My first day was alright, we got to Sao Paulo at 5.20am and had to wait for 3 hours for our connecting flight to Rio, it was a very long 3 hours since we were all very exhaust after the 12 hours journey from London. The Journey from Sao Paulo to Rio wasn’t too bad as it was only 45 minutes; during this time learnt some phrases in Brazilian Portuguese. When we got to Rio, we welcomed by British Council staff and they were all very excited to meet us; and we later left the airport for our hotel in Ipanema. The journey from the airport to Ipanema was a very good starting point for our experience as we started noticing the vast difference in areas, we passed the tall lovely towers by the sea and a few moments later we saw a stream of poor developed houses.

The atmosphere of Rio was really good although the weather wasn’t too good, however that did not stop me from exploring Brazil´s beautiful landscape and nature beauty. As we drove into Ipanema we saw a city full of energy, laughter and fun, Rio is a colorful city and I really do await the pleasure to start exploring this wonderful country

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And here ends the longest 8 hours of my life. For those of you who are a fan of famous last words, today's departure to New Delhi was an opportunity for me to eat my words (or fail to keep them down....) It was mainly through boredom that I proclaimed to those around me on our vs300 flight from Heathrow that it would be really unfortunate to decide on the plane that, faced with the curry-inspired meal put in front of us, you hated Indian food and now had to spend the next six weeks politely devouring whatever might be put in front of you. And it was only two hours later, a mere half way through our eight hour haul, that the wholely un-inspiring act paid me a second visit, happily leaving me to commendeer one of the cube-esque toilets for the following two hours, where I sulkily managed to bury my head in my arms and have a kip between bouts of throwing up into narrow air-sickness paper bags. Quite the achievement to fall ill before even stepping foot on foreign soils, but on the plus side I was informed that the image of me sat wistfully on one of the  crew seats at the back of the cabin, morosely lit up in a harsh white light, was the defining image of a thoroughly long and uncomfortable flight.

On a far more positive note, the all-demanding first-day-in-a-new-place is now over and, as such, I can look forward to writing you a far more upbeat and inspiring blog tomorrow following our City Hunt :D In the mean time, I'm off for a slightly overdue eight hours sleep...

Well I'm now out In New Delhi. Part of me is still waiting to wake up from a dream and find that it's not real. We arrived over an hour later than we should have done as we were delayed. The plane journey was average and the food was reasonable, so yeah an average plane journey. Stepping onto the walkway from the plane when we arrived in India we were hit by a sudden blast of heat giving me just a small idea if what the heat was going to be like when we got outside. I got through customs woo!  they let me in. All good. The temperature outside was worse than I had imagined from that blast! Thankfully the coach had air conditioning.

The roads are totally crazy, some roads have markings but if their are no one looks at them there are cars and bikes and ricshaws weaving in and out all the time and horns are always blaring. In a coach it wasn't to bad we got to watch everything from above. At some points the road was split into four lanes and there were at least six cars next to each other as well as motorbikes! At other points the road markings diapear totally and so its absolute chaos. I'm surprised that there were no crashes, or pedestrians knocked down as they try to cross the roads. Traffic Lights... are a rare find and if you do see them they are nearly always stuck on green, I have seen one that was red. When you were in a car i was a lot different, and a lot scarier as you were right their watching all the cars come towards you at the same height instead of lower than you.

The hotel... Oh My Days it is amazing! Air Conditioned again but it looks like nothing but inside it is amazing. We were greated by being given garlands of flowers and a red paint ot on our foreheads, that took a while to get off but I did manage it. The food was good, all curries and traditional Indian foods. Its not going to take long to get used to the food. After time to rest we were taken to the British Council where we were given our itinary and did some other fun things and were fed yet more curry.

Bed Time!

The Plane landed at 11.30 this morning to a very humid and smelly delhi. Although you could not see the sun, the heat came from somewhere and had us all sweating before we even reached our coach.  Luckily the coach was well air conditioned  and took us from the airport to our hotel. This was our first glimpse of India. The roads were heaving with traffic and the pavements constantly being worked on by workers. People were everywhere. Walking, driving, sitting around the roads. Tents were pitched on roundabouts, and people were having picnics on the median of the motorway.

