A very late traveling home post with pictures and way better internet

Dearest readers,

I wish I could say I waited until my country's independence day on purpose to write about my return to the states, and that I did this on purpose - sorry guys, I have just been really busy on my return, and also needed a few days to reflect and really take in everything. 

Before I get to how I feel now when I return, here's a quick recap of my trip home/my pseudo last day.

Okay folks, I woke up at holy-cowin 6 in the morning in order to see Trichy's famous Rock fort with Dawn before we left for good. If you don't know what Trichy's rock fort looks like from below, here it is:

(thanks google images)

We hiked from the bottom, which is a series of "indoor" stairs where every so often there are small hindu shrines where people can worship. The stairs then open up to this sort of pass and another set of stairs to these gorgeous views. 

Our wonderful guide Pragathi took our picture with the view

But we had a few issues getting our camera woman to change her angle ;) 

But we did! Yay!

After our visit to Rock fort, we did some last minute shopping and headed back to the hostel for the last time. The four of us packed our things, had our last supper

Of our favorite foods, Parrota, tomato soup, steamed vegetables, and veggie curry. It was full of deliciousness and sadness all at the same time. We then sadly loaded up into Dr. Relton's car and headed to the airport. 

Okay guys, here's the deal about Indian airports. They are NOT KNOWN FOR THEIR EFFICIENCY. We didn't have too many problems in the Trichy airport, but once we arrived in Chennai it was like the circus was running the airport. Emily and I (Allie and Dawn went to Delhi on their own adventures!) had a four hour layover in the Chennai airport and we used almost all of it getting our tickets, (long line full of confusion and 20 bags checked per person) going through immigration (for a very populous country, with lots of people going back and forth in a major airport, you would think that more than 2 people would be running the immigration counter), and going through security, we only had 30 minutes left to get on our flight. Luckily for us though the flight was an hour late, and we were one of the first people to get in line for our flight (you don't know the gate your plane is on until right before you board, and they put it up really fast and sneakily). But unfortunately, because our Chennai to Delhi flight was late, our connecting 14 hour flight to JFK was pushed back as well. So instead of boarding at 1 o'clock in the morning, we boarded at 2:30 am. Despite it being so early, the Delhi airport was bustling! Side note kiddies, if you can't find any touristy souvenirs, just wait till you get to the Delhi airport, its allll there!

Anyway, we then got on the modern Mayflower back to the United States. It was kind of odd, as our 14 hour flight went on, the plane began to smell and look more and more like an Indian city. For instance, the smells emanating from the bathrooms and different sections of the plane, and all of the aisles began accumulating large amounts of trash. Luckily, we landed before any goats could be found. 

But we arrived in JFK and got through customs and security no problem! So because we had a little extra time, I was able to have my first meal back in the States - a bacon, egg and cheese biscuit from McDonalds. Though I did feel kind of culture shocked from just walking into an American airport, that biscuit was surely delicious. 

Then we flew back to Charlotte! I was glad to be coming home, but was really really sad that I left India and I felt like even though I was coming home, I wasn't coming home the same. They aren't kidding when you say you come back a little bit changed.  

I would definitely come back to India no questions asked, though I would definitely come back wiser and take up more opportunities.

Overall, thank you all for reading and hopefully this won't be my last adventure abroad!