Hyderabad

Hello friends! Wow, it's been so crazy busy that I haven't had a chance to really update this thing in a long time. Well, I'm finally in Hyderabad...got here just about a week ago exactly! My how time flies...

After coming back from our beach vacation in Kovalam, things were pretty relaxed for a while as we "studied" for our comprehensive exam. Of course, I only ended up studying the night before and I still got an A, woo woo =P. For our last night in Mysore we ate at good 'ol MezzaLuna (along with the Lemon Tree chicken roll combo) and then danced it up at the club at Sandesh. Ahh...a good last evening. It was sad having to say goodbye to all of the people in Mysore. Thankfully most of my friends were moving with me so that's pretty awesome.

Last Tuesday we packed up our things drove the 4 mile ride to Bangalore airport so we could board our 1.5 hour flight to Hyderabad, haha. Hyderabad is comparable to Bangalore...both are big, dusty Indian cities. It's definitely going to be a different experience than living in Mysore (a considerably smaller city). The actual city center is 45 minutes away and to get to anything cool takes at least half an hour. So that's a huge bummer... Going to "nice" restaurants is definitely going to be way more pricy...but there are also a lot more restaurants to explore! Hopefully we'll find a few good gems without getting overwhelmed by the huge selection. I've already ventured out into the city a couple times...twice to eat (I had steak for the first time in 3 months!) and once over the weekend to tag along with my friend who had a hook up that toured us around Hyderabad. We quickly visited a few sights - Charminar and Chowmahalla Palace - and we got to learn a bit of the history of the city. However, the pollution here is absolutely deathly. I already know I'm going to return to the States with a whole slew of throat and lung problems. Sigh...

One of the best parts of Hyderabad, however, is the campus that we live on. It's SO much better than Mysore! There's no floating restaurant but it's definitely way cooler in every other way. First and foremost, we finally, finally all live in the same building! It's just like living in the dorms again where all of your friends are next door or just down the hall. We can actually hang out in each others' rooms now! Like real adults! The food is actually pretty decent, too. There's a Subway that's delicious, Dominoes is of course present. But there are some new things, like a Chinese food stand called Bowl O' China (haha). I'm actually quite satisfied so far. Even though everything is still ridiculously spicy, I'm liking the selections more than our choices in Mysore. The other big factor is that there are far less people. I'm enjoying the non-crowdedness of the campus. Except during peak hours at the food courts when there aren't even any tables available! Also, my room is awesome. It's even bigger than it was in Mysore and I have an awesome view of the cricket/frisbee field (yes, we're definitely going to take it over...the process has already started, haha). Our classes are on the ground floor of the building we live in so everything is super close! It is great.

Yep, so lately we've been working on learning Java. Unfortunately, the teacher isn't so great so I guess I should be doing some self-study right now...boooooo. But this weekend is Diwali which is going to be cool to see how everyone celebrates it here. Part of me wishes I was taking it easy and staying in Hyderabad so I could experience all the authentic Diwali festivities. However, this is one of our only long weekend so how could we not take advantage? Me and 9 other friends are heading out to Goa this weekend to kick it at the beach again! But this time the goal is scuba diving and jetskiing. We'll see what we can find =P. Goa is supposed to be the big beach attraction in India...I'll see how it compares to San Diego!