Well, I'm Here!

Hello, world!

So, I have now been living in India for a week.... a week. Wow. It feels like so much longer.

A brief run-through of events:

Wednesday, June 29th: Pre-departure orientation in NYC

Friday, July 1st: Flew out of NYC

Saturday, July 2nd: Arrived in New Delhi

Monday: Began school

The program:

There are eighteen NSLI-Yers in New Delhi with AFS at the moment, and I am one of only three who will stay for the year. We are all between the ages of 15 and 18, and here to learn Hindi as well as Indian culture. We are attending classes at Amity International School Pushp Vihar. We are all living with host families.

Right now I am:

-terrified about the stretch of time ahead of me

- supposed to be studying Hindi for a test tomorrow

- overwhelmed with the extremes of Indian culture

- excited for all I will experience this year

I apologize for this not being very eloquent, but please forgive an exhausted exchange student! I promise I will write more interesting things in the future. Please let me know if you have any questions, and I will give a more descriptive update soon!

who I am, how I got here...

Hello! I'm Harriet, and I'd like to take you with me on my journey to New Delhi, India... well, virtually, at least. I am an American high school girl (who speaks English and a bit of French), headed to India for a summer and a school year as an exchange student. I will be traveling with the NSLI-Y scholarship program, which means that the U.S. State Department is paying for me to go to India and study Hindi. I will be staying with a host family. At this point that is basically the extent of my knowledge regarding the coming year!

Why India?
- I am a vegetarian, and so India will be more compatible than, say, Oman
- I would love for my life to be like a Bollywood movie
- The accents are awesome
- Ever since sixth grade, I've found the culture and religion fascinating
- But much more, the EVERYTHINGNESS of India! Any description I've heard or read, or picture I've seen, primarily relates the fact that India can simply not be captured within words or a frame. It's like trying to fit all of your life into a carry-on sized suitcase! The smells, the spices, the sounds, the movement, the great splendor and poverty all in one, the cows roaming freely down city streets... it just seems different, more, than anything I've experienced.

How do I feel?
- nervous
- still slightly in shock
- INCREDIBLY EXCITED!

I'm not sure what exactly lies ahead, and I'm sure you don't either, but "what will come will come, and we'll meet it when it does." (The first of many Harry Potter references you will encounter on this blog, I am sure.)

NSLI-Y's goal is for me to learn Hindi, and that is certainly a personal goal for me as well. But I know that it will be so much more than that. I expect to discover new things, to see the world through a new perspective, to meet people and go places that I never imagined. I will learn about myself in new ways, and so much more that I can never conjecture!

Within this small world of ours, there are infinite possibilities. Let's see what this small infinity has in store.