Mysore

Just to reassure those that may have had any doubts or concerns, I have taken two module tests so far and have received "A's" on both. So yes, I'm still a good student! Right now we're finishing up C programming with a project upcoming in the next few days. However, yesterday's exam was actually quite stressful - and then class was even worse due to the slow pace of the new professor.

Lucky for us, today was a holiday and pretty much the entire batch planned a night out on the town. Before the evening partying, I went back to Devaraja Urs Road to pick up the salwaar that I had dropped off to get altered. It looks much, much better now (I wanna show you guys!) So the other girls and I are planning on wearing that to work tomorrow.

To kick off the evening we ate a delicious, (and for the most part, non-Indian) meal at the hotel Pai Vista and then we hit up a club called High Octane for some dancing. It was especially cool bceause I was able to interact with other people in the batch that I don't normally hang out with. (Networking, networking! Hahaha)

But hanging out in the city during the day allowed me to make some observations. Here on campus, we truly live in a bubble. There may be some crazy rules (for instance, today I got scolded at because I was sitting on a chair next to the pool...) but the campus is really pretty and well kept. The "real" India is much different. For instance, this morning I walked passed a cow that was sifting through a pile of trash...right in the middle of a busy part of town. By the way, cows are extremeley common throughout India. They're always on the sides of the roads, walking down the roads, sitting in the middle of roads...everywhere! And they always get the right of way.

Another example is Devaraja Urs Road, which is one of the bigger shopping areas in Mysore. As I was driving down this road yesterday, it faintly reminded me of a normal bustling street in the U.S...except with crazy twists. Cows were of course part of the equation. Cars and rickshaws and even people weave in and out of each other in a way that doesn't make any common sense. There are people and dust everywhere. For some reason I was reminded of a busy American street but turned totally upside-down.

The other thing I noticed (from being both in Bangalore and Mysore) is that Indian women have the coolest clothes. They get to wear saris or salwaars wherever they go. And they're COLORFUL and it just brings so much life to the scene. The fabric used to make these clothes are typically bright, vibrant colors with patterns and BLING. Going into a salwaar shop is almost overwhelming because there are so, so, SO many different patterns to choose from. I don't think I've seen two that were exactly the same. Plus, they're super comfortable! Anyway, we should start a new trend in the states for wearing salwaars and saris. I definitely want to buy more now!