Vanakkam!!! (Hello)

WOW, it's been a while....

SO much has been happening the past week! I can't believe that our time is almost up in Southern India! Let's see how much I can re-cap.....

Last week we had a cultural exchange...we were told the night before that we needed to fill up 30 minutes with song, dance, and drama...and that we will be performing in front of 300 nursing students. CA-razy! It's very challenging having 10 Type-A personalities compete for what idea is "best" for the group. I'm not really looking forward to what the next two weeks will look like (I'm prayin' for a fatty miracle that we all get along). Needless to say, we performed a few skits, and did some line dancing...cuz that what us 'mericans do for fun. ;)  I'm glad we performed first, because they KICKED OUR BUTTS!!!   MAN are they amazing dancers!!!!!  The girls are so beautiful and graceful here!

After the exchange, we were invited to their hostel (aka dorm rooms). SO MUCH FUN.  Becca and I paired up and went to each-and-every-single-room. Man...I thought SDSU's dorms looked like prisons. Yeesh.  It got pretty awkward after room 20 or so. "My name is kathryn, what's your name?", "Do you like studying nursing?" "What do you like to do for fun?"   My mouth hurt from smiling...and my brain was pretty toasted scrambling for new questions to ask.  But it was totally worth it!!!

One girl drug me to her room and dressed me in her sari.  It was BRIGHT orange (not really my "power color"....but it was still gorgeous). It was SO much fun!  I wish I wore something besides a white SPORTS BRA and tennis shoes....I was looking guuuuuuuuud. ;)
If you ever want to feel like a rock star, travel to a 3rd world country. These girls were SOOOO interested in every detail in my life....especially why I DON'T have a boyfriend.  (no boyfriend ='s 4.0 GPA).

The next day we went to this crazy yoga center in the middle of nowhere.  The yogi was adamant about strictly eating fruits, having 2 enemas a day, sun bathing in a shallow tub of water, and practicing yoga daily.  He claimed that diarrhea was a good thing, and that you  shouldn't fret when you have it....hmmmm

This past weekend we went on a WONDERFUL respite trip to Ooti! Ooti is up in the mountains in Tamil Nadu.....lovely cool weather, no mosquitoes, and MONKEYS!!!!   We stayed at this cute little bungalow resort.  It seemed hella sketchy from the outside, but the inside is sooo nice. It was extremely tranquil there compared to the city.  Very much needed.   When I woke up, deer were EVERYWHERE. Coolest thing ever!!
We went to a wildlife sanctuary and saw ELEPHANTS!  Unfortunately, my camera died. Everyone else took a bazillion photos, and we already agreed that we would share our pictures on photobucket, so I just sat back, relaxed, and really soaked up the views of the jungle.  Pretty awesome!! I could easily live in Ooti.   I just hated the 37 consecutive hairpin turns it took go get down the mountain! My stomach was telling he didn't like it either....

On our way home, driving down the rainy, blind-curve'd mountain, we came across a man laying in the road. Rocks were all around him, and he was motionless. Someone screamed for the bus to stop...but the driver kept doing. My stomach sank. The PSG dean was with us, and she didn't allow him to pull over.  EVERYONE was freaking out.  Cars were going up the mountain, and there was NO way someone could swerve out of the way in time. I thought I was going to throw up.
The dean explained that India's policy is that you're guilty until proven innocent- and that we would have been stuck at the police station for weeks trying to prove our innocence. NOW I feel like I'm in India.  Crapola. That was a HUGE eye opener for us.  We HAVE to stick together, because if something goes down...nobody will help us out.

We got home that evening and I felt horrible. Body aches, MAJOR chills, fever- the works.  I went to bed, and woke up several times running to the bathroom. Let's just say it was coming out of both ends..and yes, I made it in time.  Not very pleasant.
My professor came in the morning to check on me, and suggested that I go to the ER.  Another girl in the group had the same symptoms as well...GO US!

Indian ER's are SOOOO different than the US. We drove in on the PSG school bus, and we just waltzed into the examination/triage rooms. All of the nursing instructors from PSG were there. It was so nice to see familiar faces. They basically treated my symptoms: anti-emetics (vomiting), Cipro (antibiotics), tylenol (fever), normal saline (hydration), pain meds...I think it cost me less than $35. Pretty sweet! They're guessing we  had food poisoning.  Pretty weird, because Natalie (the other sickly girl) is SUPER picky about what she eats....and I eat just about everything offered (within reason). Two ends of the spectrum. Bizarre that nobody else was affected. HOPEFULLY I won't experience that EVER again here.I am SO SO SO thankful that April was there to take care of us. She handled EVERYTHING. Running to the pharmacy, running to billing, taking to the nurses..etc etc.  I owe her One  MILLION back rubs!!!!
 I slept SOOO much the past day and a half. I'm still feeling pretty haggard. I'm sticking to toast, water, and bananas. I'm sad to say that curry churns my stomach now....maybe in a week or so I'll be back to my Indian-food-junkie-self!!

Welp, that's about it for now!  I can't wait to come home and upload pictures on here!!!!

If you have any questions, be sure to ask me!!!!!  What would you like me to write about?

:)
Cheers!