First Impressions

So here we are in India! We flew out of Hartford, CN on Monday evening. Everything went smoothly with the flight. It was about 7 hours to Amsterdam, where we had a three hour layover. Didn’t have the time to go outside at all, but we did enjoy a very tasty breakfast, including some chocolate milk, which tasted exactly like the stuff in the US, but at least it has dutch writing on it.

Our flight from Amsterdam to Mumbai was about 8 hours long, and was just as uneventful as the first (which I consider a very good thing when flying).

We arrived at the Mumbai airport around 11:00 pm local time (1:30 pm EST). What I first noticed when entering the terminal was the heat and the smell. Even though it was late it was still very hot, and the humidity made it feel as if you were covered with a warm wet blanket. They do not have central air in the airport, but every once in awhile we would pass a standing air conditioned and you would get a blast of cold air. But these machines were few and far between. On the whole the heat and humidity was very oppressive. It probably did not help that we were getting off a plane, which tends to be somewhat chilly.

The smell was not necessarily bad, it was just different. It smelled exactly like the Asian food stores at home. At first it was strange, and it took some getting used to, but now, a few days later, I do not notice it at all (I can’t say the same thing for the heat... unfortunately).

Apoorva’s parents were waiting for us when we left customs. It had been raining (as it does frequently during the monsoon season) so the ground was very wet and muddy. We took two cars to his parents place (they anticipated all of our bags), where we unloaded all of our stuff and a few of Apoorva's family members welcomed us in a small ceremony. Fortunately the ceremony was also short, because we were about ready to pass out after 24 hours of traveling.

Since then Apoorva has started his job with Johnson & Johnson, but I've been mostly getting over my jet lag and trying to get used to this new country and the people in it.