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.