My flight got in at 8:00AM and I went through immigration and customs with no problem. Then it was time to get my flight set up to get home. While at Mumbi, they gave me a piece of paper that had four flights listed that I could take, most of which were with Delta. Because I like flying Northwest, I started out at that counter. They looked at my paper and said they couldn't help me I had to go to Delta, which was in a different terminal. I then lugged my two overwight pieces of luggage, my backpack and my purse onto a airtrain over to Delta's terminal. Delta then looked at my paper and said those flights don't exist and that they couldn't help me. There was a SunCountry flight listed and they said maybe they could help me. The problem with that was they were back at the terminal I just left. So back I went. Only to be told by SunCountry that they had no agreement with AirIndia and I'd have to pay for my flight home. They told me to try Northwest. Back I went to Northwest and they checked their flights and said what they had given me at AirIndia was incorrect, but they did have a flight out at 5:30PM that they could put me on and I was delighted. She chastized be a bit for my overweight luggage, but took care of me none the less.

Once relieved of my luggage, I could wander around with ease. The airport had many shops I could browse in, while waiting for the Samual Adams to open up. I called home and let them know I would be arriving at around 8:00PM. Then I went and bought a choc. santa. It didn't ring up the right price and I debated with them until they gave me the discount listed on the sign. Afterwards, I started thinking about how that was second nature to me after three weeks in India. Finally, the restaurant opened up and I got to go in. I ordered a hamburger, fries and a Coke - with ICE. It was so good. Because of my ordeal, the waiter gave me a free refill of Coke.

I sat there for hours reflecting on this whole adventure. I wrote down many notes to use in my Final Reflection Paper. It was a good time to just let the whole experience sink in. I was by myself just letting all my emotions flow. As I reviewed the experience in my mind, tears came to my eyes. I don't know why, but I was just overwhelmed. I had been through so much and realized how blessed we are as Americans that it just hit me hard what these Indian people have to endure on a day to day basis.

My flight to Minneapolis was uneventful and when I got to the airport luggage area, my husband was there to greet me. My son and daughter had driven down with him so they could go out for dinner with us. I was so happy to see them. It was great to have them all there. We went out for dinner at Famous Dave's for BBQ beef. It was delicious. We got a chance to catch up. My daughter gave me the biggest hug ever. She had held it together pretty well after her accident, but once she saw me, it was like she could relax and let go of some of her stress. Mom was home and she would take care of everything. It's nice to be needed. I talked the whole way home. By the time we got home, I had pretty much told them about the whole trip. How I could fit three weeks into three hours is beyond me. I was never so happy to step foot in my house. I was home and it looked great.

Thanks for a life changing experience. It was an adventure I will never forget!

Our flight was delayed until late in the morning. We sat around the airport dying to get going. I tried to get a nap in while sitting up in a chair. After a few hours, I gave up and found a bench to lay down on. I was glad I had my toilet paper with and some quaker oats bars. They didn't seem to want to tell us what was going on, which added to the frustration. Finally we got on the plane and headed to Mumbi / Bombay.

When we got there, we were told we missed the flight to England and the next flight they could put us on went to Germany, but it didn't leave until 8:30 tomorrow. I didn't believe them. How could a city this large not have an earlier flight out, when it was only 3:00PM. While we were standing in some passport line, I kept an eye on the first-class line. I figured anyone waiting on people flying first class must have some knowledge and clout. As soon as the last person was done being waited on in that line, I zipped on over to the counter. I told them I needed to get home. My daughter had been in a car accident and I needed to get home to see her. They had sympathy for me and wisked me off to a room where someone set me up on a direct flight to JFK airport in New York leaving at 1:00AM. She told me not to talk to anyone about it, because they would not be able to do this for anyone else. I felt bad for the others, but there was nothing I could do about it.

I went with the group to the hotel and showered, ate some delicious food and had a drink. It was nice to relax with the group for one last time. We got to call home for three minutes to tell them about our delay. I couldn't reach anyone and had to leave a voice message. I hope they get it.

