Prologue

I leave for my semester in India in 5 days. It will be quite a welcome change from the winter Oregon has been having. A few days ago in the most ironic shopping trip ever, my mother and I braved a blizzard to go shopping for sandals.

I decided I wanted to study in India about a year ago and since that time, I've gotten a variety of reactions from people when I tell them that's where I'm going. It has ranged from "OH! India!!" to "India? oh." Recently, I've gotten a little more along the lines of "India. Ok...don't get bombed." But perhaps the most memorable reaction so far was the very straightforward, "You're going to India? Bring Pepto-Bismal."

Overall, people have really been curious as to why I chose India. It's hard to say exactly what drew me to the idea. On one hand, I don't speak the language(s), I can't always handle spicy food, and I'm very prone to heat stroke. Then again, I'm a very big fan of yoga, chai tea, and bright colors. I'm also not going to pretend that this youtube video was not an influential factor in my decision: CLICK HERE.

Don't you want to go to India after watching that? I do.

There's also the fact that I've just always really wanted to go there. Everything from the food to the movies to the religions has always had a huge draw for me. And in addition to my inexplicable fascination with the country, I felt that for me personally, it might be the most culturally and emotionally challenging place to go. So why not? When else would I have the opportunity to spend half a year in India?

I will be studying at the University of Hyderabad. (that's several hundred miles away from Mumbai, and far out of reach of Pakistan, so calm down.) My flight leaves Portland on the 26th and after about a million hours in the air and a few hours in Amsterdam I'll arrive in Hyderabad on the 28th at about 2 AM. Then I will essentially be becoming nocturnal because India is 13.5 hours ahead of the west coast. I know...It DOES sound fun! Then a hop, skip, jump, and five months later I'll be flying back to the states on May 20th.

I'm confident that there will be many many adventures coming my way soon, so read on!