Another morning without the internet…good excuse to upload a post on my blog! I’ve been very very busy lately with my job and haven’t had time to write that much…mmm, what’s new? Tonz of new trainees, very cool people as always…few farewells (the Brazilian gang and Lidia from Poland:(), but that’s life. People come and go, leave something with you, you leave something with them and it’s beautiful…and I know that I’ll see some people in the future and that makes me happy enough! During these weeks I got much closer to Harriet, a trainee from New Zealand who works in Jaipur for a NGO. We just connect so well, I don’t think I’ve ever met anybody so similar to me! All of my good friends are pretty different from me and that’s why we get along (Stephanie, Ivana, even now Marsha), but Harriet and I could be soul-twins! We even like the same kind of guys (and that could be a problem in the future!) so whenever we watch the worldcup is always like: mmm, hot one, ok one…also, we realized that when Harriet Marsha and I hang out we always end up with two main topics: food and boys! I guess those are the two things we miss the most about our countries:) And the funny thing is that we use the same body language, the same expressions, the same verses to talk about those…hahah! Good way to get stared at even more!
So Harriet and I have plans to travel together (ah, la voyageytis!). We’re gonna go up to Himalaya the second week of July and that will be AMAZING! I still have to ask my boss a week off but come on, I’m in India not only to work! And then for next summer (and that’s our ambitious plan:)) we’re gonna take a driver license for motorbikes and we’ll travel around South America for two months and then one month in the Caribbean…motorcycle diaries style! good way to say goodbye to student-life and start real-life!!!
But let’s get down on Earth…my job! So what I do here in India is selling weddings in royal style (in amazing lavish palaces, with royal procession, elephants, camels…really really lavish!) to foreigners and non-resident Indians who come to Rajasthan (the region where I live) to get married. Being a start-up company there is SO MUCH to do! Actually the company for which I work for (KGK) has just celebrated its 100th anniversary, and they deal with diamonds and gemstones. But they also have tons of other projects (cinema multiplex, five starts resort, etc…) and KGK Royal Weddings is one of those. I’ve done some marketing so far, but mostly I’m working on the webpage…it’s hard to sell abroad without one! And I’m also going around palaces talking to sales managers to collaborate with us, asking them about fares and services…and that’s the best part of my job! I go around seeing those amazing places, doing marketing with important people in the hotel-management sector, and here I am, a 20 years old student who goes there and sells to them…it feels really cool! And also I don’t think they see me as a young student trying to get some experience, but more as a foreigner who probably knows more than them…what skin color can do! But really, I've been so lucky with my internship! Most of the people here are not really satisfied with theirs, but I don't think I could have found any better...I know of people in the US who are just making photocopies and get bored...thank god for AIESEC!
So, what else is going on in my life…I’ve been in India for a month…wow! It really doesn’t feel like it! I had no problem whatsoever getting used to this kind of lifestyle, I haven’t gotten sick yet (they call it Delhi-belly cause it usually starts right away when you arrive to Delhi airport) but nop, my immune system kicks ass (or as Jan says, “That says a lot about your lifestyle in the States!”) maybe, who knows! But I really feel energetic here, I never sleep and I’m always pumped up! It might be the “wow effect” of being in India, I don’t know…but I work during the day until 6, I walk back home for about an hour, shower, cook dinner (by the way, the rat is still there! It’s our “Indian” roommate:) and now it doesn’t even bother me anymore), party at night, watch football games until 2.30, and never go to bed (now I learnt how to say bed, seven, eleven with a New Zealandish “e”) before 3…during weekends I just jump into a train or a bus right after work and wonder around Rajasthan, come back on Sunday nights very very late, and then ready for another week! It’s amazing, I need to take advantage of my body and my health right now cause it’s not gonna last forever!
