Hello, layover in the Delhi airport. How are you? I'm fine, just a little anxious to get back to the good old USA, I might be a little happier if you didn't last 9 stupid hours, you know?

So a 9 hour layover in the Delhi airport begins and I am in the middle of my journey back to the states. Funny isn't it? How an entire summer will just fly by?

So two weeks back, Steph, Al, and I ventured to Agra and Delhi. A typical trek for a tourist, but a jam-packed weekend for us three chicas. Our night train to Agra began with a chaotic failure of the travel agency. We arrived expecting three reserved seats to ensure us a good night's sleep and comfortable transport to Agra. However, as it goes in India, this was not so simple. Only one reservation was made, and for the first 4 hours of our train ride, the three of us squished onto the 3x5 foot bed and planned the best way we could all spoon so that we could sleep at least some of the 12 hr train ride. Thanks to a kind conductor, we eventually found 3 open seats, slept with our luggage under our heads (a friend of ours got a money belt taken off her in her sleep on this train), and arrived, semi-rested, in Agra.

The Taj Mahal was beautiful. They say the building was build for the Mughal's queen, resembling the female body, and I completely agree. As we walked down the blunt marble walkways, nearing her, until she loomed above us, I couldn't help hear Katya Kabanova, singing about birds. Is it strange that opera would fill my head in India, where people don't even know who Mozart is?

From the Taj we continued via car to Delhi. What we came upon was so different than I expected, the whole thing felt like a dream and still does when I look back on it. Our hotel, thanks to Steph's parent's reward points, was a brand new crown plaza, and felt like a 5 star resort compared to anything we'd experienced in India. The pool overlooked the rural, dusty, and developing south side of delhi, but was peaceful and breezy, so I took a swim every day and enjoyed the sun.

Our days were pretty lazy, so we could enjoy the room service, and fluffy hotel beds, but fun when we ventured to the busy alleyways, packed with wedding gifts, spices, silver, cloth, and tattoo vendors (these were just guys with needles sitting on a rug on the streets, the cows, rats, and dogs would come up to them and smell the tattoo equipment... a german intern at our office actually came back from delhi with a tattoo...) Again I saw mom, and her friends. They were nice company to see the bahai temple, (like the one in evanston!) and the beautiful Indira Ghandi Museum. She was an incredible woman.

A night of clubbing was bizarre, but it was Al's 21st bday, so it needed to happen. Bromfy was the club of choice, and we were added to the VIP list by our friend.

When we were finally back in Udaipur, things flew by. Our last week at our job, our final presentation, our final morning with our families, Our goodbyes to interns, friends, chaiwalas, fsd workers, and the pups outside our office. Lots of shopping for our friends and families, trying to get rid of the last few rupees in my purse.

So now we are discussing what we want to eat when we get home... Amber is talking about soup, I am thinking about "all you can eat" sushi... I think we are all ready to go home... and I guess We've survived

A bit of a delay on the blog, but between the training session, presentations of our project to University professors, and Mom and her crew visiting, things this week have been pretty crazy.

So with the help of Lakshmi and Keilash we arranged our training session with 5 women from UGER in one of the school rooms at an Apna Jatan center. For 5 days from 11 am to 4 pm we sat on the concrete floor and helped cut fabric, hammer snaps, and snip threads as the women worked to design and sew the first 70 pads. Mumptaji, Pinkiji, (two enthusiastic women from Jatan) Steph and I were in charge of shopping for colorful fabric made of 100% cotton for the pads. Our shopping gave us a chance to explore the local markets of hatipol and bapu bazaar like locals. At first the women weren't too sure about having us around, but by the end of the week, we were joking about hitting each other with the snap mallet, and steph trying on our items for size.

Thursday evening, Mom, Mrs. Dunsirn, Hannah, and Anna arrived in Udaipur. I got a chance to see them on Friday afternoon, take the cable cars to the top of the mountain and go back to the Lake Palace Hotel with them. Seeing mom was great, but it was a bit strange because two worlds were forced together. Over all it was such a nice vacation to see my mom and my childhood friends, and hang out by their pool while sipping white wine. Their accommodations were so beautiful, more incredible than any of the museum palaces or forts I've seen so far. But I couldn't help but compare the living conditions I've seen in the field, to those of mom and her friends. Quite a contrast.

