So after over 24 hours in transit, I've finally made it to Mysore, India! I left San Diego very, very, VERY early on Wednesday morning and flew out to Atlanta, Georgia for the kickoff party that Infosys was hosting for its new recruits. We spent the day there doing meeting each other, doing team building activities, and learning about "cultural sensitivity", haha. That particular presentation really made me nostalgic for China (apparently, Indian drivers are crazy too!) although they are definitely more conservative over here. After all of the business they let explore the Virginia Highlands in Atlanta (although really, I was a zombie at this point, after waking up at 4am that morning).
Friday was the big departure day where they shipped all of us off at the same time to India. After a long stint of downtime at the Atlanta International Airport (which was filled with playing several rounds of "Spoons" - and yes, we actually grabbed a bunch of plastic spoons from the food court and even transported them to subsequent destinations in preparation for subsequent games =P), we were finally off. We first flew about 8 hours to Frankfurt, Germany, had another couple hours of downtime (also filled with "Spoons") and then flew another 8-ish hours to Bangalore, India. From here, we boarded two buses and filled a good-sized truck with all of our luggage. It took us another 4 bumpy hours to reach our final destination at the Infosys training campus. That particular journey reminded me so much of driving around Vietnam. The types of buildings and living conditions are similar to what you would see there. The roads have random bumps to check your speed. Even the tropical-type plants look the same as we drove through highly undeveloped areas. It may sound kind of weird, but it even smelled kind of like Vietnam or the more rural places in China. By the time we had arrived at our final destination, it was approximately 5am on Saturday morning. I had officially lost Friday =P.
After a long check-in process, we finally had a chance to grab a small bite to eat and head for our homes for the next few months. I'm sitting in my room and it reminds me almost exactly like China except for one very important difference - no roommate! =( My room actually has two beds (originally they were meant as doubles) so it makes this room feel even bigger. For those who know how my China dorm room was like, it looks pretty much the same except a little backward and more space (pictures soon to follow). The beds are even the same! Practically wood boards, except for a small layer of padding (although I have to admit, this one has more padding than China did, haha).
You would think that by this time, after finally having to chance to sleep in a real bed after a day of travel, that I would knock-out and sleep forever. Not the case. Me and several others were convinced that if we stayed awake for most of Saturday that we could make a faster transition to the Indian time zone. Thus, I set off to explore the campus with some of my new buddies. This Infosys campus is truly awesome. It's huge and has pretty much everything we need. I spent the morning discovering gym facilities which include a pool, tennis courts, volleyball courts, basketball courts, ping pong tables, billiards, bowling, workout room...everything! We bowled for a couple of rounds before setting off to find food. From there, a game of ultimate frisbee ensued (I believe this is going to be a common thing amongst us) and then a few mafia games before dinner (sound familiar, anyone?). After finally getting my last meal of the day in, I was free to knock-out! Which is how I explain why I'm here, blogging at 5am Sunday morning seeing as I did get in my 8 hours of sleep. How unfortunate!
A few points that some of you may be wondering/ might be interested in:
- In this particular US "batch" of Infosys recruits, there are 57 people total. Only 9 of us are girls. Of this number, I would estimate that about a third of us are Indian and the rest are white or Asian. (Amongst the nine girls, 4 are Asian and the rest are Indian...just to get a sense of the demographic.)
- I mentioned above that India seems much more conservative than China. At least, that's how it appears here on the Infosys campus. Here are a few of the rules: Girls and guys do not live in the same dorm. It takes about 10 minutes to walk to the guys' dorm. Alcohol is prohibited everywhere on campus. As a girl, I'm probably not allowed to wear shorts that go too much above the knee. Plunging necklines are definitely out of the question and even tank tops are questionable attire (even on casual days). Although I haven't seen the effects of this yet, there appears to be a curfew for getting back on the Infosys campus: 9:30pm for weekdays, 11:30pm on weekends.
- But even with all the restrictions, we are hooked-up. Like I said before, I get this double room all to myself. My dorm is actually more like a hotel room because it gets cleaned reguarly (and not by myself =P). Since we're from the US, we get a lot of free food for the first week. Not that it really matters because meals here are CHEAP. I think to get a meal at the food courts here, it costs on average, less than 25 cents.
- However, the food IS spicy - at least for me. I've been eating the food that's supposed to introduce us to Indian food. In other words, it bland in comparison. I'm screwed.
- Security on this campus is TIGHT. There are security guards EVERYWHERE and they have already become infamous amongst us Americans for their warning whistles. In fact, I can here some security whistling at someone right now... And they are strict about a lot of stuff. Like requiring you to walk on the sidewalk at all times. I think the security at the gates to the campus even do a thorough search of all vehicles that enter the campus. We also don't get wireless in our rooms due to security reasons. Later this morning, I also have to get 25 passport photos and make 8 copies of all non-blank pages of my passport for the Infosys administration - a bit ridiculous.
- A lot of you may be wondering where exactly I'm going to end up when I get back to the States. Apparently, we don't even find this out until 3 months later. We have to wait 3 months to determine where we're going to end up, what department we'll be in, what program track we'll go on, and what project we're going to take. So yes...still in the dark about my future situation.
- I also do not yet know what my mailing address is here. I have to note that whatever is sent to me will probably be searched twice: once by Indian customs and again by Infosys. However, unless it's something highly suspicious, it should reach me.
Anyway, I hope you guys are all doing great! I miss you all and can't wait until we're reunited again! =)
1 comment:
I got some mailing envelopes for free, and would be happy to send you some American food. Let me know what your address is, and if there's anything in particular (that'll fit in a padded 9-11 envelope) that you'd like!
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