The orientation went very well and the group of students are quickly bonding. Our travel to Bangladesh took a long time, however our transit was surprisingly comfortable. I didn’t feel like I had left America when I was in Dubai on the lay over, but it definitely felt like a different country when I landed in Dhaka!

The first day of class we jumped full swing into the language. There has been plenty of time to see the local area and interact with a wide range of Bangladeshi people.

I am actually holding up pretty well here (knock on bamboo!) I would like to think that my ‘spring training’ has paid off – I spent the last semester pouring a spicy sauce on everything from steak to lasagna. Unfortunately this is probably not the case here. I think the Bangladeshi cooks probably tone down the amount of spice because we are ‘Bidishi’ (foreigners). I have been careful not to drink the tap water and have used bottled water to brush my teeth. In order to stay physically fit, I run at 5:30 every morning and stretch with a group of local elderly men in the local Baridhara Park. The men gave me weird glares when I was doing pull ups on the beam for the swing set – to them, a good workout includes stretching and walking around the perimeter of the park.

The academic curriculum is very unusual – because we are enrolled in an intensive language program, we are scheduled to cover the 32 weeks of material in less than 9 weeks. We have class from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., with a short tea break between. The periods are broken up into conversation, alphabet, grammar, and role playing classes. They may seem very structured by their titles; however they all build off of the previous period. It is a high paced course which demands a lot of dedication outside of the classroom. We are also expected to practice our language skills with the locals. I have found the door guards to be very helpful at night.

The smells can be overwhelming at times. The country completely lacks all major first world infrastructures, including basic sanitation. There are troughs on the side of the road filled with raw sewage, garbage and discarded bones from a local butcher shop. Due to the extreme heat, most shops are completely exposed to the road. Laborers work on their wood carvings, metal lathing, brick making and butchering right on the road side.

We call the bazaar right next to our apartment ‘Narnia’ because when you step outside of the gate and leave the international embassy community you enter a portal of organized chaos. There are no rules for traffic. The streets are crowded and the everyone is moving in a different direction. I took a rickshaw ride from Baridhara to Banani (about 25 minutes) and saw motorcycles driving on sidewalks, moving in the opposite direction of traffic, buses with over 150 people packed inside and even half a dozen on the roof, and motorcades of pedestrians dogging eight lanes of crossing traffic.

Although my descriptions of the country paint a picture of the Wild-Wild-West; the people are actually the defining factor of the country. I have found extreme and genuine hospitality. The people are incredibly patient and eager to teach me Bengali.

For a reasonable price, you get an individually brewed cup of hot tea mixed with condensed milk. This is the best location to practice my basic Bengali phrases and work on my accent. When I get a cup of cha, generally a crowd of 15-20 locals form around me and stare at me - usually intrigued because they don’t see many caucasian people, but also because I catch them off guard by knowing a little Bengali. They want to learn what America is like and hear what I think of their country. Their intrigue is genuine and I have developed a few friendships which make me feel more comfortable when I walk the local streets. This first week in Bangladesh I have tried to observe as much as I can and gain a certain degree of familiarity in my temporary home.