36 hours 36 minutes and 36 seconds

We made it to India, but it wasn't easy! It took two van rides, two trains, four flights, and seven in flight movies to complete our entire journey to Madras Christian College in Chennai. Every thing with our trip seemed to work without a hitch until the very last possible moment... On the flight to Chennai from Germany as our plane began to prepare for landing in India the pilot came on the overhead and announced that their was an airplane crash on the runway. We would have to circle the airport until the downed plane was removed from the tarmac. After 45 minutes of circling like a buzzard over Chennai the pilot then informed us we were running out of gas! So off to Bangalore for refueling a 30 minute one way flight. After a 4 hour detour we finally arrive at our destination. Apparently customs wasn't to thrilled to find out that we all had tourist visas, rather than student visas, but somehow we slipped our way into India without to much difficulty. As I left the airport with the group India hit me... It was hot, humid, and crowded. At 4 in the morning there was a huge crowd of people standing outside the airport waiting for loved ones to come back home or for the start of a visit... A group of American students was not what they were expecting. As we pushed through the crowd we came to our shuttle van that would take us to MCC. Our first driving experience was crazy... I have never been so confused and scared at the same time in a car! Dipping, diving, and dodging our way past motorcyclists, rickshaws, and other vans through the streets of Chennai. We finally arrived at MCC at 6:15 in the morning, only to realize that in order to beat jet lag that we would need to stay up for the remainder of the day.


In order to stay awake today we have been keeping ourselves busy with some exploring around the campus. This place is basically a jungle walled off inside of Chennai. In 5 minutes of walking from our dorms at the International Guest House we stumbled upon a huge tree full of fruit bats... These are not your typical North American bats. They were HUGE, at least a foot in length and hanging by the hundreds screeching at one another above. As we turned the corner a herd of wild deer crossed our path. Unlike the bat giants these were much smaller than the white tail deer of the southeast and all had white spots like the fawns back home. I'll be sure to snag a few photos in the coming days of these beautiful creatures. After the MCC biology tour we stumbled onto a cricket game that was just start up. One of my goals for this trip is to be able to fully understand the ins and outs of this sport, so I sat and watched for a while.


After getting thoroughly confused Luke Rogers and I headed off on another adventure! We explored a road that we hadn't seen yet and it turned out to be an awesome time. We saw a sign for a farm on campus and were determined to find out more. When we reached the gate to the farm we were welcomed by a student farmer not too much older than Luke or I that gave us free reign to look around, we think because he didn't want to have to give us a tour. The farm was old and had cows, chickens, pigs, and two geese. I took a bunch of pictures, but here are my favorites.





















Luke and I covered every inch of this farm and it defiantly has been the highlight of the day so far, but later tonight we are all going to a John Lennon tribute concert as a class. I miss everybody back home! I wish you guys could be here my pictures can't do this place justice. I have never been anywhere like it in my life.

Location:Chennai, India