On Saturday, Steph, Nat, and I spend 3 hours in a work meeting with local university professors who are interested in our project. It was so invigorating and refreshing to get local support but also criticism of our work. Afterwards we hurried to prepare 30 sample pads with tags, marketing materials, and order sheets for Lakshmi to take to her conference in Bangalore. She will give talks about the importance of Safe and Environmentally healthy alternatives to disposable pads. Hopefully she will be convincing, and our product will help her cause.

Saturday night and Sunday was full of mom time. Saturday she had steph, nat, allison and I to the lake palace hotel for a delicious breakfast. Steph and I ate so much we felt sick afterward, but the spread at the palace hotel; piles of fruit, cheese, breads, fish, and various indian dishes; was too good to go easy. Our other activities were just as fun; a cooking class (that I unfortunately missed because of work), beer on a rooftop restaurant, trips to the Jain temple 'Ranakpoor' (where a priest sang us a blessing) and an ancient fort 'Kumbalgar' (where we ordered coffee that probably was made with goat piss).  The time gave us a chance to catch up and share our stories. It had been a while since I'd seen Anna and Hannah, but it was fun to catch up and reminisce about our days in middle school at Camp BirchKnoll.

They departed but we will meet up again in Delhi... speaking of delhi... I LEAVE TODAY FOR DELHI! I really cannot explain how excited I am. We're taking the night train to Agra... to see the TAJ, then we will bus on to delhi in the afternoon. We have a great hotel lined up, thanks to steph's parent's reward points, and a few club recommendations so that we can celebrate Allison's 21st birthday in style. Otherwise, I cannot wait to explore the streets and monuments, eat some kick ass paranta, and relax at Aqua, a pool side bar that we have all agreed will be worth a visit. Nat will be there with his host family so we will be lucky to have some local there to show us the ropes; hopefully his mom will take us to some good sari shops! While we are there, india celebrates the Raki festival. This is where girls give their brothers bracelets and the brother agrees to protect her... its really sweet, check out the link...  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raksha_Bandhan

Last night, after an excursion to a tailor called "Little Armani" in old city for suits, shirts, and skirt measurements, Steph and I decide to crown Nat our honorary indian brother. We both tied our bracelets around his wrists and talked about how happy we are to be a family.

so another week has flown by, its seriously gone and I’ve been in India for over a month. Things feel like home, surprisingly, and I know I will have to return.

First off. Friday night was batman. It was pretty great and I am so happy that we have a really sick movie theatre only a couple of minutes away from my house! What caught me off guard was that India still does intermission during every movie like in The Sound of Music or Gone with the Wind) Overall though, Anne Hathaway’s performance was impressive, making me re-think her levels of obnoxious. But I think we were all hoping that Bruce Wayne would not escape from that pit so we could see more shirtless training montages…

But more on India:

Today was the perfect break from the hectic norm. Steph, Allison, Ciara, Michelle, Becca, and I spent about 2 hours at a lakeshore restaurant eating lunch, and sipping coffee and beer. Then we ventured up to the monsoon palace for a gorgeous view of Udaipur and the surrounding mountains. It began to rain as we left the palace, which gave the entire city a misty glow.

Last weekend’s trip to jaipur was absolutely insane, disgusting, stressful, and invigorating. Jaipur is the capital of Rajasthan with a population of about… I brought up the trip idea to our group, and from there, was in charge of managing the transportation and the hotel arrangements and payment. Thankfully, Roma and Olivia helped a lot, but making sure that everyone was on the bus, and our hotel reservation was legit, was pretty crazy. I think for the weekend I was sort of the mom of the wolf pack.  I’m glad to say we made it back alive, only one cellphone (Nat) and one camera (Aaron) short.  Our transportation from Udaipur to Jaipur was a night bus with little sleeper cubbies. It was exciting at first as steph and I climbed up into our double sleeper box, but as the hours rolled by and the musty smell grew stronger and the noisy highway outside grew bumpier, it was slightly less fun. We arrive in Jaipur at 8 am the next morning, and found the wonderful Hotel Pearl Palace, where we checked in and ate breakfast at their roof top restaurant. I had my first cup of coffee in several weeks and it felt like heaven.

