Maps 2: Return of the Maps/Battle for Bombay

I've had some complaints about the clarity of my maps (Mom), so I'm going to go into some more detail.  The complaints were about the size and descriptiveness of said maps. You wanted the bigger picture, so here's the Earth!

See that little green one with the arrows?

Mom's something of an atlas-o-holic.  It's a weird addiction; we don't talk about it.  Anyway, maybe that was a tiny bit bigger than she wanted.  Let's get a little closer shall we?  Remember those two states of India I was talking about in the last post, i.e. Karnataka and Tamil Nadu?  I outlined them for everyone (including me) in big, bold lines, 'cause maps of India are an ADD kid's nightma...squirrel! 

Jungle red!

I will be doing all my traveling exclusively in these two states.  The first three weeks will be spent in Bangalore (also known as Bengaluru), the capital city of Karnataka.  I'll be taking classes there and trying to acclimate to the overwhelming culture shock...and also riding elephants! 

The first USAC study abroad summer session will be happening from May 29th-June 24th.  If you want more info on that click the link in the previous post, because I'm waaay too lazy to tell you all that stuff on this blog.  It's already written out on that website people!  Their site is considerably more coherent than my nonsensical ramblings and jibber-jabber.  But I digress...

We're gettin' to know each other now!

Okey dokey pig in a pokey!

Aaah!  Oh God...Sorry.  Pauline scares me.  Where was I?  Oh yeah!  So after Bangalore I'll be moving on to the second state outlined above: Tamil Nadu.  It's one of the oldest continually settled areas in India.  You can't throw a statue of Shiva in that place without hitting Hindu and Buddhist temples and ancient stuff for tourists (like me!) to ogle.  The history geek in me is pretty psyched.

Those large red dots indicate the three cities/towns that I definitely know I'm going to see.  If you can't see them, they are (from top to bottom): Chennai (Madras), Mamallapuram, and Pondicherry.  Everything else is up in the air.  The plan is to see as many temples, ruins, etc. as possible before the three remaining weeks are up.  There are lists of temple sites in this region here and here if you simply must know where I might go.

That's all for this post, but let me know if there's something you'd like me make clearer or Photoshop less lackadaisically.


-Liz

Random picture of the day:
Look it's the Indian Richard Dreyfuss!

Which one's which?  I don't know, it's uncanny...

வணக்கம்

That's Tamil; it means "hello"!  Sure, I could just say hello, but வணக்கம் is so much prettier.  (It's pronounced 'vaNakkam')

So, as most of you know, I'll be heading to India on the 27th of this month--i.e. Sunday--for six weeks.  Bangalore is where I'll start my adventuring, and then it'll be off to Tamil Nadu.  Here's a picture I made for those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about:

Southern India and a little bit of Sri Lanka

The green area is part of the state of Karnataka, the capital of which is Bangalore (or Bengaluru).  The plan at the moment is to start in Bangalore, where I'll be enrolled for three weeks at Christ University. After that the plan gets a little vague.  

Ponducherry is missing and you should ignore Mumbai up there being all out of place, but other than that this map hits on all the cities/towns involved in the travel plan.   Basically I'll start in Bangalore, then go to Chennai, then Mamallapuram, etc., down the list until we run out of time and have to return to Bangalore for the return flight on July 14th.

That's my intro, so everybody knows something about what I'm doing.  If you want more info on the program abroad you can look on the USAC website.  I'll post some specifics later this week, and if I don't have time before I leave, I'll definitely do an update once I get settled (as settled as possible anyway) in my apartment.

Love your faces!
-Liz