First Impressions

Whoever told me that traveling to India was like landing on Mars was definitely not exaggerating. It is unlike any place I have ever seen. The trip over here was very long and painful and once Stefanie and I finally arrived at 1am local time, I waited an hour looking for my bag and then another hour pushing through crowds to report my bag lost when it never arrived. By 3am, we were finally ready to leave only to find throngs of people waiting outside the terminal as we exited. It felt as if we were famous people walking down a red carpet the way everyone was waving and shouting, but there was definitely no red carpet. There was trash everywhere and everything was coated in a thick layer of dust. I was glad that we had decided to spend the first night in Chennai at the Radisson rather than venturing to Chennai at night. However, even that felt foreign. As we entered, our car was searched and then we were made to go through metal detectors and bag searches before we could enter.

This morning, we arranged a taxi from Chennai to Vellore, which was in itself quite an experience. The drivers in India essentially ignore the dividing lines on the road. Everyone is honking and swerving and no one uses their turn signals. Not to mention there were an overwhelming number of motorbikes to avoid (some were carrying up to 5 people on one motorbike...who knew that was possible!) as well as cows, goat, rickshaws and people on foot to swerve around. And surprisingly, despite all the honking and crazy driving, our driver never seemed to crack his calm demeanor. I guess maybe they don't really have road rage in India or they would probably be angry all the time! We did finally make it safely to our hotel here in Vellore, which is very basic but seems clean. We have spent the day wandering around getting to know the city. Stefanie and I already received one invitation from a very nice India lady and her daughter, who both spoke very little English, to visit their house. We declined this time, but I would like to see how the locals live before leaving. Tomorrow, I am looking forward to visiting the school and hospital and starting our rotations. More to come on that later....