Independent Travel

Hi everyone! I don't know if anyone is checking this anymore, but I thought a quick 'hello' was in order. First, happy 17th birthday to my little brother Neil! Right now I am sitting in my hotel room in Aurangabad. Today I went to see the Ajanta caves, which are Buddist cave carvings and paintings from several centuries BC. Very interesting. I am waiting around to catch a train tonight back to Mumbai, where I will have a few hours to kill until I board yet another train to Udaipur. I will be meeting up with two of my girlfriends in Udaipur to celebrate my 21st birthday. It will be nice to see them. I can't believe that I will be back in the U.S.A. in 9 days. It is very surreal. I am sad to be missing Christmas preparations. I hope all is well.
Love & miss, Sarah

Namaste Hyderabad

In about an hour I will be leaving Hyderabad for the last time during my study abroad experience! I took my last final exam this morning, I packed my bags this afternoon, and tonight I am out on my adventure! I can't wait to get out there on that open road... I had my fortune told last night and I was told that I will always be roaming. I think that man knew what he was talking about. I love you all and I will see you one month from today!

Happy Diwali!

नमस्ते! दिवाली कि शुब कम्नाये!

Happy Diwali! This weekend is Diwali, the festival of lights. Diwali is the celebration of the return of Rama to Ayodha after his 14 year exile (read the Ramayana for more information). Diwali is like the 4th of July - you get to play with firecrackers and sparklers. The entire guesthouse was decorated with white lights and tiny terracotta pots holding flaming oil. We set off a ton of fireworks. Can you believe they trusted me to light the first one? We also had lots of sparklers. Fireworks in India are a little different than in the states. Many of them don't shoot into the air, but rather spray sparks for a 2 to 4 foot radius on the ground around them. They are beautiful, but I think probably a lot more dangerous. It was a very fun festival and solidified my love for Indian celebrations.

Malaria

Malaria is something that is discussed frequently among the SIP students. There are mosquitoes everywhere. We are constantly swatting at them and squashing them on each other. We are always applying more and more DEET - we're all going to get diseases in a few years or our kids are going to be born all funny.

Malaria pills are another aspect of the fun. There seem to be at least a dozen different pills available. There are two general types, ones that you need to take at the same time every day and ones that you need to take once a week at the same time. Most people are on the daily pills, but I am taking the weekly ones. There are problems with both. People are always forgetting to take their pills every day. Whoever remembers at dinner is always yelling in the dining room "take your malaria pills!", but even then, people often forget before they make it back up to their rooms after dinner. The problem with the weekly pills are that they can make you go insane ... literally. There have been many cases where weekly malaria pills have led to people attempting to commit suicide or experiencing other forms of mental distress. The only side effect that I have experienced from taking mine is very vivid dreams. Every Wednesday night, when I go to bed after taking my malaria pill with dinner, I have the most incredible dreams. They are long and complicated, colorful and bright, full of my favorite people (some who I haven't thought about in years) and excellent witty dialogue, and very memorable. Personally, I enjoy my 'malaria dreams', but I know other people here who really don't - sometimes their dreams are scary.

But the worst thing about malaria, and the reason that it has been on everyone's mind so much lately is that one of the most wonderful people here has it. My friend Sam (the blonde girl to my right) was diagnosed with malaria. She has been so sick for the last few weeks. The medication that the doctors gave her to treat the malaria didn't make her feel better. When they did more diagnostic tests on her, they concluded that the malaria led to her contracting hepatitis. She is being flown back to the states tonight. We are all hoping and wishing with all of our hearts that she feels so much better so soon. Travel safely Sam! We will miss you soooooo much!

Random Guest

A little Indian boy, maybe 8 years old, just wandered into my bedroom. He doesn't speak English or Hindi, only Telugu. I don't know who he is or why he is here. All I can understand is that his name is Sri Raj. He is standing here with his hand on the back of my chair watching me type on the computer. I don't know what to do with him, so I just gave him a Vermont sticker with a moose on it. He just wandered out. India never ceases to amaze me!

Monkeying Around

Meet the monkeys who steal my clothes...

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween from the SIP students at the University of Hyderabad!
You might think that being in a country where they don't celebrate Halloween would put a damper on our celebrations, but you would be wrong. I think it was one of the best Halloweens I've had. We dressed up (I was a candy corn), we had a jack o' lantern (made from a papaya, of course), we had pizza and dosas, we had real candy, and we watched Interview With A Vampire. It was a lot of fun.