A real update!

Okay, since I have a lot to catch you up on (and since I finally have Internet at home) I'll be doing a few brief recap posts. First we'll cover orientation. My group of 30 students spent 3 days in a place called Durshet in order to get over jetlag and get to know one another and the country.

The first thing that surprised me was how green the country was. Most depictions of India that I've seen have been set in the cities, so it was fascinating to see how beautiful the country is.


Monsoon season is in full swing. The weather actually wasn't that bad; it's probably been cooler than the East Coast has been all summer. Very humid, perhaps, but that's to be expected. Also, the rain had the decency to wait until we were in meetings to start pouring and then let up when we had breaks.

Durshet was almost set up like a summer camp, two hours away from Mumbai. It's very quiet and peaceful.

We discovered that there was a small lake behind the campsite...

And then we went wading.

More pictures of the countryside, this from the ride to Pune.
When we arrived in Pune, we had a welcoming ceremony.

This is Deven, one of my hostelmates.

Then it was my turn. (The woman on the left, by the by, is Uttaraa, the program director and a wonderful person.

Aaaand (most of) the group at large.

Looking forward to posting more! Trying to conserve my internet usage, so I won't do it right now.Thanks for reading!