WE HAVE ARRIVED! PART TWO

So Emily and I get up the next morning feeling refreshed and head down for our continental breakfast. I was expecting this before I came, but for those who don't know, Americans and some Europeans (maybe, I'm pretty sure its mostly us though) are the only ones who have separate breakfast food. Everyone else just eats what they would eat for lunch and dinner. So for our buffet, even though they had some American favorites, such as french toast and "pan cakes" they also had curry, chicken and rice etc. Me, loving that Indian food, thought I would be up for it, but my still americanized stomach was not, so french toast it was. Later this month, once I have more experience (and pictures) with the food, I'll make an all food post :D

Anyway, because we weren't sure what the airport security or traffic in Chennai were like in the middle of the day, we made sure to get to the airport 3-4 hours early. Even though we were the earliest for this flight, we almost missed it.

Apparently, the Chennai airport has two floors, one that has gates 1-4 and one that has gates H1-H4. We did not know this, and assumed that gate 3 was the same as H3. It wasn't until our names were called over the PA system that we realized that A) our flight was boarding and B) we were at the WRONG GATE. So Emily and I ran downstairs and to the gate and onto the shuttle to the plane where we met the Captain of our flight. Apparently, if he wasn't seven minutes late, we would have missed our flight. Thank goodness for our late Captain!

Once we landed in Trichy (a much smaller airport than any of the airports we had visited so far) we were met by Dr. Relton where he drove us to campus. In comparison to Chennai, Trichy is much smaller, more spread out, and with fewer people. It is also more rural. Those stories that are often told of cows goats and chickens roaming the streets was not necessarily true for Chennai, but it is definitely true here in Trichy. I'm not sure yet how the cows and goats interact with people, but they definitely roam free. More on that when we go into town tomorrow.

After our drive to the college, we were then shown our rooms (We were very pleased with the accommodations) and served a delicious lunch. So much better than airplane food I'll tell ya. After lunch Emily and I took a nap and waited for Dawn and Alex to arrive. Upon their arrival we hung out and had dinner, another yummy and delicious meal. It was heartening to hear similar stories of interesting occurrences from Alex and Dawn that Emily and I experienced in our travels as well. We then retired to our separate rooms where Emily and I duct-taped our mosquito nets to the wall (yay duct  tape) and are about to go to bed.

Tomorrow we will tour the campus and town and buy any essentials we will need. Our first experience not in an airport or campus. Exciting!

Overall, I was really nervous and kind of scared about coming to India. I wasn't sure what to expect, but now that I am beginning to understand what I will be experiencing for the next month, I'm curious and excited.

More tomorrow!