Varanasi

I'm currently writing a paper on Varanasi, which said to be the most holy city in all of Hinduism. Varanasi was the first city I visited in India. It was unbelievably, indescribably hot and stressful! I had a love/hate relationship with it. However, there was something about it that I can't quite put my finger on, and it's the city I think about the most. After doing this research, it turns out I'm not alone! I want so badly to go back there now!

Varanasi was discovered by the Hindu God Shiva when he was looking for a place to live with his wife Pavarti. He stood at the top of the Himalayas and chose the spot where Varanasi is. He created the city when there was nothing else in the world, and now it is said that the universe will also end in Varanasi. It is the center of the universe in Hinduism and the city itself is said to float above the rest of the world.

Every year, millions of Hindus visit the city and some feel such a strong sense of attachment there, that they can never live anywhere else ever again. Along with Shiva, the 330 million other Hindu gods also live in the city, and there are religious depictions of them all over the place. The religion is clearly an important aspect of the every day life in Varanasi, and there are thousands of temples located all over the city.

The most significant part of the city is that the Ganges River runs through it, which is worshiped as a goddess. Every morning there are people at the banks of the river bathing, washing clothes, washing their animals, and swimming. People come to Varanasi to die, be cremated, and have their ashes thrown in the river because here it is promised that they will be liberated by the Lord Shiva, no matter what religion or caste they are, where they come from, or how they have sinned. There are cremation ceremonies taking place twenty-four hours a day at the river. Foreigners are allowed to watch, but pictures are strictly forbidden.

The picture I put with this blog entry is one of my favorites. I took it at 5 in the morning when we went on a sunrise boat tour of the Ganges. Even though it was so early, you can already see how many people there are bathing and beginning their day. To the right, you can see the religious artwork painted on those pink things, but in the center there are ads for Vodafone. It's interesting how old mixes with new in Varanasi, the hub of the universe.

Check out what my German professor had to say about being an East German when the wall came down in 1989!

PS
his response to the last question is what makes him one of my favorite professors ever.

Oh Freiburg, Freiburg, how I miss you so. This semester, while I am struggling in two of my economics classes, I like to think about last semester, when I had the greatest economics professor of my life. Dr. Klaus Kammerer vas totally crazy. He took us on a wine tasting field trip in Kaiserstuhl, a city just outside of Freiburg so we could see what a real German business was like for our Business Cultures class.
After dinner, consisting of a pig that "vas alive two veeks ago" Klaus decided to share a story about his experience in a nudist camp in the south of France during the 1970s. The story was so good in fact, that I spent hours adding subtitles to it the other night. Completely worth it.
Mom and Dad, this is what you sent me to Germany for.
This video is rated PG-13 for doggie related material.

Judging Books by their Covers

As part of my job as a DJ at WMHC, I have to complete committee hours every semester in order to get a show for the following semester. For the first time, this semester I'm on the reviewing committee, meaning I have to review 6 hours of CDs between now and the end of the semester. This means I listen to the CD in its entirety, check the lyrics for swear words, then type up a short blurb about the band and the music so it can be placed on the required shelf, which contains all the albums that the DJs have to play.

Yesterday I went and picked up 10 CDs from the station to write reviews. They opened up a huge bin full of them and told me to pick whatever I liked. Since it's all new bands, I had never heard of any of them, so I judged the albums completely by their covers. So far I've listened to 8 CDs and I've discovered that it's actually really really fun because every time I pop a new one into my computer, I have no clue what I'm going to get. After I listen to a song or two, I Google the band to find out some background information and I've been learning a lot. Five of the CDs I've listened to have been awesome, 2 have been terrible, and one I was completely indifferent about, but burned on to my laptop anyway in case I change my mind later.

Some German Thangs

Yesterday was the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, which was very exciting, and I especially felt some pride as a German major. As a treat, one of my favorite professors of all time came to visit my German seminar last night and showed us a powerpoint of her experience as an American visiting East Germany for a teacher's conference in 1987. It was really interesting. My favorite picture was one that she showed of a sign on a restaurant taken on July 14th saying that the next Pizza dinner would be served on August 31st. My German professor, an East German, explained that this happened because there were never enough fresh ingredients to make pizzas in East Germany, so they only had "Pizza Parties" once a month. Unbelievable!

She also complained about how everywhere in the news (in both Germany and America) they talk about the Berlin Wall falling. The wall did not, however, fall on November 9, 1989, it simply opened up. Very good point.

I also had my last (!!!) academic advising appointment yesterday with my economics advisor, also a German man. It was the first time I had seen him since I returned back from Freiburg and he asked me about the classes I took. I told him that both of my economics classes were in English because they don't really offer economics classes in German at the Uni anymore. He was very excited by this and told me he thought it was wonderful that German universities are becoming so globalized and seeing the importance of being active in the world market. I thought it was very interesting to get a German's opinion about more classes being taught in English. Personally, I think it's sad that German students can no longer really take any classes in business or economics in their own language, but I guess my advisor had a good point as well. It will be interesting to see what role language plays in the future as the world becomes even more globalized.

Freiburg Reunion I

The first Freiburg reunion in Madison, Wisconsin was a major success and more fun than I've had since I've gotten back to the United States. We drove/flew in from 5 different states all over the country and it didn't seem like 3 months had passed at all.

Halloween was a blast and it's hard to believe it was a whole week ago. Spending so much time outside in chilly Wisconsin, along with a combination of too many flights and lack of sleep has caused me to become a little bit sick (no swine, though, I think) and this weekend I'm locked inside my room trying to get through a 3 page paper (done!), a 5 page paper (not started), and a 20 page paper (7 pages in).

I had so much fun in the midwest that I've already booked a ticket for my next big adventure: Freiburg reunion II in Chicago!

Oh, By the Way...

This was taken at the gym at Mt. Holyoke College

Two Mt. Holyoke Thoughts...

1. I always get a little sad on the day that they take away all the green Adirondack chairs all over campus and store them for the winter. That means snow is coming soon. Also, who has time to sit out on the green anymore?

