India: chapter one

It would take a great storyteller to explain to you all that is happened so far in a short, fun, readable blog-length kind of story. And I don't feel like such a storyteller at the moment. It's late by my standards (10:30 pm here...so 12 noon back in Guelph), and I should be resting before my big (second) day of official classes tomorrow. Whew boy!
I feel quite nomadic. Like I'm part of some modern tribe of 26 Guelph students and 2 prof's that wanders through cities, small towns, and rainforests, equipped with the latest and greatest from MEC. We started in a nice hotel in Kochin, Near the very Southern tip of India. Kochin is somewhat touristy, very hot, and right on the Arabian Sea. It was an interesting city to simply walk around an explore, and we were given our first 5 days to do pretty much just that. It was a great bonding time with our group, considering the fact that aside from Remy and Eli I didn't REALLY know anyone. Long story short: cool history, great people, Jewish influence (who knew?), and some great nuns Eli and I met.
Our wanderings then took us up the coast to a small town named Turtle Bay, just south of Goa. It was beautiful, and we stayed at a nice beach hotel beside some cool fishing villages. We got to see a bit of life in the villages as we examined the sanitation initiatives taking place. There were some good projects to help solve the problems of diseases caused by improper toilet facilities etc (issues that exist pretty much everywhere you look here). Some of us went snorkling, and Amanda saw a shark! (A small one...I didn't see it...darn?)
Then it was off to the rainforest in the Western Ghats, where we stayed at an organic farm and learned about sustainable approaches to agriculture with a mix of brilliant PHD type people and hippies. Hippies are great. I want dreadlocks (sort of). Also, I'm excited to have my beard making a comeback. Hooray for Abe Lincoln.
And now we've settled into Mysore. A great city, I think. But I haven't really seen much of it yet. We had our first full day of classes today and things are already CRAZY busy. It's going to be a wild 4 weeks here. I'll keep you posted.
peace