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May 18th to 24nd, 2026
This was a somewhat uneventful week, but despite this, as you'll see, it was a time when we took some steps out of our comfort zone. This week, Dr. Li was away, which caused us to feel like a headless chicken at times. Throughout our trip he acted as a sort of guide, and often we would just follow him for everything. Now that he was gone, we had to figure out how to manage on our own.
This was also the first week when we were here where it has been above 40 degrees Celsius and combined with the contrast of the cool weather in Almora we had strong preference for staying in our rooms where there it is cool and comfortable. To force ourselves to leave the building, we decided to go to a few cafes to do our work and get some food. The atmosphere was really nice, and the food was very tasty and we ended up getting quite a bit of work done there.
We visited the Mahatma Gandhi Central Library on campus! It had a grand rounded entrance and the exterior was surrounded with beautiful trees. Inside, it felt quite similar to Stauffer, but smaller. There were three main floors and many desks on each one. Interestingly, they did not allow students to bring bags inside the library - there was a large cubby area where they had to leave their belongings.
On one of the days, Stephanie got bitten by a puppy, and because it was an off-campus dog, she had to get rabies and tetanus shots. For follow-up appointments, we all went with her and explored the hospital.
This was also the first day we took an e-rickshaw. It was a hot day, and the hospital was closing soon, so we all hopped in for a lot of fun. We were originally quoted a price that was double what a local would be charged, but Zainab used her bargaining and Hindi skills to get the price down.
On Friday, Dr. Li got back from his travels, and we talked with Dr. Bibhuti about the problem statements we have been working on over the last week. He gave us really useful suggestions on how we can either improve our problem statements, or pivot to similar but different topics. For example, Narayan and Jialin were wanting to work with the collection of pine needles in the Himalayas. He suggested that they instead work on the drying of pine needles for use in Handicrafts. This is because another exchange student from the University of Punjab recently created a prototype for this, so because our timeline is quite short, he suggested they continued work on that project. In addition, we met two incoming masters students at the Department of Design and talked a bit about their work and how we can collaborate to help each other.
On Sunday, we all went to a service at the church on campus. Dr. Li has attended this church for five years, and it was especially meaningful when he gave a speech at this service. The church, St. John's Church, was established in the 19th century and has beautiful Gothic-style architecture. It is known for its detailed stained glass windows and intricate woodwork. Dr.Li gave an incredible speech about what faith means to him and how important community is. There was also an incredible choir comprised of students from both the university and the high school on campus who sang hymns all throughout the service. After the service, we had chai and brownies with the community members.
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