After a brief rest, the group went to the pink city to see the city palace. Then Jess, Steph, Allison, Michelle, Ciara, and Kelly and I wandered through some back ally ways as we tried to find the best shop for bangles. We got some weird looks, but otherwise felt safe. I feel pretty lucky that we got a “behind the scenes” view of the capital city. At “Little Italy,” woodfire pizza and a kingfisher beer finished off a delightful day. Everyone was happy to have a break from curries, dahl, and chipate.  Most of us returned to the hotel exhausted, except for Jess who came back to Allison, Steph and my room at midnight with a story about the club she went to with her host bro.

The next day, after another great breakfast at the hotel restaurant, we trecked to the Amber Fort, the most spectacular thing I’ve seen in India so far. The giant fort sits on top of a range of green hills, dotted with cows, overlooking a lake. The fort itself is a labyrinth of twisting passages, staggering staircases, mirrored chambers, and great views. After several corridors that smelled like piss and a run in with a pack of bats, we decided to leave. Our rikshaw driver took us to elephant city to meet the lovely she-elephant, pearl. I loved seeing her and stroking her trunk and the spurts of hair on her forehead, but it was sad and slightly uncomfortable to see her holed up in a 10 yrd by 10 yrd pen, waiting for the next batch of tourists to come see her.

The final adventure of the day was to the monkey temple, where we were anointed with a bhindi, and meet “the monkey man” who assured us that we were safe as long as he was with us. At least a hundred monkeys occupy the hill where the temple looks out over the sprawling and dusty capital. Olivia and Nat decided to feed our new friends some bread, but I refrained. Rabies was not worth a monkey grabbing a piece of bread from my hand.

That night, after a confusing trip to a dark ally with our rikshaw driver where he insisted that we needed to “visit his friend’s shop”, then finally being taken to the restaurant Niro’s for dinner, we got on our night bus back to Udaipur. We were all relieved when all 17 of us made it to the bus station on time and were on our way home. Nat accidentally picked up a bottle of pee that someone before him kindly left in his cubby, it was too dark for him to tell what was in the bottle before it was too late.

At work, Steph, Nat and I have been busy planning and preparing for next week, when 4 women from the SHG are taking their products to a trade fair in Jaipur, and we are producing 300 protoype reusable pads for testing and distribution to different NGOs, interns, families, and friends. By the time we will be done with this project, we will have designed, purchased materials, trained 5 women, priced, and marketed an entire product. I am loving the process and cannot believe the experience and freedom I am having at age 21 in a business setting. At a design firm, you would have to wait to be a senior manager before you could pioneer your own product, design, and over see the marketing. My favorite part was wandering through the fabric stores with Steph and two of the local women, Mumptaji and Pinkiji, looking for 100% cotton fabric for our pads.

Unfortunately our team has not been 100% well, as steph has been to the hospital 3 times this trip, trying to figure out her migraine/lightheadedness/weakness. We have grown so close over the last month that its so frustrating for me to see her worried and exhausted. I am so happy that I have bounced back from my sickness, but I hope she will improve in the upcoming weeks. Feeling sick away from home is physically and emotionally draining.

Otherwise the week has been filled with learning more about menstruation and different attitudes toward it through sites like this,

http://fuckyeahmenstruation.tumblr.com/page/6

http://iheartguts.com/calling-all-gynecologists

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jatan-Sansthan/128644517187874

Also, I’ve been trolling the websites of various consulting firms, fullbright programs, gates scholarships, production studios, and policy think tanks. It’s sinking in that I am going to be a senior and that although I am interested in all types of career opportunities; I have little to no idea what I really WANT to do with myself. If anyone has any suggestions… I’m all ears.

