Goodbye

As most of you know, my plans were to spend the following month travelling through my last whim, China. However, as I was about to leave the marvelous Taj Mahal, I received bad news from home. Apparently, a new kind of flu virus is spreading really fast and some countries (China among them) are talking about starting to close their frontiers. My family thought that me getting stuck at such a distance from Mallorca after 5 months of non-stop travelling was something that was not going to happen. I started to see all my plans (Shanghai, Guilin, Xian, Beijing, Tibet, ...) slowly walking away...

I must say that to me everything seemed a bit overreacting, but at that point my best efforts were focused on staying awake in an awful Indian train station filled with really big rats. I had no way of getting information about this supposed virus, so I decided to come back. That means that… yes!! I’m writing these lines from Spain!! It is really weird to be at home again, with a comfortable bed, a shower with permanent hot water and shops that do not accept the bargaining system!! (this last one is really disappointing)

But let's not make this small setback ruin my memories of the last 5 months! My exchange has been something that I would definitely never forget, an experience that has for sure changed my way of seeing things, a journey that I recommend to everybody!! Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, India... wait for me, I'll be back!!

Saris, chapatis and temples in colorful INDIA

My trip to India has been one of the nicest and one of the saddest. Nicest because I have always wanted to visit this amazing country. Saddest because it reminded me that my days as an exchange student have come to an end. Let’s start with the first one.

During these 15 days we have travelled the north of India: Delhi, Udaipur, Pushkar, Ajmer, Jaipur, Agra and Varanasi, using all the different kind of transports you can imagine: we experienced those crowded coaches that Indian trains are known for, we much appreciated the next trip in a first class carriage, we rented our own car (and suffered the consequences of the chaotic Indian way of driving), we hopped on some really congested buses, we visited temples from the top of an elephant, and so on.

The experience has been, overall, amazing. I thought that after those months travelling Southeast Asia I would be prepared for what India had to offer me, but still once more time my expectations were exceeded. The colors, the traditions, the places, … everything I had always wanted to see was finally there.

We have visited the Taj Mahal, walked the pink city, enjoyed the Ganges at dawn and understood a bit more the peculiarities of one of my favorite countries.

Yes, streets might be dirty. Yes, your tourist look attracts too much the attention of local people. Yes, there are a lot of things going on that you probably won’t understand. But still, it’s a wonderful place to which I hope to go back someday… soon!