In 2012 I spent four weeks in Bangalore, India. It was the hardest thing I have ever done. I cried a lot, I complained a lot, and there were at least two instances that I was positive I would die. That said, I learned a lot and went on adventures and had so much fun. On a bi-weekly-Monday basis I will share my trip here.

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If you missed it, last time I talked about the 36 hours of travel to reach Bangalore, India…

When we landed at the airport & met the rest of the group we learned that we had a two hour bus ride to the hotel. It was evening in Bangalore & it made total sense to sleep on the bus. But I couldn’t sleep.. and so began my first taste of culture shock.

Just being in a moving vehicle on an Indian roadway was enough to shock my American system. On top of that, the streets and sidewalks are littered with other cars, buses, trucks,motorcycle, auto-rickshaws, cows, goats, camels, dogs, people, and carts. It’s incredible.

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I remember the first stray dog I saw. He was sitting near our bus at the airport. I saw another as we drove out of the lot. I was so shocked (and horrified). I had no idea those two would be the first of hundreds.

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We reached the National Games Village very late in the night. When the trip had been presented to us we were told we’d be staying in a gated community. Well… technically it was gated and had walls… but the gates weren’t shut and we could move in and out of the apartment complex just like everyone else could. Also, one of the biggest slums in Bangalore was adjacent to our complex. Like I said, it was an adventure…

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(When we booked the trip we had the option to live on campus or in the NGV apartments. The campus living arrangement wasn’t any more luxurious AND they locked the gates at 10pm every night. So if we weren’t home, we were on our own for the night. That did NOT sound appealing. Every student on the trip opted for the NGV apartments. It was a 2 mile walk from campus.)

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Our apartment was a nice size. It had three bedrooms, 1 bathroom, a kitchen, dining room, living room, and two balconies. Five girls lived in this apartment (4 from my university, one from TN). I’ll talk more about my travelmates next time.

The apartment didn’t have a/c (hahahaha) but it did have fans. We could leave the windows and doors open because there were bars on them. Of course, mosquitoes and malaria were real things, so we had to be wary of that. But we all had our pills and shots.

Our first night was rough. We were totally freaked out because we were expecting…. more. We didn’t sleep at all that night. We didn’t even try. We contemplated booking a hotel. We talked about going home. I cried. I don’t want to look weak or whiny, but we were very uncomfortable at first. Fortunately, it got a little better.

ICYMI: Part 1