2. Why can't they cut all the delicious and tempting desserts out of the budget???

Men vs. Women

Courtesy Mr. Mitchell Holthaus, this basically made my day

Things Just Got Real

I've done a good job at faking my economics major for the past 3 years, but today things got real. I'm working on a project this semester for my international trade seminar and it has turned into a cross country analysis on whether the amount of electricity in a country affects Foreign Direct Investment.
Here is the data I've gathered so far. Next step is to graph everything. This will probably take all weekend :-(

My Radio Nightmare

Ever since I started doing radio, during the fall semester of my sophomore year, I have had a re-occurring nightmare at least once a week where something goes terribly wrong and everything ends in disaster. I've had a few mishaps over the years, like when one of the CD players broke and I couldn't play any music, turntables not working, or minor FCC violations, but my show yesterday was actually a disaster.

I got to the studio early because we have to train an intern for the next 3 weeks. I turned on the station (we're the first show of the day) and the transmitter was already way lower than it was supposed to be. Not good. We got new CD players and I had no idea how to use them at first; this resulted in songs playing while I was trying to talk on air and pauses while I was trying figure stuff out.

For the first time in the history of Coast to Coast radio, we decided to put a caller on air. This actually went pretty well (minus the fact that I had no idea what to say) but afterward, I messed up one of the CD players and it wouldn't play any CDs! I had to go on air and talk for 5 minutes (I had nothing to say) while we cued up a record, which started abruptly, cutting me off.

All of a sudden, it was an hour into our show and I wasn't paying attention and realized that we hadn't played any required music yet (we have to do 8 per show). It's not a big deal trying to get 8 songs played in an hour, but in my nightmare I always finish the show without playing any requireds which is why it freaks me out in real life so much.

On top of all this, we were training the intern, so we had to explain everything (usually ending with, "don't do this). And ahhhhh it was so stressful and I was so emotionally drained afterward that I came back to my room and took a nap from 7:30-8:15pm.

A New Word for my Vocabulary

My dentist: So are you still at Mt. Holyoke?
Me: Yes, it's my last year!
My dentist: Whoopdidee! That was fast!!

In regards to that last entry, me and Amber definitely got sick first. There was a cool "Oktoberfest" event at Whole Foods tonight too but neither of us have been able to leave our rooms too much never mind drive all the way to Whole Foods!

Also I got a slip in the mail today asking me how to pronounce my name so they can read it correctly when I graduate. Scary!

Free Samps

Which will happen first?

Amber and I will be banned from Whole Foods for going there at least once a week, eating all the free samples, and never buying anything (and ignoring the "One sample per person please!" signs)

or

Amber and I will get swine flu from going to Whole Foods at least once a week and eating free samples from communal bowls

In Which I Get Upgraded to Business Class

I can't believe I haven't written about this yet because it's honestly one of the best things that has ever happened to me so I need to remember it forever.

On our last day in India we had to be at the airport very early in the morning at 5am because Zach had a flight at 7:10 and mine was at 8:20. We hung around in the airport for a while, ate some cookies we bought from Subway the night before, and eventually had to say our goodbyes.

I was all alone when they paged me to go to customer service. "Oh God," I thought, "I'm going to get stuck in Delhi!" They took my ticket and left for 5 minutes. I was so nervous. When they came back, they said, "You've been upgraded to business class, m'am." I'll never forget that moment of sheer joy; I felt like I had just won the lottery. I actually did not stop smiling the entire rest of the time I was waiting at the gate and people were kind of looking at me funny.

It was finally time to board and you know how when they announce that the old people and babies can get on the plane everyone takes that as a cue that they'll be boarding everyone else soon and rushes into line even though they say over and over to sit down until your seat row is called? Well, I got to push past all of those people and get on the plane first. Haha suckers!

I got to my seat, which I can only describe as a "pod." The chair was round and facing the other way, I had a divider so didn't have to talk or look at the lady sitting next to me, and a foot rest. The TV folded into the wall next to me and had at least 50 movies, TV, and games. I was messing around with my seat when a flight attendant came by and said, "Would you like a fresh fruit smoothie before we take off, love?" (I was on British Airways). UMMM ABSOLUTELY I WOULD! I enjoyed my delightful beverage, was sprayed with insecticide (new regulations, apparently), the curtain between us nice business class people and those savages in economy was closed, and we took off.

We were all handed a menu at the beginning of the flight and they asked us what we wanted to ORDER for breakfast! Breakfast was 2 courses, not even kidding, and they came around several times with an assortment of fresh rolls and jams. My tummy was full; I had just eaten beef for the first time in 3 weeks and it was delicious. They collected my plate and handed me a little cloth bag. I had no clue what it was, but I opened it and had a mini toothbrush, toothpaste, socks, an eye mask, lip balm, sprays, creams, etc. I then proceeded to put on the lip balm, eye mask, and hand cream, and passed out with my real pillow and actual quilt the next for the next 4 hours in my chair that reclined all the way back into a bed.

I'm kind of sad that I fell asleep because I wanted to know what other kinds of free stuff that they would have given me, but I had stayed up all night so I was exhausted. When I woke up, they came around with drinks and I ordered some champagne because I figured it's an absolute must-do if you're sitting in business class, and now I can cross that off my list of life goals. I've never been so happy happy happy as I was on that 8.5 hour flight to London.

Heathrow is a nightmare but I have always wanted to be in London so I was still excited and walked around the airport listening to Lily Allen on my iPod because I found it most fitting. Unfortunately, there were no upgrades on my flight to Boston, and it made me realize how awful economy class really is. I was on the aisle and all I wanted to do was go to sleep, but they kept hitting me with that effing drinks cart, and the girl next to me fell asleep and was all up on me. I'm 98% sure that getting upgraded to business class in Delhi was just good karma after everything I did and went through in India.

Mountain Day

On Tuesday morning, I heard the bells of the church ringing nonstop at 7am, signifying the start of mountain day! For those that don't know, Mountain Day is chosen on a random fall day by the president of the college and all classes are cancelled. Everyone goes and hikes up Mt. Holyoke and President Joanne Creighton hands out ice cream at the top. I was so excited to finally get my picture with her this year! It's hands down the best thing about Mount Holyoke but it was bittersweet because it's the last mountain day I will ever have! At least I missed out on my three hour international trade seminar! :-)

October 1, 2009.
I applied for graduation.

I wish my bed folded into the wall and online TV wasn't available during the day. Then I'd be so much more efficient." --Amber Knee

Globalization

Globalization is awesome because we can now travel further and have more experiences than people have ever been able to have before. The down side is how much I constantly miss all my friends living all over the world :-(

Whisperer in Darkness II

Check out this video from behind the scenes of the film shoot on campus!

