Thursday, May 28, 2009
Post 1
I made it to New Dehli after a 14 hour flight. I spent most of the flight reading up on Mimo, watched a few movies, and slept. The taxi ride here was pretty nuts. I've never seen driving like that before, there are honestly no laws. People drive on both sides of the street and the lane markings mean nothing. It was kind of fun. New Dehli was very smoggy and for about 3 hours out of New Dehli the streets were walled with 2-3 story buildings. People were sleeping everywhere, even right next to the road. They don't really use billboards like we do, instead of them being high and on the side of the road they are just signs in the middle of the road. Very safe. There are random little eating joints on the side of the road every few hundred yeard we stopped at one, I got chicken curry and paid way to much I'm pretty sure. Once we got closer we started driving through the Shivalik Mountains, it was cool to see. Dehradun is in between the Shivaliks and the Himalayas, actually dun means valley in Hindi.
I got here around 4 or 5 am I think, a 6 hour car ride. I really can't stress enough how crazy the driving is here. As an American we would honestly be incapable of driving more than a minute without hitting a person, car, or cow. I could't sleep when I got here so I started reading Atlas Shrugged and got in a workout in my room. My room is very plain but nice, just has a bed. I have my own bathroom and shower ( a focet and a bucket, take a second and picture that).
We don't start work until 10 am so I'll be waking up around 7 to read and work out for about 30 minutes each day. I spent the first day doing grunt work and crashed from Jet Lag around 3 pm. I slept until about 6 and then went to a house party, we had a pretty good Indian meal. The food here is surprisingly good. I got a good night sleep last night and think I am back on track.
I was still doing grunt work until about 12 today, I went out into the field with a few of the other interns. There are about 10 other interns here, 3 Italians, one Irishman, a few Indians, and another American coming in a few hours. We spent the afternoon tryign to visit two branches, we had some trouble finding a few things we needed though and didn't get much done. I'll post pictures of the city soon, it was very interesting. Very hectic and poor looking. This is supposed to be one of the nicer places in India so I can't really imagine what the poorer cities look like. This looks way more poor than any American city. I picked up some Indian attire for the next time we go in the field. A few of the guys and I just hung out in the city for a while talking about random stuff. It was cool, it always kind of amazes me how we all think the same things are funny.
When I got back we all went to play some soccer in a field about a mile away. Dehradun is literally in the shawdows of the Himalayas so that was a cool backdrop to play on. I scored a goal. A bunch of us are about to do to a bar and then have dinner. I don't think Indians go to the bars often probably because Indian beer is awful, but I'll give it a go. I am meeting with the HR department tomorrow to discuss my project. I will probably have 2 projects, one HR related and one Finance related.
I am planning a trip somewhere this weekend. There a bunch of places to visit around here so I am anxious to get started. I'll post again after that unless something worthwhile happens.
BTW I was talking with a few other interns under an awning and a big old baboon popped down from the room and almost landed on my head, it was awesome. The power goes out a few times a day, it always kind of funny. I am enjoying it all so far and it very eye opening. The moonsoon is a few days away, that should be interesting. Up to this point they are looking at me as a dumb American. I hope I get a chance to share all I know about Uttarakhand and the bank, I think if I get a chance I will impress them and then who knows.
Love,
Matt
I got here around 4 or 5 am I think, a 6 hour car ride. I really can't stress enough how crazy the driving is here. As an American we would honestly be incapable of driving more than a minute without hitting a person, car, or cow. I could't sleep when I got here so I started reading Atlas Shrugged and got in a workout in my room. My room is very plain but nice, just has a bed. I have my own bathroom and shower ( a focet and a bucket, take a second and picture that).
We don't start work until 10 am so I'll be waking up around 7 to read and work out for about 30 minutes each day. I spent the first day doing grunt work and crashed from Jet Lag around 3 pm. I slept until about 6 and then went to a house party, we had a pretty good Indian meal. The food here is surprisingly good. I got a good night sleep last night and think I am back on track.
I was still doing grunt work until about 12 today, I went out into the field with a few of the other interns. There are about 10 other interns here, 3 Italians, one Irishman, a few Indians, and another American coming in a few hours. We spent the afternoon tryign to visit two branches, we had some trouble finding a few things we needed though and didn't get much done. I'll post pictures of the city soon, it was very interesting. Very hectic and poor looking. This is supposed to be one of the nicer places in India so I can't really imagine what the poorer cities look like. This looks way more poor than any American city. I picked up some Indian attire for the next time we go in the field. A few of the guys and I just hung out in the city for a while talking about random stuff. It was cool, it always kind of amazes me how we all think the same things are funny.
When I got back we all went to play some soccer in a field about a mile away. Dehradun is literally in the shawdows of the Himalayas so that was a cool backdrop to play on. I scored a goal. A bunch of us are about to do to a bar and then have dinner. I don't think Indians go to the bars often probably because Indian beer is awful, but I'll give it a go. I am meeting with the HR department tomorrow to discuss my project. I will probably have 2 projects, one HR related and one Finance related.
I am planning a trip somewhere this weekend. There a bunch of places to visit around here so I am anxious to get started. I'll post again after that unless something worthwhile happens.
BTW I was talking with a few other interns under an awning and a big old baboon popped down from the room and almost landed on my head, it was awesome. The power goes out a few times a day, it always kind of funny. I am enjoying it all so far and it very eye opening. The moonsoon is a few days away, that should be interesting. Up to this point they are looking at me as a dumb American. I hope I get a chance to share all I know about Uttarakhand and the bank, I think if I get a chance I will impress them and then who knows.
Love,
Matt
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)