Today was Insanity, but I'm in India!!

11/26-27
Boy was today unpredictable! When I got the text from Jackie at 12:30 pm on November 26th, little did I know the next couple of hours were to go differently than planned. My flight was at 2:25pm TODAY, not TOMORROW!! For some reason I was under the impression that the flight was leaving on Sunday, but I was certainly wrong. Of all the days I sleep over Benjamin’s house in Westchester, and I have to rush to a flight leaving JFK, which was leaving in 2 hours from the time I got the text. I didn’t think I was going to make it.
When I walked into the front door, my parents were there telling me I had 10 minutes to get out of here. My dad already brought up the suitcase and gave me a malaria pill, and my mom was putting sheets and toiletries in the suitcase. The whole experience was such a blur, but I did manage to grab as much as I could in 10 minutes and be out the door on my way to the airport. My dad was very impressed, and if you know him, he doesn’t get impressed easily.
I pulled up to the terminal at 1:35, 50 minutes before the flight was scheduled to leave, and it was running on time. I ran to the empty check-in area and they get me in quickly and take my luggage. I went through security and all the nonsense and finally made it to the gate where the flight was almost completely boarded, but the group was waiting for me and in shock that I made it on time. I was pretty shocked myself, not to mention completely out of breath from running like a crazy person. I guess you really don’t need to arrive 3 hours early for international flights!
The flight was just like any other 12+ hour long flight. It was very long and I really couldn’t sleep. I took a Benedril but it did nothing for me. I thought I was going to have a row to myself until a very large Indian woman in a Sari sat down and lets just say she made the flight less than pleasant. She was smelly, rude, kept knocking into me, and clearly didn’t understand that concept of personal space. The food totally sucked on the plane; honestly how good can Indian food possibly be on a place? I watched something like 5 different movies on the plane, including the Blind Side which I’ve always wanted to see, and also The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which always makes me cry.
Finally we landed, and I got my luggage which was a breathe of fresh air. I was so worried it wouldn’t make it on the plane since I got there so late. The airport was surprisingly nice. We met up with Hal (Professor of Economics at Union College) and Raj, who is going to be our tour guide for the trip.
I realized on the plane that I left behind the battery and charger to the SLR camera I brought for the trip. If you’re reading this you probably know I take pictures of anything and everything, so this was devastating news. Luckily on the way to the hotel I saw a number of camera stores. We got to the hotel called Hotel White House which seemed okay. When Jackie and I walked into the room it smelled horrible, so we asked to change rooms. Although the 2nd room didn’t smell quite as potent, there are lots of bugs, so I honestly don’t know what’s worse. Luckily my mom threw sheets in the suitcase for me.
So we’re now in Delhi and it’s definitely got the feel of a big city. Lots of traffic and people and the markets seem good. I had a chance to exchange some money and I managed to find a camera store that had the right battery for a reasonable price! I think that was super lucky. I would have been miserable if I didn’t have my camera at the Taj Mahal, which we’re going to on Tuesday. Tomorrow we’re going to the biggest mosque in India, so that should be exciting. Hope you enjoy my future entries, and let me know if you’d like me to see anything in particular, Namaste!