Spoiler: I’m in India!! After a few days of packing, a few hours of frantic visa obtaining, and about 35 hours of actual travel, I officially arrived in Mumbai. Talk about a whirlwind–lets rewind a little…

My flight from Chicago to Dublin left Friday around 8pm. Luckily, I had mostly packed the day before, so Friday looked to be relatively stress-free. While sitting by the fountain in downtown Evanston, eating a final Jimmy John’s sandwich, I called to check on what time I would be able to get my visa and passport from the travel company. 30 minutes later I was told the visa, and thus passport, weren’t even processed, weren’t allowed to be picked up in person, and were still at the consulate, which doesn’t usually accept walk ins from non-Indian nationals–cue me freaking out. Thus began 4 hours full of frantic phone calls, emails, and just showing up to the consulate to beg. Thanks to the kind souls at the consulate and my trusty side-kick(thanks Dad!), the visa was in hand by 4 and I was en route to O’hare. I don’t think my heart rate calmed down until I was actually on the plane, where I promptly fell asleep and awoke in Ireland, home of the Leprechaun!

Yes yes I know this blog is meant to detail my time spent in India, but while booking my flights, I noticed a possibility of a 10-hour layover in Dublin that would work with my schedule and thought “why not?”. So there I was in Dublin, surrounded by countless red-heads and funny accents. I had a game plan for my short trip: get a good coffee, get a good beer(or as good as someone who doesn’t like beer can get), and sightsee a bit. And I did just that, as seen by the following pictures!

After that quick Irish jaunt, it was back to the port and back on a plane-this time to Abu Dhabi! My time there was much shorter, but marked my first time stepping foot in an Asian country! So that was cool, but not sure it excused my $5 espresso :(.

After Abu Dhabi, I FINALLY arrived in India! As you fly in to the Mumbai airport, you pass over what feels like miles of shack houses in what must be one of the poor areas of Mumbai. I think my first, lasting impression will be the enormous size of the city. It seemed to continue forever, with people everywhere. Of course I know of the crowding issues and the poverty, but it’s a completely other thing to see it first hand.

I was met by the program coordinator at the airport- a really lovely guy! We just had a dinner where I found out a little more about the program. Only 2 other students are in the the public health program that I am enrolled in for Manipal, which will be very interesting. Wildly, I think one is from Iowa as well! Good thing she didn’t take this killer blog title. Of course we’ll live with other international students, and other students will be in our classes, but the travel week and other activities specific to the program are definitely going to be interesting with so few people. Wish me luck!

I think that just about raps up my first day in India(as well as the days leading up to it)! Tomorrow I finally get to the campus I’ll be living at for the next 4 months.

Lesson of the day: eat with your hands!