Farewell for Now

Ohio is .... cold. As if I havn't said this enough times since being home (I arrived safe and sound in Amrikaa on Friday afternoon!!) my trip home was much less eventful than the trip to India, thank god, and now I writing this safe and sound, snuggled up on the couch. So much different than my homestay bed, that's for sure. My last week in India passed so much faster than I could have imagined. Doesn't it always happen like that?

Emily and I got to catch up with Khadeeja, Adil and Iman, for one last home cooked Indian meal -- filled with all my favorite dishes! -- and we saw just how fast a baby grows. In the one month away, Iman was starting to crawl, pull herself up, and had so many things to say. She also had a TON of hair! Emily and I also took it upon ourselves to feed her her first lemon.. if you guys don't know what happens, please search "Baby eats Lemon" on YouTube.. I promise you will not be disappointed.

Our group also presented ISPs, and it was such an impressive showing. After spending a month away from everyone it was so great to see what people were up to. I gotta say, I spent the semester around some pretty smart cookies, because I learned a hell of a lot during our 2 days of presentations. We wrapped up the week with the end of the semester banquet, and everyone got to wear their saris, and hang out for one last time. Bittersweet endings, as I'm sure you can all imagine, and a few hours after the banquet I boarded a flight to Frankfurt, with the ultimate destination of home-sweet-home, Canton, Ohio.

Trying to reflect on an entire semester only a week after it ends is tough. Cultural re-entry has been harder than the first week I was in India. Typical everyday things- such as going to the store, or the mall, or the gym... are just SO DIFFERENT. Hard to explain really. For one, the 'crowded mall' seemed pretttty empty to me on Saturday when my Mom and Grandma marveled over the excessively large Christmas crowds. Going from 14 million to 200,000 just makes things look so much.. smaller. Crazy, eh?

I might write in here a few more times to reflect on the semester, and share some funny cultural re-entry moments, but for now, thanks to all of you for sharing what has been the most exciting and life-changing semester of my life. Writing in a blog was the last thing I thought I'd do, but I guess when people actually read it it makes things a little easier, haha.

With Love,
Rachael

PS- A few pictures with the new families I made in India.

 Homestay family..

 Hindi family..

And all my sahaleys! Miss you all already!