This Little Traveler

20 years old. student at Babson College. I am spending this semester traveling the BRIC countries (minus Brazil.) I will be in each China, Russia then India for one month. Check my blog to follow my travels!

[travelchannel]

Please be a traveler, not a tourist. Try new things, meet new people, and look beyond what’s right in front of you. Those are the keys to understanding this amazing world we live in.

Andrew Zimmern (via h-o-r-n-g-r-y)

[worshipgifs]

[maryttravels]

Shiv Nadar

Another early day today! We left the hotel at 7 am to head to a school called Shiv Nadar. It was about an hour and a half bus ride, but the bus the school provided was easily the nicest one we've been on so that was a pleasant surprise. The school was about an hour and a half away, and was started in 2009, but a man named Shiv Nadar. I believe they said he's the 7th wealthiest man in India. Every year, the Babson BRIC students visit the school and are broken up into pairs to teach groups of about 20 students a lesson on entrepreneurship. I was in a separate group with 6 students. We spent the time consulting with the principal to come up with suggestions to solve some of their issues. Their focus is on getting the most talented, and most impoverished children. Every year they offer an exam to find their new students. Every student must come from a family with an income of less than $17,000 a year. Because they are such a good school, wealthier children and their families are faking their income levels to meet the criteria. Another issue they have is how to write a test that gauges an individuals potential, because the children all come from such varying backgrounds. Lastly, they have an issue of reach. They're struggling to get their exam into the hands of all the students they would like to. It was an interesting day, we all had a lot of fun. I can't wait to see where they end up in a few years, as their first class will be graduating next year. 

[maryttravels]

[maryttravels]

The Taj Mahal

On Saturday, we woke up again bring and early and left the hotel at 6 to go see the Taj Mahal at sunrise. We didn't quite make it there in time for sunrise, but it was beautiful. You walk through the gate archway, and all of a sudden you can see it all at once. It was stunning. It looks like all the pictures I've ever seen. I can't believe we started this trip on the Great Wall, and are ending it at the Taj Mahal.

We walked around a lot, and took tons of pictures. Then Hannah, Fia and I just sat for a while and took it all in. It was crazy to think that that time the following week I'd be home. India has been challenging in ways I didn't expect, and I feel like I'm only just starting to get used to it right as we're about to leave.

[maryttravels]

[maryttravels]

[maryttravels]

After the fort, we headed to the hotel for lunch. We were all pretty nervous about the hotel because we were told last years student's didn't have wifi so we thought we were going to be roughing it. But the hotel was so nice! SO nice! And there was wifi, you just had to pay for it. So we had lunch, and then there was an optional group trip to another old fort. A bunch of us went. It was probably my favorite site since being in India. It was beautiful and we had a lot of fun playing around and taking pictures. 

[maryttravels]

[maryttravels]

Agra

Friday morning we left bright and early at 6:30 am for Agra. We made one quick stop on the way at an old fort, and then headed to the hotel for lunch. The fort was pretty cool, but it seemed like everything our guide told us to go check out was closed so that was a bummer. We were done exploring early, so we sat on one of the park benches. There was a man sitting across from me and he could tell we were all staring at the cute little chipmunks. So he took some food out of his pocket, put it in his hand and the chipmunks jumped up to eat it! He saw me staring and smiling, so he gestured me to do it too. He gave me some food, and the little guys jumped right up into my hand!

[maryttravels]

[maryttravels]

[bakwaaas]

[maryttravels]

Old news

Still not much going on. Today we had class, about four hours of free time an then we heard from a speaker. Pretty much the same deal tomorrow; class, free time, cooking class.  We have a lot of free time this week, before we go to Agra on Friday to see the Taj Mahal, and then we'll be attending the Marine Ball on Saturday evening. It's nice having the free time, but there's not as much that I want to see here, nor am I really capable of venturing out on my own. I finally feel more comfortable here, meaning I have a better feel for the places I feel safer and safer behaviors, but I can't let that sense of security make me arrogant. Finally starting to get the hang of things just as we're about to leave! 10 days left, I can't believe it.

[maryttravels]

I haven't posted in a bit because there hasn't been much to post! I came down with a cold at the end of last week, and flew back to Delhi while the rest of the group stayed in Jaipur and went to Bal Ashram. Mostly I've been resting.

Yesterday we had a speaker in the morning, then went to lunch at the Taj and I wasn't feeling well in the evening so I missed the alumni dinner. Today is a free day so I'm going to the market!

I can't believe how little time is left =(

[maryttravels]

In Jaipur!

We got on the bus at 7am and took an 8 hour ride to Jaipur. We visited the City Palace and the Hawa Mahal (I think that's what it's called). It was nice to do some sight seeing! We saw a beautiful beautiful wedding being set up- there was an elephant! I got to pet it's trunk and take a picture with it. We saw all sorts of animals; elephants, camels, lots of monkeys, cows, donkeys, pigs. It was pretty exciting to me. We're at a hotel for 4 days, and then we go to Bel Ashram. The guy who just won't the Nobel Prize started some sort of orphanage or something there. I'm not really sure- everything about India has been pretty ambiguous so far. I never really know what to expect from the activities we do- ambiguity! That's been our motto. I took a tumble on the way in to the hotel tonight and scraped up my knees and hands but I'll survive. India has been great so far and I'm learning a lot about myself (like my tolerance for spicy food) but I'm just about ready to go home.

[maryttravels]