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Location: Delhi, Amritsar, and the Golden Temple
The heat suddenly descended onto ten weary students as we stepped out into the Delhi evening. As tired as we were from our long flight, we were excited to see the famous Indian city, as for many of us this is our first trip to India. Riding in a car in India, especially in Delhi, is unlike any other city. It is the definition of fast and furious, but it was exhilarating nonetheless. We arrived at our beautiful hotel, the mayor’s former house, and quickly devoured the Indian food that the Lifeworks staff had brought to the lobby for us. Everyone was beat, so we all went to bed, ready to get at least a little bit of sleep.
This morning we set off again for the airport, flying to Amritsar on our way to Dharamsala. In Amritsar, we had yet another beautiful lunch and then set off for the Golden Temple, a famous and crowded Sikh temple there. The midday sun had every one of us drenched within minutes, and the marble floor was almost too hot to step on, but everyone agreed that seeing the temple, with its beautiful main-golden building as well as all of the white walls around it, was worth it. We also got to ride in a rickshaw, and gleeful laughter could be heard as we went bouncing along down the road. This was not our final destination, however, so we then set off on the four-hour car ride up to Dharamsala. For the first two hours, the car was completely silent, as every single person (except the driver of course), was asleep. As people started to wake up, we were mesmerized by the scenery of the Indian plains as well as the motorbikes with whole families loaded onto them and the constant honking of horns by all drivers.
When we finally stepped out into the monastery that we are staying at, the major feeling was one of relief but also anticipation, as there was a whole new corner of the world that we were about to discover. We couldn’t be more excited, and with wonderful staff like Dan and Wen, as well as Jampa who we just met, we know this is going to be an amazing trip. We can’t wait.