Yesterday was our first full day in Hubli at BVB College and it was a full day! We were placed in the dorms with a roommate the night before and woke up in the morning to eat a vegetarian Indian breakfast provided by the college with our group and the other students. We then headed across campus where we had our orientation in the Management building. This building is beautiful and was just built last year. The classroom was very clean and much bigger than what I had imagined. The room was filled with American and Indian students as we split up into our groups based on what organization we are going to be working with. We then worked on a group exercise together to get to know each other. After orientation, we were all given a tour of the campus by the students in our group and it was beautiful and quite expansive. After our tours, half of the groups stayed on campus to work with their organizations and the other half took a bus around town with their groups to meet with people from the company they are working with. We each met with our company leaders for about 5 hours and discussed some problems that they are having or some areas that they need help in. After the 5 hours were up, we were then picked up by the bus and brought back to campus where we socialized with all of the BVB students and ate a vegetarian Indian dinner consisting of white rice, lentil mix, and non (a handmade bread). It was a long day for most of us so we went to our rooms pretty early to get some sleep. The students here at BVB are some of the most warm-hearted and kind people that I have ever met! Incredibly smart, too!

We just completed our first day in Delhi after getting into the airport at 1:25am local time.  After catching a few hours of sleep we had a great buffet breakfast, made a trip to the ATM for Rupees, and took our bus to see India’s first mosque, the site of Gandhi’s last days, some of the president’s 250 acre home, the Indian parliament, and a temple.  Driving through the city, which I learned was home to about 18 million people, and seeing the business of a Friday was exciting.

We are  off to the Agra and the Taj Mahal early tomorrow morning and heading to Hubli the next day (Sunday).  We should be able to update more when we settle in at BVB!