse Issues

So last night I was looking at some of my friends blogs, the only one i can find right now is: http://emilyinmadurai.blogspot.in/ But what I noticed about the other blogs is they have photographs of their house, the food and the city that we are staying in, things that I havent thought to post but now I think they will be interesting for you guys to see. So I will be posting some more photographs like that so you can all see!Right now I am staying with my friend Emily Simmons because my family is out of town for two days at a family wedding. I hope at some point I can go with them because I would love to see an Indian wedding! Right now I am in the process of trying to deal with my Photography independent study. I need to take junior seminar this semester because next year i need to take senior Seminar in the fall and obviously i must take junior before senior. My advisor told me that if I did not take it I would have to stay another semester, just for one class which is ridiculous. So....in a way Syracuse University or at least VPA is punishing me by not being standard and going to London or Florence. I wish they were more accommodating to students who do not wish to take the typical course of action. Before I left it was not even clear if I could take Junior Seminar as a independent study, after I arrived and sent an e-mail asking what was going on because I hadn't heard back from my advisor or the teacher in over a month I was reprimanded for not filing the paperwork (to a class I didn't even know was enrolled in because I hadn't heard back). Now the teacher is unwilling to cooperate and talk to me unless it is her response to my photography (her critique). I am highly disappointed in the lack of cooperation and communication of my advisor and teacher. Especially because if I was at Syracuse I could go to office hours and they would be willing to talk, it is very unprofessional of them. I am hoping that I will be able to stay in this class through out the semester.

Meenakshi Temple

On Saturday we went to Meenakshi Temple, the largest temple in Madurai and center of town. Mennakshi Temple is devoted to the godess Meenakshi, wife of Shiva. The couple was married in Maduria, Meenakshi's home, the reason the temple is located in Madurai. Dr. V gave a briefe talk about the story surrounding Meenakshi and we set off for the temple at 9 am. We walked around the temple stopping and hearing about particular deities and their stories. We stayed in the temple for two hours walking around and observing and did not even see half the temple...I believe we saw a fourth at the most. The temple was amazing and is so large, I have to go back another time to explore more! After the temple we went to lunch at a nearby restaurant and were split into teams for our scavenger hunt. The scavenger hunt had a long list of things like: Sugumaran's (my host dad)shop, strange fruit, weird toys, health dogs, cattle, Neeva's Bakery, creepy dolls, a particular shop's Manequins, Meenakshi Images, bangles ect. My group was me, Chris and Fabi. We set off first going to my host fathers shop and then worked our way around the temple somewhat aimlessly searching for items on this list. The scavenger hunt was in the middle of the day when the sun was the hottest so quickly we began to get very tired, hot and thirsty. But we managed to still have a good time, we came back to SITA way earlier than we needed but by the end we were pretty tired. We had attacked the scavenger hunt in a fast pace and should have taken our time drifting into shops and such. Below I will post some Images from the scavenger hunt and Meenakshi Temple.

Jain Hill

Wednesday was a day in my life that I will never forget. First, I biked to school in the morning; biking in India is extremely hard. First off, the bikes are heavier therefore they are harder to stay upright on and harder to steer. Secondly you have to battle the traffic of India, which if you have seen the movies, it is most likely the exact same: busy, crowded, loud and on the opposite side of the road, quite a culture shock. But I made it to school safely (and much better than my ride home the night before which ended with only two crashes). To start off my day I was able to skype with my Mom, Aunt and Uncle, which was very nice. I have been so busy and excited with everything new that I haven’t had time to think about how much I miss them. I also was able to skype with my boyfriend, which was nice as well. At ten it was tea-time, one of my favorite parts of the day! My first class of the day was Tamil where we began to learn the written scripture, something I was very much looking forward to! It was also the day that it was my turn to eat lunch at the SITA center, which was very good. But my day got even better, the last class of the day I am not taking, but attended so I could go on the fieldtrip. The class was MRA Myth, Religion & Art. The subject of Wednesday’s lecture was the religion of Jainism. After class we had a fieldtrip to Jain Hill, none of us knew what to expect. Jain Hill is about 45 minutes away from the SITA Center in a nearby village. At the bottom of Jain Hill is a holy body of water with lily pads and ducks! As well there is a holy tree where villagers go to pray, specifically the tree is used for prayer for mute toddlers (the parents will pray to the tree that their child will be able to speak and hang a bell in the child’s honor and as a offering to the tree). Then we went to check out the temple at the base of Jane Hill, this temple was devoted to local Gods and had beautiful large plaster castings painted vividly to depict religious tales. To the left of the temple there was a path that leads to a cave in the rock (Jain Hill is a large rock formation) where there were wall carvings. We all thought the story was very interesting and the view from the cave was amazing, but it pails in comparison to what else we saw. To the right of the temple is a set of stairs carved right into the rock that lead to more rock carvings about halfway up the hill. I thought the view from there was beautiful and was surprised by how high up I was. But…just because the stairs ended did not mean that was as far as we were allowed, all of the SITA students climbed to the ve

