So I had thought that I had written another post documenting what I've done in the past four days, but that seems to have vanished, else saved somewhere strange and I forget the name, so here is what I've been doing since my arrival in India:

Day one:
Arrived at the airport, waited for another girl, Ravneet, an Indian-Australian who is my roommate, and who arrived later than me. It was incredibly hot, sweat just running down my back just sitting down, but I really didn't mind as I had just gotten business class and was very refreshed upon my arrival. Else very tired to the point of being energetic.
Our contact got a car and we went to the hostel. The rooms are tiny tiny tiny, would be small for one person and there are two of us here!

We have a balcony and this is the door to the bathroom, which is a western style, except that there is no wall between the bathroom and the shower...so you can spray down the sink with the shower head :)

We have a kind of tiny suite for us int'l students, Ravneet and I are in one room, XiXi (She She, from Singapore/China) and Margaux (France) are in the room next to us, which connects, and we all share the balcony and bathroom. Thank God for the fans in our room. 

The first day I went with Ravneet and a friend Shuchi to a local market to buy toiletries and bags. I swear Indian markets are everything that you expect them to be. 

Day 2:

Went to CP (Conaught Place - don't know the spelling), which is the major center of Delhi, and a market there, which was even a bigger version of the Lajpat Nagar Market (went the day before), and again, everything that you expect from an Indian Market. 

Day 3:

Went with a friend Vrinda, Shivani, and a girl I really like but for the life of me can't remember her name, to Old Delhi. There we visited a Sikh temple (pronounced "seek"), where we took off our shoes and covered our heads, as well as the Red Fort, a mosque, and climbed a minaret! We also ate some break thing with thin fillings that are basically just for flavor, and come in flavors from potato to lime. Yes, it was street food, so far so good, fully cooked, and I have to get used to it sometime. Plus, it was really good :)

From left to right: Vrinda, Margaux, the girl I really like but can't remember her name, me, XiXi, and Shivani

Foooooood

Old Delhi

Entrance to the Red Fort

The Red Fort

Looking down on the courtyard of the Red Fort from the minaret

Margaux

Yes, it is true. There are cows chilling in the middle of a very busy road. 

Rickshaw

So as for how I'm doing in the first three days, I have been waking up tired, all us international students have been. Its been hard especially because it has been difficult to communicate with family, since calling is so expensive (which isn't to say I haven't done it....sorry Dad....) but I feel like a huge load has been lifted off of me now that I have internet and am working on my classes. I'm going to check out a few tomorrow to see if I like them. So far we are looking at some interesting classes: 

History of India (1750-1950)

Human Rights, Gender and Environment (a polysci course, or Indian Foreign Policy, or a Conflict resolution and International Human rights, gender, human rights law thing that I would also like)

Philosophy of Religion

and something else.....

The classes are for the whole year, and can meet up to five times a week for lecture and then a tutorial! Crazy amount of classes, but they all sound interesting, so I hope the profs are good. 

Anyway, I've been exhausted, overwhelmed, stressed, worried, excited, and amazed. I've enjoyed myself and wanted to take back every decision I've made to get here. 

But this is my general idea of the place. Everyone here is so nice. I'm not saying that they say hi in the hallways, or introduce themselves. I mean they will go out of their way to their inconvenience to help you and hold your hand through everything. To get my data card for the internet, I had one girl who offered to do "market research," and one who took me twice to the store, interpreting and helping me. The friends I've met here really hold your hand, which I appreciate a lot, and are so welcoming to eat with them, sit in their rooms, read their newspapers, listen to their music, teaching us hindi, everything. I can't explain just how "nice" the people are here, because nice just seems like such and empty word when describing their kindness, and they truly seem to find joy helping us. All the other things that are hard: the heat, the disorganization, the bathroom, the food, the dingyness of the hostel (our hallway is called "upper dingy", because its dingy), our tiny room, are all things that even if I resisted, will inevitably become normal in a few weeks. So, I think this will be a good place. That, and there are random cats on campus.