Arriving in beautiful Palampur

COUNTRY: India
PROGRAM: UniBreak
PROJECT: Community Health Work
WRITTEN BY: Jemma Ireland

Well, our group of 7 arrived safe and sound in beautiful Palampur, Northern India after a very long 12 hour car trip from Dehli. After getting into a car in India, it takes a maximum of about 4 minutes to make the following grim observations: giving way, the use of indicators, speed limits and stopping at red lights are all completely optional, and overtaking can be done no matter what vehicle may be flying at you on the other side of the road. This is initially a little frightening to say the least, and members of our group had never been more thankful for seat belts. A few hours into the trip though, we began trusting our drivers and accepting this new way of driving. All part of embracing India!

Driving into Palumpar, we completely fell in love, firstly with the countless monkeys on the side of the road and then in the morning, the views of the stunning Himalayas. Words fail to describe the feeling of having a view of the snow capped mountains from our bathroom window. The love for Palampur does not stop and mammals and landscape though; after visiting the town, we were completely captivated by this special little town - by it's people, the colours, sights, sounds and smells - it is an amazing feeling being completely immersed in a different culture and a completely new way of life. Exploring the town and getting to know one another has proved to be a successful, with our group going from complete strangers on Sunday, to discussing each others respective bowel movements by Wednesday - It's a beautiful thing.

On Monday, three of our group members started placement at Karan hospital. I'll be honest - nothing could have prepared us for the things we saw that day - we were down right shocked by the difference in practice in the hospital. I guess the best way I can describe it is: take everything they teach you about nursing at uni, flip it upside down, spin it a couple of times, give it a good shake and then throw it 10,000 kilometres... Into a bottomless pit. We are learning so much though, and Dr Karan, Dr Veena and the nursing staff are all amazing. The patients also seem pretty tickled pink that three white girls in white coats are in their hospital the help, which makes it all worth while when the going gets tough.

India has alot to offer, so I will finish by listing some great things about this crazy country:
Cool things about India
Chai tea, monkeys, traditional Indian dress, running on 'India time' (10 minutes = 15-60 mins), Indian waiters who put on Western pop music for us when we enter their restaurant ('especially for you!'), our in house cook who is so cute we all just want to pack him into a suitcase and take him back to Australia, Bollywood music, local Palumpar people who are so sweet and help us when we take the wrong bus (after having a good old laugh at our misfortune first of course), Lay's chips, our full on Nestle Yoghurt commercial style yoga instructor, your average snack costing about AUD 20 cents, gaining an appreciation for our health care system in Australia and seeing/learning so much at the hospital here. Namaste, mates!