Flight to India, and ARRIVAL!

After I traveled from Salt Lake to Chicago, I walked around the airport and explored for an hour or so while I talked to my mom on the phone. I had explored the Salt Lake airport and it was not nearly as big as Chicago.  Chicago has a HUGE airport. It is great. After the exploring, I went to my gate, where I met up with Hillary, Amy, Jaci, and Sam, who were all flying to Delhi with me. We talked basically only about how excited we were (They are in the Study Abroad too – I was so blessed to have people to fly with that I know).

                On the airplane to Delhi, I got an aisle seat, which I was very happy about because then I could use the bathroom as often as I wanted without bothering anyone. Hey, I drink a lot of water. I am naturally thirsty I guess. I sat next to a friendly lady from somewhere in North India. She told me to come visit her in her home. Although I really won’t have time for that, it was kind of her to offer.

                I slept a little on the flight to Delhi, but not much. The flight was a bit more than 14 hours, but I couldn’t ever get quite comfortable enough to sleep for very long. But I did get to watch a few good movies, which was nice. Even Shrek 4 :) Very funny movie, I have to say.

When we got to Delhi, we picked up our luggage. It was a bit stressful because it took a long time for some of our stuff to come out and we were worried it might not ever come. But it did, which I am so glad for. I found out later that some other people in our program were not so lucky with their flights because their luggage ended up being lost. That would have been awful; I am glad I did not receive that particular trial.

The pictures above are of an elephant statue at the airport. It was pretty cool. And I was excited to be there, so naturally I hugged it.

We had about 8 hours to wait at the Delhi airport until our flight would leave.  Sam left for a separate flight (he had bought his ticket through a different company than BYU, so his flight plan took him a different route after Delhi). The rest of us went to go wait on some benches for a while because we were told we would not be allowed to check in for our next flight until 3 hours before. Which I think ended up being a big mistake on the airport’s part. When we were finally allowed to check in, we ended up waiting in the lines for longer than 2 hours because the people that work there seem to like to take their time. If anyone needs help strengthening their virtue of patience, the Delhi airport is the place to do it. The guy who was checking us in kept giving us these annoyed looks, as if we were the problem. He even rolled his eyes.  It was absolutely ridiculous. We had less than an hour to get through security and get over to our gate. We were all very stressed, but at the same time were starting to get a bit giddy because of the lack of sleep.

                Security was interesting, I have to say. There were separate scanning booth things for males and for females. The security then patted everyone down, but the women needed to be curtained off while they were patted down. I found this a bit funny. I guess this process is much too inappropriate to watch when it is the woman that is the victim.

                We did get through security about 10 decades later, and then we started sprinting (as well as we could with our heavy backpacks) towards our gate.  It was far away and we had to go down so many halls in order to get there. While we were running, we kept hearing the intercom saying “last call, last call” for our flight number. At this point we were all laughing ridiculously hard because of how silly this situation was. I mean, we had arrived 8 hours before our flight, and yet we were still going to miss it? People stared at us as we were passing.  Crazy Americans, running like mad and laughing like hyenas. We must have been pretty entertaining.

                We did end up making the flight. Apparently when they say “last call” at that airport, they really mean “We will give you quite a few last calls. Then we will leave.” Boy was I grateful.

                On the airplane, while we were flying to Vizag (short for Visakhapatnam), someone had a seizure. It was scary. The flight attendant was calling over the intercom, “Is anyone here a doctor?” Nobody said they were, but several people seemed to have some knowledge of what to do, which was good. I think the guy ended up being all right, although they didn’t actually tell us. But people eventually sat back down and relaxed again, so he must have been.

                We got to Vizag about 7:45 am, even though were supposed to land at 8:15. Apparently, the airport in Vizag doesn’t even open until 8 though, so we just flew around Vizag to stall for time. Then we landed, bussed over to the airport, went in, and grabbed our luggage. This time our luggage came out right away. It was awesome. 

This is the Vizag airport.

 Dr. Nuckolls (our program director) and Krishnayya (the on-sight director – he is an Indian who lives here and helps us while we are here. Dr. Nuckolls stays for a short period of time, but teaches back at BYU, so he has to leave) met us outside the luggage-pick-up-place. It was nice to finally meet Krishnayya – we have heard so much about him, and he really is a great man. He is fun to be around: kind of an older man, and very witty and funny.

                There were two drivers that drove us and all of our stuff over to our houses. The drive was quite a thrill. Nobody pays attention to the lines. Sometimes there are vehicles all crammed next to each other in two lanes. People honk almost constantly. And although their type of driving is terrifying, they are very skilled in what they do. I don’t know how they don’t get in accidents all of the time. One thing I do know: I will NEVER drive in India. It would mean instant death for me and everyone involved. The driving here just requires way too much talent. Our driver was particularly talented in the dangerous driving. I was in the front seat, I would know. It was quite the experience, but from now on I will be sitting in the back.

There are lots of motorcycles and rickshaws everywhere. I think that is part of why the traffic can get so crazy.

We got to the houses, and they are BEAUTIFUL! I love them. I am in the house where all the cooking and eating is done, which is perfect because I can know exactly when the food is ready :D And guess what else? My room is amazing: it has a lock on the door and locks on the cabinets. I think it might be the only one that does, so I am very blessed. And I have my own bathroom, with an American toilet! It is a miracle. I didn’t even pick my own room, and yet I still got one of the best. So I guess I won’t be using that Lady John that I bought. Which I am quite okay with.

These are some of our adorable neighbors. We love them. The older girl likes to dance around and show off how very cute she is.

 We were feeling ambitious after we arrived, and I was afraid of falling asleep and making my jetlag worse, so we decided to go shopping for clothes. That was lots of fun, and I did not spend too much money because things are pretty cheap here. I bought one premade outfit, and the cloth for two more outfits, and I only spent the equivalent of about $30 on it all.

Then we went back home and got settled in.
So I just have to say, I love it here. I am so grateful for this opportunity and can already tell its going to be great. And I am so excited for what is to come!

P.S. There are lots of crows by our house. I think I am the only one who likes them though. They have already managed to make a bad impression on most of us. They are very good at aiming and managed to poop on Kelly, and I think they almost hit Amy too.