Study Abroad Program Blogs
- Eric Specking

Imagine yourself in a new place where languages you have never heard are being spoken. Imagine yourself standing in front of the magnificent wonder called the Taj Mahal. Even imagine yourself riding an elephant through a city. These are just a few of the things that I am going to get to experience with the Globalization of India study abroad program. My journey will take me through some of India's greatest cities like Agra, Jaipur, Delhi, and Bangalore. I will not only experience these cities with an educational viewpoint but a cultural one as well, but do not worry about me. I will be traveling with 6 other students, an UA professor, and all of you as well. Yes, I did say all of you. I am extending an invitation to all who read this to accompany me on this trip through a series of videos that I will be posting regularly on this site. That way we can all share this magnificent experience together in one way or another from beginning to end.

A little about myself, I'm a senior computer engineering student from Wynne, Arkansas who enjoys music, dancing, martial arts, and just having fun.

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8/7/08

It's me again!

The past week was relaxing and fun. The first night we stayed in a place with an ocean view. It was nice. I really liked the hammock. They are always relaxing. To bad we were only there one night. The food was really good also. I had some sea food.

The next day we toured a little and than departed to the house boat. The house boat was very relaxing. I got into my swimming trunks and laid on the deck while watching the scenery. That night we had prawns and chicken. We also fished a little. I caught one that was a foot long. Okay it wasn't a foot but it was about 5 inches. I threw it back since it was so small, but I was one of the few who actually caught something. We were using a stick with some fishing line. So, it wasn't very high tech. The next morning we woke up to some problems. Some fishermen claimed that we cut their fishing nets. They were trying to get money from us, but the owner of the boat ended up paying it. That delayed us about an hour and a half. When we got off the boat we proceeded to our next destination. On the way we went to a tea plantation. I picked up a half kilo of tea. The hotel we stayed at that night was really isolated. We were up in the mountains. We had little bungalows. The food at this place was really really good. For two nights I got the same meal for dinner. It reminded me of Thai food. The next day we tried to go to the spice plantations but the villagers on the way out of the Tata gate were protesting. Apparently some people from the next state came and dumped trash into their tea fields. So, the villagers were pushing it onto the road. So, instead of going to see the spice plantations, we went back to the hotel. Chowdhury and I walked around a bit and explored. We walked probably for about two hours. I then took a nap. It was nice. Exactly what the doctor ordered. After I got up we went to go see the plantations but were closed by the time we got out. So, we went on a motor boat ride instead. It was fun. We actually saw a baby and mother wild elephant. That was nice since when we went on the boat safari, we didn't see anything. It was a boring hour and a half. The speed boat was fun though. When we got back we ate and hung out. Then finally we got up and drove to the airport to fly to Bangalore.

See all of you soon,
Eric Specking

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7/30/08

Recap time!

This past weekend we stayed at Hassen to see a few things. On the way we saw a few things that were from the Jain religion. We first hiked up about 652 steps and of course we had to do leave our shoes at the bottom. On the way up we were able to see a beautiful countryside in the distance and the small town we were in. At the top we saw Jain inscriptions and of course a 72' naked statue. This was called the Shravanabelaola. Google it if you want to see it, or ask me to see pictures. Afterwards we walked down and across the street just to walk up a measly 250 steps (without shoes of course). At the top of this we saw the cave of one of the Jain prophets. We were told he spent a good amount of time there. Being the adventurers that we are, we saw another path to continue up the mountain. At the top we saw an amazing view of country side and a great view of the statue. On the way down we decided to stop and visit the Jain Temple.

The next day we went and visited Belur and Halebid. Again go on line and google them for information. At these places we saw more Hindu temples. By this time all the temples are getting to look the same. The one at Belur was an active Temple. We saw some ritual where they were pouring different fluids on the statue.

In Halebid the temple wasn't as well preserved as the one in Belur, but there were interesting statues.

Now for the rest of the week!

We have been all pretty busy. It seems that all our school work is due this week. On Friday we have a 4 to 5 page paper due. Today, I did a presentation on my paper topic. It ended up being around 45 min. Then tomorrow we all have a design project presentation and a reflection paper due for our engineering globalization class. The work load hasn't been to bad, but it was more than what I expected. I thought we would have more free time to explore the city. We did do a 'little. ....shopping, doctor, business/school visits...and of course eating.

