#first real post on this blog wohooo!! here’s to many more

[kristinhelgamagnusdottir]

My first week in India !

So, I’ve packed all my stuff into a locket closet in Manhattan, said goodbye to the rooftop bars and have arrived in Bangalore, India !

I live on the campus of Infosys in Bangalore, and it’s like living in a botanical garden, this is my home (and office) garden for the next 10 weeks:

I arrived on a Saturday morning (super jet lagged since it’s 9.5 hour time difference), 2. June 2018, and spent the Saturday wandering around campus and admiring this place. The weather here is perfect (had heard horror stories about the heat in India and the monsoon rain season). It rains usually in the evenings but the days are beautiful and very nice to sit outside.

In the afternoon I found another intern wandering around, so we wandered together and found all the activities inside the campus. We went bowling, but there is also a swimming pool, tennis courts, badminton courts, ping pong, billiard and other activities.

Then I was added to a Whatsapp group for interns and after falling asleep at 5pm on Saturday (and waking up at 1am on Sunday) I joined a few interns (who had been here for 2 weeks) for a walk around the campus and inside the city.

We live in a area in Bangalore called Electronic City. We took a walk outside of outside of campus and, well... pictures say more than a thousand words. We also took a cab to the city and walked around Cubbon park and around the shopping area there.

The first thing you will notice in Bangalore is the traffic. There are cars and motorbikes everywhere and there seems to be no order, everybody honks constantly and I’m sure all the people on the motorbikes must have some kind of a death wish.

The second thing that comes to mind is my favorite: wild cows ! Everywhere you can find wild cows, just roaming around, hanging out, eating trash, chillin’ at the middle of heavy traffic road and blocking all traffic. Super calm. They are adorable. (There are also a lot of wild dogs which are not as adorable and we saw a wild goat standing on a motor cycle, I’m still sad I didn’t get a picture of that)

As you may know, cows are holy in hinduism. So the cows just get to hang out wherever.

The third thing you will notice is the cutest thing - the head nod. Indians nod their head to the left and right. First I thought it was super confusing since this nod can mean around 100 different things. Usually it means yes. Sometimes it means maybe. I’m still getting confused and just hoping that I’m guessing the meaning correctly.

Enough of that for now...

On Monday it was first day of work. So now I can cover what I’m doing here :)

I’m doing a internship at one of the major Indian tech companies, Infosys. The program is called Instep and my internship is 10 weeks. My project is on “Internet of Me” where I will be a full stack developer creating a recommendation system.

The first day was not exactly workday, but an induction day. We had a tour around campus and then lectures about the program and the company. We also had to go do more administrative work like opening a bank account, getting a sim card, laptop etc.

But after the day everything was set up !

On Tuesday I met my co-mentor. My actual mentor is located in Bhubaneswar in the east of India, but his coworker is more than ready to help me with anything. We talked about the project and I saw my office and the next few days at the office I spent looking at what the intern from last year had been coding. I wish I could show you photos from my office but it is forbidden.

That same evening I took a 2 hour taxi to the city (only 20 km but the traffic here is insane during rush hour) with three other interns - to go to the movies and see a Bollywood movie! I watched a few Bollywood movies before I came here but I was excited to experience it in a movie theatre.

A few things are different from the movie theaters back home:

1. You walk through a metal gate and body search - the purpose is not only for weapons but to find the candy you thought you could smuggle in! The girls had bought doughnuts to take home after the movies, but had to eat it by the entrance of the movie theatre because the doughnuts were not allowed in.

2. Before the movie starts, guests are asked to stand up from their seats while India’s national anthem is played.

3. In the case that there is any scene where someone smokes a cigarette in the movie, then you will see a horribly scary clip of cancer before the movie starts (and during the smoking scene there will be a big text in the corner saying that smoking kills).

But the movie was good (although I was still so jet lagged that I slept through most of it). I can’t wait to learn some Bollywood dances.

