Hi all! It's now exactly one week ago that I have left the Netherlands together with 3 other students, Richelle, Anine and Bernand, from my studies and that we travelled to the other side of the world, to India. After a long trip we arrived in a hot, despite that it was the middle of the night, and humid country. We got picked up by one of the schoolbus drivers of BIS, Bangalore International School. This was one of those typical yellow busses and on the road we were amazed by how abandoned the city looked. But as soon as it was morning this changed and all the streets became lively and chaotic. That the people do not stick to the traffic rules is quite obvious. There might be just one rule, who horns the loudest and dares to go first has the first right. The sound of horns from any vehicle can't be avoided and almost every second a tuctuc passes by. That makes it so relieving when you safely crossed the road.

There is a funny story about that. It was our first day and in the afternoon we wanted to go to a supermarket. Soon we arrived at a cross junction and we had to cross it. There were cars, tuctuc’s, busses and even cows, coming from all sides of the road. We struggled for minutes and of course the locals saw our struggle. Especially when we ended up in the middle of the street and still could not move further. Eventually some of them at the other side of the road were laughing and gesturing with their hands when we could cross the road. But finally, it did take some time but we did cross the road alive.

Salesmen trying to sell you stuff is also a very common happening and a "no" is not considered as a "no" that easily. Very often we end up with a few bananas, mangos or coconuts even when not planned. That people take their time in this country is also surprising. Everything goes in quite a slow pace and more relaxed, we can learn from that though.

Besides, we as four white students, having blond hair, wearing western clothes and acting like tourists, turn out to be quite an attraction to the Indian people. While walking on the streets or through markets we have been stopped by locals with the questions if they could take a picture with us. It is almost as if we are some kind of celebrities.

This was particularly the case in a botanical garden we went to last Saturday. There was a school outing and a bunch of children were walking with their teachers. After they had passed by, a group of at least 10 teachers returned and they wanted to take a group picture with us. These are moments we are definitely not used to but still memorable which brings a smile on my face when thinking of it.

I’m sure that there were so much more first impressions but you will come across them in my following posts!