Ok, so today was the first day of my homestay, and I honestly do not even know where to begin. I was so excited to stay with a family, (after all, I stayed in host homes practically every night while I was on Captive Free) I really didn't know what to expect, I just was excited to be in an actual home and be able to spend time with local people. Our host families met us and took us straight to their houses. My partner from the ship was a girl named Tyler, and we were housed together. Our family was the Bhandaris - the mother's name was Prabha. She was so incredible. She had her Masters Degree in Sociology, which was awesome we had a lot to talk about seeing as though I am studying sociology. We didn't get to spend much time with the father - Srikanth - but we were able to eat with him a few times and he drove us around a bit, and he was awesome as well. And the two kids - Kushal was the son and was 16 years old, and Neeru was the daughter and was 19. From port to port at sea, a student from the country we are headed to sails with us and last semester, the Indian student was Neeru, so she knew all about the ship, and we definitely had a lot to talk about. The whole family spoke English very well, in fact, most people here speak it very well. Anyways, Prabha picked me and Tyler up at a meeting place and took us to their apartment. We had some delicious food. (on a side note, I swear I am never eating anything but Indian food from now on. It is so amazing!) The whole family was vegetarian, which made eating very easy. They said that about 80% of people here are vegetarian. Then Prabha took us shopping and wow. She asked us what we were interested in, and we said possibly some jewelry, so she took us to this very inexpensive local store that had 3 huge floors of jewelry. I included a picture of the floor with all the bangle bracelets. Imagine that but on three different floors, and that much of every kind of jewelry. I bought so much stuff, and I have souvenirs for all. Then Prabha took us to a clothing store and we did some more damage there. Everything was just incredibly beautiful, it was hard to not buy everything. (which I almost did.) After we were done shopping, we came back to the apartment and changed. The people that put on the homestay is a Rotary club, and only families in the Rotary club host SAS students through this particular program, so they had a meeting that we got to sit in on and that was cool. We wore some of the new jewelry and clothes we bought that day. While we were waiting for one of the people to get there, they asked somebody to come up to the microphone and speak for a few minutes to kill time, and even thought I am usually very shy, I volunteered to go up and speak, so there is a picture of me doing that. Afterwards, Prabha told me I did very well at speaking, and she was telling all the people around her that I was the student staying with her. And there is also a picture of me and Ally. (she was on a homestay but with a different family) Her host family took her and the other students they were hosting to a salon and they got their makeup and hair and everything done. After that, we went to a little place and had some more food. There was where we met the father - Srikanth for the first time. Then we came back to the apartment and Prabha showed me her wedding pictures and pictures of the kids when they were younger, and I showed pictures of everybody back home as well, and we just chatted and shared stories for a while. It was so much fun. I can't even put into words how incredible this family was. They were so kind and friendly and open and talkative. There was never a moment when I felt uncomfortable. We just talked and laughed and shared about each other's cultures. Prabha insisted that I come back to India. I think that is going to have to happen. I had such an amazing time, and I stayed in Chennai the whole time. There is so much more of India to see, and I can't wait to come back!