[khmagnusdottir-blog]

My first week in India !

So, I’ve packed all my stuff into a locket closet in Manhattan, said goodbye to the rooftop bars and have arrived in Bangalore, India !

(hmm I can’t control the size of the photos on this blog so I guess you just have to see huge photos)

So this is gonna be my new home for the next 10 weeks:

(Still can’t believe I live in a hotel room, it’s gonna be hard to go back to cleaning my room after this, and yeah I get two beds woho)

But the best thing about my new home is my garden. (Ok, maybe not “my garden” but eyhh...)

I live on the campus of Infosys in Bangalore, and it’s like living in a botanical garden !

So I arrived on a Saturday morning (super jet lagged since it’s 9.5 hour time difference), 2. June 2018, and spent the Saturday wandering around campus and admiring this place. The weather here is perfect (had heard horror stories about the heat in India and the monsoon rain season). It rains usually in the evenings but the days are beautiful and very nice to sit outside.

In the afternoon I found another lost intern wandering, so we wandered together and found all the activities inside the campus. We went bowling, but there is also a swimming pool, tennis courts, badminton courts, ping pong, billiard and other activities.

Then I was added to a Whatsapp group for interns and after falling asleep at 5pm on Saturday (and waking up at 1am on Sunday) I joined a few interns (who had been here for 2 weeks) for a walk around the campus and inside the city.

We live in a area in Bangalore called Electronic City. We took a walk outside of outside of campus and, well... pictures say more than a thousand words. We also took a cab to the city and walked around Cubbon park and around the shopping area there.

The first thing you will notice in Bangalore is the traffic. There are cars and motorbikes everywhere and there seems to be no order, everybody honks constantly and I’m sure all the people on the motorbikes must have some kind of a death wish.

Another thing you will notice is that if you go to the park or somewhere outside of the main business area, you will feel like a celebrity.

At one point in the park, after we agreed to one picture, we had a group of 10 people all taking selfies with us at once and a line forming to get photos. 

The third thing that comes to mind is my favorite: wild cows ! Everywhere you can find wild cows, just roaming around, hanging out, eating trash, chillin’ at the middle of heavy traffic road and blocking all traffic. Super calm. They are adorable. (There are also a lot of wild dogs which are not as adorable and we saw a wild goat standing on a motor cycle, I’m still sad I didn’t get a picture of that)

As you may know, then cows are holy in hinduism. So the cows just get to hang out wherever.

 This guy was just taking out the trash, no problem:

Enough of that for now...

On Monday it was first day of work. So now I can cover what I’m doing here :)

I’m doing a internship at one of the major Indian tech companies, Infosys. The program is called Instep and my internship is 10 weeks. My project is on “Internet of Me” where I will be a full stack developer creating a recommendation system. I will probably go more into the details in another blog (also the project is still being defined in details so I don’t want to say too much).

The first day was not exactly workday, but an induction day. We had a tour around campus and then lectures about the program and the company. We also had to go do more administrative work like opening a bank account, getting a sim card, laptop etc.

But after the day everything was set up !

On Tuesday I met my co-mentor. My actual mentor is located in Bhubaneswar in the east of India, but his coworker is more than ready to help me with anything. We talked about the project and I saw my office and the next few days at the office I spent looking at what the intern from last year had been coding. I wish I could show you photos from my office but it is forbidden.

That same evening I took a 2 hour taxi to the city (only 20 km but the traffic here is insane during rush hour) with three other interns - to go to the movies and see a Bollywood movie! I watched a few Bollywood movies before I came here but I was excited to experience it in a movie theatre.

A few things are different from the movie theaters back home:

1. You walk through a metal gate and body search - the purpose is not only for weapons but to find the candy you thought you could smuggle in! The girls had bought doughnuts to take home after the movies, but had to eat it by the entrance of the movie theatre because the doughnuts were not allowed in.

