Whew! It has been quite a whirlwind since I got here two weeks ago today...I've moved into the flat where I will be living for the year, classes are well underway, I'm becoming acquainted with the city, meeting new people, and, on top of all that, dealing with some seemingly endless Indian bureaucracy! But, time for more details about where I'm living for the year...
Hunting down an apartment in India, Mumbai nonetheless, a city known for its lack of space and insane overcrowding (Al- I learned that the population of Mauritius is the same as the population of Mumbai's biggest slum...can you imagine that?!) has been quite an experience. Thankfully, before coming I connected with two other international students (Sasha, a Rotary scholar from Seattle and Julia, a student from Vienna, Austria) and we agreed to live together. Sasha had already scoped out an apartment by the time I had gotten here, but pinning down the owner to agree to rent it to us turned out to be another whole matter. Within apartment complexes here in Mumbai, there is a distinct sense of community and connectivity. Each is run by a "society" in which the members meet regularly, at times to discuss who they choose as tenants. Since some French students lived in the building last semester and were apparently "a little too rowdy" for the society's liking, at first the forces were against us...but it proved to be nothing a few bribes of Indian sweets couldn't cure ;) (Although our apartment owner's wife still refuses to meet us...as he told us" she's still against all this, she only wanted to rent to a family" so yeah...hopefully we can escape our current marriage counseling position and get on her good side somehow).
Since we moved in a little over a week ago, we've been keeping busy with fixing the place to make it live-able. Looking back, I wish I had taken before and after pictures to show you all how much it has transformed already, but oh well, my written description will have to do. And I promise to upload some pictures of it once the decorating process is complete! When we first arrived in the apartment, it was decorated mostly with kitschy Christian relics and couches covered in Mickey the Mouse fabrics. Everything was coated in a thick layer of dust, there was a fair share of broken glass, trash, and dilapidated furniture. To be perfectly honest, it looked a little like a war zone. So, naturally, it was a bit of a shock to me to picture living there for a year, but with a few touch-ups here and there, we figured we could make it tolerable, maybe even cute, in no time ;) That said, this weekend quickly turned into a non-stop work weekend as we spruced up the apartment, beginning at sunrise and ending at sunset. People came and went throughout the weekend to help with everything that needed doing...we had carpenters come construct beds for us, someone came and helped us with the immense task of cleaning, and we took a lot of trips to the market and back for supplies. After lots of work, the place is now looking a thousand times better...so yes, I promise pictures are on the way ;) More to come on classes and daily life soon!
