Mysore? MySCORE!

Hello again!

It’s been a week since arriving in Mysore and a crazy week it has been. For those of you actually checking out this a page will find that I have been slacking on my updates. Sorry about that. You deserve only the best, so this will be the picture edition! Woohoo!

 

Our room: My roommate and I moved into our dorm room which was surprisingly similar to a typical American dorm (except for the copious amounts of mosquitoes). We get to shower with a bucket with water that is hot when it feels like it, which isn’t often.

 

                                          

(Our school is behind the yellow building)

A view from our room: Occasionally we get herds of goats or cows that pass by.

Before our course work begun we had a chance to explore our new home. The Iowa State (the school I’m traveling with) students were introduced to our school that we will be attending for the next couple of months, followed by a tour of Mysore. We went to two temples, a palace, and a cathedral.

1. The first being Chumundi Hills which overlooks the city of Mysore.

2. Next was Keshava Temple.

3. Then we went to the Mysore Palace which apparently has a prince living in it and annual mud wrestling in October. Considering that my birthday is in October, maybe I’ll go watch. You know, my usual birthday tradition…

4. Last was Saint Philomena Cathedral. The highlight of that was the soda across the street from our tour bus. Only 15 rupees! Sometimes cheap sugar beats out sacred 20^th century sacred buildings.

Besides the official tour of Mysore we have been going into the town of Hebbal, which has a cute little general store called the More Store. My roommate tried to get conditioner there but they took it away for some reason.

Also, the pants in Mysore are HUGE. Sad day. [Sherry]

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School!

We started classes on the 16^th of August and are going into our second week here. We are all taking up an extra activity or two. All of us are taking yoga, which starts before the sun is even awake. Our instructor is a little Indian man that cracks jokes about how weak we are and doesn’t allow us to breath through our mouth.

“Don’t shake- this pose is easy”

After eating breakfast the next few hours consist of sitting in red chairs and attending lectures about Indian culture and happenings until around 11ish when we get a tea break! Tea Time should always be a requirement in higher education.

Another one-up of this school is Snake Shyam! He visited our school for our Environment and Health class. Imagine Rex Kwon Do mixed with a pirate- that is this man.

He showed us a few snakes including the trinket snake and a few cobras! He rescues snakes and other animals and puts them back into the wild. One of the coolest experiences of my life and now I have a new idol to add to my list of idols:

1.   Powerline

2.   Trees

3.   Snake Shyam