17 days: The Countdown Begins

In October, I applied for the NSLI-Y 7 week long summer India scholarship, to study Hindi in a rigorous environment, and learn about Indian culture, on a full ride from the State Department. I will be in Indore, Mahdya Pradesh, India, living with a host family and attending Indian public school. The mission of this program is to teach American students critical languages in countries that have important relationships with the U.S. I love the idea of shared language fostering world peace through young people, and also thought it would be the perfect opportunity to see the country that I’ve been wanting to see since I was six years old. Now here I am, 8 months later, preparing to be faced with this new exciting opportunity in under three weeks time. As pre-departure orientation in NYC creeps up on me, I am both thrilled and anxious about all the preparations I’ve already begun; getting my travel vaccines, finding modest clothing to be a girl traveling in India, acquiring my Indian visa,  and most important, beginning the challenge that is learning Hindi.

I am hoping to post updates on this blog at least once a week, so that my friends and family back home can see what I am doing, as I will probably not be on email or any social media the majority of my trip.

To keep this first post short and sweet I’ve made a list of the things I am currently excited about-and what I am currently anxious about (I want to look back on this in a month and laugh about how nervous I was!):

I’m excited for:

• meeting my host family and fellow classmates
• FOOD
• being submersed in a brand new culture
• seeing the different geography and wildlife
• experiencing a new city
• learning the language
• gaining a new perspective and seeing how accurate/inaccurate the stereotypes are

Im anxious for:

• not adequately preparing myself for the language study
• not getting along with my host family
• being homesick
• getting lost trying to get places
• traveling without my family for the first time
• getting sick and not being able to participate fully
• dwelling on missing home and family

The next time you hear from me, I’ll be in INDIA!