One Week...

As the title of this post might suggest, in almost exactly one week (plus 7 hours) my flight will be taking off from Logan Airport in Boston. With that deadline in mind, I've been kicking into high gear in terms of preparations, and getting a bit of a reality shock. For instance, lunch with Heather (one of my mom's co-workers, who lived in Pune for the summer a few years ago) was the first time someone had really described monsoon season for me. I'm now preparing myself, both mentally and with new sandals, to wade through muddy water up to my knees on a daily basis. On a shopping trip today, I also stocked up on life-sustaining goodies (neosporin, pepto bismol, hydrocortisone cream, antibiotic- waterproof bandaids, etc).

Predictably, I'm ridiculously excited to get started. The first ten days of the trip will be spent on the JDC trip, with 19 of my fellow Tufts students. We'll be meeting up with members of the Bene Israel, a 2000 year old community of Indian Jews and spending time getting to know them and their history. (The trip has it's own blog, http://www.jdcinservice.org/author/tufts, if you're interested in that, since I might not get the chance to post any updates here). The itinerary looks packed with exciting things, from bollywood dance classes, to visiting a synagogue in Alibag, to spending time with the Bene Israel youth group at a retreat camp. It's going to be a whirlwind experience, but I have no doubt that we will all fight through the inevitable jetlag and exhaustion and try to soak in as much as possible.

A note on communication: While I plan on posting on this blog regularly, this doesn't solve the problem of me keeping up with all of your crazy lives. This is a formal plea for each and every one of you to email me regularly with updates on your lives, even if all you have to tell me is what flavor of ice cream you had for dessert ( suggestion: Americone Dream). Thanks in advance.

P.S. I can't wait to be able to post my own photos on this blog and stop stealing them all from Google.

The Dodecahedron

Tonight is my last night at Tufts as a sophomore. While this is simultaneously scary and exciting, I'm sure it won't even compare to the barrage of emotions I'll be experiencing in the coming months. I leave for India in 16 days to spend 67 days in Mumbai. I'll spend the first 10 days (May 30- June 8) on a JDC trip visiting the Bene Israel community, then head off on my own for the next two months to work on my summer research project. In that time, I'll be interviewing Indians about their attitudes and behaviors toward the environment.

Right now, I feel a bit like the dodecahedron from The Phantom Tollbooth (with which I've recently become re-obsessed). I'm obviously super psyched to go to India, eat the delicious food, have amazing experiences, be immersed in a totally different culture, and experience the craziness that is Mumbai in monsoon season. On the other hand, I'm quite terrified of all the things that could go wrong. For my mother's sake, I won't list them all here, but suffice it to say that there are a lot of moving pieces, and I'm very conscious that things don't always go as expected. That said, I'm prepared to figure it out as I go. On the twelfth hand, I'm going to miss the comfort of knowing the people around me, and having them there to pick up the slack when my sense of direction fails me, I need a pep talk (or to be put in my place), or I forget to use an apostrophe.

Speaking of, I want to thank you all in advance for forgiving me for the numerous spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors that will inevitably plague this blog. I'll do my best to keep you all updated on my adventures this summer, however they play out. And I fully expect you all to be emailing me with updates on your lives, wherever you are (Ithaca, Noank, Boston, China, France, camp, etc). Cool? Cool.