India It Is.

BAHHH--that's right, I've made a decision! Me! Yeah, moi! Right here! (Proud?)

Wait, I suppose if there are people out there other than my mom and boyfriend actually reading this, then you may not know what the decision was that I had to make!!

See, our school does two semesters and a J-term, which is a month where you just take one class every day. Last J-term I studied abroad and went to Jordan and Egypt studying Islam and some literature written by Middle-Easterners. (Needless to say, it was amazing! I have a scrapbook the size of one of those monster cookbooks that no one uses to prove it.) (The following are some pictures from Jordan, a monarchy next to Israel:)

[camels are some of the most adorable ugly, pissed-off animals on the planet]

[some uber-fantastic Roman ruins]

Now, I wasn't planning on leaving the country again but then I declared a major (well, actually two, and a minor...) and my new adviser told me about this amazing trip to India he was going on this January. I kept it in the back of my mind to consider.

And, of course, I attended the Study-Abroad-Interim Fair to check out that trip and others. One of my favorite art teachers was taking a group to JAPAN. He had delicious Japanese candy at his booth and if I went we were going to learn about Japanese woodblock printing and do some of our own! We would go to cool Japanese art galleries and sight-see in both the country-side and the city! How cool!

So now there was no longer a decision of whether or not to study abroad, but which place to go! It's worth being further down the bottomless pit that is college debt! :D

As for India, the class was globalization, something I'd have to take anyway that would probably exceed safe levels of boredom if I took it in the ole' Fifty Nifty. But when taken thousands of miles away, we get to see the Himalayas and the Taj Mahal and meet orphans and businessmen and street-vendors along the way! And mutilate our mouths with spicy Indian food... which my teacher who for some odd reason likes burning his mouth said is hot for him, heh, heh. : /

I applied to both trips, hoping I would only get accepted to one, and the impossible decision would be made for me. (I'm rather indecisive, and love love LOVE to travel, so this was a toughy (Man, "toughy" is an ugly word when written out!).)

[deliberation is a bitch]

Obviously, from the blatant title of this post, you know what I decided. But for those of you who are a bit dim, I had to drag out the SUSPENSE as to what I chose.

....

It was....

{commercial break}

It was....

INDIA!!

Why did I choose India? Everyone is probably wondering, because about 90% of the people I told thought I should go to Japan, no contest.
But here are some things that I like about India:

• There's so much history there!! I took a class about India's history, and before Egypt and Mesopotamia and all those, people in northern India had a writing system (no one can read it today) and city planning and irrigation!
• There's tons of religious history as well! This is the birthplace of both Hinduism and Buddhism, as well as Jainism and some lesser-known religions. Christians have been there since Thomas (circa 50 A.D. or so), Muslims conquered for awhile and now fill neighboring Pakistan as well as parts of India... how absolutely crazy is that?!
• The Taj Mahal. Enough said.
• Meeting people of different stratas in society and doing a project on talking to them sounds fantastic! I'm not a people-person, just a wannabe one who is in love with books, but this would be out of my comfort zone and great :).
• 90% of Americans (that I know) would rather go to Japan. (This may mean I am an attention whore after all, or that I get a rush from trying to be different, but it is a partial reason, nonetheless.)
• It's so non-western and awesome! The culture is completely different, and we won't even be able to drink the water! This is the type of place I like to spend my time at.
• I know three people that went there (my cousin, Sarah who was on the Jordan/Egypt trip, and a random girl who heard me whining about my decision and came up to say she went on the trip I speak of) and they all loved it. So suck it, Hello Kitty lovers! ;)
• From pictures and the movie Slumdog Millionaire I gather that it is very colorful. I freaking love colorful!
• English is the official language. Boom! Also, (SHELBY, you may appreciate this) there are literally hundreds of languages spoken there--my web research tells me it is somewhere between 412 and over 1,652. Seriously!

Wow, what an awesome country. I already sent the emails that announce my decision to the big-wigs down at ole Beth El! : /
Yay!

Thanks for reading, and congrats congratulations way to go if you read this entire massive post, you winner, you!

christie
XD

p.s. look what I saw driving home from work yesterday! I hope the photos taken from my red Blackberry do it justice, I honestly couldn't breathe for a second it was so pretty and complex. I love the layered, detailed, complex clouds that are starting to turn golden like a pre-pre-sunset show.

[unable to hold camera phone straight and drive simoultaneously]

[better. much better. but not as good as it really looked.]

[JFF! (that means "just for fun," all you parents) doctored via Windows Photo Center.]