A Bittersweet Goodbye

A 6 hour bus ride, two stops for food and chai, 4 hours of waiting in the Mumbai airport, 2 hours of security and immigration, a 15 hour international flight to Newark, 2 hours more of security and immigration, saying goodbye to my friends, two domestic flights home, and around six hours of sleep; you could say I'm exhausted. I've been traveling for 36 hours so far and am so close to landing in Bozeman.

Though this is my home, my friends and my family, I'm a bit nervous to go home. After being abroad for this long, home doesn't actually seem like that warm fuzzy place you go everyday. Perhaps this is because it's more of a memory and the home I've been so used to is in India. I'm sad to be leaving and nervous to return for several reasons.

I'm afraid because I really like the person I am when I'm traveling, and I really don't want to lose her. When I am reliant on myself, when I feel confident and totally capable of all that's thrown at me. When I am more thoughtful and analytical, always aware of my surroundings and thinking with a more global awareness. I've found so many new ways to entertain myself. I'm not reliant on technology, anything or anyone for that matter. My patience tolerance is remarkably higher and my attitude always seems to be more optimistic. I want to always be like this, not only when I'm traveling.

I don't want to leave because here, I've discovered that you are able to learn not solely to get a grade or pass a test. You are able to learn because you are passionate about something, because you truly and genuinely are curious and interested. I've been able to experience this new style of learning-without-consequences and it has been infinitely better than any public school system has to offer. 

I don't want to leave because though I do miss my friends and family, the bonds I've established here have been incredible. I've made new friends and a completely new family. It's much harder to leave these people because the uncertainty of when or if we'll ever meet again is constantly in the air.

I don't want to leave because I've gotten so used to living life so simply; with fewer needs and less possessions. Undeniably a shower is going to be incredible and a real mattress will be really nice, but in India I was living out of a suitcase. All I needed, I had- and nothing more. This trip has helped me realize the extent of how many things I own that are purely for the sake of enjoyment. Nothing on the basis of anything necessary for basic survival. It's made me realize how little we need to be happy. 

I don't want to leave because leaving means I have to go back to reality. I have to say goodbye to this fantasy that I've been living for six weeks and face what's ahead to come- school, college prep, tests ect... 

I don't want to leave because, as I was told would happen, I've fallen in love with India. I've realized how big, beautiful an diverse this country is and I really have only gotten a taste of it. I am so eager to explore more of what it has to offer and see more of it's beautiful sights, and meet more of its wonderful people.

Though it's sad to have left, I am so fortunate for the time I had. India has taught me so much. 

I will implement my new perspectives on a daily basis; with everything I find, and every new experience I encounter. I will appreciate all I have even more than before and be conciensious to use only what is needed. It has given me faith that all people are inheritely good, and so incredibly similar. It has taught me how big the world is and helped to put me in place of where I stand, but at the same time, it has also boosted my spirits for my possibilities in this life. India has taught me the importance of resources like food and water, and the impacts they have on people's lives. It has taught me that a place is characterized by the people inhabiting it. I've learned that not only is it possible to be happy anywhere in the world, but it is completely dependent on your mindset. 

India has taught me more about myself than I ever knew. It's helped me to pinpoint my beliefs, prioritize my goals, and to realize my passions and my interests. It has taught me to become more independent and to have more confidence in myself. It helped me discover my abilities, my limits, and ways to cope when these walls and breached. 

So, as I sit on this airplane, eating ice for the fist time in six weeks, I am looking forward to landing in Bozeman in 1 hour and 34 minutes. I do miss my friends and my family. I miss the mountains and the blue sky. 

The thing that keeps me happy about leaving my second home is the fact that I know I will soon be back.

Reflecting On Ancient Cultures

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to visit a few museums throughout the city. It was so neat to see artifacts of ancient and medieval cultures. To tour old palaces and forts and try to imagine what life used to be like for all these people; having to ride elephants and find refuge in forts and fight the British and serve the kings. It's hard to make your mind believe that the sculpture you are looking at is from the 9th century A.D. history can be a difficult concept to completely grasp.
Looking at these huge swords and engraved gold silverware that royalty used to use in their palaces, and learning about their lives, seeing the beautifully decorated structures that the kings would sit in atop elephants or carried by people and servants was really eye opening. Life used to be so different and it's so interesting to try and imagine yourself in these time periods. Personally, I think it's near to impossible to completely picture their lives. Considering the fact that we are so accustomed to all the possessions in our daily lives that make everything easier, it is so hard to completely imagine a time when people didn't have cars, or electricity or running water. Things we are so accustomed to as a culture yet things that people used to live so independently without.

Six Weeks Has Flown By

To think that today is my last day in school. Hard to believe that waking up in the mornings from here on out, I won't walk to my window and open it to the view of the street below, an image I have become so used to. Trying to imagine that tomorrow I will not be waiting outside for my driver to pick me up, I wont be driving to school with my friends, watching out of the rainy windows as we drive by the street vendors, the four-member-family on a motorcycle, and that beautiful red temple and the base of the hill. Trying to wrap my head around the fact that this is the last time I will be sitting with my friends in this computer lab, taking twenty minutes to log onto these huge old computers. Waiting as the rain drizzles out the window and all the little students on their lunch break wave at us. Really hard to look at all these faces and think that this may be the last smile we ever get. Tough day of saying goodbye to our routines that have come so normal. It's like we're leaving again but this time there's no promise that we'll be back in just six weeks.
Our school is constructed out of an old train, so I've forced myself to think of all these goodbyes as a train stop. We are leaving the station once again, headed to new places and headed to meet different faces. The things we learn along the way are going to help us and the people we encounter will always be with us. Whether these people we meet are physically with us ever again, they will forever have an impact on our lives. Everyone crosses paths with us for a reason, but that doesn't make it any easier when it comes to saying goodbye to these beautiful souls. So now we're off, leaving platform nine and three quarters (Nina K. quote), and headed onto our next big adventure.