***A BIG thanks to Nat for letting me use his internet stick because mine has been broken for the last two weeks. And he let me eat some of his Dark Fantasy cookies last night, so there's that too***


So the last two weeks have been action packed in the sense that Steph, Nat and I now have a project to work on. We are incorporating a women's health initiative in with our marketing expansion of the Self Help Group. By the end of the summer, we will have hopefully worked with them to set up a boutique connection to sell their embroidered handbags, a connection with a supplier of school uniforms, and finally, a design for them to stitch female sanitary pads. These pads will be an eco-friendly, natural, cheap, and made available for village and city women who are currently using various unhealthy things to deal with their menstruation; synthetic pads (which take ~500 years to decompose) to dirty rags... Our project was inspired by Lakshmi Murthy, an incredible woman and a "pad freak" who has been pushing for a more sustainable and healthy way for women to not be ashamed of menstruation. She's won a Mcarther grant and is getting her phd in Bodily exertions, odd but awesome.  Look her up, you'll find some neat stuff. 

In other news, I caved in to the heat, spicy food, foreign bacteria, special lasses, and lack of sleep. Last Friday I feinted as I got ready for work, was scolded by my host mom, ushered to bed. After about 22 hours of sleep I was feeling much better. Tip to those who want to visit India in the future: Eat out as little as possible, the refrigerators are often turned off and on during power cuts which makes milk products and meat pretty unsafe to eat at restaurants during the summer. You can stay safe by eating vegetarian dishes. They are incredible and my auntie is an AMAZING cook, Again she tries to make me feel at home by cooking me pizza for breakfast : ) I really miss fish, and chicken, and beef,... and beer. At this point I am slightly questioning why I didn't study abroad in the Czech Republic.

It is still so hot that my red shirts are dying my skin red. When I get home and change, I look like I have a horrible sunburn. The next day, when I sweat, my dyed skin turns my white shirts pink... #IndiaProblems. But it has gotten better because the Monsoons have come! Each day it is cloudy and looks like it will rain, when it does, it pores all day, making everything muddy and wonderful. After getting caught in the rain with Nat, I was finally wise enough to buy an umbrella.

This weekend we are going to jaipur, just the 17 Gesi interns! We are leaving at 10 pm to take the overnight bus, and then coming back Sunday night. Hopefully we get to ride elephants!

As my first week in India comes to a close, I find myself worn from sun, smog, dirt, and dust, but eager for more exciting experiences and new flavors. The previous days have been packed full of adventures. I have never felt more like Indiana Jones.

I began my first morning at 4:30 am thanks to jetlag, roamed around our hotel lawn to find the peacocks (there were two!), and spent until 7:30 following Becca’s excellent yoga routine. It was already 85º F, now I understand where they came up with hot yoga. Our breakfast, much like it was for this entire week and will most likely be in the future, was spicy cauliflower curry and chipate (a type of tortilla bread).  Today however, my host parents kindly decided to serve me spaghetti for breakfast, although spicy marinara and pasta is normally not what I prefer to eat at 8 am, I could not resist their thoughtfulness. Aunti Sharan Kala and Uncle Ashok Kala have been incredible hosts to me so far, but more on these two later.

We caught our final flight to Udaipur and were greeted by our FSD representatives, Giulia and Diya. Giulia is from Italy and Diya is a native Udaipur(ian?). After settling into our hotel, Romaji takes us to Laxmi Handcrafts, a little store, crammed in between hundreds of little stores in a grimy side street. We enter apprehensively and are suddenly surrounded by walls filled with beautiful fabrics. Each of us buys new work clothes, the women pick out several salwar kameezes for work. After a late dinner we return back to a peaceful hotel balcony overlooking the palace and lake pichola. Steph, Nat, Jess and I listen to the Arab call to prayer being echoed off the mountains and reflect on our first day.

