We arrived in India a couple of weeks ago and have already experienced so many new things. I want to give a good overview of what it is like starting out as a Platform2 volunteer in India, but will try not to go on for too long!

On arrival in Delhi, we were overwhelmed by the heat and quickly boarded a coach that would take us to Jaipur for our orientation. The coach was quite cramped and stuffy, but ensured that we quickly got talking to each other and bonded over the issue of whether we would ever feel dry again. We were given a delicious packed lunck of paratha, spicy potatoes and banana and enjoyed watching passers by who gave us a glimpse of the new culture we were about to embrace. Toilet stops on the coach were quite different to service stations in the uK - it was strange having so many people stop, stare and actually pap us with their mobiles. That was something we've just had to get used to. Fortunately the toilet we stopped at that one volunteer likened to a very sickening scene in Trainspotting was not.

When we finally arrived in Jaipur, I had been travelling a total of 26 hours and was pleased to be able to relax in my host family's home with 5 of the other volunteers. The house was beautiful, very big and similar to the western houses back home, which made adjusting to new things like food and climate a lot easier.

During our orientation in Jaipur, we were given several presentations about what to expect during our time in India and were told appropriate behaviour that would help us to fit into Indian society. We went on an excursion to Amber Fort which involved taking an elephant all the way up to the fort whilst having a beautiful view of Jaipur. We also went to the cinema to watch a Bollywood film. Despite the film being in Hindi, we all seemed to get the gist of what was going on and found it really enjoyable. It was interesting to note the way in which western women were portrayed in the film - at one point there was an 'MTV' style music video in which fair, white women danced seductively in barely any clothing, while the Indian female was dressed more conservatively, thus reinforcing the negative perception of women in the west.

We took a sleeper train to Jaisalmer, where we were to spend the next 9 weeks. The journey was calm and safe, but unfortunately the dreaded 'Delhi Belly' started to claim its first few victims.

The first week in the Big IDEX Camp was eventful and really required us volunteers to adjust to a completely new lifestyle. Electricity cuts, toilets that don't flush, no running water in our bathrooms, pitch-black rooms at night, geckoes, bugs, storms, leaking rooves, non-stop sweating, repetitive meals and restless nights made dealing with being sick rather challenging. But, just days later, we've all adjusted to these new experiences, and with each other's support and teamwork we've got our living situation under control and camp is starting to become home. We're getting comfortable with the routine of living on camp which is great because now we have to face the more important challenge of teaching children in local schools.


I'm really enjoying my India experience so far, I've met some great new friends and am now really looking forward to getting stuck into teaching and exploring other areas of Rajasthan.