India is a land of juxtaposition – the ancient alongside the state-of-the-art, luxury hotels with shanties outside the gates, and people dressed in traditional saris alongside others dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, a place that is amazing and awe-inspiring but also very difficult.  My roommate here says that everything in India is with an exclamation point, meaning that it overwhelms your senses in every possible way: the vibrant colored clothing, signs, houses, etc.; the endless honking and loud music; the smells of fuel, waste, urine, curry, and spices; the heat, close quarters with others, and crowded streets.  I landed in Mumbai on January 21st, spent the night there and then headed to Chennai the next day where I met up with my PSU classmates.  We explored  a number of sites, let ourselves get a bit lost in the city, and enjoyed letting a rickshaw driver give us his tour of his city.  Thank you Rakjeesh. Chennai and Mumbai were both a bit overwhelming and anything but relaxing.  We took a day trip to Pondicherry, a smaller coastal town south of Chennai, which was a bit more walkable.  We strolled the streets, enjoyed good food, and walked along the oceanside promenade.  Now I’m in Madurai and officially started my coursework.  Today we worked with the Mazhalim Illiam infant orphanage where I held and fed babies.  It was difficult to see that people left these precious baby girls in the street and in garbage cans.  Some have had polio and other diseases that have left them with deformities that will make their life a struggle in India.  I’m still working through a lot of the feelings from the experience there today and will probably continue to as we go back to do more work there.  Tonight we went on a home visit with one of the local students where she taught me how to make tomato and coconut chutney as well as idli and dosa.  It was a great experience to see how families here in Madurai work and live.  Thank you Deepa!  More updates to come later… bye for now!