Ive never heard so many horns going off in my life, cars just randomy honk their horns, as they weave in and out of lanes. There is no anger or road rage behind the horns, nor is there often purpose, other than to warn cars that they are near. But you would have thought they would perhaps apply the 2 second rule or just not drive so close to each other.  Drivers probably use there horn out here more than they use there breaks. I guess they could be called very horny people. Honk Honk! There is no highway code over here. Just the bigger the car, the more they can bully there way through traffic. Being a coach, we got through the traffic quicker than others. I never thought traffic jams could be so fun. The roads are an experience in themselves and make ques on the M25 look like kids play. An English driver over hear would get eaten up for breakfast. It's dog eat dog stuff and its awesome! 

So I’ve Arrived. 

The plane journey is standard, so to speak - neither special enough to describe in awe-inspiring detail, nor dull enough to complain about. Simply a long-haul necessary flight from A - Heathrow - to B - New Delhi.

Stepping out of the airport after many photos being taken, which left us all feeling like celebrities, and a camera being lost, the humidity was the first Indian Change to hit us SMACK! in the face. I’ve never experienced such a feeling. Not like an Italian summer or a worryingly high temperature, but perhaps like experiencing both at the same time - luckily I’ve not been on the receiving end of this unlucky combination. 

The colours of this Capitol City were the second big change. Greenery, saris, food, and hand-painted vehicles made for a jaw-dropping journey in a wonderfully air-conditioned bus, whose driver seemed too calm in comparison with his passengers.

The hotel we’re staying in is, apparently, 5 star accomodation, and although the exterior doesn’t reveal its plush interior, standing in the lobby is another world. I’m lucky to be staying in a room with Gemma Colluci with whom I get along really well but the whole group seems to be - and I hope I’m not speaking too soon - getting along very well. Oh, and the rooms are something from a student’s dreams, as are the provisions for food, and everything else for that matter.

Although jet-lagged, we traveled to the offices of the British High Commission where we enjoyed more practical advice, tips for orienteering and an idea of what our time in Delhi and Bangalore should look like, although much of this depends on the group too.

I know photos were promised but the aforementioned jet-lag is noticeably kicking in. Not to say that I haven’t already taken loads! 

Take care dear readers, of which I hope there are a few…

Look forward to a more detailed and photo entailing post tomorrow.

AOIFE 
X 

Well what a day! (and night). We left Heathrow at 7pm on Friday and I am still yet to sleep!! The flight with Virgin was a long 8 hours and I didn't sleep much, probably due to  the pure adreniline and excitement overriding the pragmatic solution of getting some rest. Arriving in Dehli was amazing, especially being hit by a wave of heat and humidity well above 30 degrees celsius - even though it was cloudy!! Since then we have checked into the hotel in Connaught Place, Dehli just set back from the constant blaring of car and rickshaw horns which really are commonplace in India. This is just the beginning of the programme  and the first Blog entry of many so I have kept it short and sweet as due to travelling we are still yet to see Dehli for real. Bring on tomorrow were we will explore the city with students from Dehli University... 

New Delhi:

Day One:

This will be the first of many Blogs, which will become more innovative (pictures, videos etc) as time goes on and I have more to say!

This morning the 8 ish hour flight finally came to an end. Unsurprisingly, I did not sleep for a second. As we left the plane, with the New Delhi humidity (I may refer to this in future as NDH as it's so prevalent) was absolutely staggering. To put things into perspective, everyone was sweating after the 5 minute walk to the coaches! The traffic situation is truly mesmerising. How we have not crashed after only a couple of journeys I don't know; no indicators, 2 wheel drives, 4 wheel drives, cyclists, motorcylists etc etc coming out of nowhere.