Two Things

And now for two completely unrelated things:

1. Today in my squash class, there was a MOLE on the courts! There is a small crack on all the courts between the front wall and the floor and it would run out on a court, hang out, and then run back into the wall and onto another court. Nothing gets everyone screaming like a mole on the loose at an all women's college! I can handle bugs and stuff but the one thing I do not like is critters, and you can imagine how fast I ran off my court when it suddenly appeared during a game between my friend Emmalie and I!
Finally, my teacher caught the it top of his squash racquet (much to the horror of all us girls), and put it outside. It was terrifying.

2. Texting has really blown up since I got back to the US. It was kind of big before I left in March, but now it seems like everyone is texting everyone else all the time, more so than ever before. No one calls anymore, all plans are made through text message. It makes me a little sad, I kind of miss not being dependent on a cell phone (since calls and texts were so expensive in Germany). Now it seems whenever I'm with someone, they get a text or I get a text and the whole conversation stops while a response is typed out. It irks me; it takes away from the conversation and the company.

Me and Amber just spent a good 15 minutes completely hanging out of her window watching the movie being filmed outside of our dorm!

The budget cuts at this school may be ridiculous: no more trays in the dining hall because they use too much energy to wash, brunch starting a half an hour later, going from being able to have 7 items at Grab-n-Go lunch to 5, and having to shut down the computers in the lab when you're done, but the one thing that Mt. Holyoke did right this year was change their hot chocolate powder so it's ACTUALLY good now. :-)

The Whisperer In Darkness

Next week, there will be filmmakers on campus shooting scenes for the movie "The Whisperer in Darkness" based on a story by H.P. Lovecraft!

According to the article on mtholyoke.edu,

In "The Whisperer in Darkness," scholars at fabled Miskatonic University learn of a plot by hideous and ancient forces—the Old Ones—to take over mankind through a base they've established with human evildoers in Vermont. Unfortunately for humankind, the plot succeeds and the world is completely controlled by evil—an ending well suited to Lovecraft's dismal view.

Apparently, they were looking for a 1930s New England campus to film on, and Mt. Holyoke was a perfect fit! Shooting begins on Wednesday right outside my dorm and will also take place in and around the building where all my economics classes are! I hate horror movies, but I might just have to see this one.

Somehow, it's already been an entire month since I've been home from India and I guess I'm still not over it. Taking a class on Hinduism isn't helping my case too much, because all I do is sit there, listen to my professor lecture, and think about India.

Here's a video we made on the way to Sarnath, a sacred Buddhist pilgrimage destination outside of Varanasi, India. In this video you can get the real essence of what big cities in India are like: loud, hot, and crowded! There's a saying that in India, drivers use their horn more than their brakes. The biggest shock a month ago when I was driving home from the airport in Boston was how quiet the roads were! You can also hear in my voice how sick I was (I was really sick for the first week that we were in India, after our crazy bus ride from the border). Above all though, this video really illustrates the colors, sights, and sounds of India. I miss it so much!

Why I can't stop talking about India....

"There are some parts of the world that, once visited, get into your heart and won't go. For me, India is such a place. When I first visited, I was stunned by the richness of the land, by its lush beauty and exotic architecture, by its ability to overload the senses with the pure, concentrated intensity of its colors, smells, tastes, and sounds... I had been seeing the world in black & white and, when brought face-to-face with India, experienced everything re-rendered in brilliant technicolor."--Keith Bellows, National Geographic Society

The Camel Safari

A month ago I was in Jaisalmer getting ready to begin my day and a half long camel safari through the Thar Desert. I found this video on YouTube that shows EXACTLY what my trek was like. It's a little bit long, but worth watching because it's so hard to describe to people what it was like, and it literally changed my life. Not a day goes by where I don't think about riding in the sand dunes on the back of a camel, or sleeping under that amazing night sky full of shooting stars.
Actually I wasn't sleeping because the bugs really WERE that big, our camel fur blanket was EXTREMELY itchy, I kept getting sand in my mouth, and I was terrified of the snakes. But it was AMAZING.

Mt. Holyoke vs. Uni Freiburg

Vs.
I thought maybe I should say a few words about being back at Mt Holyoke, since I've been away for so long. I also want talk a little bit about the differences between going to school here and going to school in Germany.

Going to Freiburg was definitely the best thing I ever did. Back in the fall before I left for Germany, I was pretty miserable here and I needed to get away for a while. When I returned to campus a week ago yesterday, I couldn't stop smiling. Even the door in the campus center that has had the same squeak for the past 4 years made me smile. For the first time, returning to Mt. Holyoke felt like I was returning home.

I have a large single in a beautiful old dorm with a dining hall, but it's kind of a downgrade from living in an apartment in Germany where I shared the bathroom with 3 other girls instead of 20+. I definitely am glad to have a dining hall again because I don't have to worry about my lack of cooking skills, although I do miss having a kitchen and being able to eat when I wanted. The internet is sooo much better here, even if we have to share it with everyone at UMass (in Germany our internet would randomly shut off all the time, I got shut down every night at 11:23pm, no idea why). I have a lot of "stuff" here: my rug, my TV, my fridge, tons of clothes, a printer, etc. It's nice to be able to live so comfortably, but I also now know that I can live on next to nothing: in Germany I brought just 1 suitcase with me and in India I only had a backpack!

I like Mt. Holyoke because I'm back to being Liz, and not 2817676 like I was at Uni Freiburg. There is much more of a campus/community feel since everyone lives here. The bureaucracy is not nearly as annoying, and even when it is, it's in English so I feel like I can deal with it. It's weird because in Germany all the students were older than me and I felt really young. Here, now that I'm a senior, everyone seems really young to me. There, I lived in an apartment and commuted to class by tram and it made me feel like an adult. Being here kind of feels like I'm going backward because I live in a dorm and I'm told when I have to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

A few things have struck me as strange. First of all, American students (especially at an all women's college) don't care about how they look when they go to class, and it was kind of shocking to see people showing up in pajamas because that would never happen in Germany because students see going to university as a job and dress up for class. When class ended in Germany, everyone knocked on the desks to show appreciation for the professor's lecture. That doesn't happen here and I think it's kind of sad that no one acknowledges the class, and getting up and just leaving feels a little awkward. I'm not sure about this all girls thing either. I hung out with mostly guys in Germany and it was a lot funnier and there was a lot less drama. I don't like actually having to do homework now.

