Journal 12-3-2010
I haven’t wrote any journal entries for quite a while so I am not sure where to start… Ill give a little background on Thursday then go to Friday.
Yesterday (Thursday), I went to work at the usual time but was able to leave a bit early around 3:30 so that I could make it to the train station in time to catch my train to Bangalore. Of course the train was several hours late so I had to sit around at the station for a while. The day was relatively uneventful. I listened to music and read War and Peace on the train until about 1 when I finally fell asleep. I had a pack of cookies for dinner.
It is always really interesting to be alone at a train station. Everyone looks at me because I stick out, but I definitely don’t attract the same kind of attention we get when we all go to a train station together. It is also pretty gross/interesting that train stations, tracks and cars seem to be synonymous for bathroom. People are spitting, shiting, urinating everywhere in and around train tracks and stations. It is something I just haven’t been able to get used to. The bathrooms in the train cars also empty right onto the tracks. So whenever you stop you get a nice wiff of human waste. Again I just can’t get used to this… it is gross.
On Friday I arrived in the Bangalore central train station at about 7:00 am. I called Matt who had just got done with swim practice (crazy kid) and asked him where to go. I escaped from several rickshaw drivers before one finally convinced me to come with him. He ripped me off charging twice the appropriate fare. But I didn’t realize this until later. I should have taken a pre paid auto. Anyway I made it to the “Tata Institute” or Indian Institute of Science where John and Matt were staying. The campus is enormous and I had a hard time finding them but I finally went to the building where they work and meet up with them there.
It was great to see Matt and John again! You don’t realize how nice it is to be with other people until you meet up with friends after being alone for a couple of weeks. We had some breakfast/lunch at an outdoor cafeteria and talked about our projects.
Katie and Stephanie showed up around 2 or 3. Eventually we all went into a more downtown area of Bangalore where Katie Stephanie and I got a hotel room. John and Matt’s hostel room is disgusting and tiny.
It is so great to be around friends again! You really do forget how nice it is just to talk with other people! When you are alone you miss out on all the little jokes and fun things that people notice and say when they are together. I would love to stay here in Bangalore for the rest of the trip with these guys.
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