Then it was time to go to the airport. I was suppose to leave at 10:30pm. When I went down to the front desk for my ride, they told me to have a seat and someone would be by to pick me up in 15 minutes. Here we go with Indian time again, only this time we were playing with my ability to get home. I was not going to chance missing my flight. I stood up for myself and told them I needed a ride now. They said five minutes. After five minutes I went outside to see if anyone out there could help me. The man in charge out there told me it would be another 10 minutes. Then I overheard them talking about a flight delay and how the van was going to wait for the flight to come in before heading back to the hotel. I asked him if I heard that right and he asked me when my flight took off. There was no way I was going to tell him. They would have me waiting there all night. I told him I was suppose to have left 15 minutes ago and that I needed a taxi right now. He agreed and got me one. Thank goodness.

When I got to the airport, everything went smooth. I got on the plane and away I went. The plane had nice seats and a video screen in the seatback. I got to watch a movie and many TV shows. I slept a lot and listened to my Zune. I felt bad though, because there were many open seats and I think the rest of the group could have fit on this plane. They didn't want to allow the rest of the group on, because it was a more expensive flight.

I woke up and had breakfast at the hotel. Then I rented a taxi and went to the Big Bazaar. I found a couple movies, a CD and two Tshirts. The taxi waited for me so it was easy to get back. Then it was time to weigh the suitcases. I had to repack and move items from one to the other - trying to get it as close to 50 lbs each as possible. I can hardly lift them. I'm leaving behind shampoo, soap, TP and a hair dryer. We'll see at the airport how close I came. I blogged until it was time to leave.

We arrived at the airport and got all checked in. Our flight was suppose to leave at 4:00AM.

The check out experience in India leaves much to be desired. I had paid my bill on Monday and thought I was free and clear, but no. They said I owed more and it took me 30 minutes to get it straightened out. Several other people had trouble as well. Their business skills over here need work.

We then drove for a couple of hours to Bangalore. We went to another temple and a garden. We had lunch in a dive. I decided not to eat and instead ventured over to a Public School that was across the street from the restaurant. I was surprised to find out Public over here means Private. One of the teachers of geography gave me a tour. I went into all the classrooms and said hello to the kids. They all stood and welcomed me. The younger kids have 40 students in a classroom and then when they are in around third grade it goes down to 20-22. This is the opposite of the U.S. We feel the younger students need more one on one instruction at lower grades and increase it somewhat to 25-30 as they get older. The school was K-10 and I went into classes from pre-school to 8th grade. The rooms are very small. They use blackboards - no whiteboards, although they did have a computer lab that the students spend time in everyday. They have curriculum on the computers designed for teaching students subject matter. I met the principal and we talked about the education process that is necessary to teach as well as to become a principal. In order to be a principal she had to get an MBA.

When we got back to the hotel, we checked in and then eight of us rented two taxis to take us to the mall. We headed right for McDonalds. It was really interesting to see no beef served. I had a version of the Big Mac made out of spicy chicken. It was call the Maharaja burger. I also ate french fries and a coke. It was soooooo good. From there I went by myself to a Bollywood movie called Om Shanti Om. It was fantastic. It was not in English but every once in a while they would break out a few English words. There was one serious scene with a lot of yelling and in the end she says in English "I'm pregnant." That told me all about the scene in just two words. We had assigned seats and lots of food to chose from. They told me they'd bring it to my seat if I wanted. Since I had already eaten, I passed. A couple sat next to me and during the intermission the man left to get her somthing to dirnk. I asked her why they killed off the two stars of the show and she said not to worry they'd be back. I said how can they do that when they are dead and she said through reincarnation. She was right. After the intermission the main male star was back up on the screen reincarnated. It was funny, sad, scary, romantic, colorful, and full of dancing. I loved it.

I met Harvey, Gene and Merry after the show and we went to KFC. It was very good. They give you a salsa type sauce to dip the chicken stirps in. The cole slaw was very similar to the U.S. Then we found our cab driver who was driving a mercedes and he took us back to the hotel. He had waited for us the whole time we were there. We had to pay him an additional 600 rupes to stay. It was well worth it.