All in all, it's nice to be back though. I kind of feel like I never left.

First Drama of the Year

Two things you have to know about Mt. Holyoke are 1.) it's a women's college and 2.) we are literally in the middle of nowhere in Western MA. Because of this, there is always ridiculous drama that gets the entire school up in a tizzy for a few days until the next big issue comes around. Yesterday was the first big drama of the year.

Another thing you have to know about Mt. Holyoke is that we are serious about Sunday Brunch. There are even Facebook groups dedicated to the four dining halls that open up on Sunday mornings with different but equally delicious brunch choices. People look forward to it all week and when the doors open, there are long lines, packed tables, and of course, random boys thrown in here and there.

Yesterday we showed up to brunch like we usually do, just a few minutes after it opens at 11:00. When we got there, we discovered there was a huge line, but the dining hall wasn't open. Some girl waiting informed us that brunch doesn't start now until 11:30 because Mt. Holyoke needs to cut costs so they're making meal times shorter. How ridiculous is that? No one told us about it and even in the first years' orientation booklet it said that brunch starts at 11am. You can imagine the outrage as more and more hungry women entered the dorm to find the dining hall was not open. I'm sure this is going to become a bigger issue in the coming weeks. Ahhh it's great to be back.

Gone Too Long?

Today I got up early and went to Staples, because I needed new ink for my printer. When I got there, I discovered that it had become Circuit City. I figured that was ok because they probably still sell ink. Then I got even closer and discovered that all the Circuit City signs were covered over with those Halloween costume shop signs. I had forgotten that Circuit City went out of business, and how does a place change three times since December?

I Convocated!

The class of 2010 at Mt. Holyoke is the class of the Red Pegasus, and yesterday was our convocation before the first day of classes! We met as a class in the morning for a special senior breakfast, and then lined up and marched into the ampitheatre in our graduation gowns all decked out in red. The speeches were inspirational, and the entire event was posted on Twitter as it was happening! Afterward, the school gathered on Skinner Green for a class picnic. It's hard to believe that just 4 years ago as a confused first year I watched the yellow senior class come into the ampitheatre screaming just as loud as we were yesterday. Back then, I had no idea what I was in for.

The Taj Mahal

These past 6 months I've been to a bunch of famous landmarks all over the world: the Eiffel Tower, the Coliseum, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the remains of the Berlin Wall, the Brandenburg Gate, Kathmandu's Durbar Square etc, but nothing was quite as amazing as the Taj Mahal. Walking in was totally breathtaking.
It was built in 1632 by Emperor Shah Jahan for his wife, after she died giving birth to their fourteenth child. It took 20 years to complete, and soon after it was finished, the emperor's son put him under house arrest in Agra Fort, which was across the river.
I try to (unintelligently) explain all of this in the following video:



It costs $.50 for Indians to get into the Taj and $17 for non-Indians. We went twice because the first time we took so many pictures that it closed before we actually got inside the mausoleum. In order to protect the monument, only cars with electric motors are allowed within a certain distance of the Taj Mahal all the way around. This is good because it will allow it to be preserved for generations to come, but bad because then you have to walk, and the touts in Agra are out of control. Every time we got anywhere near the Taj Mahal, we would be surrounded 360 degrees with guys trying to get us to buy Taj Mahal snowglobes, magnets, keychains, Heena sets, postcards, and trying to get us to go into their shop. One kid would somehow FIND us every time we were anywhere in the area and beg us to come see his shop. He even asked us to go to the movies with him and his girlfriend! Haha!

Later, we went to Agra Fort, where the Emperor was put under house arrest. This was the hottest day the entire time we were in India. I think it must have been about 120 degrees. We could barely move.

The Last Freiburg Pictures

Courtesy of Mr. Mitchell Holthaus, here are the last two pictures of all of us together at the Freiburg Hauptbahnhof at 5am, before Mitch left. Mitch said he never thought he would have girls crying so much over him!

Great Things About America!

Here's some stuff I've missed while I've been gone:

• Self checkout line at the grocery store
• Stores being open past 8:00pm, and the selection!
  
• Being able to pay anywhere with credit card!
  
• Free water everywhere (water fountains, water coolers, tap water, water in restaurants). Free condiments. Free refills. Not having to pay to go to the bathroom. Free samples.
• Baggers at grocery stores. No more panic as you try to bag as fast as your cashier rings you up.
• A nice shower (minus the second floor of North Rockefeller Hall at Mt. Holyoke College, apparently)
  
• Everything is open on Sunday
  

Here's some stuff I still don't get:

• People look at you funny when you try to pay in exact change, and you never use coins
  
• Sales tax that isn't included until after you're rung up.
  
• People smile a lot and seem kind of fake. In Germany I learned not to say stuff unless I meant it, and smiling at random people is weird.
  
• Salespeople greeting you in stores and bothering you asking if you need help. Leave me alone!
• Random people make small talk with you everywhere you go
• Everything is open on Sunday
  

I miss riding trams, and using my purse/backpack as a bag while I was shopping around in stores, and ordering ice cream by the scoop, and the feeling of accomplishment after walking to the grocery store and carrying everything home in one bag, and meeting the boys at the tram stop to run into town, and cheap food prices, and classes once a week with no homework, and spontaneous trips to Switzerland, and lazy Sundays hanging out by the lake outside my dorm, and the guy who announces all the tram stops, and the farmer's market, and dinner parties, and basically EVERYTHING.

Thums Up!

Thums Up! is a popular Indian soft drink that first appeared after Coke and Pepsi got kicked out of India in 1977. It's supposed to taste like betel nut, which is a red nut that everrryone chews (and spits everywhere) for a mild stimulant effect. When Coke came back to India in the 90s, they bought Thums Up in order to better compete with Pepsi and it's still sold there today.

It kind of tasted like an extreme carbonated version of Coke. I can't say I was a huge fan, but I like how the name is spelled, and the logo.

Source: Wikipedia, of course

Pizza Hut

While we were on hideout in Agra, as you can probably tell, we rediscovered Western food. We saw a Pizza Hut on the way to our hotel and knew that that was where we were going to eat lunch. Walking into the restaurant, it was like we were back in the States. Everyone eating in there was Western, and they were blasting the same 10 cheesy 90s dance songs over and over. The only difference, of course, were the blackouts, when the lights would suddenly go off until the generators kicked in.

