Expect the unexpected
What did I expect before I came to India? I expected everything that people told me about India - bustling streets, cars, buses, cows, new wonderful smells, tastes, sounds, sights and many many people. I expected to be thrown into a culture so unlike my own and that is what I have experienced thus far. Here, what I thought i expected has turned into the unexpected. It is difficult to prepare for a culture that everyone tells you is so different from your own. People say there are cows in the street, so you imagine cows. But you don't really know until you are in a car and the driver abruptly slows down so that the cow in the road can decide which side of the street its going to go to. You dont really know until you are walking by a cow whose tail just misses you as it swings by. And you really dont know until you've smelled the cows as you walk on the street and nearly step in...well, I think you get the idea. What people have told me about Indian culture has so far been the truth, but it is in the experience that really makes a difference. I expected to take rickshaw rides but I didn't expect to barter price in Hindi. I expected to smell incense, but I didn't expect to smell garbage too. I expected to hear traffic, but i did not expect to be surrounded by the sound of honking horns as soon as i stepped outside my door. I expected to see saris of every color imaginable but I did not expect to be surrounded by the colors of the desert. I expected to be around many people, but I did not expect to feel isolated among those people.
Thus far, India has proved it's wildness. It's full of intensity from every spectrum and with that, comes adjustment.