The last day of orientation began by a bird trying to break through a hole in steph and my bathroom, fortunately I hit its disgusting demon claw before it squeezed its way inside our room to attack. All afternoon are information sessions; 1 about the panchayati raj village governance system, 1 from a girl who has moved here from loyala to study farming, and 1 from romaji to learn some safety tips. Our first outside exhibition on foot is to the ATM, looking back on it now, its funny how scared I was to walk down the block from our hotel. Now I have ridden a crowded and rickety tempo (a small taxi) with 15 people crammed into it, by myself, and successfully navigated from my work to the Big Bazaar, while about 10 indian men yell “hey baby” at me. The big bazaar is a grocery store that is surprisingly similar to target, being there makes me a bit homesick. For dinner we go and celebrate Romaji’s birthday! We meet other FSD interns from San Francisco and NYU and share our experiences thus far, 2 of the NYU interns are sick… I hope that is not me in a few days. One had to go to the hospital yesterday because he was so dehydrated. There, they tried to convince him that a headache and a fever were the same this. This makes me really want to improve my hindi.

The next day we met our host families. Everyone was nervous at breakfast. We saw each other being chosen, one by one, to be introduced and taken home by their new parents. It felt like waiting for an interview or being picked in gym class. Around 11:30, Ashokji Kala and his granddaughter greeted me and took my bag down to their car. Thankfully the small talk was brief and his granddaughter spoke excellent English to smooth the transition. The Kalas have two children, one is married and studying in London with his wife. The other is married and living in Udaipur with her two kids. On my first night with the Kalas, the grandchildren came over to visit and chat. Their family is lively and friendly, and I can tell that the Kala’s love their grandchildren. Mihir and her mom leave but Dhananjay stays to keep us company at dinner. We talk about American TV, and I can’t belive how much they watch, -how I met your mother, jailbreak, vampire diaries (which we had a lengthy conversation about Elena, Stefan, and Damon drama). Even my host dad was excited to tell me about the 300 channels he has on his TV, the first show he mentioned to me was… “sex and the city.” I almost died laughing when he grinned and told me he really liked to watch it on HBO.

Ashok (uncleji is the term of endearment I now use) speaks some English, but it is limited. we had the afternoon to ourselves in their apartment, and  chatted awkwardly about his government job that he retired from, (he seems to really enjoy retirement… playing his favorite music throughout the apartment, taking his wife (aunti ji) to and from her job as a professor, taking his morning bath at 9:30 every day, and performing the puja, a prayer ceremony). The Kalas are a Brahmin family, which means they are the highest cast. Brahmins are traditionally the priests of the community and the Kalas definitely continue the traditions. Their walls are covered in pictures of Krishna and Ganesh, Auntiji told me about praying to the god of nature today as she was lighting candles in their small temple next to the kitchen. Tonight I was also lucky to be able to join them at their Guruji center to honor their Guru through chant and meditation. The service was an hour of sitting cross legged on the cement floor, responding to the call of the lead singer as Indian drums and symbols chimed along (I wish I knew the names of the instruments). Afterward, Aunti introduced me to some of her friends and the lead singer; they tell me that she is a very kind and faithful, and I feel lucky to be in such a rich culture and kind home.

We arranged to meet our NGO with Ashotosh, but he arrived late, so I road on the back of his motor bike and he eventually got me to Jatan. Unfortunately we missed Dr. Keilash, our advisor, and continued on to meet the group at an ice cream shop. First, we met some of the other workers at our NGO, and they made us sit for a while, enjoy some chai (tea in hindi), and then leave. By the time we met the group, we were 30 minutes late… they call this “Indian time” here.  If you set a time, 1. try to expect it to be at least 30 minutes later and 2. try not to expect something to happen at all… things are always changing and they see time in a very different way here.

FSD has kind of just set us loose here in Udaipur, I am luckily pretty good with finding my way around strange places and getting where I want to go eventually, but plenty of people have had interesting adventures getting lost and finding their way back. Nat was biking back home when he got lost in our neighborhood just as it was getting dark. He eventually needed to call his host father to come find him and bring him home. Aaron lost his phone the first day of being here… so when he wasn’t feeling well after crashing a random Indian wedding, tried to find his way home but got lost, he stopped and asked for directions. He ended up being invited into this man’s home for tea, chatting with him for 2 hours, then finally accepting a ride home from this man on the back of his motor bike. From the cat calling men, to the crazy traffic, to the herds of cows roaming around, to the people riding elephants down the hiway… I would not want to get lost in this city.