Our rickshaw driver was nice enough to take us there and wait while we ate and then drive us back to the hotel. Zach asked for a Pepsi with an entire extra glass full of ice, and then requested a bowl of marinara sauce on the side so he could dip his pizza into it, so that's what I'm talking about in the video.

My masala lemonade was absolutely disgusting and I stopped drinking it shortly after I finished making the video. There were spices floating around in it and it looked like the Ganges River. The entire rest of the trip, I couldn't eat anything that had the word "masala" in it.

Pizza Hut was so good that we went back the next day for lunch. We had the same rickshaw driver who thought it was hilarious that we were going back. That day we had a different waiter, and Zach asked for his glass of ice and bowl of marinara sauce again. The waiter died laughing, and knew exactly what he was talking about. Apparently, the waitstaff was talking about us after we left the day before, and everyone heard the story about the crazy American boy and his ridiculous requests. To save ourselves the trouble of more embarrassment, we had Pizza Hut delivered to our hotel room that night! hahaha!

Breakfast of the Rich and Famous

When we reached Agra, about a week and a half into our trip, we were already incredibly sick of the intense heat in India and the touts everywhere trying to get you to buy something or come into their shop ("Just looking! Just looking! No pressure!"). We decided it might be nice to check out the "midrange" section of hotels in our guidebook and take a day off to just relax and watch movies away from the crowds and the heat. After our rickshaw driver getting lost for literally an hour and a half, we finally came across Hotel Taj Plaza. We were both impressed by the hotel. The room they showed us had an awesome view of the Taj, air conditioning (!!!), a big TV, a private bathroom, room service, and our own little "dining area," as we called it, which was just an extra table with two chairs. It was expensive, but Zach talked the very nice (slightly sketchy) guy at the front desk to give it to us for almost half price. We kind of abused the room service (ie. Zach kind of abused room service) and we never tipped, but we actually became pretty good friends with the hotel staff. The travel agent would give us free rides to the Taj Mahal on his motorbike, and we convinced the guy working at the front desk to let us take a free shower in an empty room after we had checked out.

Anyway this is all a tangent.
About 1000 feet away from Hotel Taj Plaza was a place called the Oberoi, which is the fanciest hotel in all of India, and was recently named the 28th best hotel in the world. Being so close to this place we knew we had to go and see what it was like. In the morning, after waking up at 4am to see the sunrise on the Taj Mahal, we decided we were hungry for breakfast, and what better place to eat breakfast than the Oberoi?

Upon arriving at the hotel, we were already impressed by its extensive fountains and decor.
We went in and everyone was dressed in traditional Indian clothing and spoke perfect English. We asked if we could eat breakfast there and they left us sitting in the lobby for about 10 minutes while they asked their manager if it would be ok. While sitting there, in the amazing air conditioned atmosphere, we enjoyed live mandolin music from a man sitting at the top of a grand staircase and a perfect view of the Taj Mahal from a picture window clearly designed for that sole purpose.
They came back and let us know that it was ok for us to eat breakfast in their hotel, and led us down the stairs to the most colorful, most amazing looking buffet of fresh fruit, cereal, yogurts, juices, jams, and rolls that I have ever seen. It would have cost us $15 each for the buffet, so we decided to take a look at the menu. A quick scan revealed that neither of us had enough money to pay for this meal! I took this picture while Zach had to run back to our hotel for more cash haha!


Anyway, when he came back, we both ordered the pancakes, and they were the most amazing pancakes I have ever had in my life.

We each got a small stack of pancakes, spiced orange butter, a bowl of weird but delicious berries as a spread, as well as real maple syrup imported from the United States! I also got a $5 glass of the best mango juice I had while I was in India, and Zach convinced our waiter to give us free toast. We enjoyed breakfast and the view and decided that we needed to know how much this place cost per night.

We had a whole plan. Zach told the woman at reception that this place was out of our price range, but our parents were coming in November and wanted to stay and were wondering what a room cost. The woman told us it was about $700 (!!!!) a night and then started asking us all these details about our parents visit. She ended up giving Zach her card and he promised to email and work out the details with her later. We thanked the entire hotel staff and went back to Taj Plaza, where we asked our friend at the front desk if he had ever been to the Oberoi. He laughed and said, "This hotel nothing compared to Oberoi. This hotel ant, that hotel elephant!"

More Freiburg

It seems like every day there is a new story about Freiburg in the news. This video is from Good Morning America. They are kind of confused, not only with the horrible pronunciation of Vabuan (which makes me cringe every time they say it), but also by calling it its own city, when really it is just a district of Freiburg.

All this public attention that Freiburg is getting isn't helping me miss it any less! :-(
Oh I'd give anything to be riding on that Vauban tram right now!

My Worst Moment in India

My stories so far have all been about how amazing India and Nepal were and how much fun I had. I honestly had one of the best times of my life the three weeks while I was there, but I have also never experienced so many highs and lows. India is a beautiful country, but it's also intense: dirty, heartbreakingly poor, crowded, people stare at you and ask personal questions, people try to rip you off, and everyone wants your money.
One of the lowest points I had in India happened right after we crossed over by land from Nepal.
We took a tourist bus from Nepal that was 8 hours long, but semi bearable (minus the loud Nepali music blasting from the speaker right over my head) because it was air conditioned, we got free water, and I had my motion sickness patch on.
Once we reached the border, we had to go into the Nepali office and be stamped out of the country, and then the Indian office to be stamped into the country.When we crossed the border around 4 in the afternoon, it instantly seemed more insane. It was much much hotter than it had been in Kathmandu, and everyone was after us trying to get us to ride their rickshaw or get on their bus. We were taking pictures of each other at the border when a little boy came up and asked if we wanted one together. We said we didn't, but he took my camera anyway. I was so sure he was going to steal it! Thankfully I got it back, but you can see in this picture that we are ready to run after him!

