hey everybody,
I'm in Bangalore right now sitting next to Annie who is staying with me in my homestay. Our host family is amazing, the daughter is in her intern year in med school. She is incredibly cool, and Annie and I are waiting to pick her brain about the Indian med system. We spent the day in the northern part of the city, Malleshwaram, and visited her hospital. The government hospital where she works is pretty unreal...more on that later. Our mom works in the government and our dad is retired. They are all completely fluent in English (whew) and amazingly intune with international events. Our brother is in New Jersey doing somethign with engineering that Annie and I couldn't really figure out.

I was expecting to be in complete shock at everything here, but find it surprisingly comfortable (maybe it's just that everybody wears flipflops all the time). Our flight got in 5am on sunday, and we were practically assaulted in the airport by people wanting to carry our luggage for us. Jet lag is an interestign thign when it is 10 and a half hours ahead. The first thing that you notice when you get here is the horns...and the thousands of autorickshaws that blast them. Autorickshaws are basically death on three wheels that pose as cabs. We take them to class every morning (class is in Vidyadeep college for priests which is off MG road in the center of the city and we are in the southern neighborhood Jayangar). The ride is 45 minutes of physics-defying stunts and sheer terror. Mom, you would literally die.

There is so much more to write, but Annie and I are already half hour late for home and we still have to catch a rickshaw from MG. Hope everything is awesome in Gville...send me emails to keep me updated!