Last weekend I went to Rantamborgh, a national park 2 hours by train from Jaipur. It was 5 of us girls: Silvia from Germany (she’s my big sister now! She was born in 74 as well as my real sister and that was an instant connection for me!), Vera Wieske and Marjolein from the Netherlands (dutch people just come all to India I think! We’re invaded!) and me of course! As we got down the train we felt like famous pop stars (we felt a little like the spice girls!): we had about 50 people or more around us, following us wanting to give us a ride by rickshaw to the hotel…well, why not taking advantage of that? So I started “who’s taking us for 50 rupies” mememe! “who for 40?” mememe “who for 30?” “20?” “15?” “10? Anybody? Good boy!” So we got a ride to the hotel for 20 cents!!! The hotels where we sleep here are the “budget” ones on the lonely bible (the lonely planet, which has become our bible in India! Is it bad when we start quoting it??!?!), so they really are the cheapest shittiest things that we can find! But we don’t care cause we’re young and healthy…but anyways, we got to the hotel, and to cross a creek on a wooden board, one at the time, then we slept 5 of us in a room, on the floor…but I loved it! The alarm went off at 4.30 in the morning, I asked Robby and my sister to send me the Italy-US match score…so that wasn’t a good awakening! As a real Italian I get too passionate about football and I let it affect my mood way too much…but well, as I saw my travel-buddies, so full of mosquito bites, and me (that I hadn’t even put anti-mosquitoes on!) without any…I felt much better! I’m telling you, my immune system really kicks ass!!! I think I am immunized to mosquito bites after spending six summers at the Caribbean…I'm really lucky!
The rickshaw driver picked us up at 5 in the morning…we rode with him for like 2 minutes and then the rickshaw broke down! 5 in the morning, in the middle of this desert street with nobody around…we started laughing so much, I think it was an hysteric laugh! What else to do, right? Take life with some philosophy and sense of humor! All around just cows, the rickshaw driver trying to fix his rickshaw (by the way, I’m pretty sure that the motor of a rickshaw is the same as a boat! It’s so funny how they start it the same way) but luckily a jeep drove by and trusting in life we got in and got a ride from them…the jeep safari in the national park was AMAZING! There are 27 tigers in this park but we didn’t see any…oh well! It was worth it anyways!!! So beautiful to be in nature again, so quite, pure fresh air (when you live in Jaipur traffic everyday you appreciate that even more!), lots of dears, antelopes, monkeys of course, peacock in love season, beautiful birds, some scary lizards…really really beautiful! Too bad for the tigers…next time! The safari ended at 9.30 and at 10.30 we were already on a train back to Jaipur…so my dinner the night before was chocolate biscuits, breakfast that morning was coconut biscuits, lunch on the train was ice-cream…but we were too much in a rush to think about food! Got back to Jaipur, took a shower and then ready to go!!! Felt very energetic, went to a nice café to have a proper meal, then to the University campus to play football (oh, and Robby gave me a ride there on his broken Vespa…two Italians riding in the crazy Jaipur traffic on a broken Vespa with Robby cussing in Italian…it was one of those moments!) We finally had the game AIESEC trainees-against AIESECers…much better than the world cup!!! In our team we had Italy, USA, Germany, Belgium, South Africa, Netherlands, Serbia, Japan…against India! So who do you think won?!!? Eheh, I’m too mean! We’ll see next time when we play cricket, they’ll kick our ass!
But after the football game Adi, one of my Indian friends, picked Marsha and I up to go and see MI3…we went with him and his cousin…it wasn’t supposed to be a double date but it felt a little like it and it actually felt kind of nice! Both of them are really nice guys, quite handsome for Indian terms, and finally NO GUY was staring at us or trying to get our attention!!! That was amazing!!! Because here in India when I walk anywhere it’s impossible to avoid people trying to talk to you or touch you or yell at you or even just stare…we’re DIFFERENT, I know, but sometimes it gets so annoying!!!
Anyways, the movie was nice, then we went to Tablu, a nice expensive bar on a rooftop, to celebrate Harriet’s birthday and watch more football games…at the end of the night I found myself in a different double date (how I do that I really don’t know, but that’s the way it works!) with Harriet, Supreet and one of Supreet’s friends who knew my name and was talking to me like we were best friends…and at one point I was really too curious and couldn’t pretend anymore: “have we met before?” so apparently he sees me everyday walking from work to my house with my ipod and knows who I am…kind of scary, isn’t it?