We needed to get a bus to Varanasi, and we found one just over the border. We got a seat up front and stowed our luggage underneath. A man who said he was the manager of the bus told us that the seats were reserved and we couldn't sit there, and kicked us to the back of the bus. This should have been our first red flag, but we obeyed. Once we were in the back, he told us a ticket was going to cost something like 375 rupees, and we handed over our money. He came back with another guy and this guy told us that we also had to pay a 250 rupee express fee. We asked him what that meant and he told us that he couldn't explain it in English, but we needed to pay it, and showed us the ticket completely in Hindi except for the number 250, and told us that that's what it said.
Zach started to fight with him, saying that we weren't going to pay for anything that we didn't understand, "WELL," he started screaming at us, "THIS IS WHAT THE TICKET SAYS, AND IF YOU DON'T WANT TO PAY THEN YOU CAN GET OFF OF MY BUS!" We were horrified that he screamed at us, and I was scared and didn't want to be stuck at the border all night, so I handed over the money. We asked him what time we would arrive in Varanasi and he told us not until 6:30am. He threw the tickets at us and told us not to lose them, and then I watched him and the other guy get off the bus! I knew that was kind of weird, actually, the entire thing was kind of weird, but we were too overwhelmed to care. We were just told that we were going to be stuck on this bus for the next 14 hours and we weren't sure what to do with ourselves. It was so hot that we were completely drenched in sweat and only had a little water left from our bus in Nepal. I don't think I can put into words how hot and sticky it was on that bus.

We started moving and those two guys that sold us the tickets were nowhere to be seen. Zach went to talk to the driver and found out that tickets to Varanasi only cost 173 rupees. We had paid 625 rupees for ours AND got kicked to the back of the bus. Zach told the bus driver our story and he shouted, "HE CHEATER! WHY YOU NOT BUY TICKET FROM ME!!" and shared the story in Hindi to the other surrounding Indian passangers, who all looked at us and shook their heads. "Many cheater in India," they told us. We had been kicked to the back of the bus so this guy could rip us off and not have the REAL bus driver see it!

So, we were stuck on this bus which drove long into the pitch black night, constantly honking the horn and waking us up every time we tried to sleep. The seats didn't recline, sometimes we drove in circles, it was so packed that people were standing in the aisles, and eveeeeryone was sick. We were the only tourists on the bus and people were just STARING at us unblinkingly. We were still completely soaking wet with sweat, and the body heat all around us wasn't helping. We were extremely paranoid about our stuff getting taken, and with all eyes on us all the time I refused to close mine, even for a second.

The one good thing that came out of this nightmare of a bus ride was that at 2:30am, the bus driver came back to told us we were in Varanasi. At first we didn't believe him. We told him that the other guy said we wouldn't be there until 6:30. "WHY YOU NOT ASK ME! HE CHEATER!" the driver told us again, and assured us that we were in fact in Varanasi. I didn't believe him until I saw a sign that said Varanasi Hotel, and then I knew I had made it. It was an 18 hour day of travel on buses, usually not even on real roads. We were exhausted, hot, sweaty, hungry, and cranky. We hated India. We didn't know what we were going to do, but we promised ourselves right then and there that that was the last time we would get ripped off in the country.

In Search of the Himalayas

Today's story is from Nepal, because I haven't given Nepal any attention in this blog and I loved it there so much. Zach and I almost didn't want to leave and oftentimes in India we wanted to escape back there. It was like a more laid back version of India, not to mention a lot cooler.

Everyone goes to Nepal to see the Himalayas. Zach and I didn't have the time (15-21 days), or the money ($3000) to trek to the Mt. Everest Base Camp, so we had to take matters into our own hands.
We rented a motorcycle instead for $5 each and decided to take it to a place called Nargakot, about 35km away from Kathmandu with supposedly amazing views of the Himalayas. Traffic in Nepal is insane. First of all, the drivers drive on the left side of the road, and there are no speed limits or road rules. This results in crazy traffic jams, the constant honking of annoying vanity horns, passing from both the left and right sides, undefined lanes, and getting hit several times along the way. Basically, it's a free for all, but there is no road rage and you can directly hit someone and just be smiled at and waved away. In some places, the pollution is so thick that you can't see 10 feet in front of you, and everyone was wearing scarves over their faces just to be able to breathe!
Still, it was great to get out of bustling Kathmandu and explore some of the countryside of Nepal. Outside of the city is where you realize how incredibly poor the country is. We passed small children washing their clothes in the river, men performing back breaking work making and transporting bricks, and women in beautiful saris carrying huge bundles of leaves and sticks. Most of the time, the roads weren't paved and a few times we even got stuck in the mud. It was a very humbling experience.


Along the way, we had to stop every 5 minutes or so to make sure we were headed in the right direction. We finally made it and began our ascent up a huge mountain. Halfway there, it began downpouring rain; we were visiting Nepal during monsoon season after all. We were getting soaked and the roads were becoming too dangerous to drive, so we found a small hut on the side of the road and stopped. There were already about 6 other Nepalese guys seeking shelter under the roofed porch of this hut and we asked if it was all right to join them. We had no idea how long the rain was going to last, so we hung out with these guys, who turned out to be our age, and had great conversations in broken English about our studies at university (they were students too), and how the Nepalese dislike the Indians. One guy even took out his cell phone and played some Nepalese music for us.

When it cleared up enough to keep going, we found out that these guys were headed to the same place as us, and they invited us to come along with them. They said they knew of an amazing lookout tower where you could definitely see the Himalayas. After stopping in a restaurant after another downpour of rain, and then stocking up on a bunch of Nepalese junk food, we finally made it.

The lookout tower was very rickety, it would never be open to the public in America. The only way to get up was an old ladder, which had become very slippery with the rain. The Nepalese guys climbed it no problem, and laughed down at me and Zach, who were terrified. We made it up, but it had rained so much and was so cloudy that we couldn't see any mountains! Here is the best view that we got:

All of a sudden, it started to downpour again and we were trapped at the top of this tower! The temperature dropped to about 75 degrees and all the Nepalese guys, and Zach, who had been in South East Asia for the past 8 months, were FREEZING and all huddled together for body heat, while I stood back and laughed--it was NOT cold at all. So there we were: huddled together at the top of a sketchy view tower in the Nepal countryside with 6 Nepalese guys, snacking on spicy chips imported directly from India, listening to the latest Nepalese hits on one guy's cell phone, and NOT looking at the Himalayas. I'm pretty sure that me and Zach are the only people who have ever been to Nepal and not seen any mountains!

Love Aaj Kal

The Bollywood industry is huge in India and you'd be hard pressed to find someone who ISN'T playing the latest Bollywood hit from their cell phone or talking about what the big Bollywood stars are up to. Zach and I kind of got caught up in the Bollywood fever while we were staying in India.
Everywhere we went, we would see these posters for a movie called Love Aaj Kal, and we thought it would be a ton of fun to go and see a Bollywood movie IN India!

