LPU

Day 4:

After an eight hour bus ride we made it to the Lovely Professional University. The bus ride was not bad; I slept most of the way. We stopped on the way for lunch; the placed where we stopped for food had fries, pizza, baked goods, pasta and also Indian food. Most of the group decided to get the “American food”. I tried the fries which were a little different because they had some spice on them that gave them a different taste than normal. When we arrived at LPU we were greeted by the ebuddies, we introduced each other and then had dinner. Not all the ebuddies where there because some have a test tomorrow. I did not get to meet my ebuddie, I asked around and some of the other students told me that she has a test on the next two days so I might not get to meet her. I guess I will wait to see if she comes tomorrow.

After dinner the students and the staff of LPU set up a bond fire for us. Because it has been so cold the bond fire was a great idea. I didn’t think it was going to be this cold, it is definitely warmer than Binghamton winters but it was still very cold. We all sat around the fire to warm up and then the LPU students played music for us. We started to dance around the bond fire and the LPU students showed us some dance moves. I had a lot of fun dancing and hanging out with the ebuddies. They all seemed so interested in us. When they took us to the hostels (dorms) I showed two of the ebuddies pictures of my family and of our university on my computer. I began by showing them one folder but they wanted to see more, I think I must have showed them 20 different albums. They kept on wanting to see more, but it was time for bed, we were so tired. The hostels are a little different than the ones at Binghamton and other universities. The rooms were smaller and there were not many outlets. The room I was in had three beds one desk, one outlet and a bathroom. This became a problem because the outlet was being used by a heater and me Diana and Jessica needed to charge our cameras. Tomorrow we will tour LPU and learn about the growth of this lovely university.

 

Day 5:

Today we went for a tour of LPU. LPU is a larger university that Binghamton, it is also a private university. One thing that both schools have in common is: construction. LPU is trying to expand their school and are constructing many new buildings. After the tour we sat through a presentation of LPU. The presentation was informative; we got to learn about their history, admissions process and growth. A difference in their admissions process is that, people who apply for the school normally get in. This is because they have specific requirements and if they are not meet then people don’t apply. It is not like schools in the US where you can show that you have extracurricular activities or a good essay.

Today we also went to a Hindi temple where we got to learn about the culture. I spent most of the time with Adrienne because we both did not have our ebuddies with us. After the Hindi temple we went to visit the Lovely dealership and Lovely Sweets. At Lovely Sweets we got to try some candy! It was very different than the candy that we normally have in the US but it was yummy! They also took us to the back room where we gave management ideas on how to market the Lovely candy in the US. I must say the group gave some great ideas. As always everyone was extremely nice to us, they even gave us a small gift box with different candy inside. After all these tours we went to a nice village restaurant. The outside part of it had live performers; there were dancers and singers, monkeys, a magician, a puppet performer, and a small gift shop. The inside was very nice as well.

 I had a lot of fun today, I learned a lot about the Hindi religion and the history and growth of LPU. Tonight is our last night here at LPU, tomorrow we will have an early breakfast and be on our way to Infosys and then we will meet the dean’s family.

Day 3 in India!

Day 3:

Day three started off great…well not for everyone. We had problems with the hot water again, it turns out people had the knob on the wrong side. We have to let the water run for five to ten minutes before it gets warm. I also think it’s a problem since there are many people showering at the same time. Our day stated off with breakfast at the hotel, one thing to note is that they eat cereal with hot milk. After breakfast we got on the bus and where on our way to the car expo. We stopped at the India Gate. There we saw some school girls, as we passed them they where taking pictures of us and wanting to touch our hands. Then our professor asked them if they would teach us some dance moves, they where very excited to dance with us.

Then we made our way to the car expo. This was the first car expo I have ever been to, but I was not too exited for it. Although I am not proud of it, other than owning a car I don’t know much more about them. Once we got there we divided into groups and went our different ways. Our group learned some interesting facts about the car industry in India. We saw many companies displaying their car parts, cars, busses, lights and much more. Once we got to the different cars on display the rooms were packed! There was a lot of pushing and shoving, everyone was so excited to see all the cars. Our group managed our through all the commotion and then we were on a mission to find food. After walking around for a while we decided to stop at one of the food courts that were serving many different types of food. This was the first time I saw chicken being served. There was a coffee stand, a pizza hut stand, some Asian noodles, and much more. I tried the rice with chicken and it was pretty good. After the car expo we stopped at the Lotus Temple. That was extremely peaceful and relaxing. The temple is open to everyone from all religions. We were not allowed to make noise once we made it inside. We also needed to take off our shoes in order to go in. Then we came back to the hotel and some of us went to the bazaar near the hotel. Something else to note is the traffic in New Delhi, it is crazy! There are so many cars in the road that they drive around with their side mirrors closed. Most of the cars on the road are relatively new, it is not like New York where you can see a 2010 model driving next to a 1995. Tomorrow we are going to Lovely Professional University (LPU), we will all get to meet our ebuddies and we will be spending 2 nights at their dorms, which they call hostels. I am exited to see how the similarities and differences between LPU and Binghamton.

First 2 days in India:

We landed last night…stepping out of the plane and into the New Delhi airport was a moment to remember. This is not my first time out of the country, I have traveled to Mexico, and Spain, but this time the feeling was different. As we where walking off the plane I heard two of the flight attendants speaking to each other, they must have been wondering why there was a group of young adults on the plane, one of them says: “they must be from a university…yup there it goes” as she looks and smiles at me…I was wearing my Binghamton University hoodie. I guess not too many young Americans travel to India. As we stepped into the airport we could tell we were not in USA. The air felt different, it felt heavy, almost smoky. As we walked outside there where tons of people, some holding signs with names, people greeting their loved ones and others trying to find people to help with their bags for a small tip.  We arrived at the hotel, unpacked and went right to bed.

Today we woke up very early; some of us had very little sleep and had to shower with cold water. One of the biggest shocks when we arrived at the hotel was the bathroom set up. The bathroom was one big room with a toilet, sink, showerhead and a bucket next to it. I had been familiar with bathing with a bucket before so it wasn’t a shock for me like it was for other people. We went to the American center where we learned more about the relationship between India and the United States. After this we went to eat some traditional Indian food. The food was good…one thing that no one on my table liked was a drink called, buttermilk. The taste was very different to anything I have ever had. At first it looked like a milkshake, however it did not taste like one. It had a very bitter taste to it; at least I gave it a shot. We also went to the parliament museum, which was interesting. Because of recent terrorist attacks security seemed very tight. We then made our way back to the hotel where we had a traditional welcoming ceremony hosted by the hotel staff. Everyone seems very welcoming and nice everywhere we go. I only wish I could speak the language.

BUTTERMILK

food!

Our hotel room