First Day in India

Well we got into the Chennai Airport around 3a local time this morning. Of course that means it was only 5:30p back home so I wasn't really tired. I felt bad for the drivers that had to come pick us up at 4a though. The flight went well. We got an amazing curry dinner and I had my complementary gin and tonic- ya know for protection against malaria. I finished watching Jurassic Park and then watched the last Hunger Games movie to come out. Customs check and baggage claim after we got off the plane was painless, but we didn't get finished until after 4a. The driver was waiting for us outside and took us to the student housing, probably around 45 min away. Driving in India looks scary enough but its even more scary at night. I feared for some of those moped drivers. They drive on the left side of the road here. We got in and were led to our rooms. Heidi and I are sharing a room. We were still pretty awake so we unpacked for a while and then went to sleep around 6a.
Breakfast was scheduled for 11a. We had hard boiled eggs and toast. They said they wanted to wean us into Indian food. We relaxed with our classmates until around 1p when lunch was. We had coconut rice, coconut green beans, and fried egg. Everything as far as food has been amazing. The people taking care of us are so nice and helpful. One girl asked if they had hot sauce and they ran out to the store to grab some. After lunch we walked to a local supermarket to pick up things we forgot and look around.
After we got back from the market, we had a little bit of free time. The building we are staying at has a balcony on top that I was able to hangout on and read for a little while before we went to check out the beach. We went to Marina Beach which is considered the 2nd largest urban beach in the world. The walk to the beach was probably 1/4-1/2 mile of vendors. It was so crowded, I can't even imagine it being very fun to go to the beach with how crowded it was. No one really went into the water (part of the Bay of Bengal). We were told there was strong under currents. Some of us went down to walk in the surf. The water was cool, but bearable. We walked along and sight saw for about an hour before heading back. It was hot on the beach.  All of us were covered in sweat by the time we got back to the bus. The temperature only got up to 104F today, which is hot, but not as hot as I was expecting. It's still pretty humid here. There are lots of stray dogs and cats around and even a couple stray(?) goats.
Dinner we had these rice patty things, mutton (lamb), and these sauces(not curry) that kinda reminded me of grits to put on the rice patties. We also had mango which was very sweet.
The "Guest House" is the building right across from the student housing where we are staying. That is where all of our meals are held and where we have internet access so we use the space a lot. Our rooms don't have wifi but they do have very nice air conditioning units.
Tomorrow will be our first day at the vet school!
- 7/5/2015