India Greetings from RIya

Hey everyone and welcome to the India trip blog!! This is Riya and I’m super excited to be kicking off the student-written blog posts. Our journey started in PDX early morning on the 13^th where we took a flight on a concerningly-small plane to Vancouver.  After pit-stopping in Canada and gaping at the in-airport aquarium we took our 14hr flight to our first destination, Delhi. The plane ride itself was incredibly long however, we had many movies to binge (I highly recommend three billboards outside ebbing, Missouri) and sleep to catch up on. After landing in Delhi and waiting in the incredibly long immigration line (it was only long for me – the rest of them breezed through), we got on the metro to head to our hostel. From the metro station, we took a rickshaw ride to the hostel, and this is where the adventure really began. Between the unsuccessful bargaining and the confused drivers, the ride was definitely one to remember (get hyped for our assembly). After that we reached our eclectic hostel and just chilled until dinner. The past two days have been a complete whirlwind. In short, we have visited: Jama Masjid, Chandini Chowk, Akshardam, a bird hospital and 2 Jain temples. It has been really incredible to see Delhi from a different perspective. While I have spent a fair amount of time in this city, it feels like an entirely new place. I think what has been really interesting for me is just observing how other people react to the space that I used to call home. Everyone has been so open and enthusiastic and I have really enjoyed spending time with the group. It has also been really nice to get back into speaking Hindi. I have never really spent time in India without my parents or close relatives, so it has been good for me to reconnect with a language I’ve sort of lost. I am super excited for the days to come and I hope you all enjoy our blog!  —Riya