That's What you Get for Waking up in Coimbatore...

Get up and shake the mosquitoes of your mosquito net now,
That's what you get for waking up in Coimbatore...just kidding, just kidding

Good Morning INDIAAA!!!! So Dr. Blenner woke us up this morning for breakfast and told us we could eat and go back to bed. It was surprisingly a pretty chilly night but we had our fan running all night and I was sleeping in shorts and a tank top. The mattress proved to be as uncomfortable as it looks but after taking some melatonin and benadryl again I think I could have slept on the ground. We woke up to a beautiful day in India with tropical birds chirping their songs and a light drizzle of rain. We walked down for breakfast which consisted of flat pancake looking eggs with onions in them which were actually pretty good (could have used a little ketchup though). We also had these strange doughnuts with weird strong spices in them...not my favorite. Then I tried what I thought were mangoes which were actually papayas...also not my favorite. But the fruit juice was amazing and I filled up on toast and jam. It's funny how hospitable all the Indians are to us. They delivered hand soap to our rooms last night (they kept delivering it like 3 times, so we have plenty), they serve us our meals (which is difficult because I'm kind of a picky eater), they ask us over and over again if we need anything, it's actually really nice.

So after breakfast my roommate Kelsey and I are ready to go back to the room to sleep for awhile longer and on the way back we are noticing all these really official looking police-type people in uniforms with guns...not too strange since we saw them all over the airport but we're wondering why their at PSG college...upon returning to our room we find Dr. Blenner telling us to get dressed in formal skirts and long sleeved shirts because the ex-Prime Minister of India is visiting PSG college and wants to meet US, the SDSU foreign exchange students! So we quickly change our clothes and walk to a lecture hall down the road. Along the way we see lots of Indian kids playing soccer (or maybe they call it football, who knows) and lots of crazy Indian drivers all over the streets. Once we arrive in the room we're reminded to stand up when he walks in which we do and he even commented and thanked us for assimilating to Indian customs so well.

He then proceeded to provide a two hour lecture on Democracy in India. We were told he just wanted to meet us. Everyone in my group is trying desperately to stay awake, as am I, but I actually found his lecture very interesting. I just wish I was more knowledgeable in political science so I could have followed more of what he was saying, but still I found him to be incredibly intelligent and enjoyed his views on what true independence means as well as the different types of freedom in Democracy. I'll write a little about what he said in case anyone reading is interested. He said that even during the time of monarchs, India was not considered a Monarchy. In fact, India has had a democracy in some form of another for over 10,000 years. The biggest problem in India however, is that the citizens do not actively participate in campaigning for the candidates that they believe in. The issue is not that people aren't voting, because in fact, their polls have been as high as 90% is the past. The issue is that when people run for an office it's more like their just applying for a job, and the people of India don't try to help promote or support them. Also, so many candidates run that oftentimes the majority vote winner may only have received 25% of the votes, meaning 75% of the country doesn't even support who won the election. This man's solution is as follows: (1) Educational institutions must develop in their students more than just cognitive intelligence. They must include emotional intelligence, social intelligence, moral intelligence, and spiritual intelligence. (2) Politics must be a desirable activity that people want to participate in. (3) People must vote and take responsibility to help politicians campaign. and (4) We must develop a zero tolerance policy for corruption and publicize punishment for those who do wrong.

After his lecture we came here to the college's computer lab and hopefully now we'll get some lunch and rest, but supposedly we're hearing another lecture at 2:30 then eating dinner with the Ex-Prime Minister tonight! (sorry I don't remember his name nor would I have the slightest idea how to spell it). So much for Sunday being entirely a day of sleeping for us. Lots to do!

We have orientation tomorrow and clinical rotations start Tuesday! Oh, and by the way, I really love it here :)

xoxo to all!