So that was my long Sunday!!! You know that I’m gonna keep writing until this stupid internet will work! Ah, another funny thing that happened at work! I put a picture of me and Steph as my desktop and one of my coworker saw it and was like “is she your sister?” hahahah “how?” so Stephanie, somebody really thought we were sisters, how cool is that? I didn’t know I looked Chinese! People here tell me that I’m blonde (somehow!) but nobody had ever thought I was Chinese…cool! (ah, even with no Internet I just got a phone call by the sales manager of a very important hotel group in Rajasthan and he invited me for lunch to discuss business tomorrow….ah, I love this field!!!! And since I learnt not to trust Indian men EVER, I told this guy that I would come with my boss tomorrow! Of course he doesn’t know yet, and I’m planning his schedule for him…oops!!!)

So a month in India and I survived and I feel so normal and comfortable! Unfortunately I cannot say that I’m integrated here…it’s so hard! I’m happy and having an amazing time cause I’m here with about 40 other trainees from everywhere and they’re amazing people, but I haven’t really connected with any Indians. Most of the Indians I hang out with are people who have been living abroad for a while, cause if not it’s so hard to find a common ground…it’s such a different culture and there is such a big gap in between us! Sometimes it gets frustrating, but I really try to learn and get to know some people…but once again, it’s tough! Women are impossible to approach: either “locked” in their homes by their parents or by their husbands and they cannot go out after 8 pm (considering that I work during the day it gets impossible to see any of the AIESEC girls, for example). Guys just want to sleep with you and they let you know that! I’m not that naïf, I know that even in the western world is often like that, but here OH MY GOD! One of my friends went out with this Indian guy and in the middle of the date he was like “I’m 23 years old, I’m still a virgin and I really want to get some experience, are you interested in having sex with me?” right straight on her face!!! I can’t imagine how she felt! And then (after she said no, of course) he wouldn’t give up! “Please, please, why not? What’s wrong with me? But people in your country have sex all the time!” That’s really what I hate about Indians…they see us and they immediately associate us with money and sex. It’s so frustrating!!! So, indeed, it gets really hard to connect with boys as well…as you can see from my posts I hang out with few boys but I never trust anybody 100%, I would never feel comfortable alone with them, and that really limits the depth of our conversations…I really miss having nice conversations with nice guys!!!
So let’s see what I miss the most about Mizzou after a month:
- Steph Sarah and Landon (sooooooooo much!)
- The rest of AIESEC Exec Board
- My housemates and my messy house:)
- Parties at my house!!!
- Thursday nights bottomless cup at Generic
- Tuesday nights, shisha at the Blue Fugue
- Latin dance at the Blue Fugue!
- Sunday afternoons, coffee and “study” at the Artisan
- Computer labs and wireless everywhere
- “Free” newspapers
- The Rec Center (mostly the Olympic pool)
- Ninth street
- Ninth street video
- The AIESEC office!
- Late night study in the AIESEC office
- Late nights with Steph in her car talking about boys
- Random wine nights at my house
- Making fun of Aleks and her dates (the trucker, the biter, the weirdo…missing anyone:)?)
- Not paying attention at all in Accounting class and taking funny notes with Kara and Steph!
- Laws and the whole international crowd
- Hector and Jessica, Kandice and Luke…my “couple” friends!
- Clean streets with trash cans (or rubbish bins, as Harriet wants me to say)
- Stealing dining hall food
- The Rag Tag
- Eating drunk at the Diner
- Hanging out on my roof
- My messy room!
- Clean public bathrooms (with toilet paper!)
- Walking safe alone at night
- Chats with Brodie
- Cute interesting boys!
- Checking facebook 10 times a day (and actually receiving messages and invitations!)
- Italian dinners at Fabio’s with the Italian crowd
- Random nights after AIESEC meetings
- Chitchatting with my boss at the ARS office
- Sleeping in on Saturdays
- Washing machine, dryer and dishwasher
- And much much more!!!

My time at Mizzou has really been great, AMAZING people and very good times! I really miss a lot of things, but in a nice way! I'm so happy about the last 2 years of my life...and I have to admit that India is treating me pretty well too! And I’m really getting excited about Lyon…we’ll see how I’ll handle civilization after so long!

Too long of a post, sorry! Anyone who got this far gets a prize…post a comment if you got this far:) and put your summer address…maybe you’ll receive a postcard from India!!!