As anyone who knows me knows, I've long been on a soapbox that Oxford Exchange is both the best place in Tampa, as well as my own image of what heaven could look like. Buckle up everyone, because yesterday I had my entire worldview shifted by yet another restaurant.

Located in St. Pete, the Library (formerly the Peabody) is like stepping into Belle's library for breakfast. We picked the earliest reservation of the day, so we were able to (obnoxiously) take a lot of photos, get up and walk around, and really enjoy the atmosphere of the restaurant.

   This is the master post of my India trip, covering what I did while there, the best foods, and my overall experience! I'm going to have one post with my top five favorites, so if long posts aren't your thing, be sure to check out that one for the highlights! 

   For the majority of my time in India, I stayed at Infosys' training center in Mysore, India. This is where we had classes, from workshops to normal lectures to projects and exams, and spent most of our time. Mysore is in the state of Karnataka in the south of India and is known for its silks and sandalwood.
   While we were in class from 9:30am-6:30pm (yikes right?), we did have the opportunity to get off campus and explore the city! Our first excursion was for Mysore local sightseeing. We visited the Mysore palace, Chamundi Hills, and had the chance to shop for Sarees!

   The first weekend was our first long excursion. We woke up early Saturday morning and headed for Bylkauppe Tibetan Monastery. This was one of the coolest places we saw, because it truly felt like we'd been transported to Tibet without having left India. We toured the compound, led around by two student monks. After some shopping, we loaded into the bus and headed to our next destination.

  Two hours later, we arrived in Kabini National Forest for our safari weekend. We checked into our cabins and prepared for our first safari. This probably was my absolute favorite experience in all of India. As someone who has always dabbled in wildlife photography (aka taking pictures of deer and owls in my backyard) the chance to photograph animals on safari is like, one of the coolest things I'll probably ever do. That night we explored the old English style pub before turning in and getting some sleep before our morning safari. They next morning, we went off again into the forest in search of more animals. Over the two days, we saw lots of deer, monkeys, various birds, ELEPHANTS, a tiger, and wild dogs.   After the safari, we took a short boat tour of the reserve before heading back to collect our bags and check out. That evening, we took the opportunity to catch up on rest and study for our exam the next morning.
(If you want to see actual pictures of the animals, they'll be in my next post, because I had too many for this already long post oops)

   The next week we spent finishing up our course, attending workshops and lectures, completing our exam, and presenting our group projects we'd put together. Most of these week included late nights in the classroom, so we didn't have any major excursions other than one trip out for dinner.
   On our last day in Mysore, we finished up classes and thanked all of our instructors and those who supported us during our stay. That evening, we got dressed and headed out for our final night in the city. We visited Mysore palace again, to see the palace lighting. Before the lights, we were able to explore the palace grounds, including visiting the elephant garden! And one of the coolest things of the trip- we rode elephants in India. Finally, we headed back to see the palace lighting. After the lights, we headed to dinner, watching the India-Pakistan cricket game, had some Kingfishers, and reflected on our first two weeks so far.


   The next morning, we were off to Bangalore for a tour of Infosys' headquarters. We were given a tour of their campus and had the opportunity to meet some of the executives of the office. After the campus tour, we headed out into the city to explore for the afternoon. We split up into two groups, as Macy and I were determined to get most of our shopping out of the way, and the boys were after a bar. We headed toward commercial street, shopping and haggling for scarves, skirts, bangles, tea, and so much more. Despite the gloomy weather, we had a very productive couple of hours before meeting up with the boys and taking the metro back to our bus to head back to Mysore.

   The next day was our final local excursion to Sravanabelagola, a thousand-year-old temple. We left our shoes and began the long ascent up the mountain, which me + altitude made for a very unhappy camper, but the view and temple were well worth a little altitude sickness. The first plateau features a temple and various ruins of other structures, and after yet more stairs, you reach the main temple. This features a 58ft tall statue, the largest monolithic statue in the world. The views from this hill were amazing, and walking through a structure that old was surreal. We headed back down the hill, grabbed some lunch (and well deserved Pepsi's), and headed back to Mysore to pack and prepare for our flight the next day.




   The next morning, we were up bright and early for our drive to Bangalore and subsequent flight to Delhi. Once we arrived, we grabbed some lunch before beginning the five hour drive to Agra. We all immediately passed out, only waking up for food. Once we arrived in Agra, we checked into our hotel, exploring a bit before getting ready for dinner. We stayed at the Taj Gateway Hotel, which was amazing, with probably the comfiest bed I've ever slept in. That night, we were treated to dinner at the ITC Delhi by a friend of our professor's who lives in the area, sampling various kebabs and wine. This was one of my favorite nights of the trip, because we all just relaxed and had the chance to just sit and talk and get to know each other a little more!

  The next morning, we woke up even earlier and headed to the Taj Mahal. Even saying that now, a month later, I get goosebumps! We were fortunate enough to be golf carted to one of the gates, and our tour guide began explaining the history and construction process of the Taj. When I say this was one of the most incredible buildings I've ever seen, I'm not exaggerating. Once you walk through the main gate and see the Taj, it's almost like stepping into a frozen moment in time; even though there was restoration going on, you truly get to feel as if you've stepped back to the time it was built. We made our way across the grounds to the actual building. We entered the marble structure, visiting the tomb, before making our way out to the riverside. After taking around 200 pictures, we headed off toward the hotel to freshen up before breakfast.

   Our professor's friend hosted us for breakfast, allowing us to visit his home and serving us a traditional north Indian meal. We thanked our host, and headed back to the bus for one last stop in Agra. We visited a marble store, featuring various kinds of handicrafts made with the same techniques as the inlays in the Taj. One of the weirdest experiences in the whole trip, we stopped at an Indian Walmart for snacks on our way back to Delhi, which turned out to basically be a Sam's type store. We stocked up on a box of KitKats and a box of gum packets, picking up some other snacks throughout the store on our way out. We finished our shopping, and said goodbye to Agra, ready for our last few days in Delhi!

   Our final days in Delhi were spent shopping and relaxing, as we'd had an incredible three weeks. We caught up on our rest at our hotel, the Lemon Tree Delhi, relaxing at the pool and trying the different restaurants each evening. During the days, we took a bus tour past the various embassies and sights, from the India Gate to the official government buildings, and explored Sarojini Nagar and Janpath markets. I loved being able to shop in these markets, because it was so relaxed and we were finally comfortable enough to be able to haggle and really get into the authentic nature of the market atmosphere. Our final evening, we had a long lunch before heading to the airport to be dropped off. Slowly, we all said our goodbyes and caught our flights to various destinations. I, amazingly, had a layover at Heathrow and got to say hello to London again this summer for a few hours, before finally landing back in the States, to a much needed Starbucks coffee that my parents so lovingly had waiting for me when they picked me up.


  Overall, my experience this summer was incredible, and even this long, LONG post can't possibly describe how wonderful this trip was. Since I'm entering my final year of school, this trip is one of the last major experiences I'll have in college, and I'm so pleased I get to carry all I learned, both academically and personally, with me in my future endeavors.