ok so looking at this blog i have been pretty poor at keeping up-to-date, so when i get travelling again in just over a week's time i think i'll blog more regularly.
ok so nearly finished up at lal hospital...one week left!to be honest this couldn't come quick enough as i'm getting more than a little bored. despite being surrounded by a lot of girls training to be nurses who are my age everything is lost in translation. they do read and write english but don't speak it...and anything they do understand is lost when i speak as it's nonsense to them in my Irish accent....very infuriating.sometimes i think they understand more english than they let on,.
To pass the time i have been keeping myself busy with shopping; unfortunately kerala doesn't have topshop so i've had to make do with other alternatives...i've bought sarees, scarves, bangles, salwaar,kurtas, i've even been a regular visitor to the tailor for handmde items...i have no idea how i'm going to get it home but that's another matter. if anyone wants a saree just let me know they are cheap here...like 2 pounds cheap! another thing i discovered was 'specs' are cheap...i just got frames and lenses for the costly sum of 1000 rupees...equivalent to about 12 pounds....I realise now i most definitely shouldn't have gone to specsavers as it's about 10 times the price for the same 'designer'brands!
also to pass the time i've become a lady of leisure, often visiting the beauty parlous for facials and pedicures etc...it all went a bit overboard and i got a bit carried away during one such session coming away with a red streak in my hair that seemed to scream mid-life crisis...after this incident i realised i needed to get out of the 7 mile radius i'd been living in for the past 3 weeks....so this weekend i'm off to the beach at varkala....fingers crossed the rain holds out!it'll be my first encounter on the indian train system and i'm slightly worried...i'll let you know how it goes.
ok...so i suppose i should mention the medicine as that is the primary reason for me being here. i have actually noticed that despite dr lazar's(aka hitler's) continuous bark of questions i have actually learnt a thing or two and actually he's not so bad....it has taken 3 weeks for the fear to subside. ok i've gotta go pick up my specs and then have a facial....talk soon. x

update from kerala...

ok so i've been very bad at keeping this updated and so much has happened but i'll try and keep it brief!it would be alot easier if i could upload photos but one takes an hour so i'm gonna wait until i return home!
Right so i left Mussoorie and needless to say i'd grown attached to the place despite the misty weather and the never ending supply of dhal so i was kinda sad and scared about the next part of my trip.
I went back down to Delhi and instantly couldn't wait to get out of it; maybe if i'd been with somebody else but delhi alone is very depressing.
Tuesday -Agra, the Taj was amazing, I had a great guide (Vicky) who took some great photos; my personal favorite was when he got to me to lounge on the bench for the infamous picture with the Taj in the background and pointed out some really interesting highlights on the building (the Albert Einstein spot in the marble being one!). Like any foreigners that have been there i was asked to appear in multiple 'snaps', and finally having individual photos taken with each child from a large Indian family before the group family shot with me in the middle. it's the strangest thing and unfortunately during this trip i have ended up gracing the pages of too many random family photo albums looking sweaty and red faced...but hey maybe that's why the like us so much!
wednesday- goa (via mumbai...narrowly missing the terroism); which was beautiful but extremely wet...not ideal sunbathing conditions. However i managed the impossible and got extremely burnt even thought there was no sun???
Finally i arrived in Kerala on Saturday. place is very different to the north...most importantly because the men always wear sarongs (don't worry dad i'll pick you up one), they actually look kinda comfortable but i think if i wore one i would get more weird stares than a man in a skirt would normally get. Malaylam is the language and i struggle to even say thank you, and very few people can speak english so i'm feeling like everything is being lost in translation. I'm staying in the hospital in quite basic accommodation where bucket showers with cold water are readily available, my room-mate is a very friendly extremely large spider who has kinda taken control of the bathroom, although all is good because if i want to get away from it all i can always go for a walk in the rain! hospital is good but tough i have been constantly quizzed by a delightful consultant with a Hitler moustache only to come up trumps for all the answers....he definitely thinks i'm probably lying that i'm a medical student and he gave me the afternoon off to go shopping...he finally realized what my level was. treated myself to a saree and a man sarong (official terminology lungi) that i'll wear in the confines of my room, i'm sure the spider will appreciate it. i await some form of conversation but the outlook is bleak....

bad times...

So many due to my own stupid fault i lost my new fancy phone somewhere on the mountain...and some lucky person happened across it and decided that they would like a new android and kept it for themselves. unfortunately this means i have lost all the numbers of people i have met just far which couldn't have come at a worse time cos now is when i need them! Anyways on the bright side I had an opportunity to experience the Indian judicial system at great length...very educational. This entailed me being taken from police station to lawyer and a few strange places in between standing like a mug whilst everybody spoke in Hindi and then I was told to "come". I had to write a letter certifying that I had lost my phone, then I had to pay a lawyer to certify that I had certified I'd lost my phone to then' pay' the police to write report saying I'd lost my phone. the things i learned during this experience: it matters when you've lost your phone if you are single and thus who your father is, i don't know why this has any baring on how i managed to lose my phone but the fact i'm daughter of Gerart lynch...(yes this is how the lawyer spelt your name on the official legal document dad) seems to affect the manner in which i lost the phone. another important lesson...the police are corrupt and all they seem to do is stamp letters for money. oh and also apparently you must cancel your phone not because the thief in question maybe downloading dirty pictures onto your stolen phone at your expense but because they often get up to terrorist activity under you name???i think this is where education ends. getting a new phone was an experience in itself that required 3 forms of id, again my father's name and a passport sized photograph...perhaps this lengthy process is to deter the terrorists?
sorry rant over moving on...I'm leaving Mussoorie on sunday and going back down to Delhi and around for the next week...i'm sad to be leaving here and scared of the great unknown of the next part of my trip but i'm really excited! I'll let you know how it all goes...until then x

