August 18th: Pondicherry to Vellore

A view from the car of the market of a small village on our way to Vellore

Last night we had an interesting dinner. Although we had a two hour wait for our food, we had stimulating conversation and 80s American music to help us pass the time. Marjorie was able to get her favorite dish, palek paneer, and the rest of us created a sampler of various Indian dishes which has become a tradition for our meals.

Passing truck full of workers waving at us as they drove by

After packing up and leaving out lovely guest house, we piled into a car with a new driver and headed northwest to Vellore. Along the way, we passed women working in rice fields, lots of people on motorcycles, and so many animals, especially dogs, monkeys, and cows. Our drive took us through both rural areas and small towns with congested streets and busy street vendors selling a variety of fruits, vegetables, spices, and other goods.

Vellore has surprised us with its size - bigger than we expected - and the beauty of campus of Christian Medical College. While it is still hot here, there are many trees on campus which help keep us a bit cooler. While the amenities are obviously different than those available on Penn's campus, there are a few areas of special interest to us: a small, packed campus store, a library (where we will be able to get internet access eventually), and the campus canteen.

Rachael with her groceries outside the campus store. They recycle their newspapers to be reused as bags.

There was a bit of a mix-up with housing, so after some confusion we settled into two rooms in Modale International House. It's dormitory-style and most of the rooms are without A/C. Since it is pretty hot here and luckily at least one of the rooms has A/C, we brought two mattresses into the room. We are now four to the room - two on beds and two on mattresses on the floor. It's sort of like a slumber party.

Our new home for the next week: The International Model Hostel where many international students stay while studying at CMC

Sambar rice: spicy and delicious!

In the canteen today all of us students followed Sarah's lead of ordering sambar rice and fresh pineapple juice, because none of us had any idea of what we were doing. Marjorie was adventurous and ordered curd and fruit. Luckily, we all enjoyed our dishes.

Andrea and Alison enjoying their sambar rice at the college canteen

Christian Medical College is spread across the city. We are housed on the Bagayam campus and the new School of Nursing is on the opposite side, close to the hospital itself. Our visit to the SON was just a quick visit to register, but it was great to see the beautiful new building.

Sarah at the rooftop garden at the Darling Residency

After freshening up, we piled into auto-rickshaws to Darling Residency for dinner on the rooftop with a fantastic view of the city. Thankfully, palek paneer was on the menu again, as well as a variety of other north and south Indian dishes. We are all exhausted after our full day of traveling and settling in, so we students are falling asleep and it is only 9:30pm!