Orientation Wrap-Up

Orientation week consisted of:
-waking up at the ashram
-breakfast is served there every morning at 7:30am, but I always decided to sleep through it
-be taken in taxis to the program center around 9ish
-health, history, class, etc. intros all day
-about three chay and snack breaks
-during these breaks everyone would scramble to their laptops to try to write e-mails or use facebook to connect to families and boyfriends
-"drop-offs". We would be different into small groups and "dropped-off" at a random market with a long list of things to buy/do in an hour. The point of these "drop-offs" was to force us to rely on ourselves in foreign places and become better at navigating.
-have dinner either our with the program (we would be taken to a market or divided into small groups and taken to a restaurant) or be returned to ashram in time for their dinner to be served (which I, also, usually decided to sleep through)
-try to sleep at the ashram but jet-lag usually prevented that

Note:
One night, everyone went to a lounge called Waves that was right next door to the ashram. They had live musicians who played classic Bollywood hits and he played the anthems, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and Kal Ho Naa Ho!!!
Another night, we were taken to a very popular market, Dilli Haat, for dinner. There I had my first taste of authentic chow mein (Chinese slash Indo-Chinese food here is EVERYWHERE) and some drink called "fruit beer". I'm still not sure what it's made out of but it's delicious! Dilli Haat isn't the regular busy, sprawling market. It's a very contained market (you have to go through a metal detector to get in) which lots of restaurant stand things and organized stands that sold lots of trinkets, home decor, rugs, shawls and other fun things. In the back of the market there was a stage where a folk dance recital was being performed.
Another evening, we went to a very famous and beautiful monument called Humayun's Tomb. Emperor Humayun ruled the Mughal empire and is son of Babur (the first emperor of the empire) and father of Akbar (who's absolutely fascinating).

Right before we left the ashram (on the 7th) for good, I climbed up to the roof to take some pictures.
The ashram runs on solar power, so there were these huge solar panels on the roof where laundry is also hung to dry by.
On the roof there was a skinny, wobbly metal ladder that you could climb up to get to a higher, smaller roof. I took pictures of the view of New Delhi from this roof, but Delhi's infamous smog masked the horizon line. I also took a picture of the skinny ladder so everyone can appreciate what I did to get a view from the top.