Hello!

I am in Rishikesh now under way with the naturopathic medicine rotation. We got here yesterday a little before lunch and were shown around the naturopathy site where our ashram is. (An ashram is the Rishikesh version of a hotel, and patients receiving naturopathic care stay in the same on we're in, so they eat in our cafeteria are and everything.) Sarah, another girl from the last session who is staying longer with Alyssa and I, helped show us around the town a little bit yesterday afternoon and evening. she did a rotation here during the last session, so she know her way around some, so when we told her we wanted to check out the Ganges, she took us to her favorite beach. We put our feet in the cold water, then walked around the market a little bit. I took some pictures yesterday and today, but the internet cafe here doesn't have USB ports, so for the next week at least, I dubt I'll find a way to upload any pictures to the blog...sorry! I've seen more foreigners here than almost anywhere else, but since this is a world-renowned area for natural healing and yoga, it makes sense that we aren't the only ones anymore. It's a little refreshing, but the people still stare like they've never seen people like us. We had a walk around the naturopathic treatment areas this morning, which was cool to learn about. We saw the massage therapy room, the various bath rooms (for water baths and steam baths and mud baths), and even the enema room...I'm not sure after learning about the enema treatment in our naturopathy lesson this morning whether or not I would want to partake in the enema therapies here! We woke up at sunrise this morning (about 5:30 AM) to get ready for our yoga class. It was relaxing and fun, but I think the yoga instructor was taking it easy on us this first day. I guess we'll see tomorrow! We also have a relaxation session in the evenings with him, which we started yesterday. That was really cool, so i'm glad that is part of our schedule. I don't want to make this too long, but I just thought an update on life in Rishikesh would be appreciated! Hopefully I'll be able to get online another time or two this week/weekend. Shanti! (That means "peace," but I've only heard people say it at the end of yoga or relaxation...)