ok so the update all my fans have been waiting for in anticipation! photos will follow soon but i only have 10 mins now but i promise i'll get on it. ok so lets start with the most important stuff...my tan. you'll all be extremely surprised to hear that the tan has yet to develop...I blame monsoon season and the almost permanent cloud i'm living in at the moment. i thought the rain was bad in Ireland but it's nothing compared to here, it's hot but there isn't a lot of sun and the days there is sun i keep forgetting that i am pale and need suncream and suffer the consequences!fear not once i get off this mountain i am sure my golden tan will develop.
This morning I'm off to a village to see some patients with this missionary, this will be the 3rd time I've gone with him and it's fun, altho the trek across the mountain to get to some of the villages is quite a hike, and though i would like to blame it on altitude and not my extreme lack of fitness it is a real struggle at times.
This weekend past I wet to Rishikesh, home of yoga and the beatles enlightment...it was fun went rafting in the Ganges and had a little swim...i feel a lot more spiritual now.
Last week i went to an Indian wedding (couple unknown), it was an absolute thrive, got my photo taken with the couple and everything!
I love the hospital and everyone is very friendly and there are always other students about, aside for some near misses with a few monkeys where I thought i was going to be attacked and the never ending supply of dhal that they serve us in the hospital mess I am loving every minute and can't believe I only have just over a week left!
I'll try and get those pics up tomorro...i want you all to see this little baby that is orphaned that we've been looking after in the hospital since she was born

ok so this is a quick blog because I am in the hospital office...but I have so much to say!!!where to begin?
ok so Delhi was nice if not suffocatingly hot, so I mostly enjoyed the indoors and the air conditioning when I was there; am planning on seeing it properly on my return at the end of this month. Although shopping for my salwaar chemis( I think i spelt that wrong), the clothes I am going to wear in the hospital and what all the women wear here was fun. Still finding it hard to get used to the stares as you walk everywhere, especially when you get asked for a photograph with an entire Indian family, not looking your best!
i then took a car ride with another girl from the hospital (laura very nice american girl) up to Mussoorie...the 9 hour (should've been 7) journey was an experience and the classic lane system we enjoy in the uk doesn't seem to apply in India, I'm pretty sure I am deaf now because of the constant horn beeping, and there were moments where I was seriously fearing for my life!
Ok so Mussoorie, it's 6000m above sea level i believe, it's very mountainous and extremely beautiful, and thankfully not as hot as delhi! the hospital is a mission hospital that just recently had a massive $1million refurb so it is quite (well by heres standards) pretty modern. my room is nice, it has an en suite and a double bed, plus the added bonus of a family of monkeys ouside my window that come and visit me every so often.
Having laura around is really good because she has been showing me everything, and it seems nobody else is around to explain anything so I've been making it up as I go along. There has also been the welcome arrival of 2 other girls; both medical students one canadian and one american who have been really fun and I have been exploring mussoorie with them. one of them is travelling around when i am so i think we're gonna do it together!
However when it was my turn to act as guide for them we kinda got a little bit lost in the mountains...not really bad except for the fact that apparently there are bears and leopards and tigers in the mountains, not to mention the rabid dogs - don't worry mum and dad we were perfectly safe...i think...(it was only after this trip did I tell them the story of getting lost on the way to Mcdonalds that one time lizzie and katy).
Hospital wise it's minly good alothough sometimes there isn't time to translate so i don't really know what's going on but i've been seeing loads of stuff.
Ok that's probs all for now...I've probably left loads out...pictures to follow. love to you all! x
p.s. mum if your trying to ring me i've had some issues topping up my phone but will get it sorted next time i can be bothered to walk down the massive hill!x

farewell uk!

So while I sit in Heathrow airport waiting for my flight to Delhi (eek),full of waggamamma(the last one for a while I imagine.) And still feeling sad after saying bye to all my housemates(I hope you girls have an amazing summer)...I thought I'd make a start on this blog. After spending the past 3days packing and scrubbing my house in uni(in a bid to get at least some of the deposit back) I am relieved to be actually finally going...well relieved and terrified! My terror was not helped by reading the 'beware woman travellers' section of my lonely planet just before; now I'm scared of being groped as I walk down the street!I suppose its better to know than be suddenly shocked when it happens...never mind I suppose its all of the experience and I'm glad I invested in my argos gold wedding band to ward off any potential admirers!I think its just fear of the unknown and worried I'm not prepared for it.reading my guidebook really highlighted how naive I am!
On the plus side I was pleasantly surprised that the rucksack I'm going to be carrying for the next 3months is only 14kilos! I am very excited for the adventure...let's not forget all the exciting medicine stuff I'm going to encounter!
I am being met at the airport by a lovely lady named zarema and I'll be staying with her so at least ill have a guide to ease me in to the intensity of Delhi and from sat ill be in the more peaceful foothills of the Himalayas! Ok gonna go and catch this flight...ill let you know how it goes!x