prologue

Alright, so I've succumbed to all of this blog shit and made one. But it's only because I'm going to India, and it makes sense to put my thoughts, daily events, etc. all in one place so that I can better communicate with people what I'm doing over there.

I'm not there yet, but I'm leaving this Thursday, September 1. My mom and I will fly to Paris overnight and then after a two-hour layover, fly into New Delhi by Friday night. I hate the plane ride over there. And hopefully Air France won't suck as much as it has in the past.

I think I'm feeling a lot better about going now that I've talked to more people. I've spent a lot of time on the phone today with friends from Oberlin and talked to people online as well, and it was so great to catch up with people. Also, I got my subletter situation figured out because Harry got off-campus, so we'll all be one big happy family when I go back in the spring! yay!

Also, I've been thinking a lot more about what I want to do when I'm there - I want to travel everywhere! I really hope I can go to Kolkata, Mumbai, Darjeeling, Shimla, maybe Pakistan, etc. It's going to be really hard, though, because I know that no one will LET me travel alone! I talked to my aunt about it yesterday, and she said, "well, besides the safety issue, it's just not fun to travel alone!" But I want to! My mom will definitely be skeptical of any sort of adventures out of Delhi. My sister traveled a bit one summer when she was about 25, but even then my grandmother said to her, "why don't you just do all of this when you get married?" bah. I'll figure it out.

My Mom and I are going down South to Chennai, Pondicherry, and Hyderabad because she has a college reunion in Pondy. It's going to be so amazing - she'll chill out with her classmates, and I'll chill out on the beach in September! I expect that the beaches will be really beautiful down there - hopefully, like the beaches in Sri Lanka. (Sri Lanka is paradise on earth. like Jurassic Park without the dinosaurs. ah.) I just hope I don't get gawked at for being a brown girl in a swimming suit. When I was in Sri Lanka, I definitely did. The locals are used to seeing European tourists in their beach-ware, but they probably just assumed that I'm Sri Lankan, and so I got some looks for my less-than-modest ocean attire. The South, however, is supposedly a lot more liberal, courteous, Western, etc. than the North; it'll be interesting to experience that change in attitude.

I'll post again once we get to New Delhi on Friday night or Saturday. I hope the weather is OK while I'm there - the fall is supposedly a great time to go!



love ami