Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Phoenix Mills High Street... and Ugly Betty Rajasthan Pizza Party

I slept in this morning, since we didn't have class! When I woke up, Carey and I headed over to Phoenix Mills High Street to go to Big Bazaar. But first, we ate at McDonald's. Yes, McDonald's. McDonald's is India is pretty unique, in that they are the only chain in the world to have home delivery and Veggie McNuggets and McCurry. But home delivery? That's right, you can call up McD's and have them bring you your McCurry and fries right to your door!

McDonald's was surprisingly good. The fries tasted like home and were comforting (ironic, I know) and most importantly they had real ketchup (most ketchup in India is thin and spicy or thin and sweet... both combinations are equally unappealing). After McD's we went into Big Bazaar and I got a new tooth brush (I don't want to even think about how gross my tooth brush gets here) and some fruit juices (yay!). On our way back out to get a taxi, we stopped into Cotton Company clothes stores and I actually bought a new outfit, which looks good and makes me happy since my other clothes are looking big and worn out (since they haven't been properly washed/cared for since August... hence why I have a suitcase of unpacked clothes... that are probably going moldy... like poor Carey's clothes).

After my trip out, I came back and continued to do career research (I know I said that a lot, but today I actually made progress and made a chart... I know, Type A) and almost sort of napped a little.

We then had our pizza party tonight! The two French girls living in the hostel joined Rachel, Carey, Stella and I for Ugly Betty and they shared their recent travels with us to help us plan our own Diwali travels (we plan to go up to Rajasthan from November 3rd-11th). The French girls were really nice, but I feel bad for them as they have had a horrible time at the hostel (worse than us) because they have gotten more than $100 stolen from their locked room, and then just recently an MP3 player. It's a shame we have to lock our stuff away in suitcases while we're gone, when there is a padlock on our door than only we and the guard have a key too (which kind of leaves the guard looking pretty guilty). I feel so bad for them though, because that's not a very welcoming experience. Plus their program is administratively organized about as well as ours is (if you recall, on the first day we were supposed to have class, I walked to school in a foot of water only to find that classes had been canceled for five days and we were on our own to figure out what to do).

But we had fun watching Ugly Betty and then figuring out the logistics of our Rajasthan trip. Looks like to save money we're going to take a 20-hour train ride up to Jaipur and start our travels there. I want to do a camel safari, but looks like that may not happen. Such is life.

We do not have running water in the hostel tonight and the internet keeps coming in and out. It's annoying not having running water, because that means the water purifier is also not working, and there's no shower/functioning toilet. Very frustrating... and I'm now regretting that coke I had with pizza (not only because I never drink caffeine... but also because I don't want to sleep with my legs crossed tonight!)... and am pretty much regretting all my food choices today, or at least my stomach is. It seems whenever any of us try to eat American fastfood here, it doesn't go well. But then again, I never like it in the States either... maybe that should serve as a sign for me that grease and I are not destined to live in harmony.

No comments: