Let's Start at the Very Beginning.....

A very good place to start!  (Sound of Music, anyone?)

Anyways....  I think that my next few posts will be a bit behind as I try to catch back up to present, so the dates that I write may be different from the date posted.  I know that I really need to get some pictures on here for everyone to see, but my guess is that I won't get around to it for a bit.  For now, I'll start with a recap of our (very long) trip out here.  As many of you know, our original plans got changed by the snow in New Jersey.  This meant that instead of leaving Monday, we had to leave on Thursday.  This also meant a significant increase in total travel time and only arriving to Dehli in time to catch our connecting flight, instead of spending a few days seeing Delhi/Agra.  And now onto the trip details.

Dec 30 - Jan 1

For those of you who don't know, I am travelling with one of my classmates named Andy.  He and I will both be doing 6-week clinical rotations for physical therapy school at Christian Medical Center in Vellore, India.  The first leg of our trip started when Andy's parents picked me up to give me a ride to the airport.  Our first flight was from MCI to Dulles and was pretty uneventful with a layover of only a few hours.

For the next leg of our trip we flew 7 1/2 hours from Dulles to Frankfurt, Germany.  I felt pretty lucky that Andy and I both managed to snag aisle seats directly across from each other, but was soon to find out that the child next to Andy had a tendency to shriek about every 5-10 minutes.  I wasn't able to get any sleep during the entire flight and arrived in Frankfurt exhausted.  At Frankfurt we had about a five hour layover.  We tried to take turns sleeping at the airport, but I don't think either of us really got anything more than 30 minutes at a time.

The flight from Frankfurt to Delhi was another 7 hour flight.  This flight started with me having the exact same seat assignment as someone else.  The flight attendant seemed extremely flustered, but things were quickly resolved, and we settled into our seats.  This time I was stuck with a window seat, but this was better than the center seat than I was originally assigned.  Once settled, I fell asleep almost immediately.  When I woke up I looked at my watch and an hour had passed.  I looked out the window and, much to my surprise, saw the runway.  I have yet to figure out what the delay was, but I'm glad that I slept through it.

Thankfully on this flight I was able to get some sleep.  At one point the pilot announced over the intercom that the New Year would begin in 3 minutes as we were flying over Afghanistan.  That was the last mention of the New Year, so I missed my countdown this year. 

We arrived in Delhi at about 2 a.m.  The only nice thing about arriving at this time is that things were not as busy as I had anticipated.  We cleared customs and collected our bags.  We then had to walk to the upstairs terminal and check in for our flight to Chennai.  Once again we spent our 7 hour layover trying to take turns sleeping for short intervals.

The last flight from Delhi from Chennai was about 2 1/2 hours.  When we got to Chennai I thought that I would be able to change some money over, but since we flew into the domestic terminal we couldn't find a money exchange.   Luckily, Andy had already changed some money over so he let me borrow money for the cab ride to Vellore. 

The school had already set up a cab for us, so our driver Salim* was waiting for us.  The cab ride from Chennai to Vellore took about 2 1/2 hours, and the roads here are every bit as crazy as described.  Honking is the norm, and we have since been told that it is considered rude not to honk and let other drivers know that you are there.  While there are lanes painted on the roads, they serve as more of a suggestion than a rule.  The roads are incredibly crowded, and I will try to capture some pictures while I am here.

*I will be guessing at spelling names for much of my posts.

Just to give you an idea, here is a list of the things that I have seen on or around the road thus far:

• Cars
• Large trucks
• Buses
• Auto rickshaws
• Cycle rickshaws
• Ox-drawn carts
• Man-drawn carts
• Cows
• Dogs
• Goats
• People
• Motorcycles (I have seen up to a family of five on one!)
• Bicycles (And up to three people on one bike!)
• Donkeys
• Roosters

Right now it's time to head to dinner, so I'll continue the update of my first few days later.  On Wednesdays, all of the international students head out to a local restaurant called the Darling, so it's time for me to head out.  I promise I'll try to get some pictures posted soon!  Oh, and before I forget, total travel time: over 40 hours!