Hindi: Goa saf nahi hai. English: Goa is not clean.

I have just returned from a four day trip to Goa, which is a southern Indian state on the west coast. Evan and I flew into Goa with two other friends from our program via India's "favorite" airline, Kingfisher. Surprisingly, we were not served India's most widely sold beer (which is also Kingfisher) during either of our flights. The propeller plane got us to Goa in a quick hour and twenty minutes, and what followed was where the real adventure began. The cab driver that scooped us up from the airport was an absolute maniac behind the wheel! He would frequently pass cars while they were passing another car! I don't even know what to call that. So in a what should have been an hour drive to Candolim, the town we were staying in, this maniac man got us there in just over half an hour. Our mid-range hotel, Casa Sea Shell was surprisingly better than what I had expected from their web site. Evan and I got in around ten, had a bite to eat at the hotel's restaurant, and called it a night.
The next four days were spent laying on the beautiful Candolim beach. Lonely Planet recommended a beach shack for lunch named Pete's, so we headed there on our first day to find it packed, of course, and went there everyday that followed. Though the beach was beautiful and there was not a could in the sky, this vacation was not one of my best. Nearly every two minutes someone would come up to us and try to sell us clothing, bed spreads, bags, papayas, peanuts, dvds, books, rings, shark teeth, henna tattoos, massages, or just simply beg for money. This constant disturbance greatly hindered my ability to ever fully relax.
Besides that, life in Goa was really great. The food was ridiculously inexpensive, so Evan and I ate like kings for three meals each day. Traveling to Goa was definitely a very new experience, as it was my first time traveling in India. The trip made me really nostalgic for Lake Forest and Northfield and East Hampton and Beavercreek, I would guess because it felt like a vacation and I kept thinking that I was going back home, instead of going back to Hyderabad. When we got back to Hyderabad, I did feel like I was back at home, on familiar ground, so that was reassuring.

I am learning so much and getting more comfortable with each day; Tomorrow marks the first month that I've been here so far, and I can hardly believe that much time has gone by already.

Miss you all...I'm still waiting on the usb cord for my camera!

Ryann