In Udaipur, During the last days of June, it is wedding season. Indian weddings are incredibly different than those in the US and I find them fascinating. Most of them are still arranged, and almost always within the caste system. Every night, traffic is backed up or even stopped because of wedding processions. You can see the groom riding a horse surrounded by lighted pillars, next is the wedding party who is dancing and marching and singing in the line, then on the road is the wedding band which blasts its live music (especially the ornate singing of the lead) through a loud speaker system for the whole street to hear. This group is slowly moving down the main highways or side roads toward the hall where the ceremony will take place and the bride is waiting. She is most likely crying, because for women, a wedding in India means leaving their family for a strange life with a new husband and his family. Some of the girls in our group have already been able to go with their host families, but unfortunately the Kalas do not have any plans to visit any weddings this week. Kelly’s host mom runs a beauty parlor, so she has been doing hair, henna, and makeup for brides all week. Her host brothers and sisters have taught her how to crash an Indian wedding and I think we might try to put their advice to use this weekend before wedding season is done. It will also give me an excuse to purchase a sari.

Our second day at Jatan, we met Dr. Kailash, and the other two interns, Allison and Olaf. Dr. Kailash gives us some ideas to help us decide our main project at Jata. Jatan’s goal is to empower the youth and children so they have many programs set up throughout Udaipur; health clinics both maternal, sexual, and general, coop groups for work and crafts, schools and training centers for migrant children, and various other efforts. They want steph, nat, and me to look into expanding/creating a market and profet for their stitching cooperative of low income and vulnerable women.  Today, we met with the head of the program and looked at the various purses, laptop cases, cell phone cases, toiletry kits, and pot holders they stitch. The fabric and stitching is beautiful, and it is disheartening to see this beautiful craftsmanship, but no that no one has wanted to buy them. They have been trying to sell for several months and have only sold a handful. UGER is the brand title and they have a website through Jatan Sansthan. Check it out if you can.

Our second day, we also went to a school for children who are unable to qualify for public/government school because they are from migrant families and must miss school frequently.  These bright eyed and smiling little kids were spark plugs! We walked in and were greeted by a big unison “hello how are you???” we then spent the afternoon learning songs, hearing the kids recite their abc’s, their numbers, and their colors, dancing like Michael Jackson and the famous Hindi Bollywood actor from “ek do tin.” These kids are tough too, especially the ones that are barely 1 years old and defend themselves against the craziness of 10 year old boys. Hopefully we will be able to go back soon with Allison and Olaf.

Last night was Michelle’s birthday, so we all went out to a restaurant to celebrate and share our adventures thus far. Michelle met us after taking a camel ride around one of the local parks, what a birthday! Diya was kind enough to take me home on the back of her motor bike as it was 9:30 by the time we were leaving  (which is pretty late for Udaipur… we must be back to our host families by 10:30 at the latest).

Today, the Kala’s were so nice to set me up with a bike, so I can now bike to work and around the city. Streets are crazy though, so I’ve avoided main routes until I feel a little more comfortable about driving on the left side of the road, and weaving between children, tempos, autos, cars, busses, trucks, cows, goats, screaming children, street food carts, and wedding parties.

I have written all of this, and still I don’t think I can adequately communicate how I feel or what it is like on the other side of the world... things aren’t quite opposite, though they do drive on the left side of the road, but they are simultaneously more different and more similar than I was expecting. Maybe it will come to me later this weekend. 

Namaste! I cannot believe we've made it to Delhi. The hotel ashok is our home for the night, before we fly to Udaipur tomorrow morning and the real fun begins.  First order of business was to find the hotel restaurant for water and naan (which was incredibly tasty and incredible inexpensive, considering the exchange rate is 56 Rupees to 1 Dollar; bad for India, but good for us). After a long day-ish of travel, I've finally stolen some time away.

