Jaipur

Jaipur was another 6-hour bus ride from Agra...and it was my favorite city on the trip, although I enjoyed the sites of Agra more.  Driving in to Jaipur it hit me as a sleepy little town, but that's not really true.  We got in on Wednesday afternoon, relaxed at the pool for a bit, then went in to town to get some dinner and explore the shops/city.  We got convinced to check out this guy's puppet shop in a back alley, which also led us to straight razor shaves for a couple dollars.  From there we went back and just relaxed at the hotel as we had another early morning for sights.

The next day we went to Amber Fort, where we got to ride elephants up the hill to the entrance of the Fort.

 

Here are some pictures from Amber Fort:

 

My favorite part of the entire trip came after this though.  We had a bunch of free time to explore the city, so we went to the main street where there were countless shops...shoes, jewelery, textiles, etc. Basically you go in to these shops and they try to sell you whatever they have, and for ridiculously expensive prices...so you say you start to bargain, and when you aren't getting what you want...my rule is to walk away and every 10 feet you walk is 100 rupees off...because these guys HATE to see you walk out without their product...so basically you end up getting the price you want by telling them no and walking away.  I ended up buying...a really cool elephant tapestry, a collapsible/folding knife, 3 different silver pendants, and a cool Ganesha painting

Overall, it was an amazing trip, but I am happy to be back in Bangalore with less than 1 month to go til home.  So it's back on the school grind for less than a month.  Thanks for reading!

Peace and Love,

JL

Delhi & Agra

Delhi
 
The first leg of our Golden Triangle trip was to Delhi.  Got to see some very cool things, and took a bike rickshaw through Old Delhi.  Also got to see the Qutub Minar (which is the tallest completely stone structure) - I could've swore I took pictures, but I can't find them, so I will get some from a friend to post.  I'll be the first to admit I didn't utilize my time well in Delhi.  I was exhausted after our long week of classes and traveling that I just wanted to chill out and recuperate, and I got a haircut!

Agra

From Delhi we had a 5-hour bus ride to get to Agra.  Arriving in Agra we went to a cool textile shop, where I made some purchases for my mom and sister.  But it was an early night because we had a 5am wake up call for the Taj Mahal.  It is impossible to accurately describe how beautiful the Taj Mahal is, rather, it just needs to be experienced (so do it!).  But we went right after sunrise, so the way in which the sun hits the Taj at sunrise is breathtaking, it pretty much glows from the sunlight.  One thing I didn't know going in to seeing the Taj was how small it is inside.  History Lesson: The Taj was built by Shah Jahan for his 3rd and favorite wife (she gave him 14 children, but died in child birth), and she asked that he build something to remember her forever...so she got the Taj Mahal...where they both rest in peace together side by side inside.  Here are some of my favorite pictures.

Taj Mahal from the South

Taj glowing in the morning sun

View from just outside the mausoleum, glowing again.

From the Taj Mahal, we went back to the hotel to eat breakfast and then ventured out again, this time to Agra Fort.  It's this crazy expansive fort that is mostly red.  I had more fun exploring the nooks of the fort than I did the Taj because the Taj is "what you see is what you get" while the fort had all these passages and rooms that were open to explore.  Again, here are some pictures...I was also completely surprised when we looked out to the east and the Taj Mahal was sitting there in all it's glory.

Map of Agra Fort

Taj from inside Agra Fort

Taj one last time

Updates

First and most importantly, my apologies for the week long delay between updates...in my defense, classes got going this past week and everything just got going a million miles an hour and so busy.  *If anybody in the Cohort has a picture of the "dungeon" can you give it to me so I can post it here?* 

An average day right now is looking like: Up at 7:30, shower, breakfast, class from 8:30-12:30 (3:30 on Tuesdays), then a little bit of a break for lunch/relaxing, then we usually have some sort of activity going on in the early afternoon whether it be dance, yoga, cricket, etc...then we have our "free time" which isn't really so much free as it is dedicated to homework/reading for classes.

Overall though, I do not have a single complaint about my experience so far.  I have met some awesome friends, who I'm sure will become great friends back home and in the future, I have yet to get sick in any fashion, and I am staying busy and learning a lot.

One thing that I am really excited for that we started yesterday is yoga.  We are being taught by a 25 year-old guy who has been studying since he was 7 (yes, studying yoga)...yesterday he told us he had 2 bulging disks that prevented him from hardly bending over and with yoga he can touch his forehead to his knees...it was crazy how much sweat yoga produces in only an hour and with hardly an exertion, but we are hoping to have our teacher come 4 times a week to practice with us, and I'm hoping I can work on it here and translate it to finding a studio in Tucson!

Another thing I want to talk about are rickshaws...possibly the scariest, yet most fun one person can have in a motorized vehicle.  It's essentially a free-for-all on the roads here in India, with motorcycles dodging in and out of the smallest gaps and rickshaws doing the same...lanes don't exist although there is some paint on most roads as an optional "guide", if you will.  Here are some pictures:

<-- lots of traffic and we are probably 6 inches away from that silver car on the right...close quarters

A rickshaw is a 3-wheeled motorized (when I say motorized, I'm talking weed-whacker maybe lawnmower) vehicle that is (I think) fueled by liquid propane...we can pack 3 guys about my size in the back although that's not the most comfy option...