We had class in the morning and the topic was e-governance. It was pretty interesting, given my IT background. Teresa had gone shopping for a gift for our "tourguide / instructor." We all chipped in and bought him a rug. We presented it to him before class. He really liked it and said he would use it for special occassions only, because it was so nice.

We had the afternoon to do what we wanted, so Genny and I went to the zoo. On the way we saw many cows painted yellow. We saw some pink sheep earlier. A man at a shop told us they have the cows walk through fire as a part of the celebration. It is suppose to help keep the hoof and mouth disease at bay. Today is a holiday here. The zoo was really nice. It is a big zoo compared to the Duluth Zoo. It was much more in line with the size of the San Diego Zoo. It had giraffs, elephants, tigers, gorilla, bears, and much more. It was very relaxing.

When we got back, it was time to dress for dinner. A bunch of us girls wore our new sarre outfits we purchased in town. The dinner was excellent. There was an appitizer that reminded me of nachos. I spent most of the evening talking to the professor that spoke today in class. We compared experiences with regards to our careers in the field of IT. He said he hopes to stay in touch with me in the future. The Institute gave us all very nice jackets to take with us.

When we got back to the hotel, a bunch of us went down to a conference room and played Apples to Apples. It was a lot of fun and gave us one last evening of bonding in Mysore.

Class today focused on Branding and was given by Professor Balakrishnan. We were then free for the afternoon. I was able to get caught up on my blogs and e-mail, which was really helpful.

After class we had another session with the media. After listening to the questions being asked of Gene and Harvey, I decided to join the guys in answering questions. I felt my IT background may be of interest because of India's concentration of IT professionals. I don't normally like to talk to reporters because they have a tendency to slant your words to the direction they want their article to go. My words never seem to be quoted in the context in which they were said. But, I set my reservations aside and opened up my thoughts to the discussion. I feel it went pretty well. A few of them seemed to have an agenda, but for the most part the questions weren't too tough. I'll be anxious to see if anything we said is printed and is printed correctly.

I tried to get another massage, but they were totally booked. I had wanted to go to the "Olive Garden" Chinese restaurant for a week and figured this would be my last chance. Everybody was gone so I decided to go alone. It was not the best idea. The driver of the rickshaw really wanted to talk to me. He kept pulling over to the side of the road and turning around to talk to me. I finally told him I was in a hurry and that we needed to keep moving. I was able to order two dinners, chicken fried rice, and two cokes for $10. Not bad. I took the food as take out and went back to the hotel to eat it. It was really good. If they offered delivery, they would have gotten more business. Both Subway and Pizza Hut delivered for free to our hotel. Not like back home.

Late in the afternoon, Karl, Gene, Harvey, Teresa, and I went into town to pick up everybody's clothes. Then we went to Subway for dinner. It was kind of neat because it was just the MBA students. We had never gone out as a group before. It was kind of nice. The food was good, but Teresa bought a cookie and it had ants crawling under it. That kind of spoiled it for her.

Another day of sightseeing. The roads were so bad it was unbelievable. We saw more countryside than I could imagine. We went to several temples, a beach, and a waterfall. The beach was really fun. We took a ride in a round boat across the river and back. A man used a pole to navigate and propel us. Then he took a big paddle and spun us around. I thought Teresa was going to get sick. There was a whole bunch of kids swimming in the water. They decided to splash us and thought it was funny getting us wet.

The waterfall was pretty. It looked like the one I saw on the Big Island of Hawaii. The main problem I had with the trip was there was NO American toilet on a trip of 10 hours. Not good. The bumpy roads I can handle, the car sickness I can handle. No American toilets, I can't handle. What can I say?

Teresa and I went shopping to pick up our outfits. Neither place was able to get the grease off the outfits. I was not happy about that. Quality control is definitely an issue over here. I bought a couple bottles of wine to bring home. Let's hope they make it. I returned a hair dryer I bought, because it wouldn't let me turn it off. It was an interesting experience. They wanted me to come back later after they had a chance to fix it. When I told them I would be leaving soon, they gave up and replaced it with one that worked. I spent the evening studying and trying to get over being car sick.