I’ve loved my time in India so far! I spent a lot of days hiking the mountains and taking in the 360 views of the mountains. A day here for me normally starts early in the morning. Most of the people in this program wake up around 6. I have woken up to see the sunrise once and went early morning trail running. After that, we normally eat breakfast and then have class till 12. We learned about a variety of topics such as yoga and alternative ayurvedic medicine to the milk industry affecting migration patterns. Once classes are done, we have a lot of free time to explore the nearby hill station or go on hikes in the nature reserve. Additionally, we went on a three-day trek to learn more about the daily lives of the people who live here. One weekend we went to a city called Rishikesh, which is the yoga capital of the world. We were able to take part in a Hindu ritual of evening arti and visited a Pitt alum. The pace of life here is fast and we try to make the most out of every day. The food is very different here and we eat a lot more rice and dal than any American.

The lifestyle here is completely different than my life at Pitt. One of the biggest differences is the amount of physical activity I do here. The walk from my dorm to the cafeteria alone is a climb of 300 steep steps. Another huge difference here is the roads. Many of you might think driving at Pitt is bad, but imagine trying to walk on a one-way road with cars, scooters, cows, and monkeys all moving in both directions. One wrong step and you either fall down a mountain or run into a monkey. The classes here are also very different. Most of the classes were listening to guest speakers who were experts in their field. I just started the wilderness first responder classes where we spend half the class running scenarios and the other half learning how to respond to any scenario.

I’ve loved my time in India so far and I’m looking forward to the rest of the trip!