We were 15 minutes late for the movie, but bought tickets and went inside anyway. All the seats are assigned, just like they were in Germany, and you could pay more or less depending on which seats you wanted. Before we entered the theater, we had to go through security and I had my purse checked for anything dangerous.

We were the only foreigners in the theater, which I guess makes sense considering that this movie was completely in Hindi! We knew that going in and figured we could make up our own story line. It was a lot of fun whispering to each other in the theater what we thought was going on, although I'm sure the people sitting in front of us weren't too thrilled. I actually think we did pretty well. It was a story of a guy and a girl who kind of had a thing for each other, but they kept moving all around the world: the girl was in London for a while and the guy went to San Francisco (so thankfully there WERE parts of this movie in English). They dated other people but were still best friends and called each other all the time for life updates. Of course in the end they end up together. It was an absolutely fantastic movie; we both loved it so much and are trying to find a version of it with English subtitles so we can actually understand more of what was going on. Every other city we visited in India people were talking about Love Aaj Kal and what a great film it was. When we told them that we went to see it, everyone laughed. "But how you understand?" they asked.

Halfway through the film, there was an intermission and me and Zach decided to buy some popcorn. Everyone got a kick out of the two white kids walking around the concession stand--people were actually pointing and laughing at us! And the concession itself was total CHAOS. There was no line, just people mobbing and screaming their orders out in Hindi to two very busy workers. Zach left me in charge of buying snacks while he went to the bathroom and when he came back, I was still standing in the same spot, totally distressed and being trampled by Indians. Finally one guy in line was nice enough to push through for us and order in Hindi, so we got our popcorn, and it was delicious.

Bollywood films are of course famous for their big song and dance numbers that happen throughout the film. The first big song happened right before intermission and Zach told me that while he was in the bathroom, all the guys were singing together it at the urinals! It makes me laugh every time I think about it. I don't blame them either--here is the famous song from the movie, this has been stuck in my head for the past 3 weeks!

I Go Pakistan?

My other story from our camel safari (see part I below)i:

For some reason, Zach is obsessed with Pakistan. He wants to go there very very badly and talks about it all the time. As you can see, Jaisalmer, where we took our camel safari, is very west in India and is on the border with Pakistan.

While on our camels, Zach asked one of our guides how close we were to the border.
"By camel? 3 days. By car? 3 hours."
"I go Pakistan?" Zach asked
"No problem!" said the camel guide, "I bring you there. Not much money. We take 3 days, maybe 4 if you tired."
"How we get in country?" Zach asked, "No visa."
"No problem!" smiled the camel guide, "We give guard little money and say we sell girls in Pakistan. He like that. We go Pakistan, no problem! You want go Pakistan?"
I could see the wheels turning in Zach's head. Thank God we had a train to Delhi to catch that evening, or else I think I might have been sold for a free trip into Pakistan!
"Next time I come Jaisalmer, you bring me Pakistan," Zach decided. That is one trip I don't think I will take a part of.


"I take you Pakistan, no problem!"

Desert Kids

नमस्ते! Somehow, my blog now lets me write in Hindi and I'm extremely excited, but the only word I know is नमस्ते!

Anyway, I could honestly write an entire blog on the day and a half camel trek we took in Jaisalmer, but I'm going to share two stories (in separate entries) right now.

After we had been riding for about an hour on the first day, we took a break in a tiny desert village literally in the middle of nowhere and were allowed to walk around and explore while our guides prepared our lunch. The children in the village were excited to see 4 foreigners (me, Zach, and the two guys on our trek from France) and immediately came running over to us. Like all kids in India, they begged to have their pictures taken. The photos I have of this sum up the experience better than I can in words:
This kid wanted 10 rupees for this picture! haha!

Seeing me use my camera, they got excited and reached out and took it to try their own hand at photography. They had no idea how to use it and started taking pictures the wrong way! These are two of my favorite pictures of my whole trip:



I decided to step in and show them how to use a camera the right way, and Zach took out his camera to take pictures of me showing them how to use my camera! Confused yet?
They were smart kids and got the hang of it fast!

This is one of my favorite ones of me and Zach--hard to believe that a little kid took it! We said our goodbyes to the desert children and I had to pry my camera out of their hands. One little girl (not pictured) took my pony tail holder and my sunglasses as a parting gift I suppose. I took my sunglasses back but pointed to my pony tail holder and then her, letting her know she could keep it. These kids were so adorable, I had so much fun playing with them in the desert

Best City in the World?

Recently, Udaipur was named the #1 best city in the world by Travel and Leisure.
Interesting list, but where is Freiburg?


I ended up spending 2 extra days in Udaipur while Zach was in the hospital and it was a beautiful place. After dealing with the insane touts in both Agra and Varanasi, Udaipur seemed like a relaxing change of pace (it was a LOT cooler), and I have never met such genuinely nice people in my life. I mentioned it earlier in this blog, but while Zach was in the hospital, one rickshaw driver took me to the hospital twice a day to visit him, and waited with me on the first night to make sure Zach was ok. One time he couldn't use his rickshaw in town due to a festival and took me on his own motorbike to ensure I made it there safely. He never accepted any money from me until the end, when he told me I could give him whatever I thought was appropriate. I gave him a really big tip.

Then there was the doctor who gave me a ride home from the hospital at 11:00 one night, after all the rickshaws had stopped running. He wouldn't let me give him any money for the ride home, even though he had driven out of his way to bring me to my hotel.

There was also the young Internet Cafe owner who gave me free cups of chai whenever I came in because he felt sorry that Zach was in the hospital and I was all alone. Of course I can't forget the wonderful people who owned our hotel would ask me every day how Zach was doing and when he was coming back.

When we weren't spending long hours at the new American Hospital on the outskirts of town, we relaxed in outdoor rooftop restaurants and took the views of the beautiful lake that surrounds the city.
One day we rented a motorbike and took it to the top of a mountain to visit a place called Monsoon Palace, where the rainwater used to be collected to be used by the city. We ran into these kids carrying clay up to the palace and Zach immediately grabbed one bowl off a girl's head and carried it up for her. The kids were all giggling madly and you could tell that he totally made her day, if not her life. Afterward he told me that it was extremely heavy, and he didn't know how those little kids were taking multiple trips up and down with these heavy bowls.


