इंडिया रोच्क्स!

Hi everyone! I really cannot figure out why it keeps changing the title script.... I will have to figure that out, what it says is India Rocks!!! Which it does, every day here is something new and exciting!!! I have started school, it began the day i got here, and already it is a wild ride. School is very very different from the US. When i went to get my classes, it is all online and i did not talk to anyone, other then it being very confusing, i did figure it out. Thank goodness it only took me a day, another exchange friend of mine it took her three days!!!!! Then when i finally got that all sorted out, i was to begin classes. But then i realized that i had no times table and no classroom, which took longer then getting the classes. For about two hours I went up and down the five stories of my school building to find the STD. XI Arts, class, and after realizing i had been to the class five times, and a student had been lying to me sending me to the wrong class the entire time, was not much of a help. Also they just post the times table in a general area and expect you to find it, very different from the US, but it made you feel like you were on a wild goose chase, and I felt better when some of the Native students were just as confused as I was. School is still a very different experience, such as teachers sometimes read straight from the book, which increases it level of boring right off the bat, some dictate notes for you to take, and they are very serious about there notes no short hand, no leaving things out, just copy down pretty much the entire book, and you will be good, i was told by a fellow student. Then came the issue of books, you have to buy all your books, and the French teacher really let into us about not aquireing a French book so on break, the exchange students decided to take a little walk to find French books, originally we were going to take a Rickshaw the bookstore is about 1Km from school, which is a little over walking distance. So we began asking Rickshaw drivers if they would take us there, and being three girls from the US and one from Germany, all the rickshaw drivers know you are not from around here. So one said he would take us there, but he wanted up front, 50 rs. a piece!!!!! Which though only about 1.10 a piece, the ride, should cost only 15 rs. as a whole!! So we attempted to bargain, and he was like no no, so we walked, and it was well far... you get some different looks walking down the street, many people will come up to you, and if you ask for directions you are the ones who end up repeating yourself, so they can understand you. Also beggars seam to follow when you are on major roads, they all have the same face, you have a sense to feel sorry for them, but at the same time giving them money we all have been informed is the worst Idea you can have. Outside of school, Wickipedia has nothing on Pune, because it gives you the very very very wrong number of people who live here, if you at all want to know many many people are unaccounted for and it is around 8 million, yeah it is huge! There is never a shortage of things to do here, there are a ton of coffee houses (like Mocha, which is huge!) and then malls, and hotels (which always have events). Movie theaters are also big, there are about 5 or so in the city. I had the chance to go to one last night with my host brother and some of his friends, we saw Breaking and Entering (it has Jude Law in it and is overall very strange). Movies come out a bit latter here then in the US with the exception of Harry Potter, such as Even Almighty and Surfs up have yet to come out, thou also Hindi Movies play at the theaters, and they have odd times when they come out, such as every two weeks they come out with a new one and normally there is only one or two playing. Right now in Hindi Movies ( i read in the paper that bollywood is politically incorrect, so i guess i better not use it) a movie called Partner is out, and it is the Hindi version of Hitch (with Will Smith), but i have been told it is about like a male marriage arranger... So in the movie theater, to get tickets they have a line for both men and women, on opposite sides of the building, it did not appear to be followed but still it was different. When i walked into the theater i though i was in a mall! There were shops and food places, and coffee places, and yes a SHOE STORE! lol. So when we went into the theater i realized they assign your seats, and all the seats are really nice, and leather chairs, very comfy. Yes, they have Popcorn and all the traditional movie things too, just if you wondered. But they do have intermission in all movies! So it overall was a different but fun experience!!! I am having a great time, so hope you are too where ever you happen to be!!!