Parvati

103 steps and 2100 feet later, we walked to the top of Parvati Temple in the city. It was a beautiful reservoir of serenity among all the city chaos directly at the bottom of the hill.

Becoming "Cultured"

As we are nearing the end of our journey together, we are able to see the transformations that have happened. Not only are we more knowledgeable of another culture, but I think we have all been able to open our minds even a little more. To have more of a worldly perspective on things as they go by. To be able to think of things from more that one angle, and more than one direction. I think we all have gained a greater awareness of what's out there and a better understanding of the world as a whole. Though it has only been six weeks, the lessons we have learned and the experiences we have had together have taught us an immense amount of valuable information. At the beginning of the trip, one of the things I was most excited about upon coming to India was going home. This wasn't because I didn't want to be there or because I was homesick, it was because I was so excited to come home and implement a new perspective into my everyday life. I was so eager to find new ways to look at things differently. In this way, the past six weeks have had an incredible impact on all of us.

Closing Ceremony

Today we had our closing ceremony. This was a time for us to say our thank you's and goodbyes as well as show our parents what we have learned. We recited poems, hosted the entire event in Hindi, danced traditional and Bollywood style dances, and sang prayers and songs. This is the video Sydney and I made as a surprise thank you to all our teachers. I think it's a really good representation of our trip.

Pictures That Can Speak For Themselves

Food! Glorious Food

मुझे खाना पसंद है

I like food.

This was one of the first things I learned to say in hindi, but my vocabulary has now grown, and I can further this conversation with भी मुझे आम पसंद है (I also like mango), and बहुत स्वादिष्ट, यह क्या है? (this is delicious, what is it?)

To me, food is so much more than food, and it becomes more of an experience, especially when trying something for the first time. I’ve tasted new fruits, new vegetables, countless spices, different teas, plants, leaves, herbs, desserts, and even more things I had never even heard of. The food is all so different, and depending on from which region of India it originates, it is also varied. When eating all these delicious new things, you get to further experience the culture and the people of that culture. We learn to eat with our hands, to eat sitting on the floor, we learn how to arrange our plates, what to eat first and how to do so. We experience different tastes; sour bitter, extremely sweet and really really spicy.

Eating here has become somewhat of an adventure. With each new bite comes a bit of excitement. Anxious to discover whether this dish is sweet or spicy. Whether you like it, or if it’s really not your favorite. And then, there comes the time when you have no idea what things are, so you take the menu and point to the desserts page, asking the man for one of each
There are those exciting moments when you get to eat meat, something you haven't tasted for weeks, and other times when you are sweating so badly and sniffling your nose as you wipe your tears. Whoops, didn't see that chile you subtly think to yourself. 
In every meal, it's pretty standard to have a large amount of vegetables. In even the simplest of dinners, you will probably be having at least three or four different types. It's also standard to have some sort of roti (bread, grain) in your meal. Whether it's naan, chapati, parata, this is how you eat all your subjee (vegetables). It's also pretty normal to eat some kind of dal (lentil soup) and rice with your meal.  
The food here is delicious. To say the least. 
Below is a picture of the desserts we got through way of random pointing.

Red Light? Aint Nobody Got Time For That!

Traffic is a thing I was not very used to, considering I do not live in a big city. The honking is so loud but fortunately, I am very used to it by now. Rare moments of silence have started to feel weird. The thoughts of something feels weird.. oh wait, it’s quiet. But aside from the noise, the traffic is a completely different issue. Whereas in the U.S. a red light is always obeyed and there is minimal chaos at intersections, here the people could care less about what color the stop light is. I was having a conversation the other day with a teacher about this topic, and her thoughts were as follows. “It really depends on our mood. Sometimes we just feel like obeying the laws and sometimes (most times) we don’t.” I’m starting to get the hang of how people drive though. Hands on the steering wheel so that you are easily able to honk whenever needed. In order to cross the intersection, just start inching your car farther and farther out and eventually, someone will wait. And when you are sitting at a light and it turns green, there is absolutely no way you are able to cross because all the other people have just run their red light. Just sit tight and don’t worry, you will be able to cross within the hour. The picture below is this exact situation (notice our green signals), and it happens every day on our way home.

The Benefits of [not] Being a Tourist

This trip has been my first experience abroad where I am not traveling as a tourist. I'm not lugging around my camera and swimsuit while my American family and I look for a beach. Rather, I'm staying with a local family. I have found many advantages to doing so. This is better because instead of staying in a fancy hotel and eating at restaurants every night, I am able to experience the atmosphere and the conditions of an Indian family, and the daily rituals and customs that fill their every day. I am able to see religious practices, student life, household chores, neighborhoods, transportation and food. We are shown the little places in the back alleys that we would have otherwise never known existed. Not only is it a more realistic experience, but it is also quite safer and easier; our host families know what we should and shouldn't eat, and when they take us places, we are better protected and in places of familiarity. I have learned more about India through just living in a household than any book could have ever taught me, not to mention the relationships I've developed with the people here. I will be leaving this country with an entirely new family.