May 6th, 2013

Somehow I've made it to my last full day in the US before leaving for Sevalaya School and Orphanage for twelve weeks.  Through the stress of finals and saying goodbye to all my fellow Seminoles who, like me, are graduating from their Undergraduate years here at FSU, I've managed to pack my suitcase and backpack with the relatively few items that I'll be taking with me to the tiny town of Kasuva.

As I mentioned above, I will be traveling to Sevalaya, a school to 1,000 and orphanage to about 200, which is about an hour west of the bustling coastal city of Chennai.  My flight leaves Orlando at 6:30 tomorrow night, on Tuesday, May 7th, and if all goes as planned I will be landing in Chennai 10:30 PM EST Wednesday night.  That's just over 28 hours of travel time!  I'm much more excited than I am nervous for my solo journey; I am confident in my abilities to keep my wits about me and to make friends at Sevalaya who will help look out for me once I arrive.  This summer will be more a lesson for me in going with the flow and observing the world around me.  I am looking forward to living for a short while as the curious stranger with an open mind and open ears, camera in hand to capture new sights and memories.

When I began investigating placements through Omprakash, I fell in love with Sevalaya with the image of teaching (English and whatever else they need extra help with) and working in small groups mentoring the students at the school.  Although I'm not entirely sure what I'll be doing from day to day during my stay, I would be open to helping out in any way I can.  I just finished my first semester of a Master's Program in Elementary Education and would love to use some of the new skills I've learned as well as putting them to practice in a totally new environment.  I'm also very interested in helping out in any small ways with the organic farming and goshala (cow sanctuary) that Sevalaya has on their grounds.  (I really low cows and I have a secret passion for innovative agriculture).  Whatever I find myself doing, my goal is to connect with the students there and impart what knowledge and stories while learning what they have to share with me, too.

I am ecstatic to have a completely unfamiliar experience and the facts that I will be totally alone on this journey and don't have any preconceived notions of what these months will be are a big part of my motivation to take part in an excursion like this.  I am so honored that the community at Sevalaya has been so warm and welcoming to me in our communications thus far and I can't wait to see what's in store for me this summer.