ry top of this rock where we had a 360 view as far as the eye could see. It was amazing; the rock formation was as beautiful as the scenery around. From the top of the rock we could see very small dots on fields running around, presumably cows or goats, but what I found amazing was seeing a bird, similar too or maybe a hawk (not sure if they live in India) from the top, not often do you see a bird like that from above, I watched it ride the wind and dive down to the forest, it was a beautiful site to watch. A short time after we arrived at the top of the rock a group of young boys who we had also met at the cave appeared from the opposite edge. We talked with them, introduced ourselves and as everyone seems to do (at least in Mexico) bonded of John Cena. We arrived at the peak of the rock just in time to watch the sun set in the hazy sky over a mountain in the distance. It was just an amazing experience to climb to the top of this holy rock, barefoot of course, and look at all the scenery. I was so happy to write about that experience I almost forgot about the end to my day. Instead of biking home in the dark I decided to take the bus, or so I thought. I started by walking down the main road a bit and stopping at a medical store where I was able to buy cough syrup, although that’s not really what I needed. I decided to keep walking because I did not know where the bus stop was, but once I arrived at the bus stop I was so enthralled with walking down the street at night and seeing the night culture that I decided to walk a bit more. Eventually, I saw a grocery store so I went in and bought some gum and hand soap for my bathroom at home. I really enjoyed the walk and decided to continue because I didn’t feel the need to stop but it started to get late and I hadn’t told my host family that I would be walking so I hailed a shared-auto (rickshaw) and drove home. It was one of the days that will definitely stick out in my mind from my trip in India. Yesterday I walked all the way home, I decided I want to walk home every day and ride the bus to school every morning. Occasionally I’ll bike, but I’d rather walk.

First Week In Madurai

Hey everyone, sorry its been a while since my last post. We have arrived in Madurai, where we will spend the rest of the semester besides a few trips to nearby parts of the state. My only internet access is at SITA where all of our classes have been held and things have been busy so I have not been able to post on the blog. I am now living with my host family my mom's name is Kavitha, my dad's name is Sugumaran; I also have a sister Keshma who is 15 and a brother Sanju who is 19. I like my family a lot. I am their 10th host student so they pretty much are accustomed to the western ways of students. My sister, Keshma is the U-17 and U-19 doubles badminton (shuttle cock) champion of Madurai and ranked 3rd in U-17 of India, I can't wait to go see her practice or one of her matches. My brother Sanju is really cool, he is super excited and pre-occupied with his new iPhone 5 that Jenny, a past host student brought for him (she is staying at the house for 5 days). But my family makes me feel really comfortable and always tries to their hardest to make sure I am okay and comfortable. Last night they called me a "bad eater" because I typically only take seconds on a meal. It is amazing how much Indians eat, rice fills me up pretty quick so my stomach is not yet accustomed to the amount of food. On that note, I love the food of India. Typically my meals include rice and Sambar which is a mix of vegetables and spices in this sauce. My host mom has also made fish gravy (curry) and dosas. The first day we came to SITA for classes I was not feeling okay with my bike riding skills so I braved the busses of India,I was surprised to find that many people were very willing to help me out. Once I got on the right bus an old man took me under his wing to make sure that I knew which stop to get off which was very helpful,this man didn't speak english so another guy helped by translating and also the guy who collects the bus toll made sure that I was going to get off on the right stop. I am adjusting really well to India so far, I havent felt jetlagged or sick because of the water/food. So, everything is off to a great start and tomorrow I will try to upload a few pictures that I have taken so far on the trip. This week is the celebration of Pongal, the harvest festival. Yesterday we had a pongal celebration in which we had a ceramic pot of milk boil over and then add rice, dal, yellow sugar amoung other things. It was a nice festival that we had and after the celebration at SITA I went back home to have even more Pongal from my host mom.

