it's finals time at Tufts..

...and I am SO READY FOR AN ADVENTURE. Once this final paper is done, I'm outta here!

nothing...

...happens on this blog...

67 days to go. There are 13 people on our facebook group now, headed on the same program to Delhi. All female, all anthro-like majors, etc, haha, which I suppose I should have expected to a certain degree (like the community health major stereotype: all girls with nose rings).

Craziness. In other news: my tufts leave of absence was approved, and my credits have been transferred preemptively. It's feeling more and more real!

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes!

So It's been a CRAZAY long time since I've last posted. I'm back at Tufts and it's really my best semester so far. Classes are great, AOII is the bomb, and I really love living in the house. But enough about non-India stuff...

I'm going to India. I'm going to INDIA. Almost every time I told someone at home about India they were extremely skeptical, so it became harder and harder to get excited about it. "You're going WHERE?! Why?! Are your parents ok with it?!" is a much different reaction from the one I get here: ""WOW! India! That's amazing. When do you leave? What program is it? Let me introduce you to this crazy-awesome NGO that I have this even crazier connection to and you should totally meet up when you're there because the director is such a compelling leader and they'd love to have an intern..."

My point is that while there are some people who are really supportive at home, it started to be really easy to doubt myself and my interest in going when I was home. When everyone is asking "why are you going, exactly?" you wonder yourself and second guess what used to be such a confident decision. Happy to say I'm over that, and after a quick session with my anthropology prof from last semester who does all of her research there, I am happy to say that not only have my confidences been restored; I am more excited than ever.

Also, I've been immunized! Eek! No risk of typhoid fever for me :)

Links

I've linked to two of my friends who will be/are blogging out of the country!

Lauren is traveling to Beijing, China for a year starting in August.

Kathleen is off to Paris for the month of july.

Guide Books

I've been googling different India travel advice blogs/publications over the last few weeks. Most of them say the exact same things in a very vague, travel agent sort-of way.

Before I left for summer vacation, my friend David gave me this awesome guidebook made by Frommer's:

And my friend Kirsten just gave me this one made by Fodor's.

I have a LOT of reading to do!

Tentative plan: buy a one-way ticket to Delhi, stay for the program, figure out if I have potential travel buddies in the mix, and if yes, stay on to go to Goa:

Mmmmhmm. And then come home!

Incredible !ndia

Part of India's Ministry of Tourism campaign, "Incredible !ndia."

Family and footwear

If you're seeing this.. it's because I've invited you to see it! Wahoo! Welcome and please click "follow" if you have a google account because you'll know when I've posted new stuff!!

And... I bought my Chacos today! I got them in green. No, they won't really match anything... but they are SO comfortable. And the green is different but very me.

One step down for packing. Sweet.

the website i've been frequenting

(that's an understatement).

This is my program!

School of International Training -

SIT Study Abroad: India- Health and Human Rights, Spring 2011

need a cheap way of contacting home

I'm leaving my iPhone behind (and my Dad will be using it, by the by) and just getting a local phone while I'm there. I need something to blog from, write my independent study project (30ish page presentation on a project while I'm there) on, upload pictures to, and skype home with (all of those prepositions are making my head spin).

I also need it to be lightweight in order to travel easily, and it needs to be cheap so if the heat/dust get to it or it gets stolen, it won't be the total end of the world.

Considering this little guy from Sam's club (right now $289 after a $40 rebate):

I tried it out in-store, and while I am really not used to Windows, I'll "rough it." hehe. 10.1 inches, and incredibly light-weight.

footwear

every "westerner's" nightmare. I have to be able to carry everything that I take with me, so packing 485963278 pairs of shoes is just not gonna fly. After consulting the magical interwebs, I have come up with the following:

1. tennis shoes, despite the EXTREME heat. I have a similar pair to these mens' sneakers. These guys have treated me well over the last year as a breathable running shoe, which will hopefully keep off the muck and dirt on days when we're walking a million miles.

2. Chacos/Tevas/Merrel sandals. I know, i know, they aren't the sexiest footwear known to man, but they're supposedly insanely comfortable and can pound a lot of pavement without that much damage to your joints. These are what I am considering, made by Chacos:

3. Flip flops. Even though my program site claims that I won't be taken as "a serious student" if I wear them, I really can't image being across the world without my flip flops in a situation where they may come in handy... aka all the time..

I will probably take my plain black pair with just the simple thong design, but I love these by Teva:

4. Annnnnnd I want to take a pair of "nice" sandals for going out to dinner or a religious ceremony or something (although for those I'll probably not be able to wear shoes anyway...but oh well). I just bought these by Bass Shoes:

I was also considering TOMS in this color...

BUT - they're A) impractical because of their color and B) made of canvas so they'd be covered in dirt faster than you could say "fair trade." Oh well... perhaps I'm better off keeping my shoe count at 4 anyway :)

love,

Laura

Laura Blogs abroad.. well, not really yet

Hello! I started this blog for my semester in India in Spring '11. Yeah, yeah, I know, it's a bit away, but the reality is that I have to do all of my preppin' now when summer clothes are in stores and when I have time to do things like practice some Hindi via a friend's Rosetta Stone copy and read up on India. For the next few months, this will be my hub for all things concerning my semester across the planet.

First exciting bit of news... the program date was finally posted! February 1st-May 16th, 2011, I'll be in Delhi!

Namaste!

Laura