The first (and hopefully only) hiccup.

 

We landed in Delhi at 5:30am on Thursday morning.  Since we did not have a print out of our itinerary to Jodhpur, we weren’t allowed to get on the free shuttle to the domestic terminal.  So we grabbed our first taxi.  Driving in India is like nothing else… The lines on the road are mere suggestions.  And they have stoplights, but none of them are ever on!

We made it to the domestic terminal in one piece and it was total mayhem! Waiting in the line to get into the building proved fruitless, one because there are no lines and two because we needed the same print out from before to get in. When we finally found where we needed to be – check-in #1 – we discovered that our flight to Jodhpur had been cancelled. It was a stressful hour while we tried to figure out what needed to happen to get us to Jodhpur.  Our airline, Air India, was on strike, so there was not a lot of hope that the flight would leave the next day either.  But fortunately we found another airline that had seats the next day; we purchased our tickets for Friday and set about figuring out where we were going to stay for the night.

Our friend Aditi’s mother and grandmother live in Delhi, and fortunately she had given us their contact info in case of an emergency. Totally unprepared for a night in Delhi we decided to call Nira, Aditi’s mom, for some suggestions. She wouldn’t hear of us staying in a hotel and insisted on coming to get us after she was done with work. It was amazing!  We still had to occupy our time in Delhi for the day, and after traveling for 30 hours, we couldn’t really handle too much, so we got a car to take us to some sights and then camped out in a coffee shop all afternoon. From the minute she picked us up it was perfect… We got to take a shower, eat great food, have great conversations and just relax. 

The next morning, Delhi felt like a whole new place.  Everything was looking up.  It’s amazing what sleep can do for you!  Nira took us to the local mall so we could do a little shopping and then we grabbed a cab to the airport. Our flight left without a hitch, except for being small and bumpy, and we made it to Jodhpur safely. 

Here's me and D on the plane.

 Thank you, Nira, for rescuing us and taking us into your lovely home!  Danielle and I had a fabulous time at your house and can’t thank you enough for your hospitality. It definitely helped ease us into the craziness of India!

The heat.

Everyone kept saying that even though it was going to be 112 - 120, it wouldn't be so bad because it would be a dry heat...

Well I am here to tell you it's just as bad... Cause it's windy... And the wind is hot...

Just think hot, smelly blow dryer pointed at your face from 10am to 6pm!

:D

Finland for a Day

After a thankfully uneventful and sleep-filled flight from New York’s JFK, we landed in Helsinki at 9:00am on Wednesday morning. Ready for a day of sightseeing, we got the stamp in our passport and headed into the city on the Finnair shuttle.

At the shuttle we met two fellow Americans on the same 12-hour layover – Sam from Penn who is doing a summer internship in Delhi, and Stephanie from Rochester, NY who came for a friend’s wedding. Between the four of us we were able to come up with a plan for the day and we set off. Helsinki is a great little city, and it has made me very interested in getting back to Scandinavia in the future… It was the perfect combination of Europe and the North Woods.

We started at the Helsinki Cathedral and Senate Square.


















Then headed to the ferry to take us to Suomenlinna, one of the largest maritime fortresses in the world. It was built of six islands just off the coast of Helsinki in the 1700s and is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We walked around the two main islands and had a great afternoon. Here are some highlights:

Vesikko Submarine – originally launched in 1933 for experimental purposes for the Germans.

The soldiers homes.

Near the visitors center.

We took the ferry back and grab lunch in the Market Square. We hoped to get some traditional fare, but didn’t see it until after we grabbed some crepes. It’s probably for the best, I don’t know if I could have eaten an entire plate of sautéed sardines and onion rings. I wish I had taken a picture of the massive wok FULL of whole mini fishies!

We went inside the Uspenski Cathedral, the largest Orthodox Christian church in Western Europe.

Then we walked through Old Market Hall, a food lover’s paradise that included reindeer gyros, every fish and sausage imaginable and the tiniest cauliflower I’ve ever seen.

I searched all day for my Finalnd charm, but couldn’t find anything. Heading back to the shuttle, we stopped into a gift shop where I had seen a small Russian Doll earring that I thought could work and would be appropriate given Finland’s history with Russia. I bought it and then of course in the airport found the perfect shop that sold charms of native Finnish designs. I bought a small bear, so now I have two charms for my 8 hours in Finland!

Exhausted from traveling and sightseeing, we found some great lounge chairs and camped out until we boarded.

All packed and ready to go!

Weather report for the next few days...

May 25th: New York, USA - 82 and sunny.
May 26th: Helsinki, Finland - 53 and rainy.
May 27th: Jodhpur, India - 112 and I'm going to die.

Wish me luck!

Two days til take off...

Welcome to my second attempt to keep a blog!

Many of you may have followed my first attempt back in 2006 while I was living in the Netherlands. This one will definitely not include as many cure kid stories, but I thought you'd all want to stay connected anyway.

Instead of a thesis, my program requires each student to do an internship, so when this program came along back in January I jumped at the chance! It's so much better than any research position I would get in NYC. There are four of us going from my program and for the most part we will be working together.  The exact details of what we'll be doing are not quite clear yet, but I'll be sure to keep everyone updated.


Orientation begins next Saturday, and the program lasts for a total of six weeks.  After that I will travel for three weeks, with Steve joining me for two of them.

That's it for now.  More later.