18th September

I have finalised by subject choices which are a bit different from before (I'm now doing Hindi, Global Politics, Maths, English&Performance, Biology and Chemistry) and my triveni choices (Gender and Sexuality, Hockey, Fitness, Fire Service and Manavya). 

In fire service, we are trained to beat down the fires manually so that campus doesn't burn down in the hottest months of summer. About a week ago, we had out first session which was basically just fitness. It was pretty hard work but so much fun at the same time - we then played rugby in the middle of a thunderstorm too which was cool. 

Manavya is an off-campus triveni - a group of us visit a home for children who are HIV positive and we spend an hour or so playing, singing, dancing, or just chatting with them. It's really nice to spend a bit of time off campus with some local children, and its a lot of fun. Our last couple of sessions have been cancelled/cut short due to various difficulties however next week should be good.

Because I'm going on the project week to the himalayas, the faculty members leading our trip want to get us exercising and practice hiking, so last weekend we hiked up the mountain near the college called Mount Wilkinson. We left at around 8 and got back at 11 in time for brunch, and it was really nice to spend some time with others in the group. The hike itself was pretty easy and we saw some amazing views.

I still have not seen any snakes, although there was one caught in college meeting the other day. Don't worry, if you find a snake, all you have to do is put it in the snake box, that's all. 

This week has been full of Ganesh celebrations. Ganesh is a festival for a God where people throw red powder paint at each other and parade down to the river in order to immerse the Ganesh statue. It was really good fun although my clothes are still stained with red powder!

Time is going pretty quickly here - I've been here a month today, and I'm already a quarter of the way through my first term! I'm starting to settle into a routine, but a lack of sleep over the past few days means I'm in the medical centre, feeling pretty congested and just generally achey. 

If you want to see photos of things I've been up to, you can here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/uwcmahindracollege and there is also a mash up video of the performances from the first and second year talent shows here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=zYZCcwgA1X4). 

- Kate