Hey! Today was really exciting, well the last half of the day was at least. I woke up somehow at 7am, an hour before breakfast fully rested and without the help of an alarm. I was pretty impressed with myself since everyone is super jet lagged and such, in fact, i don't think i am suffering from jet lag at all I'm tired but no more tired then I would be at home in the east coast time zone.After breakfast we had another Tamil class, were we learned more phrases like "do you want (blank)" and "yes/no i do/n't want (blank)" it started to get complicated already. Our second class was Tamil Myth, Religion and Art where we met Dr. V who gave us a VERY brief overview of India's history and how Hinduism came to be in preparation for our temple visit. Lunch today was a traditional southern Indian meal that comprised of several side dishes, 3 veggies, 3 sauces, curd (yogurt), dessert, and rice (im forgetting some other things as well). I finally kinda understood how you are supposed to eat rice and curry with your RIGHT hand, its this scoop and push method which I have found helpful. After lunch we went on our first temple visit. To be appropriate we wore the traditional clothing we bought yesterday, which I found out was very itchy (at least mine was because of the embroidery and sequins!!) We walked to the temple which was about a 15 minute walk away. I really love walking on the busy streets of India, although all the constant honking, especially the loud honks of buses is a bit startling and I am slowly getting used to it. I find the most difficult part of transitioning to Indian customs for me is not looking others, particularly men, in the eyes. If I did sustain eye contact with a male it could send messages that I do not intend, but I am curious so I want to stare and make eye contact. I am pretty fearless when it comes to American traffic my thought is "if you hit me i will sue you" so that kinda helps in India, not that I am going to run out in traffic but not being afraid helps when people are weaving all over the place. When we arrived at the temple the first thing we did was take off our shoes because it is customary and rude not too. Then we began to explore, we saw many different stone carvings, a bronze statue of a bull god and many other interesting deities. It is just amazing to think that so long ago these temples were constructed, they are so detailed. The specific temple we visited today is known as the big temple, it is either the biggest temple (in height) in India or in Southern India, either way it was super tall! After we exited one of the rooms in the main temple a family asked if i could take their picture, of course I agreed. Soon this simple picture became quite an event. Bill the program assistent was taking my picture with the family of about 4. Then we waited for the grandparents...and the cousins....and the children....until it was a group of me and about 20 indians. It was a really special moment for me because I was happy that they wanted me in the picture and it meant as much to them as it meant to me. They shook my hand after and spoke english to me, it was a very friendly moment.

Thanjavur

Hey everyone! Right now me and the rest of the SITA students are staying in a hotel in the town of Thanjavur. We will be staying here for the next few days for orientation and some intro classes so we can start our semester. We arrived in Chennai on Sunday morning around 8 pm after a long travel, a 12 hour flight to Dubai a 6 hour layover and then another 5 hour flight....I wasn't sure what day it was, or what time, we had experienced over 24 hours of night time due to flying into different timezone so it was nice to reach Chennai and see daylight. Our first day (which was only yesterday but seemed like forever ago) was spent somewhat resting and exploring the city of Chennai. Then we took a sleeper train from Chennai to where we currently are. The sleeper train was interesting, i woke up in the middle of the night because i had to go to the bathroom and managed to find my way to the Indian Style bathroom, basically a room with two footholds and a whole to the tracks...It actually was not as bad as it sounds. But due to jet lag and completely different timezone it took a long time for me to fall back asleep. We all woke up around 5 am when the train was supposed to arrive in Thanjavur, but it was delayed for an hour so I spent the time standing between our sleeper car and the next one watching the Indian countryside go by with some other SITA students, it was beautiful; southern India is much more lush and tropical than i imagined in my head. Today we took our first class in Tamil the native language where we learned the phrase "ennaku coffee veendum" which translates to I want coffee or coffee is needed to me. The most exciting and traumatic (to some but not to me) part of the day was shopping. We walked a few blocks away and got to see the city to a local clothing store for women where we bought a three piece "suit". This is a pair of leggings or pants, a long tunic and a scarf to cover the chest. I ended up selecting a purple and pink tunic shirt with a matching pink scarf, i really like the clothes I chose so I am excited to wear them soon! We need this traditional set of clothing to visit the temple in town tomorrow which I am very excited for. Oh, we also bought a nightie as they call it or a long nightgown, this nightgown has sleeves and goes all the way down to your ankles so no part of your body can be seen. The experience in the store was exhausting, of course none of the leggings were designed for my body type so i had to try pair after pair on in a small extremely hot changing room. Good thing i packed some of my own!Since we are told that India is such a slow paced place i was surprised at how fast and busy the process was.

From Dubai

Hey everyone! We survived our first flight from JFK to Dubai (united arab emerites). The flight was super long...12 hours but we were fed two meals dinner and breakfast, both were actually pretty good. Right now were sitting in the hagen daz restaurant in Dubai, our next flight is in 6 hours. Right now its around 9 pm here (i think) and noon at home. It's pretty crazy, but im started to feel more settled in about the whole experience of being in India for 4 months. Well I'm going to go explore now, see you guys later.