All-in-all riding in a rickshaw there is always the possibility that it is the last thing you ever do in your life, but at the same time we have yet to see any sort of accident at all, controlled chaos at its finest...we have talked on multiple occasions about how if Indian traffic/driving was like that in the United States what a complete shit show it would be.






Thanks so much for reading, and now that I have kind of settled in a routine, I hope I will be able to continue updating on my adventures more often with pictures and stories, but for now, I'm going to take a nap and then it's off to work on our Marketing project (expanding Dunkin' Donuts into Bangalore).

Cheers,
Jeremy

May 15 and 16 - Out in Bangalore

The past two days we headed out into Bangalore, yesterday by bus with the entire group that took us by a park and cricket stadium then to the mall (very American of us)...at the mall I went to the food court and approached a local Indian girl and asked her what I should get...she recommended this:

It was awfully delicious, rice, pickled something, lots of different chicken sauce options (ALL spicy) but overall it was great!

Then at night, we went out to this bar Purple Haze...they played all different kinds of rock music...didn't take any pictures because I don't want to risk losing my camera at all

Today, May 16th, we had a dance class which was actually really fun, but apparently it's turning into a semester long thing and we have to do choreography and a competition or something at the end, not really too excited about that.

Then after that we went to get some suits tailored!  Such a fun experience, with so many different options, and colors, and it is so cheap!  We got slacks and jackets made for us for $160 dollars, including custom tailoring.  Really excited about that, will post pictures of the actual place when we go back, but here are some from outside:

<--- "The Linen Club" Custom linen shop and they brought in a tailor...going back in 5 days for my first fitting

 This is the door outside the store (you can see it above too) really really cool glass work ------>
--
 Hope you all enjoyed the update!
-Jeremy

P.S. - Really, really enjoying my time here, it's an amazing experience in a whole different world...meeting some awesome people and going on awesome adventures

Here is me getting my measurements taken...

Travel Day(s) and Arrival

The travel day was extremely long with numerous flights longer than I've ever had before, but I will admit, I was like a little kid when boarding our flight from LA to Tokyo because we got to fly on the A380 (unfortunately my picture of that is on my phone, but it was still awesome).

So we had an 11 hour flight from LA to Tokyo then had to get off the plane and go through security (?) to get back on the plane and fly to Singapore.  The Tokyo to Singapore flight was 7 hours which I slept the majority of, so we landed in Singapore at like 3am local time and made our way to the bar and had a few beers during our layover.  Then we had a 7:00 flight to Bangalore which was 4 1/2 hours.  It's not over yet, we then had a 2 hour or so bus ride through Bangalore (with a stop at McDonald's) to Woodstock.  Which is our home for the next 9 weeks.  Here is a picture of my room and closet.

 Woodstock Express

 <--- my home for the next 9 weeks!  Loving the pad


Stay posted for the next blog, as the adventures officially begin!



As I get ready to post this, a hard rain starts falling and we briefly lose power!  Love it!

Feeling extremely scummy and tired,
Jeremy

Tomorrow is the BIG Day

It is crazy how fast a semester can go by, but how slow finals week can drag.  Yesterday I finished my spring semester, and moved out of my apartment with a TON of help from my mom, so thank you so much mom!

Today is the day where I have to get EVERYTHING done to prepare for the trip, but I wanted to share my travel itinerary so y'all can see how crazy this travel day (or days) will be:

5/12/12
Leave Phoenix at 9:10am
Arrive LAX at 10:40am
Depart LAX at 3:45pm
5/14/12
Arrive Singapore at 2:55am w/ a stop in Tokyo (20 hour flight)
Leave Singapore at 7:05am (4.5 hour flight)
Arrive Bangalore at 8:55am

Point being, this is going to be the longest travel day EVER, the longest flight I've ever been on was to Hawaii so 8ish hours?  Now I'm throwing myself right in to the gauntlet of a 20-hour flight...WISH ME LUCK

Jeremy

Pre-Departure Madness

As I sit here writing this, I embark on my adventure in 8 days...YIKES!

I still have 4 finals to complete, and the last one isn't until the 10th...so basically I am finishing up this semester and then shipping my arse off to India!

On top of all the studying and finals, I still have to move out of my apartment and pack all of my clothes and stuff for India.

This is definitely a very nerve-wracking week, but as soon as I have my butt on that flight from LAX to Singapore, I'll know my adventure has started!

*If anybody has any requests for souvenirs, I will do my very best to take care of everybody, but please don't ask for any elephants*

-JL

General Information

Hey Everybody!

First, and most importantly, I want to thank you for reading this blog! 

As most of you know, I have been given the opportunity to travel to India for 9 weeks to study abroad.  In the 9 weeks I will knock out an entire semester of school, and thus be back on track to graduate in May 2013!

I am going to be staying in Bangalore (Bengaluru), India with 33 people from The University of Arizona.  Along the way I will get to visit the "Golden Triangle" of Delhi, Agra, and Jaipur, as well as Mysore and Kabini.  There are some other side trips that we have planned that are currently escaping my thoughts.

This trip is going to be a very educationally-focused.  We are going to be doing 2 different 4-week sessions of classes.  It is going to be an interesting endeavor having this compact of a semester in a foreign country, but I am ready for the challenge!  I can't deny that I am most excited to travel and explore a brand new country, but will undoubtedly be very focused on my education as well.

Thanks again for reading, and I hope I can supply everybody with some great stories and pictures to help you live vicariously through me as I experience India!

Much love,
JL