I cannot BELIEVE that I've only been back for a week. The entire week is certainly a blur, but at the same time it almost feels like it's been an eternity since I was in India. I guess being thousands of miles away, 9.5 hours off in time, and busy with work will do that to you.

The first 48 hours of this week really did constitute a blur to rival all blurs. My route took me 9,136 miles from Bangalore to Frankfurt to Philadelphia to New York City to Connecticut to Central Pennsylvania all in that two-day span. I then found myself back in State College a day later getting ready for Blue Band Officers Week these past few days, and that all went really fast, too.

After a summer that's seen me go directly from my last Spring semester final to New York to get my visa, to Budapest, to Rome, to Dublin, back home, and then all throughout India, it's without a doubt been the most exciting summer of my life. Now that I'm back, though, it seems like I just picked up right where I left off in May and have now been chugging right along. Football season is right around the corner, and that means Fall semester will be starting soon, too. I'm excited for both, and am really looking forward to making the most out of my last year at Penn State.

Before I start thinking too much about the fall, though, I just want to take the opportunity to thank everyone who had a hand in making this summer such a success. First off, I need to thank the IST Career Solutions Team and the Honeywell Corporate team for forging this partnership and making this all work from the beginning. I know the recruiting process along with getting all our paperwork/immunizations/plans was not an easy process. Then from Day 1, the Honeywell PKM team in Bangalore was amazing, and my greatest thanks go out to them. So many people with Honeywell from the US side AND the India side made this work, and all of my interactions with them were positive - it really made the transition smooth. One final thank you needs to go out to Dr. Irene Petrick as well for all the amazing opportunities and introductions she brought to the table for us this summer. And then another thank you goes out to all of you: my family and friends who have been reading this and commenting and keeping in touch all summer long. I wasn't sure what this whole blogging thing would be like, but it turned out pretty well, and it was largely because of your support. An extention of that thanks, of course, also has to go out to Penn State Live and any other outlets that picked up portions of my blog for dispatches. I was glad to share my experiences, and hope those of you that followed along enjoyed the ride.

I'm hoping that I'll again find myself roaming the streets of Bangalore, hopefully sooner rather than later. If nothing else, this summer has definitely solidified my love of international project work and my desire to see as much of the world as I can. Thank you all one last time for the support this summer, and if you ever need to contact me, all my information is available on the Contact page. This will be my final entry, so as they say in India, it is never goodbye, it is always "see you again, soon!" :)

There are so many things still left to say, and I really don't know where to begin. I know it's cliché at the end of an experience like this to say that I don't know where the time went or can't believe it's ending, but it really is true in this case. Unbelievable. There are so many people I need to thank and so many more reflections I need to post as we finish up tomorrow with our last day, but there'll be time for me to think about that on a looooong trip home, and I'll be sure to include those things in my next entry.

For now, I just want to say how much I enjoyed my last few nights. Tuesday night was our last dinner with Dr. Petrick, and that was another nice time and enthralling discussion with some of her colleagues. Wednesday night was our last dinner with Eric, and we met up at the Hard Rock Café Bengalaru. That was definitely enjoyable. Then tonight (Thursday) was our last dinner with Sandesh and Tanu, the two people who have basically dedicated their lives the past ten weeks to making sure that the lives of the four interns were comfortable. There has been some work and some meetings sprinkled in as well, making this week the typical whirlwind I've come to expect. It's hard imagining that it's going to end so abruptly now, and that I'm going to just pack up shop and basically return to a completely separate world, but I plan on keeping in touch with my new friends here and what's going on here, and will be excited to have the opportunity to come back at some future time.

Thanks to everyone for all your support this summer. I will have a few more things to say for sure once I return to the US, and will be posting them on here next week. Our first flight leaves at approximately 4:35 PM EDT on Friday, and we will arrive after our connection at approximately 4:20 PM EDT on Saturday. I'll then take a train to CT to retrieve my car and visit briefly with family before heading back to PA on Sunday. Monday will be full of errands, and then back to State College on Tuesday! So now I find myself signing out of my blog for the final time in India...

It's been awhile since my last update, but not that much has really happened in the last week. We were originally looking forward to a weekend in Kathmandu, Nepal and seeing Mt. Everest, but due to the increased security concerns, we had to cancel that trip. Bummer. I'm out some money, but I'm confident that I'll have the opportunity again someday to make it up there, and hopefully at a time when things are more stable. It was something I was really looking forward to, but I suppose it just wasn't meant to be.

The work week actually went by pretty fast. I put the finishing touches on my project reports, and only will have to do some minor revisions this week should my team feel they are necessary. Come Friday, it'll all be done! It's hard to believe there are just five days left here. There's a lot more in India I hope to one day see, but I'm more than happy with everything I've gotten the chance to experience this summer.

Friday included a visit to Wipro, one of India's largest IT companies. Their campus was beautiful, and we had a wonderful talk with their Head of Solutions Strategy & Architecture. It's been nice that Honeywell has been supportive of us visiting some other companies during our stay. If we don't run out of time, we may try to squeeze in visits to TCS and CSC next week.

Saturday was a visit to Shravanabelagola, and we had an awesome time. While travel to Nepal was out of the question, a day-trip within our state of Karnataka was deemed to be OK, and we were happy to explore. Four hours in the car and over six hundred steps later, we arrived at the top of Vindhyagiri hill to see what's allegedly the world's largest monolithic statue. Well, it's definitely big. At 17.38 meters high, it's an impressive sight, and was definitely worth climbing up and back down all those stairs. Another hill and another few hundred stairs later, we found ourselves in another neat part of the city with spectacular views. The top of Chandagiri hill was very quiet and very peaceful. We each found a spot to just sit down on the hill and stare out into the distance for a little while, and that was an enjoyable break. It might not be Mt. Everest, but Shravanabelagola was a neat place to visit, and certainly will be memorable, even if just for the name!

After tossing around a number of ideas about how we wanted to spend Sunday, our last free day in India, we decided to sleep in a little bit and make one final trip to Commercial Street for souveniers. We all left happy after another successful round of bargaining, and I think we now all have a sufficient amount of different items to appease our friends and families when we arrive back home in the US. On the way home from our day of shopping and looking around, we decided to all take one rickshaw, and I got to drive!! OK, I didn't really get to drive, but I did get to sit up front in what was a tight squeeze for all involved, but that was fun, too, considering it was probably our last rickshaw ride.

This last week is sure to go fast, and while there are many things I'll miss, there are many things I'm excited for at home, too, from friends to familiy to food to the fall and FOOTBALL. The plan is to upload pictures from the latter portion of my trip here at some point this week, and I'll share them in a new entry, hopefully by Thursday.

Quick Notes: Check out “Deewangi Deewangi" from Om Shanti Om, and “Pappu Can’t Dance” from Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na if you're interested in hearing some popular Indian music. We hear these songs on the shuttle to work, and they've become two of my favorites. Also, the Jason Bay for Manny Ramirez trade was a good deal in my opinion. We'll see how it works out. 

I hope everyone enjoys this week, I know I'll be sure to absorb as much as I can as we finish up.