Monday was Van's birthday. So, we went to the most American place possible...The Hard Rock Cafe. It was just what the doctor ordered. I had a hamburger and fries that I would compare to Hugo's. It was so good. Especially paired with a cold King Fisher.

Yesterday Chowdhury and I went and talked with Mr. Prema Kumar for an interview. This was part of Chowdhury's graduate expectations. Mr. Kumar was very nice and informative. They talked for around 2 hours. I know I learned a lot.

All I have left to-do is to present our work. So, the feeling of being done is basically there. Friday we leave for South India (or more south than where we are). Its going to be nice.

I'm hungry so it's dinner time!

Enjoy,
Eric Specking

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7/24/08

Hey everyone,

Well last night the inevitable happened. I got sick. I actually thought I would make it the entire trip. I will save you the details, but I will tell you about the trip to the doctor.

We first went to one doctor office, but the doctor just left and wouldn't be back until 4ish. Apparently the doctors go to three or four different offices throughout the day. Therefore Suchi took us to another doctor office. When we got inside, Suchi and I waited for probably about 10min or less. That was quick (or at least I thought so) The place was clean, had nice chairs, and very busy. A young lady came and directed us into a room. She introduced herself as the doctor and asked about my symptoms. I told her about how I was feeling the night before and at the present time. We talked alittle bit more and she final said that she thought it was food poison. That was a slight relief because I had some of the same symptoms that Bryan had the first week. He had a parasite. I really didn't want to have an unwanted friend going everywhere with me. She prescribed me some medicine and told me what I couldn't eat. This is where it gets funny. She said that I couldn't have anything spicy. Think about this one for a little bit. Spices are in everything here. I basically can eat rice, nan, paratha, and other breads. The breads have to be white not brown though. I also can eat certain fruits. Mango is out of the question, but I don't know why. The mangos here are very sweet and good. We went to one stand that had 10 different ones. Also, I can have juice, but it can't be from the box. Only fresh squeezed juice for me. She also told me to stay away from red, yellow, and green things. So, if anyone knows what I CAN eat safely shoot me an email or the next four days might just be bread, rice, and water. The water will have a little kick to it though. I have to have at least one electrolyte pack a day for the next three days. These things don't taste very good, but sometimes you do what you have to do. I've already had two today. Its one pack per liter of water.

After the doctor visit, Suchi let us take the van for traveling around Bangalore. It was a real treat. We first went to commercial street to find some pillow cases. Nikki got two yesterday that i thought would look good on my futon. If it doesn't, I'll just use them as gifts for others lol. We than went to the oldest and largest Catholic Church in Bangalore. It was huge. It was more like a small community. They seemed to have everything they needed.

That was the interesting part of the day. Of course we had class in the morning and I tried working on my final paper/presentation for my culture class. It is hard to be motivated in another country.

I'm hungry! So until next time. Enjoy,
Eric Specking

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7/23/08

Me again,

Hey everyone! I hope everything is going well in the US. I'm doing great in Bangalore. Thought I would take some time and catch you all up from last time.

Let's see where was I now......I remember!

Sunday I got up at 6:15am and got ready for church. On the way over Chowdhury and I saw a few different things. We saw people sleeping on a construction site with blankets covering their bodies. We saw a group of paper boys loading their bikes for the morning paper. We also saw many people heading for the same destination that we were going.

When we got there it was more lively and busy then it was the day before. Of course it would be with people attending Mass right. As we walked in I noticed chairs being placed in many rows outside the Church. Inside they had pews and kneelers. There were about three to four columns with a number of rows. I didn't count sorry. After Chowdhury and I picked a row, it filled up really quickly, but it was like this everywhere. We were kind of like sardines in a can. We had about 6 people in a row that usually in the US might have 4.

After mass we walked around the campus looking at different things. There was an empty lot where the parish hall and school was going to be built. Also, we saw offices and a few gardens. The gardens were beautiful. Each was named after a different Saint. On the way out we saw a group of people standing around just waiting for people to give them money. What I thought was respectable and clever was that none of them asked. They just all sat there with their hands open. They knew money would be provided....and it was for them.

On the way back we stopped and watched some kids learn Martial Arts. They were doing a form of Karate. If you want to know what form just ask me. It was interesting to watch. A few of the kids had some descent kicks when they were sparing. Some had really good ones as well.

