Well hey there. I’m Leala and I’m studying sociology and environmental studies in college. I’ll be spending the spring semester (January to May) in Pondicherry, India - it’s really far south and it’s a smaller town on the eastern coast of India, next to the state of Tamil Nadu.
Why India? I became really interested in public health in the past few years - specifically food access and water sanitation, and researching clean water policies/ideas was what originally led me to India - and I knew that I wanted to study abroad somewhere that wasn’t ‘Western.’ There’s so much going on in India. So many cultures, chaos, color…I kind of wanted to go somewhere completely outside of my comfort zone, too. I’ve only been outside the U.S. twice - once to French speaking Canada and another time to Israel. Also, I think studying abroad in India would allow me to have a completely different experience than if I just visited. There are tons of other things that draw me to India - yoga, elephants (apparently 50% of the wild Asian elephants are found in India, who knew?), Hinduism…not to mention I really, really like spicy food.
I made this blog so that friends & family can stay updated while I’m in India in the spring…nothing is really happening yet, though. I got a ton of shots when I was home for Thanksgiving break, my plane leaves Dallas on January 7, and I’ll get to Chennai, India by the 9th. Right now I am waiting on the official acceptance letter from Pondicherry University so that I can apply for an Indian visa!
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