A General Overview.

Well hello again.
I've decided that I haven't given you enough background information on my life here in India. There are numerous practical questions about where I'm living, what I'm studying, and who I'm with that I have failed to answer thus far.
There are 28 of us here from the University of Guelph. 26 students and 2 lovely professors, Chris and Mithila. Mithila is from Bangalore, India and she speaks 4 Indian dialects (Kannada, Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu), so she is very helpful to have around. The majority of the group is studying International Development back at Guelph, and many of our courses are in this line of study here. For those of us majoring in other areas (such as English), it is still really interesting. I am taking 2 independent study units. The first is an international development paper I am writing on education initiatives and the education system in India, and I've already been able to learn so much from the NGO's we've visited, guest speakers we have had, and my own solo visits to public schools. The second independent study is a study of Indian English Literature under an Indian professor of English who I met in Mysore. He is guiding a paper I am writing on the portrayal of children and the Indian family in post-colonial Indian English Lit. Professor Srinath is the director of Dhvanyaloka publications, as well as the Dhvanyaloka Centre for Indian Studies (DCIS), where our group just spent the last month. My roommate at DCIS campus was Peter Demakos, a fantastic greek man who I had met in first year but hadn't fully realized how funny he was. We laughed a lot together, and I can only hope my roommate in Jaipur is as great. In Jaipur we will be living with host families, which I am excited about.

At DCIS, I studied the three remaining courses in my schedule for our first of two four-week "modules."I was somehow enrolled in an Environmental Science course under Chris Hall (our fearless leader, who happens to be a science prof back at Guelph), Indian Science and Technology (a kind of I.Dev. course), and Indian Culture and Ancient Civilizations. The courses were all enjoyable and our exams just finished this past Saturday. It was hectic, but module #1 is now over. Module #2 will begin when we reach Jaipur (in Northern India) in March. Now we are on our second portion of crazy train rides, visiting historical sites, exploring on our own, eating amazing food, and visiting local NGO's and learning about development work that's going on in India.

So, we just left Mysore (Karnataka State, for those of you following along on a map) on Sunday, and we are currently in Madurai. A bustling city in Tamil Nadu State. Tonight we head to Pondicherry, on the East coast, then up to Chennai, where we embark on a li'l 36 hour train ride to Varanasi, where we begin our adventures in Northern India.

And there you have it folks: a general overview. Life is good, Eating meals off of banana leaves is sustainable, and infrequent showering is A-OK.
peace.