After that we went to our final destination before going home.....the hair salon... Yes it was actually called a hair salon, but I don't think it was a place that a girl would get her hair cut. When we walked in we settled on a price and waited. It ended up costing us Rs 40 or $1. When i sat in the chair, he bundled me up in a cloth and started to clip away with scissors really fast. The entire time I was hoping he didn't cut me on accident since it didn't look like they sterilized their equipment. When he was done cutting, he asked me if I wanted a message. I naturally respectively declined. My hair cut did turn out well, or at least I thought. Everyone didn't think I got it cut. I could tell and feel the difference though. I really just got it trimmed. Now Chowdhury really got a lot of his hair chopped off. He didn't have a lot when the guy got done. Don't get me wrong, he did have hair still. It was just very short. Almost military style, but longer.

This was my adventure on Sunday. The rest of the week we've just had class, homework, and relaxation. This weekend we have another trip planned. I forgot where we are going, but I'll let you know later.

On a side note.......I found my favorite Indian commercial. It is really catchy. It just shows people smiling and it has a guy singing one word....smile....of course it is in hindi. Therefore, it sounds a lot cooler. I'll try to find a link so all of you can view it.

See you all soon,
Eric Specking

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7/19/08

Its me again,

This week has been an interesting, frustrating, and fun week.

On Tuesday we went to Uthanuar village. This place was very simple. Most people lived in thick rock houses with either clay, rock, or straw roofs. The interesting part was that most of the houses had electricity. Even though they only have power for about four hours a day. I even took a picture of a house with satellites on it.

We went to this place to experience the culture as we were learning about it. These villages are suppose to be where the caste system is most noticeable. When we got there we went and visited a family from the Okalligar caste. This caste was the majority in the village. It is actually the common people caste. The caste system we actually saw didn't really follow the structure that usually you learn in school Most people know about the four varna (groups): Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, and Shudras. This village contained over 100 jatis (sub groups) that could be broken down into many different levels. A lady from the Dalit caste, an untouchable caste, told us that it would take all day to just explain the structure of the system there. For example, this town had 2 different untouchable caste which was between 50 families.

We found that the panchayati (local government) there received about 5 lacks (Rs 500000) a year from the Indian government. This is about $12500. They use this money for roads, water, and power. In addition to this amount the local panchayati taxes their people about Rs 5. The interesting part about this government is that they don't settle disputes like a court. A group of elders has this task.

We found two problems that this village was having. The first problem was the importation of silk from China. This was bad for them because silk, milk, and agriculture are their main businesses. The other problem was with agriculture. The 300 km tank was dry. This meant that their food produce wasn't doing very well. On a lighter note, their milk was really good. The Okalligar family was very hospitable and gave all 12 of us a glass of very hot milk with sugar in it. This milk was amazing. It came straight from the cow (no additives except sugar).

Then on Thursday we went to the Indian Institute of Science. This is one of their premier schools for getting a Master or PhD. This was interesting because this school has several partnerships with companies from around the globe. We were lucky enough to meet the visitors from Boeing. This is one of the global companies that recruits at the UofA. This school combines academia with industry. Their innovation center actually has labs and work space for companies. We had the pleasure to talk with Biotec. At Biotec we learned about some of their research and even got to see some of their facilities.

The next day we went to InfoTech. InfoTech is a Information Technology company that started in India. It has partnerships with ConocoPhillips, Wal-Mart, and many other fortune 500 companies. They are mainly a software solution company. What I thought was interesting about this place was that we toured a call center. Yea, I did say a call center and yes it is one of those places that if you call for tech support you receive someone from India. I have a lot of respect for those workers now. I actually got to sit in on a few calls and listen to the phone operator. I was listening to calls that were for UK yahoo support. Most of them had mail and account issues. It was interesting to see what they were actually doing at the computer while you are talking. They are doing everything from looking up your information to documenting what is going on. They even record every call to improve their performance. We found that this company works on accent neutralization. They just want their phone operators to talk in a plain English with no accents. This is different from other call centers because some teach individuals to actually talk like the people who are calling them. The lady I was listening to told me that they were having a high volume of calls. Usually it is at about 80%, but on this day and time it was at 95%.

