Post Tin: 2 Weeks In

Okay, as you may have noticed I haven’t been very diligent in keeping up with this blog. But I have a good excuse. The Maymester schedule is so rigorous that I have very little time to myself. A typical day goes like this: 8am: breakfast, 9-12:30: class, 12:30: lunch, 1:30: leave to visit an institute or academy, sometimes in a different city, anytime between 7pm & midnight: eat dinner & return to hotel. Then, on weekends we go to different cities. Essentially, we’re going, going, going every minute of the day & by the time we get back we’re too exhausted to do anything. It's amazing, but prevents us from doing much exploring on our own or just taking personal time.

Since I've been here the group has visited the Wildlife Institute of India, the Forest Research Institute, the Rajaji National Park, the Lal Bahadur Shastry Natl Academy of Administration, the Central Soil & Water Conservation Research & Training Inst (I know, really long name), the Wadia Inst of Himalayan Geology, and the Survey of India. We have explored the cities of Rishikesh, Haridwar, Mussoorie, a bit of Delhi, & Dehradun where we're staying. Of course, these visits have been quite adventuresome. In Rishikesh we had to walk on a crowded pedestrian bridge to get across the Ganges River when it was pouring, with 40 mile winds, and trashed kicked up all around us. In Haridwar, we were fortunater enough to be there at just the right time to see (& take part in) the Ganga Aarti- the nightly river worship ceremony of the Holy Ganga River. It turns out that my friends got footage of me taking part in the ceremony, so I'll see if I can get that from him to post. We also were able to appreciate the Buddhist temple & a Tibetan Culture Center here in Dehradun. Also, we heard a fabulous talk from the Doon Society- a very active, and effective group of dedicated individuals really making an impact in conservation of land in India & in helping villagers become self-sustaining.

I better get to sleep now, as I have to be on the bus at 6am (in about 4.5 hours) to head into the Himalayas to Yamunotri where we’ll stay for the weekend. It’s really exciting because we’ll be able to hike through the Himalayas & see the sunset from the mountains.

Hopefully I'll have a chance to put pics up after I get back.

Sidenote: I'd like to put more of myself (i.e. my perceptions of the events, encounters, etc), rather than just what the schedule has been down in this blog. Right now it's difficult bc I just don't have time, but I'll try to do more of that to make these posts more interesting for you, readers, and to attempt to document the actual experiences for my own benefit.