Finally, we made a video from Udaipur about the mysterious Indian Head Wobble, which had been puzzling us for weeks:



Post Script:
I know I said I was going to wrap up this blog, but I can't get the idea of India and what a beautiful country it was out of my brain. So I hope you don't mind if I continue to update this with some stories and experiences I had while I was there, because I'm not ready to let go yet!

Oh and I almost forgot! The James Bond film Octopussy was filmed in Udaipur, and we watched an extremely bootlegged version at our hotel

Freiburg in the news again!

I promise I will update soon and wrap up everything about everything, but right now I'm too excited because Freiburg is in the American news yet again!!

Camel Safari

The camel safari = THE GREATEST THING I HAVE EVER DONE IN MY LIFE.

We left yesterday at 9am after a delicious breakfast of porridge and chai. Camels are crazy to ride on and man it hurts haha. We traveled with 2 other guys from France, both our age and studying engineering. We trekked for about an hour and then got off in a small desert village where we walked around, and the kids there had fun playing with my camera.
Shortly after, our guides made us an amazing Indian lunch, and we all took a nap. Getting back on teh camel was painful, and we rode to INSAAANE sand dunes where we spent the rest of the evening. About 8 other kids our age came and joined us in a Jeep--they didnt want to ride the camels but wanted to spend the night in the desert. The sun quickly set and we ate another amazing Indian dinner while our guides sang to us in Hindi around the campfire.
I have never seen so many stars in my entire life than I did last night laying out in the desert. We all got blankets and pillows and just slept out in the open. The blankets were itchy and I was cold and uncomfortable, and terrified of snakes and bugs crawling on me in the night, but it's definitely something I will never forget. I saw so many shooting stars, and woke up this morning in time to see the sunrise.

We trekked back on the camels this morning after eating breakfast and lunch together (paaaainful) and I took an AMAZING shower at our guesthouse. I had sand in every single place where sand could possibly be: my hair, inside my ears, my nose, my mouth, my underwear (?!?!). I was dirty and tired but I'll never forget it. The desert was so peaceful and so gorgeous, just like you'd imagine it. I can't believe so many people make their homes there.

Now we have a 15 hour train to Delhi that is leaving in 2 hours, and I leave the day after tomorrow for America!!!!

I'm pretty sure there's nothing better in the whole world than sitting around with Indian people, drinking chai (I am obsessed with Chai--I had 4 glasses today alone), and talking about extremely deep things like love and life.

Yesterday was Indian Independence Day, so happy Indian Independence Day to everyone reading this!!

I think the worst prt about traveling is the actual traveling part. Last night we took a night sleeper bus to Jailsmer. The bus had actual beds so we could "sleep", but it was way way too bumpy to ever sleep, plus THE HORNS NEVER STOP HONKING! People here use their horns more than they use their brakes, and EVERYONE has a vanity horn which gets extremely annoying extremely fast. It's also kind of stressful because no one ever announces the stops/we don't speak Hindi, so either we pray we end up in the right place, or pray that someone tells us when to get off. The worst part is the rest stops because we never know when the bus is leaving and the toliets are ALWAYS squatter. Wearing jeans on the bus last night was a bad call haha.

We had to change buses at 5am which caused for more stress because some people do not like to be woken up and put up a huge fit (and they know who they are). We did make it though, the scenery of driving through the desert was gorgeous.

We got a guesthouse right away and have already set up our train tickets to Delhi, our final destination. Tomorrow at 8am we are going on a camel trek. We each get our own camel and they are taking us way out into the sand dunes to explore the area. We get breakfast, lunch, dinner, we sleep in the desert, get breakfast the next morning, and then head back to town, where we'll hang out until it's time for us to hop on the train to Delhi. I think it will be a lot of fun, and I think after having to pee in the desert, I will never complain about squatter toliets again!

I just got Zach out of the hospital, so things are going to get a lot better.
We loved Agra. The Taj Mahal was breathtaking, we actually ended up going twice because the first time we took so many pictures that it closed before we got inside. The next day we got up for the Taj Mahal at sunrise which was amazing. We were the first people through the gates and it felt like we owned the place.

That night, we took the sleeper train to Udipar and it's a lot cooler here, thank God. The place is surrounded by a big lake, which is usually dried up, but we were lucky enough to get here during monsoon season when the lake is full, and it is gorgeous. Tonight we are taking a sleeper bus to Jailsmer to do a camel trek before reaching Dehli, our final destination. It's really funny being here because everyone loves to stare at us. The other day, a guy had his 2 kids take a picture with us, and then hopped in for a picture with us himself, just because we're white.

It's been kind of rough here the past few days because Zach got really sick and ended up in the hospital, where he has been for the past 2 days. It is sad and lonely doing India by myself, but it is making me a lot stronger, and a lot thicker skinned, that's for sure.
We are in Udaipur now and it's a lot smaller than anywhere else we've been, and the people hassle you a lot less. There have been amazing people--the people in our hotel, a certain rickshaw driver, and a DR last night who gave me a ride home from the hospital--that have helped me a lot through this.

Hideout

Today we are on hideout.
India is soo stressful. Everyone is trying to get you to buy their stuff or look at their shops and they dont understand the word 'no.' It is EXTREMELY hot, I average about 4 liters of water a day. It is noisy and crowded and we couldn't take it anymore, so today we decided to hang out in our air conditioned hotel room and watch movies.

Last night we took the night train to Agra. It was stressful because I didn't want anyone to steal my stuff and they don't announce the stations so we literally had no idea where to get off. Thankfully some guy helped us and we made it here. From our room, we have an amazing view of the Taj Mahal!

We have met a lot of really funny people here which does make the stress fun at times. Sometimes when we are surrounded by rickshaw drivers trying to get us to ride with them, someone will say, "only 2000 Euro!" Lately when people try to sell us stuff, we try to sell them our Lonely Planet guide book, "20 rupees, good price, good price, no cheater!" They always find that to be hilarious.

Everyone wants to know where we are from and they get so excited when we say America. We went to see some guru yesterday for some reason and he was all excited because I guess he gave a reading to Goldie Hawn back in the 80s. Neither of us have any clue who Goldie Hawn is. We also met a CRAAAAZY old guy from Canada who decided to move to Varanasi about 30 years ago, and you could tell that he was just nuts. He had a long gross beard and spoke weird English and his eyes were glazed over in crazieness. He told us he had a love/hate relationship with the city, which I can understand, and he is the only trooper there because everyone else leaves in April and May when it gets too hot. I think he was drinking too much water from the Ganges...