Now its Saturday, and our first weekend off. I am just relaxing and trying to finish all my homework. I did go for a walk with Chowdhury. We went looking for a Catholic Church and some lunch. We found a Church about 1km away (about 7min walk). We also found out that the English Mass was at 7am. It looks like I'm getting up early. For lunch we decided to just go to our usual place. It is called Hotel something something. I can't really remember the name. You think since we have gone to it about 8 times, I would know the name. They have a variety of foods there. From veg to non-veg...from gravy to dry...Chinese to Indian...I usually share something with Chowdhury because it is a lot of food. We usually get some type of Indian Gravy, rice, and a dol with a Sprite or 7up to drink. This usually cost a total of Rs 150. I'll let you do the math on this one.

Until next time,
Eric Specking

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7/14/08

Hello Again,

Now it's time to catch all of you up on the first week of my travels.

We left on June 30th to go to India from XNA. At XNA I met up with Bryan, Nathan, Chowdhury, Wen Yang, and Stephanie. From there we flew to Chicago, and met up with Van, who is from Vanderbelt, and Nikki.

Since I hurt my ankle the Thursday before, I thought I would try to "milk it". My goal was to get bumped up to first class for the 17 hour flight. So, I went to the counter and asked them if it was okay to prop up my foot in the hallway. Of course they told me to talk to a stewardess. When I got onto the plane, I did talk to a stewardess. She actually found me a nice seat with lots of leg room in the same class I was flying. It was nice. I actually had a great conversation with a girl from New Delhi. She told me some great tips about how not to get ripped off, but I'll tell you first hand. YOU WILL GET RIPPED OFF. On the lighter side of things, I think we should get credit for a negotiation class because of it. Now back to the story.

When we landed it was night time. We proceeded to go through custom. Which by the way, I think it would be sweet to be a diplomat. They just fly through quickly and have their own line. They even get their own little car with the state flag on it. The cars look like they came from the 70s or 80s. After customs we went to our hotel and experience our first ride through the nosey streets of India where honking is a must. Shoot, when Ford came to India they had to redesign one thing. Just guess what is was......if you guessed horn then you are right.

The next day we got up and visited the Humayun's Tomb and Qutab Minar. We also drove by the Iron Pilar and the President/Parliament house.

We than drove to Agra. In Agra we saw the Taj Mahal in the morning and then the Agra Fort after breakfast.

Next we drove to the "Pink City", more commonly known as Jaipur. It is called the Pink City because of the stone that the city is built from. Jaipur is the place where we rode on the Elephants and saw a few more palaces. It was fun. There are a few funny pictures on facebook with me and Harsha on the elephant.

Then we went back to New Delhi and visited the Red Fort.

Finally, we flew to Bangalore, but with a few problems. Here starts story number 2.
So, we were at the air port trying to get our tickets. During this time I showed my passport and my conformation details to the ticket agent. She looks it over and tells me that my itinerary should get me through security. So, I went through the gate, placed my check-in bags on the security check, and proceed to go through the metal detector. After this I proceed to get my ticket. Here is where my problem occurred! She goes to check my status and tells me that my tickets have been redistributed. I told her that it was impossible since I was standing right in-front of her. Of course by this time Bryan, Suchi, and our tour guide guy was at the counter trying to work things out. I have never seen so many people so worked up. The airline had about 9 different people trying to work it out. It was finished by Bryan buying me another ticket, and letting our travel agent take care of it. (By the way, I have tickets to get home and the problem has been resolved. So don't worry about me, friends and family.) This way we all don't miss the flight. It was nice to be pushed through more security check points and having a plane wait on me (not nice for the people waiting though). Bryan and I got pushed through the woman line for the check point. That was funny. We finally got onto the plane. Let me tell you that JetAir is an amazing airline. We not only had a dinner for a short flight, but also tv's on every seat. Shoot, I watched a movie.

Then we arrived at Bangalore where the temperature was great. It wasn't to hot, but not really cold.

I think this is enough for now.

Enjoy,
Eric Specking

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7/13/08

Hey Everyone,

Yeah.....the video thing is still on hold. I'm working on it.

On a different note...We went to Mysore this past weekend. It was nice. Mysore is known for it's silks and woods. I bought some hand woven silk fabric to make a shirt. I'll get it made before I leave Bangalore.

