Wardrobe Malfunction Free!

Great news: yesterday was our final presentation (though, we're still working on the final final paper to be submitted in T-8 hours). Even better news: all of the TPS ladies were relatively wardrobe malfunction free. Why is this important? Well, a majority of the 12 females on the trip decided to wear traditional garb for our final presentation (read: saris). Since arriving in India, I've been mesmerized by the beautiful drapes of fabric that women somehow manage to wear on a daily basis. Let's just say that I never thought I'd be able to wear such things for a couple of reasons: 1) I'm taller than pretty much the whole country (seriously) and didn't think the fabric would be long enough to not look silly, 2) I have (had) no idea how to put the darn thing on, or ) how to keep the darn thing on. Despite the reservations, I gave in and decided to wear one for our final presentation, mainly because I didn't bring any business clothes but also because, well, when in Rome...

After several early-morning YouTube videos and a whole bunch of horribly-wrong attempts, Audra and I (sort of) mastered the art of putting on the sari! Or so we thought... When we got to ICTPH for our presentations, several women who work at the building pulled some of our group aside to fix the ill-tied saris. Apparently you shouldn't trust everything you see on the internet! :)

Allison, Eprise, Nancy, me, Audra, Leslie, Megan, Sonia, Dessa, and Josh, all rockin'  traditional garb.

Me with the arm candy of our trip, Josh and Shawn. 

Gift from Ravi and Ramesh!

 Anyway, all of the groups (cardiovascular disease, GI disease, maternal and child health, oral cancer, and oral health teams) gave incredible presentations. I couldn't believe how far we've come in such a short two months time.

After the presentations, ICTPH treated us yet again to a luxurious poolside afternoon, complete with dinner at the Chariot Resort. Rumor has it the Olympic-sized pool we swam and played volleyball in is one of the largest resort pools in Asia. A couple of my classmates and I then ventured down to the beach and decided to jump some waves in the Bay of Bengal. Such a great way to end the course! :)

The pool!

Playing in the Bay of Bengal!!

Farewell Thanjavur, hello Chennai.

Life in India has been a bit busy the past few days, as I literally traveled the entire width of India, from Alleppey/Kochi (on the eastern coast, by the Arabian Sea), to Thanjavur, and ending in Chennai this morning.

Long cross-country trek -- Alleppey/Kochi --> Thanjavur --> Chennai.  Oy.

Alleppey/Kochi 
The last day in the state of Kerala, in Alleppey, was spent doing some work on the paper/presentation, beachside of course. Our driver Ajit then took us from our homestay to the city of Kochi, where we had an unsuccessful shopping trip, in the pouring rain. Since our train to Thanjavur didn't leave until 10 PM, we decided to go hang out at a fancy-schmancy hotel in Kochi - for five hours - to get out of the rain and enjoy some pampering! It was pretty interesting getting into the hotel, as the recent terrorist attacks in Mumbai have led a lot of the nice hotels to up their security. Some guards had to check out the inside of our car before we get into the parking lot and then our bags had to go through an x-ray machine, just to enter the place! I don't know if these screenings made me feel more safe or more creeped out... :)

Right outside our room! :)

Open bathrooms! Some of the girls took a shower in the monsoon rains!

Welcoming lime juice!

Thanjavur
Once we returned to Thanjavur on Sunday, the entire day and night was spent working on our paper that was due on Monday. Luckily, I'm part of an amazing group who picked up the slack when I fell ill on Sunday night. Let's just say that my poor roommate, Megan, woke up repeatedly to sounds of vomiting... Unfortunately, I spent all of Monday bed-ridden, with a doting Tendrall checking in on me.

We had a quick dinner at the house before a teary goodbye  with Tendrall, during which we gave her a beautiful sari as a thank you for being such a doting mother to us all. We then headed out to the train station, during which we were hyper-aware of all of the places that have been near and dear to our hearts:

• More - the grocery store down the road that supplied us with caffeine, Lay's, Cadbury chocolate, 
• Bombay sweets - not really my cup of tea, but my classmates frequented the dessert bakery!
• Hotel Sangam - swanky hotel and restaurant
• Infant Jesus temple (don't ask)
• The John Deere tractor store - yeah, they exist in India
• Too many more to list :)

Chennai
We arrived in Chennai this morning, which means I need to go pass out to finish fighting this GI infection before we head out and do some last-minute shopping. Email me your souvenir requests! :)