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India - Friday/Saturday, the 15th/16th of February

This is the last day of our trip in India, but we had a couple of events before we would return to the Netherlands. The first event was around 9.00. We went to another Parikrma school, which was the first school of the Parikrma foundation that was built. When we arrived there, we were brought to another community that was close to the school. It was really different from the community we went on Monday. The houses were really close to each other, the animals didn’t have a lot of food and we saw children playing on rough stones. However, everyone was still happy with what they had. I found it really sad that those people had almost nothing. After seeing this, we returned to the school and we were given a tour at the school and we talked to some students that we around our age. At 12.30, we left and went to the next event, which was the Soudarya school.

We arrived at the Soudarya around 13.30. Here, we were welcomed by some of the students and the CEO of the school. There even were horses and we got a rose. In school, we got lunch and we were given a tour at the school. The school was much bigger than our school and even had a fitness room, several music rooms and a dance room. After the tour, we were brought to a room where several people who work at the school had some speeches and gave a presentation, which didn't work well. After that, there were two acts and the students of the school asked us some questions. The first acts was from a girl who showed us a kind of dance and in the second act, a guy was beatboxing. Both were really good at what they were doing. In the end, around 16.30 we made a picture together with the people from the school and then we returned to the hotel. 

At the hotel, we relaxed for a few hours, packed the last things and at 19:00, we had had a farewell dinner at the hotel. After that, we had a karaoke party at one of the rooms in the hotel. That were the last minutes in the hotel and I enjoyed them. At 21.30 we left the hotel and went to the airport in Bangalore. Everyone checked in and went to the customs. There were no problems so we could have some extra times until we had to be at the gate. Everyone also got something to eat for free, because the father of one of the students from the other schools that went with us was friends with someone who worked at the airport. After that, on Saturday the 16th of February, at 1.15, we headed to the gate and from there to the plane. The flight lasted for eleven hours. I didn't do very much during the flight, because I became ill. Around 8:30 in the morning, we arrived in the Netherlands. From the plane, we were brought to the airport by a bus. There, our passport was checked, we took our baggage, gave a gift to the teachers from our school to thank them went to our families. Here, our trip came to an end. 

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India - Thursday, the 14th of February

Today, we went to the Chrysalis International school. It was far from our hotel (an hour away from it), so we had to get up early and leave soon. When we arrived, around 9.00 AM, the school just started. It was really different from the way we start at school. All the kids had to make lines. They also sang the national anthem and told the recent news. It looked like they were in some kind of army. After all this, some of the students welcomed us and gave us a garland. 

Later, they brought us to the dining room and we got something to eat. When everyone had finished their meal, we were brought to another room, where we got to talk with some of the students and we sang and danced for some time. Then we had to give our presentations to some of the classes and we were given a tour around the school. During this tour, we were shown the Science Lab and the Math Lab. We saw that they learn everything in a more practical way than we do. They do experiments and use different kinds of tools to remember everything. After that, we had to give our presentations again, but then to different classes than before.

Around 12:00 PM, we had to go outside because we were going to play basketball. We were divided into four groups, each group consisted of Dutch students and Indian students. My team had won a game with 4-0. After that, we played Kabaddi. In this game, you have two teams and  the aim of the game is for a single player on offence, referred to as a "raider", to run into the opposing team's half of a court, tag out as many of their defenders as possible, and return to their own half of the court, all without being tackled by the defenders. If you did that, you got a point. Sadly, I didn’t get a chance to play, because there wasn’t enough time. Then we had lunch and we were given workshops. You could either dance with the student on Bollywood music or you could get a Henna. I got a Henna and around 3:00 PM, we had to return to the hotel.

We arrived at the hotel around 4:15 PM. There we got some rest and around 7:15, we had dinner at the same restaurant we went to on Monday, The Only Place. After we had our dinner, we returned to the hotel and relaxed at the hotel. And then our seventh day of the trip came to an end. 

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India - Wednesday, the 13th of February

Today, we returned to the school of the Parikrma Foundation we went to on Monday. There we taught the children some games that we prepared before we went to India. Anna, Talitha, Tycho and I prepared a circuit of games. The first part of the circuit were games with balloons. We first started this part with one balloon. The balloon was thrown into the air and the person who caught the ballon had to say his or her name and what he or she likes to do. Then everyone got a balloon and played with it. In the second part of the circuit, we played Bite the Cake. Every child got one piece of gingerbread cake and they liked it. After that, we wanted to do the third part of the circuit, which was playing football. Sadly, that couldn’t happen because of the exams that were going on at the school. We did this circuit two times. Each time with a different class. 

After we were done with the games, at 13:50,  we went to the commercial street in Bangalore for an hour and 30 minutes. Here, we bought some souvenirs. I bought some keychains, magnets and a little statue of the god Ganesh. Then the bus picked us up and we returned to the hotel. Here, some people got the chance to ride in a tuk-tuk. I went together with Stijn and Mr. van Helleman in one and we went to a park named Cubbon Park. There we made some pictures and returned with another tuk-tuk to the hotel.

In the evening, we had a cooking workshop at the hotel. We made chicken in some kind of sauce. Everything went right and it was delicious. Then we returned to our rooms and had some fun. Then the sixth day of our trip to India ended.

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India - Tuesday, the 12th of February

The first event of today was going to the consulate. The idea was that we were going to the office of the consul-general, but the office was too small for the 25 of us. So we went to the house of the consul-general. We arrived there at 9:00. There, we got a snack and something to drink. Then there was a little quiz about India, to test what we already know about the country. After that, they showed us two presentations. The first presentation was about some general information about India and the second one was a comparison between India and some other countries, like the Netherlands and China. After that, we got lunch and went to the next event.

