The first week in India

It's only been a bit longer than a week but it feels like a month atleast, so much has happened.
During last week the local AIESEC office organized somethings called Mystic India.
It started with a movie in a trainee flat. The movie was called Rang de Basanti and was really good!! Recomended for sure! The week followed with a trip to a Buddah statue on an island and great kebab on the Tursday and sightseeing on Saturday. Most of the sightseeing we couldn't attend because of work but atleast we managed to join the trip to the Secret Lake and join in some good partying.

The Buddah statue

At the Secret Lake with some interns and AIESECers

On friday we were out as well. We went to dance some salsa but unfortunatley the quality of the salsa places here are nowhere near that of Stockholm. The nightlife is in general very different from Stockholm. For one, the mix of men and women. Here there's about 80 percent men everywhere you go out and for them it's really expensive. For women on the other hand we very often have no entry and free drinks. I guess many wouldn't be botherd to come at all otherwise.

The same thing is happening on the busses. Very few women and you have your own entrance. As well the buss usually stops and waits for women. Overall this is a very good country to be a woman in in the sense that everyone is very respectfull and it feels very safe to get around. And yes...I do take the bus both to and from work! The thought of that being sooo hard is definently exadurated. So far there hasn't been a problem. A bit uncomfortable in rushhour but otherwise fine. Sometimes it's much easier than taking an auto (ricksha, tuk-tuk) home since those can be really hard to find in rushhour.

In the end of last week I got a feeling of the burocracy in this country. I was applying for residence permit.Thankfully I had help and company from Anantha from the local AIESEC office. First on wednesday it took a an hour or two of waiting just to get in and get the paper to sign. The next day we spend practically the entire day waiting. The procedure was pretty much wait an hour, get a signature, wait another hour and so forth. Atleast when they had lunch we had an opportunity to get out and walk (and try to get something to eat). All we found were shops, shops and...Charminar! We had a quick look around but we still needed to get back to the police station. Were we waited some more. Atleast, in the end, I got my residence permit! :)

Shopping around Charminar and the building itself (above)

So far I would say the hardest things to get used to here is the airpollution. After half an hour outside you can fell your skin and lungs covered in it. Not a very nice feeling. Apparantly it's very common to get a cold when you first get here as a reaction to it but so far I've been spared. And I do already have a craving for a proper steak...so soon! I was hoping it would take a few more months atleast. Well well...what can you do.

That's all for now folks =) Enjoy Sweden for me as well!