It's a beautiful morning in DC, and we're to depart in just a few hours. At 1pm, we'll leave the hotel for our late afternoon flight to Chicago. From Chicago, we'll leave directly from India and land after a 14-hour flight in Delhi at almost 9pm local time. We'll spend Saturday night and Sunday in Delhi before departing to Lucknow via plane. I think we'll arrive in Lucknow on Monday, but it could be different from what I understand, too....
Once in Lucknow, I'll arrive at what I think is going to be an apartment. I'm living with three girls (Aqilah, Behnaz, and Elizabeth) in a flat that's supposed to be near some beautiful gardens and have a terrace which will hopefully overlook the gardens.
I'm nervous, and I don't even know why precisely I'm nervous, but I'm excited to finally be there. I'll be happy to finally arrive in Lucknow on Monday, and I'll be happy to finally be in Delhi tomorrow night.
Again, the people I'm going with are super fascinating. I will be in Lucknow with a group of about twenty other students, and they're ridiculously fabulous and cool. One just spent a semester studying at the Sorbonne in Paris. Another just wrapped up a documentary project in India. Another has assisted at a human rights summer camp for middle schoolers. Another studied abroad in Morocco this past semester and has some wild (not exaggerating) tales about Dijoubti, Ethiopia, and Somaliland (the semi-autonomous state in northern Somalia). Another has worked for Pakistani interests at the United Nations.
Again, I'll be with super fascinating, interesting, and intelligent people this summer who have a knack for exploration and interaction with the world they live in. They've all been super nice and congenial, so I think I'm in for a good trip. :)
Last night, after a day of meetings that were semi-useful and a delicious dinner at DC Chophouse that surprisingly didn't involve beef, a few of us headed out to the Mall. We saw the Washington Monument, World War II Monument, and Lincoln Memorial by moonlight, and with the lighting unique to each, they absolutely gleamed. It was so lovely and beautiful.
Love you all, and I'll be writing next from Delhi!
Showing posts with label District of Columbia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label District of Columbia. Show all posts
Friday, June 12, 2009
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Surrealism
So, I feel like my last post was all over the place and not terribly contained or focused, but maybe that's not true.
In any case, I guess I really just want to convey how surreal this is. Arriving yesterday and meeting people who have a genuine common interest in India, in Pakistan, and in related things--it was incredibly surreal. With the application process and the other pre-departure business, we've had a common experience and can relate to each other's visa applications, telephone interviews, etc. It's really neat that way, and this whole thing--waking up in DC this morning in a luxurious hotel room with a view of a fabulous (not exaggerating) apartment building across the way and a Starbucks across the street (read: dangerous) and knowing that today is the day when hopefully a lot of questions about this summer will be answered as I sit in sessions with students headed to India to learn Urdu, Bangla, Punjabi, and Hindi--it's surreal. Wandering around downtown DC before finding the Washington Monument and then hailing a taxi before the steady rain turned into a full-out downpour--surreal.
And I think as a general rule, we feel lucky. We've gotten a super cool opportunity to travel across the world to learn a language that's in relatively high demand, and the State Department and CAORC are picking up the tab.
It's pretty cool, and I feel like I lucked out, and this all feels super surreal.
Love you all.
In any case, I guess I really just want to convey how surreal this is. Arriving yesterday and meeting people who have a genuine common interest in India, in Pakistan, and in related things--it was incredibly surreal. With the application process and the other pre-departure business, we've had a common experience and can relate to each other's visa applications, telephone interviews, etc. It's really neat that way, and this whole thing--waking up in DC this morning in a luxurious hotel room with a view of a fabulous (not exaggerating) apartment building across the way and a Starbucks across the street (read: dangerous) and knowing that today is the day when hopefully a lot of questions about this summer will be answered as I sit in sessions with students headed to India to learn Urdu, Bangla, Punjabi, and Hindi--it's surreal. Wandering around downtown DC before finding the Washington Monument and then hailing a taxi before the steady rain turned into a full-out downpour--surreal.
And I think as a general rule, we feel lucky. We've gotten a super cool opportunity to travel across the world to learn a language that's in relatively high demand, and the State Department and CAORC are picking up the tab.
It's pretty cool, and I feel like I lucked out, and this all feels super surreal.
Love you all.
Commencement
I found myself in four airports today as part of a voyage that involved three flights, the last of which brought me to Washington DC for a pre-departure orientation session.
When I was in the Minneapolis airport this morning, I overheard a young boy ask his father essentially what is the furthest distance a person can go--an appropriate question for an airport.
His father replied: "The furthest you can go is to come back to where you started from."
I feel like there's a lot of truth in that statement, aside from the obvious, and it was a neat quote that carried me through today's long travels (I have been awake since before 3am) and encouraged me to recognize that distance is not the most important aspect of this summer--more so than travel for travels' sake, I have a unique opportunity not only to study a really unique language this summer, but I have an opportunity for some self-discovery, adventure, and exploration.
And so far...so good.
I've really enjoyed meeting my peers who will be accompanying me to India this summer--they are some genuinely fascinating people who bring with them a diverse set of interests and backgrounds, but it's so neat to have so much in common with them from right off the bat. After spending the late afternoon socializing with them, I went to dinner with a few at an Italian restaurant before continuing on a walk to the Washington Monument. As we were walking, it began to drizzle, and before we could continue down the Washington Mall, we were in the midst of a downpour and in desperate need of a taxi. So, most of the monuments will have to wait, but it was an evening well spent. My peers here are fabulous, and I'm curious to see how this summer will play itself out.
This is such a rambly post.
Other than that, the only thing really to report is that my hotel is ridiculously rad.
And my plane landed just as the Holocaust Museum shooting was occuring. God bless that security guard.
Sorry this isn't more substantial.
I need sleep.
Love you all. :)
When I was in the Minneapolis airport this morning, I overheard a young boy ask his father essentially what is the furthest distance a person can go--an appropriate question for an airport.
His father replied: "The furthest you can go is to come back to where you started from."
I feel like there's a lot of truth in that statement, aside from the obvious, and it was a neat quote that carried me through today's long travels (I have been awake since before 3am) and encouraged me to recognize that distance is not the most important aspect of this summer--more so than travel for travels' sake, I have a unique opportunity not only to study a really unique language this summer, but I have an opportunity for some self-discovery, adventure, and exploration.
And so far...so good.
I've really enjoyed meeting my peers who will be accompanying me to India this summer--they are some genuinely fascinating people who bring with them a diverse set of interests and backgrounds, but it's so neat to have so much in common with them from right off the bat. After spending the late afternoon socializing with them, I went to dinner with a few at an Italian restaurant before continuing on a walk to the Washington Monument. As we were walking, it began to drizzle, and before we could continue down the Washington Mall, we were in the midst of a downpour and in desperate need of a taxi. So, most of the monuments will have to wait, but it was an evening well spent. My peers here are fabulous, and I'm curious to see how this summer will play itself out.
This is such a rambly post.
Other than that, the only thing really to report is that my hotel is ridiculously rad.
And my plane landed just as the Holocaust Museum shooting was occuring. God bless that security guard.
Sorry this isn't more substantial.
I need sleep.
Love you all. :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)