2. Before the movie starts, guests are asked to stand up from their seats while India’s national anthem is played.

3. In the case that there is any scene where someone smokes a cigarette in the movie, then you will see a horribly scary clip of cancer before the movie starts (and during the smoking scene there will be a big text in the corner saying that smoking kills).

But the movie was good (although I was still so jet lagged that I slept through most of it). I can’t wait to learn some Bollywood dances.

Back to the work culture, then the first thing I noticed at my office was that the guy sitting next to me kept on taking all his phone calls on speaker from his desk phone. I looked around me, saw that no one minded and thought to myself why no one said anything since I found this super interrupting for everyone around... quickly I learned that this is what everyone does. People are working in remote teams and spend a lot of time on the phone, and then this seems to be the best way (I still vote for headsets though).

One of my favorite thing (at least the cutest thing) about the culture is the way Indians nod their head to the left and right. First I thought it was super confusing since this nod can mean around 100 different things. Usually it means yes. Sometimes it means maybe. I’m still getting confused and just hoping that I’m guessing the meaning correctly. 

-----

I told one of the coordinators of the internship program that I was interested in hiking, and he recommended a hiking company called Plan the Unplanned. I contacted them on Thursday and got the last spot on the Kudremukh Trek over the weekend.

What a great decision.

We left at 5am on Saturday to go to Kudremukh, which is around 8 hours drive away from Bangalore. I was the only non-Indian on the hike but everyone were super thoughtful and always making sure that I was fitting in and understanding the culture haha. I was super lucky.

The bus trip started with introductions, icebreakers and Indian dance party (at that time I wondered what I had signed up for)

I learned how to eat rice with my hands

When we finally got to Kudremukh we hiked up to a waterfall there in the monsoon rain

Then we went to our accommodation, a homestay where we had to save the electricity (only lights when going to the toilet) and the hot water for the shower was scarce. 

These were our beds for the night:

I must say this reminded me of my trips with the Icelandic Rescue team when I was in training there, but this was a more luxurious version of that. I honestly enjoy this simpleness at times, it makes you really appreciate warm soft bed, clean, dry clothes and showers. 

My most confused moment in this trip was this evening when it was my turn to get the shower. I walk in - and there is no shower. Only this bucket in the middle of the restroom:

With a little help from my new friends on the trip I learned that this is the way to shower in India. You fill up the big bucket with water, and then use the cup to pour over yourself. It was really not bad. (But not saying I would love to switch my shower for a bucket).

We had home cooked Indian meals (yeah I could have had a very bad stomach on the hike, but I took my chances and had amazing food).

We played games, shared experiences and had a very nice night.

The next day we woke up again at 5am and went out to the monsoon rain to start the real trek.

The total hike is around 20 km. This photo is taken at the first milestone (of many), next to the peace tree:

By that time I was already wet through each and every garment. The rain was just like a regular shower and the hike took around hours. I’ve never been as wet in my life.

We crossed countless rivers

And the scenery was breathtaking

And finally we reached the top !

This rain is no joke. Most of the time we were walking in a river.

Which also lead to a bigger problem - leeches !

There were leeches everywhere... people had tens of them on their legs, some on their neck, stomach and even the face. That was probably the least favorite part haha. I’ve never seen a leech before and now I’ve seen enough for a lifetime. No pictures of that because some people were really traumatized and it wasn’t exactly the photo time...

In stead I’ll post a pic of one leach we saw crawling in our bedroom on the Saturday morning, fat and happy after a good night with us in our beds :)

We arrived back in Bangalore at 4am on Monday after an authentic experience with a bus in India... no seat belts and the roads are super bumpy. I flew out of my seat completely to the floor 3 times wohooo...

Now I’m excited for next week, there is a 3 day weekend and I’m going on a trip to Jaipur, Agra (to see Taj Mahal) and Delhi. Also next week I’ll write more about my work and the work culture.