Day 3

Day 3
>
> April 13, 10:58 pm, Vellore
> Another day down. Today was registration. We found our way over to
> the CMC college campus this morning and met Sheela from the
> principal's office. She was very nice and friendly, which put me in
> a good mood. I love meeting happy people. The campus is a little
> ways out of town and it is beautiful, a stark contrast from the
> madness of the city. It is very well manicured and well kept. It
> almost seems out of place in this town. We filled out some paperwork
> and got registered, which took pretty much all morning. We visited
> the canteen and got some pineapple juice, which was delicious.
>
> Oh, I almost forgot about breakfast. Katherine and I had dosas here
> at the hotel restaurant. Dang. So good. They are kind of like big
> crispy crepes. I'm not sure how else to describe it. But then there
> is stuff inside it, like potatoe and stuff. Then you have 3
> different sauce things you can dip it in. One of them is like hummus
> but with more of a peanut flavor. It was great.
>
> Anyway, we also signed up for Internet access at the campus, but
> apparently it takes a couple of days to get the account set up?
> We'll give it a shot tomorrow.
>
> We took the bus back from the campus to the hospital. It was stuffed
> pretty well but hey, Rs 3 beats the Rs 50 that we paid for an
> autorickshaw on the way out. When I was getting off I had to squeeze
> through a bunch of people and apparently my CMC ID fell off. I
> didn't realize it until the bus was starting to pull off and this
> guy runs up and hands it to me and says "excuse me, this belongs to
> you", and then he ran and got back on the bus. Can you believe that?
> I thought that was awesome that he would do that.
>
> We talked to Beulah (also SUPER sweet... she was so concerned about
> us getting some lunch and staying out of the sun and telling us what
> to eat and not... very funny. again, made me happy) at the hospital
> when we got back and found that there really is no campus housing
> available. Apparently it fills up months in advance. So I guess
> we're going to stay here at Aavana. First impressions of the CMC
> hospital? It's very big, and seems fairly well kept and clean... but
> it is just so far from what we would consider a decent hospital in
> the States. It was somewhat sobering to think that this is one of
> the best hospitals in India. It is an open campus and the buildings
> and rooms do not have AC. They just have windows open to the
> outside. Of course, the quality of the hospital cannot be judged
> based on the building. They could still provide great care. It's
> just very different than what we're used to.
>
> We went and strolled down gandhi street this afternoon. Lots of
> little shops. The girls bought some Indian clothes. Unfortunatley,
> the guys pretty much dress similar to us, so I don't know if I'll
> buy many clothes here. It was good to get out into the town a little
> though. Well, I think I'm going to wrap this up for now. Until
> tomorrow...