First Day

YAY I got the pictures to work finally!!!


But, after reading the post again, I fear I have made a mistake. When I said “began my trip to Hyderabad at 7am this morning” I meant 7am SUNDAY morning not Monday. To make sure you know how long the trip was, my first flight left Austin at 11:40 am Sunday. I arrived in Hyderabad at 11:20 pm Monday. If you add it up, I spent about 22 hours in side of airplanes. That doesn’t take into account the amount of time standing in lines at the airport, wandering around the airports, waiting for luggage at baggage claim, travel time to and from the airport, and time change as I traveled east. If you take all that in to account, I was travelling for about 32 hours. It was AWESOME! 32 hours, 3 bad airplane meals, 2 airplane changes, 1 good meal with family, 1 long cab ride, 3 movies (that I was awake for), 2 magazines (I’m a slow reader… plus I slept a lot), 1 confused ticketing agent in Germany, 3 passport stamps and you too can join me in India!


It actually wasn’t nearly as bad as that sounds. Not once did I even feel like I was stuck in a plane. I think I was just so excited about getting here that I didn’t mind being stuck on planes for 10 hours at a time. I especially didn’t mind after I walked into my hotel room. I didn’t get any pictures of the front of the hotel, but to get to the hotel, you have to drive around this pond out front with fountains. Looking at the pictures I took of the room, it defiantly doesn’t look spectacular, but I have to say it was one of the nicest hotels I have stayed in. Of course it was the first hotel room I’ve ever stayed in that had a mini bar hahaha. When I finally woke up on Tuesday, I looked out the window at the country that is going to be my home for the next month…

I didn’t see much. So I took some pictures at the cool entry way of the hotel.


Srikanth came to pick me up about 10am to take me to the apt I’d be staying in and then on to the office. Upon his arrival, I realized that I did not have any breakfast and was famished. So, we took a couple minutes to partake of the complimentary breakfast buffet in the hotel. It was really good. I highly recommend the breadcrumb fried eggs. It’s half a hard-boiled egg battered and deep friend. It was excellent. They also had friend fish and soup as breakfast offerings. Intriguing, to say the least. We finally left the hotel and drove over to the apartment complex. This is my first encounter with traffic in India. Wow. Wow. Talk about interesting. It’s almost as if the rules don’t apply. You drive however you feel like as long as you stay on the left side of the road. If there is a strip of pavement, there is a vehicle on it. No unused shoulders in this town. Stop lights? Yeah, they are good suggestions and a good warning, but few are followed. I think the most interesting thing is how aware everyone on the road is about everything that is going on around them. There are people, bicycles, motorcycles, mopeds, cars, busses, three wheeled cabs (they call them autos), trucks all weaving in and out of each other and no one is hitting each other. It’s pretty amazing to watch actually.


The other thing of note is how much construction is going on around the city. You can’t go 10 feet without coming across another construction site or work on the roads and sidewalks. One of the coolest things about the buildings they are erecting is the scaffolding. It’s all made out of wood. It’s pretty unbelievable


“I just can’t believe it Cotton.”


When we got to the office, I was greeted by the receptionist with a bouquet of flowers. They had also put up a sign in the front office welcoming me to India. Needless to say my face turned as red as some of the flowers. After this embarrassing moment, was taken around and introduced to everyone in the office. So, so many names. I’m sure you all remember what it was like when you got hired and introduced to everyone on your first day. Just a little bit disconcerting that’s for sure. By the time I finished meeting everyone, it was time for lunch YIPEE! Lunch is provided for everyone and is excellent! There are these rice chips that look like wagon wheels that are awesome. I have no idea what all of it is called, but I have yet to have something that I despised. I’ll try to get the names of some of the dishes for you all from now on … and more pictures.


Other than traffic, the most notable thing about India is how helpful everyone is. Since I met the driver at the airport, I have not had to carry any extra bags. I have actually had to demand to carry my own bags in some situations. I demanded to carry them do to the fact that I have no idea when it is appropriate to tip and how much. Though, I’m learning thanks to Satish, Srikanth, and Curtis. I’m sure I’ll be an expert by the time I leave in November.