Sitting in snowy Minnesota, jet-lagged and catching up on all the holiday preparations I missed, this past month already seems more than a lifetime away. I spent the first few weeks with my mom, who came to join me on a DIY tour to visit Gandhi sites and NGOs around the country, then two weeks with my cousin, who had taken time off to come visit me. It was a busy trip, but it gave me the chance I needed to reflect on the semester and still experience more of this beautiful, insane, culturally rich and complex country.
In some ways I feel like I slept through five months and dreamt it all. To quote Yann Martel (yes, I am a huge fan), “It was as unbelievable as the moon catching fire.” I learned about an entirely different part of the world, and I learned about myself. I came to appreciate shower curtains, trash cans, and the ability to be invisible. And I made connections with people from San Francisco to London to Mumbai. I might be in no hurry to return, but that’s largely because I’ve taken so much of it with me, and for that I’ll be forever grateful.
Meridel