It was a long journey but we are all the way across the world in India! The group is doing so well.

The group is settled into Hotel Grand Park Inn, CCS’ base in Delhi for the last decade. It’s so nice to be back. Despite the heat (look the heatwave up!) and the obvious differences between where we are now and where we started our adventure, this really does feel comfortable. We have an entire floor of the hotel to ourselves. Familiar faces helped carry our bags to our rooms. Suman was there at the airport waiting for us. Old friends greeted us with hugs and “make yourself at home” vibes. Despite it all, we are back home!

It was an epic journey just to get here. Most of us left campus together (props to Nick Smith for driving one of our vans from campus to Dulles). All of us flew from Dulles to Zurich, spent a quick hour and a half recharging, and then flew from Zurich to Delhi. We had great conversations on the way from the airport to our hotel about development, signs of change, opportunities to connect dots, and much more. We pushed through exhaustion and jet lag.

In just a few hours, we’ll be out and about in New Delhi. The students are excited for their first real Indian food, the chance to explore Mughal ruins, and the views of one of the world’s most dynamic cities that we’ll get from our air conditioned bus. We won’t linger here due to the heat but this is such an important context for many of the issues we’ll be exploring moving forward.

Some quotes and questions from our first few hours in Delhi:

“Suman! It’s so great to finally meet you. I’ve heard so much about you that you feel like an old friend already.” -Ms. Wilkinson

“Are you going to be our tour guide? Where’s the best place to eat around here?” -Izzy

“The fact that the Duty Free was full of Western brands and goods means that India is trying to show it’s globalized and modern. I’m not sure if that’s more good or bad for the future of the country.” -Mauricio

“I noticed right way how familiar and different it was at the same time.” -Joseph

“Can I pet this dog?” -Jesse

“This was a long first flight of my life.” -Brayden

“Suman, my friend! It’s so good to see you again.” -D. Bugg

“How soon can we eat and start exploring?” -Everyone

Much more to come tomorrow!