I am now approaching my fourth day of my journey that is going to last 10 weeks. I still cannot believe I made it this far. I am by myself, and I have no one to fall back on other than the people back in the states but I feel at ease. I am enjoying myself to have an authentic experience that is truly mine. If I want to go somewhere, I just go there. Nothing is holding me back. I got to travel around London for a day and then I took a plane to Mumbai, India. Everything fell into place for the things I wanted to do without having expectations. .
As I said, I traveled around London since I had a 14.5 layover. I had nothing holding me back. I may have sucked the experience right out of the city by racing around the city to go to every tourist attraction, but I enjoyed myself nonetheless. I went to Buckingham palace, Green park, Trafalgar square, and Camden town. I think the best thing about the whole experience was that I got to have a pint in a pub while talking to a local. Life always starts with a good drink and then comes the story. After being at the pub, I realized that the people make the city for what it is not the tourist attractions. As I downed my last pint I made my way back to the airport.
I arrived into Mumbai with my feet drenched literally. The monsoons are happening right now so there is a good amount of rain, while being really humid. The weather is not unbearable but it does get you lightheaded pretty quick. Going through immigration was frustrating because I forgot my friend’s address for this slip of paper that you have to fill out to get through immigration, but once I got through immigration I was greeted by my friend at the airport.
The next morning I was greeted by his dad who made the best coffee I have ever had, and I don’t even drink coffee. As time went by, my friend and I went to the beach. The experience was surreal and exciting. The beach was filled with trash. I guess I was shocked, but I cannot really judge and ridicule them for doing for what they deem is alright. It is just a way of life.
After a while we came back to the house where his mom prepared a vegetarian meal. This would be my first vegetarian meal. It was actually really good. It goes without saying, “ What is better than mom’s home cooking.”
The next day I was picked up by the internship provider and now I am going to start my internship.
There’s something very freeing about knowing you are in a situation to choose what you want to do, to plan your own schedule, and to approach it all without expectations. I would say that you’re off to a great start. I’m eager to find out what your internship is like once you start working. And I would love to see photos, so if you continue to have difficulty uploading them, let me know and I’ll see if I can figure it out. Michele