Owen Richardson, Pitt in the Himalayas Summer 2024
In India, for the majority of the time, we all lived at a small place called the Hanifl Centre, an Outdoor Education and Environmental Study is an outreach of Woodstock School. We lived in dormitory style buildings with communal bathrooms and bunk beds. The dorms in which we stayed are within walking distance of the beautiful International Woodstock High School. One of the best parts of living here was that I was able to talk out of my dorm every day to a beautiful sunrise. The Hanifl Centre is placed on top of a mountain, and Mussoorie itself is seen as a vacation center for everyone who lives within India. So, from the window of my dorm and just outside, I had breathtaking views of nature.
Furthermore, we were in a wooded area in which many monkeys lived. So, we had the amazing opportunity of seeing two different types of monkeys, and we could watch them eat and travel daily from one place to another. One of the most amazing parts of being in an area with monkeys is being able to see their young, most of the monkeys we saw had babies attached to them.
The monkeys were something we all both loved yet had challenges with. They are beautiful and intriguing creatures, but they also love to steal things. So we were all constantly worried of either being attacked or accidentally leaving a door open to come back to a room that would be ransacked.
Another part of our living space that we loved was the accessibility to the community. We were only a fifteen-minute walk away from the shopping center for the city. So, we were able to walk down after classes to shop or explore the different restaurants within the area.
We also lived in three different places for a very limited time. We lived in an international hotel within Delhi one day when we arrived in India and one day before leaving. This was our first experience living overnight in India, and there were some very interesting differences between the US and this hotel. First of all, the key in which we used to open the room was also necessary in order to turn on the air conditioning. That is that we had to insert the key to a port near the air conditioner for it to turn on. Furthermore, the water in India is not okay for most Americans to drink. So, we had to drink out of jugs of purified water when possible or use water purification tablets before drinking the water.
Another time, we had the amazing opportunity (our flight got cancelled) of living within a 5-star hotel in India. For only $125 US dollars a night, we were within the most beautiful place that included a pool, sauna, and large weightroom. Furthermore, it was here that I ate some of the best food, especially dessert, that I have ever had.
Leave a Reply