Well holy cow, I made it to Bangalore! Not quite in the manner I expected though, lets backtrack a couple of days...

I was lucky enough to spend a week in Hawaii with my family to celebrate my dad's 50th birthday, where we spent most of our time scuba diving and catching up after a semester (and soon to be summer) apart.  On our last day there, Sunday, I remembered that it was 48 hours until I was scheduled to leave for India on Tuesday afternoon, which meant I could reserve my seats for the various plane rides. So, I got online and typed in my flight info to reserve seats, only to see that my flight was in fact on Monday afternoon when I had believed for the last however-many months that it was Tuesday.  How this very important fact got so distorted in my head I don't think I'll ever figure out.  With panic spreading and an all-out freak-out right around the corner, I ran upstairs to tell my mom and then called one of my friends in complete hysteria, in what I was later told was a conversation where my voice was about 8 octaves higher than usual and was radiating through the condo.  What this oversight meant was that when I arrived back at my parent's house in California on Monday morning after flying all day and driving all night, I would have no more than 5 hours to unpack, do laundry, and repack for India.  Oh, and I was also hoping to make a Wal-Mart run in there.  It took me a few minutes, but eventually I did start calming down and started making to-do lists.  My parents and I had an extra hour or so in Hawaii, so we were able to stop by Wal-Mart there to get the basics of what I needed, and without further ado, we were on a flight to San Jose.

When we landed in San Jose, it was about 10:30pm on Sunday night, which meant it was time to begin the 5 hour drive back to Santa Clarita.  I slept for about an hour and a half on the drive, and when we arrived at my parent's house around 4am, it was time for me to start packing.  It turns out that 5 hours was just about enough time to unpack, do laundry, repack, and shower, and before I knew it, it was 9:30am and my mom was driving me to LAX.

A short, teary goodbye later, and I was in a deserted wing of the LAX airport awaiting my flight to Hong Kong where I got to enjoy the glory of a middle seat for the 14 hour flight.  In reality, that flight wasn't too bad, and when I arrived in Hong Kong I had just enough time to go through two extra security checkpoints, and get straight in line to board my next flight that would take me to Delhi in just 5 short hours.

Arriving in Delhi wasn't quite as straightforward.  First, obviously, I had to go through customs, which was relatively painless.  Then, however, because my flights from LA -> Delhi were booked separately from my last flight from Delhi -> Bangalore, I had to go claim my bags.  I also had about an 8 hour layover in Delhi, which meant that I couldn't check in for my last flight right away, I had to wait until 3 hours before my flight.  So, I got put in the lovely "visitors lounge" for more than 5 hours, which meant that I sat on the floor of an enclosed room with close to 200 other people from 11pm-4:30am.  When I was finally allowed to leave the charming glass enclosure, checking in and clearing security was pretty smooth, and then I had some time to kill at my gate.  The last flight was actually enjoyable 1) because it was only 2.5 hours, and 2) because the skies were crystal clear and I had a window seat so I could just watch the country pass below.  As we got nearer to Bangalore and I started paying closer attention, I realized just how red the soil is here- it is pretty remarkable.

Once the plane landed, it was completely uneventful and easy to find my bags and the proper taxi.  The cab ride was at least an hour and a half because my driver got a bit confused as to where we were going, but he was very helpful, so he eventually found it and I got checked in to my room without a problem.  And so after a short nap and a bit of unpacking, here I am.  Tomorrow our group activities begin, which I am sure will be both overwhelming and exciting- I'll let you all know how it goes!