Safe and Sound, Notes from my Journey over here! :)

Guess where I'm writing this from? If you guessed anywhere other than Mumbai, you're silly. In fact I am currently in my apartment! YAY!
I left Saturday (two days ago) from Richmond Virginia. After Richmond I was in New York to check into my Air France Flight to Paris and then Mumbai! Sarah and Chelsea were both on the flights starting in New York. It was great to have two amazing travel buddies! :) When we got to Paris, we got on a small shuttle that took us to our terminal. After waiting about two more hours we got on our flight to Mumbai. I luckily was able to sleep for a lot of the flight from Mumbai which was good, since we had been traveling so much.
When we arrived in Mumbai, as soon as the plane landed you could tell you were in Mumbai. Several people had told me about how completley different the smell is in India. So far, it isn't bugging me too much, it actually is sort of familar. It reminds me of the beach, so far I can honestly just say I think it smells damp, if that makes sense. Once we got off the plane, we had to go through two lines. The first line was a check in with a medical examiner, since the H1N1 (swine flue) virus is really active in India. Then, we went through customs which was an easy process. While waitng for our luggage, we saw Jessica waiting to figure out what had happened to her bags, since she she had arrived an hour earlier. Luckily, Sarah suggested looking around for her bags, in other parts of the baggage claim area, which resulted in a successful retrieval of her bags. After getting my luggage (all of our bags made it!) we went out and met the Indian students- Rajna, Nishit, Sanjay, Richie, and Ishan- who will be helping us get acclimated to our new home. Even though it was after midnight (it is Monday morning in India), we went out to get a quick bite to eat. We went to this fancy hotel 5-star hotel to get food, because it was the only place that was open. I ordered samosas, little pastry triangles filed with potatoes, onions, and spices. They were really SPICY and it was tough for me to eat them. The Indian students told us, that they were supposed to me mild and said they thought they were rather bland. I think my tastebuds have some adjusting to do!
While driving from the restaurant to our apartment, we saw lots of stray dogs wandering the streets. Also we saw what looked like 50 people sleeping under a bridge, all right next to each other. There was a little girl who was awake and wandering around. This was another reminder of where we were.
Our apartment is amazing! Martha and Joseph our landlord(s), madde sure to prepare it nicely for us and we are grateful for all of their help!
Quick Sidenote: I have been traveling on planes since I was a baby/little little kid, it is absolutly FASCINATING to me that of all the trips I have taken the powers that be decided that THIS TRIP everything should run smoothly and I should get my luggage and everything is on time, I wasn't expecting that! :)

Peace, Love, and Elephant Kisses- Emmy