The most shocking thing about Delhi was the 45º Celsius wall of humid heat that closed around us when we left the airport. 45º is over 100º Fahrenheit, and it was 7 pm, almost dark... I'm thinking back to the week of pre-departure classes from 9 am to 9 pm, and now regret how I complained about the over air-conditioned class rooms. (but having goosebumps in the middle of June did seem kind of unnecessary) 

The first week of Gesi brought a variety of experiences, the most valuable were when I talked with other students about the various countries they are visiting this summer; S. Africa, Bolivia, Dominican Republic, Uganda, Nicaragua, and most importantly, India. Our student instructor, Rena, who worked in Udaipur two summers ago, was incredible. She gave us travel tips and tricks, "Make sure you take the train to the Golden Temple and eat at the Sikh kitchen... Be prepared for situations where people do not speak to others because of their caste." Her stories made me excited and impatient to leave northwestern and be done with the repetitive academics that were becoming increasingly boring. But being at northwestern wasn't so bad. Being in evanston the last few nights before I left allowed me to say goodbyes to friends. I wish I could stuff them in my suitcase with my various anti-malaria, nausea, sleeping, headache, and antibiotic medications, so they could come with me. 

But the week soon ended and Friday morning we left evanston at 10 am, drove to O'Hare and boarded flight 126, Air India, Chicago to Frankfurt, Frankfurt to Delhi. Our sassy bus driver put us all in a good mood by cheering and singing over the loud speaker, he even reminded us to double check if we had our passports. So we left at 10 am Friday morning, bright eyed and bushy tailed and arrived at 7pm Saturday night, tired and happy to stretch our legs. With the time change of 10.5 hours, I can safely say that is the longest trip I have ever taken, but it seemed like the shortest. With the help of tylenol pm, I slept about 10 hours, then watched slumdog millionaire (cliche, I know), and before I knew it, we were there... well here. We are finally here!  

I have never done this before. The blogging thing has always made me feel a bit overwhelmed. I look at the screen and the blank box before me and I don't really think any of my experiences are quite perfect enough to be published out into the vast inter-web or bloggersphere. However, after I discovered that I had been accepted to participate in the Global Engagement Summer Institute in Udaipur, Rajasthan, India, through Northwestern University, I suddenly had this feeling that blogging would seem right this time around. So with a short spout of musings about blogs, I guess I'll hop to it.

The title of this blog has several meanings. First, I really like how it sounds. Second, I like how the word Digging is also frequently associated with curiosity and looking for information. Third, my perspective as a child involved ambitions of digging to China as is common of American children. If you look at a map, however, you will realize that if any ambitious, freakishly strong, child would actually dig through the entire 12,756.2 km of rock and molten iron, to the other side of the earth from Chicago, Il, that little champ would end up in the Indian Ocean.
(map: http://www.peakbagger.com/pbgeog/worldrev.asp)

So in that sense completing the task of Digging to India is actually impossible. It isn't something you set out to do, just to get it done. I see my summer as something along the lines of Digging to India. Although I will learn a ton while I am going through GESI, I will also be challenged to reconsider what is possible in International Development and what I want this experience to mean for my future. I am a rising senior at Northwestern University, and while many of my friends seem to have their ducks in a row with Banking, Consulting, Analyst, Film, and Engineering internships, I am embarking on a journey to a part of the world I have never been before.

Today was the first day of orientation and after saying goodbye to my mom as she dropped me off with my backpack and rolling bag, I checked into the youth hostel in the loop and GESI began! We started with icebreaker games and our first journal assignment at the school of continuing studies, then we split up into groups and spent our afternoon doing a scavenger hunt around chinatown with our newly befriended teammates (pictures to come, we had such a great afternoon). We finished a long but rewarding day with delicious thai food at Star of Siam, and rap performances about where and what each group experienced while they explored chicago. Everyone is exhausted and must be up to re-locate to the Evanston Campus tomorrow morning at 7:00 am... oof. T minus 6 days until we depart for India.