The next event was at 14:00 at a company named Deloitte. This is a company that gives financial advice to other companies or to individuals. The building where Deloitte was in had 23 floors and Deloitte was on the 19th floor. We got a short introduction about what Deloitte does and we could ask some questions. After that, we were divided into four groups of five. Each group got the chance to ask some questions to someone from a different section of the company, that worked for some years there. After a couple of minutes, we had to participate with our groups in the Marshmallow Challenge. We had to make a tower with one yard of string, one yard of tape, 20 spaghetti sticks and marshmallow. The marshmallow had to be on top of the tower. The group with the highest tower was the winner. The people from Deloitte let us do this challenge, to show how important teamwork can be. My team had won the challenge. 

After that, we went back to the hotel to get some rest and in the evening, somewhere around 19:00, we went to the same restaurant where we went on Saturday. Then we returned to the hotel, where the fifth day of the trip ended.

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India - Monday, the 11th of February

This is the day where we went to one of the schools of the Parikrma Foundation. We arrived at the school around 9:00. There, the director of the school showed us two videos. The first video showed us what the Parikrma Foundation does and the second video showed how happiness can be important at school. After we watched the videos and asked some questions to the people that work at the school, we were supposed to go to some of the classes at the school. However, this didn’t happen, because some of the classes had their exams, so meanwhile, we went to one of the communities in Bangalore. The houses in this community were really colourful, but it was sad to see that these people didn’t have very much.

After some time, we went back to the school of the Parikrma Foundation. The exams were finished, so we were allowed to go to the classes. Here in India, the classes were divided based on their age and each class was named after a planet or the sun. I went together with Stijn, Rebecca, and Wouter to the Mercury class, which had students that were seven or eight years old. They really liked us and asked us a lot of questions. Some of the things they asked us were where we came from, how old we were and if we could sing a song for them. We also learned them how to make boats, airplanes, and roses using paper. Then we had lunch together with the students. We had to eat with our hands and we had to sit on the floor because this is what are the students are used to do. Then we had to say goodbye because the school was over and we had to go to the next event that was planned.

The next event was going to another mall in the afternoon. We had an hour or two to buy some food or other stuff we wanted. I bought an Indian edition of the Monopoly game. When we showed the Monopoly to the teachers, they also wanted one, which was quite funny. When everybody was at the meeting point at the mall, we went back to the hotel to get some rest. In the evening we went to a restaurant called The Only Place. They had delicious burgers. After everyone had finished their meal, we went back to the hotel, relaxed for a while and then our fourth day of the trip came to an end.

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India - Sunday, the 10th of February

The first event of today was around 10:00 in the morning at the market. We were separated into four groups. Each group consisted of the teachers and students from the same school. I bought some earrings.

When we were finished at the market, we went to the Bangalore Palace. The first thing we did there was going to a Hindustan wedding. Everyone found it really beautiful. Then, around 12:00 in the afternoon,we went into the palace. The palace was really colourful and had a lot of paintings. We arrived a little late at the meeting point so we couldn't find the bus anymore. Luckily, the bus came a couple of minutes later and we could go to the next event that was planned, another shopping mall, where we had our lunch. After lunch, at 14:30, we went to the Lalbagh Botanical Gardens. Here, we saw different kinds of plants. We also saw some monkeys and squirrels.

When we were finished at the Botanical Gardens, we were brought back to the hotel to get some rest and then, somewhere around 19:30, we went to another restaurant for to have dinner. Finally, we went back to the hotel, where the third day of our trip ended.

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India - Saturday, the 9th of February

Since we arrived late at the hotel, I only slept for four hours. Then had to eat my breakfast quickly and then we had to leave to begin the second day of our trip.

The first place we went to today was the St. Josephs College. We arrived there at 11:30 and were introduced to some of the students they showed us three presentations. The first presentation was about the economy in India, the second one was about some general information about India and the third presentation was about the role of women in India. These presentations lasted for some hours. After that, we were given a tour at the college and saw a football match.

When we were finished at the St. Josephs College, around 13:30, we were brought to the Orion Shopping Mall. I bought there a new backpack, because mine was damaged during the flight.

After the shopping mall, we went to the Krishna Temple. We had to take our shoes off and wash our feet because it had something to do with the religion. Then we participated in some of the rituals that were part of the religion.

When we were finished at the temple, we were brought back to the hotel to get some rest and later, around 19:00, we went to a restaurant at the St. Marks Hotel, that was on the other side of the street, and had dinner. Then we headed back towards the hotel, where the second day of the trip in India ended.

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India - Friday, the 8th of February

Our plane was leaving early, so I had to wake up early. I woke up at 5:50 in the morning, changed my clothes and packed the last few stuff I needed for the trip, went to the airport and arrived at Schiphol at 7:45 in the morning. There we had to wait for about an hour until everyone had checked in. Then I said goodbye to my parents and headed towards the customs, where I forgot to put everything that I had to put in the basket, so the customs had to search me. Fortunately, they said that nothing was wrong, so I could go further to check my passport and then headed to the gate. When we were there, a bus picked us up around 10:50 and brought us to the airplane, where I had to sit for nine hours.

To not to get bored, I watched the movie Crazy Rich Asians, played Tic Tac Toe against Stijn for two hours, played Solitaire for another two hours and played some games on my DS and then the flight came to an end. We arrived at approximately 0:30 at night (this was the time in India, in the Netherlands it was around 20:00 in the evening). 

In India, we first had to show our visa and passport. They also made a scan of our fingerprints. After that was done, we went to the bus that was going to bring us to the hotel. The chauffeur almost skipped me, because he thought that I was an Indian. That didn't happen (luckily) and we were brought to the hotel. There, around 4:00 in the morning, we went to our rooms, where the first day of our trip ended.