I have just come back from the heavily guarded British Council HQ, where we had (relatively uninteresting but essential) inductions. One thing for sure is that this 6 weeks will be inspiring, entertaining and challenging. I am particularly looking forward to visiting the Bombay Stock Exchange, work experience at HSBC and properly living in India when I'll be spending a couple of weeks with a host family and of course visiting the Taj on Thursday. All these things + more will be intensely blogged about.

My thinking of the Indian natives is very similar to what I felt about the South Africans I met in Johannesburg last year. Incredibly welcoming and exhaustively eager to impress and showcase their country. India is hosting the Commonwealth games in October and like last year when I was in SA this summer before the WC, the people want to prove their country is the place to be. What is certainly true of many Indians, is that the use of a little Hindi goes a long way. Just by saying hello (namaste) or thank you (shukriya) in Hindi you get a heart-warming wide smile - making you feel even more welcome.

I will be updating the blog hopefully every couple of days, so keep looking!

All the best,

Alex 

At 2.15 today, it will be 80 hours until we're scheduled to take off, and as 8 is a lucky number in China, I figured it would be a good time for a first blog! (I would have liked to have done it 88 hours before, but that would have meant 6.15 this morning which is far to early to be thinking!!)

So, it was the pre-departure briefing about two weeks ago, which was AMAZING fun, also REALLY tiring, I'm sure I'm only just getting over it! It was so great to get to meet the other fellows, not that I got chance to speak to them all properly! And it made the whole thing seem so much more real, suddenly it wasn't something in this distant future it was really happening and was only two weeks away! It also made really clear the expectations the British Council held of us to continue working when we came back, and the responsibility that would entail, that came out in the first speech made by the leader of the programme. It was also clear to see the investment that the British Council and the Dept for Education were putting into us, and so I left with a feeling that I would definitely make the most of every minute both in China and on the return. 

The briefing was also the chance to meet our corporate hosts. Mine was Kingfisher (the parent company of B&Q, who I'll be working with in Shanghai) and I found this so interesting, far more then I thought I would as I'm not especially business minded. I also found it really reassuring to see that such a large international company did have a real interest in protecting the environment; I had always assumed companies did a token bit of "green thinking" for the purposes of PR, but in the case of Kingfisher at least, it's something they invest a lot of time and money in and seem really dedicated to. So much of what they do, they don't publicise, this was explained to us by the Corporate Responsibility Manager, she told us that people didn't want to have all of a company's green credentials rammed down their throats, they just want to know that it's been taken care of for them. So in the case of B&Q, this meant that ensuring all their timber was sustainably sourced, but not continually advertising it.

Since the briefing, I have has an absolutely manic two weeks. I am so glad that the British Council take care of the bulk of the organising for us, because if left to me, I'm fairly sure I probably wouldn't even make it to Heathrow! But I think now I've bought everything I need, when I get home today I'm sorting out a photo album of pictures of the local area to show my host family, and then all I have left to do is pack. (Although, that's far easier said then done- 20kg for almost 7 weeks!!) 

That's all for now!

Hmmm, first ever blog written, but i decided that doing this would be alot more fun than bag packing, which has apparently taken over my life of late.

Stuff, i seem to have piles of "stuff" everywhere, clothes, pants, socks, paper, more pants, its unbelievable! its like im planning on opening a clothes shop in china that has a special interest in underpants and socks! Maybe I could put forward this idea to B&Q when i get out there....

Stuff, it seems the only way i could fit everything in my bag is not neatly fold and stack it, like my mum suggests, but instead its better if i just stuff it in there, it some how works.

Im actually really excited about the plane journey, firstly because i get to see a free film, which will be good, secondly because i get to fly over Dubai, that will be an amazing spectacle, however someone told me that it is essentially all sand, then in the middle of nowhere a massive city, i hope i dont fall asleep and miss the view. This will be the longest time i have ever spent on a plane so it should be a bit of an expirience!

I am starting to say goodbye to some of my friends who i wont see for a hil because they are going straight to uni in september, its always an emotional goodbye, until i bump in to them the next day in town and have the awkward second goodbye, only to see them again in tescos later in the day! York will seem very very small compared to the chinese cities!

right i feel more packing is on the menu,

speak soon

Joe