And a voice keeps saying this is where I’m meant to be

Sorry it’s been so long since my last post. It’s kind of a long story but more or less my computer’s been inaccessible for a good week and a half but it’s back now! Oh how I missed this decepticon of a laptop. Anyways, a little bit ago my group and I spent the weekend in Rajhamundry, a town that’s about a 4 hour train ride away from Vizag. The trip admittedly had its ups and downs. Cockroaches crawling on my toothbrush, lost keys, and one long night spent sick in a hotel bathroom.

Even with these low points, I’m really glad we went. The highlight of the trip for me had to be the boat trip. We spent an entire day on a boat going down the Godvari river. Not only did we get to sing “I’m on a boat!” we were able to see seriously some of the most beautiful scenery. The coolest thing about it was I just kept having this feeling like “I’m really in India and this is exactly where I’m supposed to be right now.” Pretty incredible to feel like you’re on the right track, you know. Now the title makes sense, huh? I know its super cliché but Hercules song lyrics just fit. Ha wow two Disney themed entries in a row. Oh Walt. The impact you’ve had on my life. :)

Getting ready to get on the boat!

So pretty! I couldn’t stop taking pictures.

Feet in the water. :)

My new house. Feel free to come visit.

India’s beautiful. The end.

A whole new world

So there are days I feel like I’m living in Aladdin, in such a great way. Yes I am aware Aladdin takes place in the Middle-East, but just hear me out.

1) I’ve ridden a camel.

2) Definitely seen some parrots, although I’m still keeping an eye out for Iago.

3) I flash back to the Jasmine in the market scene every time I walk by a street vendor shouting about what they’re selling “Fresh fish!” “Sugar dates! Sugar dates and pistachios!”

4) I’ve rubbed a lamp or too, hoping for a friend the likes of which I’ve never had.

5) The view from my roof is straight out of Agrabah

6) I rock genie pants all the time.

7) Although I haven’t seen an actual real-life elephant yet, I’ve seen a whole lot of statues of them. Since Abu wasn’t actually an elephant I feel like that counts.

8) I hung out with some monkeys, against my will I might add.

9) I could easily leap/pole vault from roof to roof in my neighborhood. I don’t because I choose life, but I still could!

10) I met a princess. Her grandfather was the last crowned king of Vizianagaram. That’s what this area of India used to be called before independence. They’re not in power any more, but they’re still seen as royalty. We’re facebook friends. NBD. Haha

11) My study abroad group likes to burst into song quite frequently. More often than not we sing Disney songs.

12) I visited a cave of wonders.

I rest my case. As far as I’m concerned all I’m missing now is a magic carpet. I’m in the market, so if you know anybody who’s selling one be sure to let me know.

Yikes. Definitely too scary to be Abu. Maybe he’s his second cousin. Twice removed.

Cave of Wonders!!! Ok actually it was the Borra caves, but they were still incredible.

Hanging out in a cave.

I could totally jump to that….just saying

Check out that view!

To really seal to deal on this Disney experience we watched Aladdin up on our roof. It was magical. :)

So awesome.

Lifestyles of the rich and famous

I don't know if you guys knew this, but I'm kind of famous. No it's not my snarky blog that's rocketed me to fame, although I am up to 18 followers now, only half of which are related to me. It's my glow in the dark skin tone. Where we live there are hardly any other foreigners so just being white makes us instant celebrities. Our group’s been in the local newspaper twice. No we didn’t do anything amazing. Just showed up, but apparently in Vizag white people showing up somewhere is definitely newsworthy.

Kids love shaking our hands and I even got asked for my autograph once. The most common thing though is people asking to take pictures with us. This happens everywhere we go. They always say “one snap!” and then 15 photographs later we finally escape. I don’t really understand the appeal but they get a kick out of it. The craziest was the day we all wore saris and then went out for dinner. We were seated by a window and people would walk by 2 or 3 times, shamelessly staring to get a look at the Americans in saris. A little bit like being in a zoo. After dinner we were eating icecream when a guy came up to us as asked for a picture and he actually told us why he wanted one. He said that a lot of Indians try and be Western but we were Americans representing Indian culture. We thought that was cool so we said yes, next thing we know 20 people pull out their picture phones and it’s just a free for all. It was nuts!

We always get asked what country we're from and our names. We were surprisingly honest at first, but after a month of celebrity-dom we’ve started having a little fun. My group decided we should each pick a celebrity alter ego. So far we’ve got Nicky Minaj, Ke$ha, Zac Efron, and Lady Gaga. I think we decided I was Miley Cyrus on account of my Hannah Montana bangs. My roommate kate and I started doing a new thing where we pick a famous couple to be. Last week we were Sonny and Cher. It was awesome.

I have to say, fame’s not all it’s cracked up to be. Some days it would be nice to just sit on the beach without getting mobbed. No wonder Brittany Spear’s is so messed up. Just kidding! It’s not bad, I’m just not big on the whole special treatment thing. As a middle child of five, I was born with the ability to slide under the radar. Apparently India is immune to my gift of going incognito. I’d love to blend in, especially being an anthropology student, but it’s all part of the experience. When I get home it’ll be nice to just be a face in the crowd again. In the meantime I’ll just try and enjoy my 15 minutes (3 months) of fame.

Kids climbing the fence to get a good look at us.

Taylor's new friends

Pizza hut in saris

picture in the pape :)

Tools are international.

No not this kind of tool.

I mean this kind of tool.

If you didn’t already know, and couldn’t figure it out from the picture, a tool is essentially a chauvinist jerk. I can think of a few more synonyms, but since my grandma reads this blog we’ll leave it at that. These kinds of guys are definitely not just an American phenomenon. There are jerks everywhere, including India. As a group with 6 American girls we seem to attract a large number of this sort. We haven’t encountered anything too extreme. Mostly just yells of stuff like “hey baby” and some unwanted forwardness. So guys, in case you were wondering, it’s not cute in any culture. A quick shout-out to all the nice non-tool guys all over the world. Thank you for existing and keeping us sane.