It has been over 3 weeks since my return to the US from India, and I am long overdue for a wrap-up—which I owe to both my blogging experience and to my personal experience of …
Lydia Odegard
Bye-bye Banaras, hello Himachal
As I write this post, I am located a 24 hour journey, many sub-cultures, and countless dialects of Hindi away from Varanasi. I have returned to the Dharmshala area of Himachal Pradesh, where I spent …
Spring Break: Bodh Gaya and Holi
[I realize this post may seem confusing and/or redundant if you are following the other Varanasi blogger, considering we are both named Lydia and both went on a spring break trip together] Rather than being …
Home and Family Life
Given how grateful I feel for having the opportunity to live with my wonderful host family, I have not given them justice through this blog so far. The people in my house are Pinkuji, his …
A Tribute to Pandit Ji
There are many characters who work in the program house, and we (as in the students) spend a lot of time perfecting our impersonations of them–all in good fun, of course. Among these characters is …
What I Did Yesterday
I went to bed yesterday sensing a radiating warmth that had accumulated in my soul throughout the day. Before falling into a dreamy sleep, I took some time to reflect on what contributed to my …
Good Morning, Varanasi
Depending on who you ask, a Banarasi morning starts anywhere between 4 and 9 am. I sometimes catch waves of these variations when a mosquito buzzes in my ear at 4 in the morning. At …
Beautiful Chaos
After months of anticipation and two weeks of orientation in Delhi and Jaipur, we have finally arrived in Varanasi (or, as commonly called in India, Banaras), where we will be studying this semester. This past …
An Obvious Choice for a New Adventure
“Of course”: the two most common words that come out of peoples’ mouths when I tell them I’m studying in India next semester. This will not be my first time stepping off of the plane …