We first started out viewing the Lalith Mahal Palace. It is basically a palace turn hotel that looks a little like the White House. It had a great view. (Again when I get video up..I hope all of you can see these things through pictures or video.) Then we checked into the hotel that we stayed at. We stayed at The Prince. It was nice as well. We did find out that in South India you have to say two twin beds to get two beds in a room. Our reservations were for double rooms. (It was one big king bed.) The family suits are just the same with a bigger bed. After lunch we visited the St. Philomena's Church. It was a very beautiful Catholic church that was built in the 1930s. The interesting thing was that they originally had a statue of St. Philomena, but no one was for sure if she was canonized so they placed the statue in a catacomb where people could see. After that we saw another palace/museum. (By this time all the palaces begin to look the same.) But this one was different! The Prince of the this part of India still lives in the majority of the Palace. ONLY 1/10 was open to the public! It was beautiful as well. To end the night we thought we would go to the Brindavan Gardens. They were suppose to be gardens with beautiful water fountains that went with music. I would say that it wasn't worth the drive. They could have taken it out of the schedule. If you have seen the Christmas lights put to music on youTube, then there was nothing to see. I do have to admit it was pretty and had a great view. It was just very crowded. The one cool thing was that one of the guards there was the tallest man in this state of India. I bet he was slow.

The next day Chowdhury, the guy who was over the tour guide service (I couldn't spell his name), and I all went to see the Chamundi Hills where at the top was a huge statue of a guy holding a snake and a sword. This guy was suppose to be part of the myth on why the city was called Mysore. All I can remember about the myth was that it was named partly after a demon. When we got to the top of the hill, we saw a Hindu temple with a lot of security guards. When we asked where the statue was, we were told that it was off limits today due to the Prime Minister was coming to the temple. So, we walked down and drove a little and saw a HUGE cow statue. This also was a worship place for Hindus. Chowdhury and I were pleased (even though we didn't get to see the statue we wanted to) because we had a nice walk up a mountain, saw a view of the country side, and saw a huge cow. The guy over the tour service (I think his name was Brashmer...I know the spelling is wrong.) was fun to talk to also.

By the time we got back it was time to pick up everyone else and go to the zoo. The zoo was pretty interesting. It was kind of like an American zoo, but not. It was nice. We did see a monkey, which was really funny. The funny part was that the monkey was just on a random tree not in a cage. (There are monkeys in the streets here, it was a native monkey!)

We ended the day by going shopping and eating. That is where I got my silk for my shirt.

I'll have to catch you up on what happened on the first week of traveling the golden triangle later. Its bed time now.

Enjoy,
Eric Specking

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7/11/08

Hey everyone,

I first want to say sorry about taking a long time to post. I've been really busy, but mostly I'm having some technical problems. That is why I am writing this instead of posting videos. I'm hoping that I fix my problem. Here's the story...

I thought I would be productive on the bus ride from Agra to Jaipur. So, I thought I would download my video//pictures from the camcorder to my computer without thinking that both contain hard drives and being on a bus. The ride was so bouncy that I believe it corrupted the files. I actually could only save 19 pictures out of about 200. I was not happy! The worst part was that I had an error with iMovie on my Mac. Ever since then, I couldn't create a new project. Without this I can't edit or change the format to mp4. This was my first problem. Then on the 2nd day of class I was updating office. After the update was finished, word and powerpoint were completely deleted off my system.

Here is another interesting story. We went all over town looking for an Apple store. The problem was that the Apple website sent us to the corporate office in Bangalore. At that office they did a switch-er-ro on us and change the information about where we should go. They then sent us a few km to another place. At this place the guy did the same things I did to try to fix work and iMovie. I told him to just reinstall it. After doing everything that I did, he finally tried to just reinstall it. The only problem was that he didn't uninstall it. This just made the software do an update. The good thing was that I had word and powerpoint back, but with an error that I fixed later on. The bad is that iMovie is still not working.

The good news is that the sites that we have seen are amazing. The Taj Mahal was beautiful. I hope I can manage to show the video if it isn't corrupted. The elephant ride was cool to. We saw another beautiful site on the way up.

I have to go or I would write more. We are going to go see Hancock at 9pm.

Thanks for watch (I mean reading),
Eric Specking