Over the past few weekends I’ve had the chance to experience India’s traditional medical practice, Ayurveda. As one of my gen-eds, I have already been taking a course through CIEE on Ayurveda. I am by no means pre-med, but I think there is value in having basic medical knowledge. And between the class field trips …
Tag Archives: Communication
Happy Holi!
I finally got to do it. I finally got to play Holi. For those of you who don’t know, Holi is the Hindu festival of colors and it is an absolute party. Ever since I knew I was coming to India, it was the thing I was most excited about. And it’s pretty clear why. …
Avoiding Appropriation
Coming to India I knew there was a certain Eat, Pray, Love aesthetic I wanted to avoid. You know, whether it’s Vanessa Hudgens with her bejeweled bhindi, or the ‘intellectual’ trying to “find themselves” with south eastern philosophies, or all the white girls on Pinterest showcasing their ‘modern’ takes on henna—cultural appropriation is tacky. More …
No Cash
I’ve never cursed out an ATM before, but you travel abroad to try new things, right? For the past week, the ATM by my hostel has been marred with a hand-drawn “No Cash” sign. Back home this wouldn’t be an issue; I can’t even remember the last time I paid for something in cash in …
“At My Old School…”
I catch myself saying it all the time and it’s starting to get annoying. Sometimes I say it when the professor is ten minutes late for class. Sometimes it’s when I’m eating something new for breakfast. Sometimes it’s when I’m asked to hitch hike on campus. And sometimes I just say it: “at my …
Let’s Go Fly a Kite
Being in India, it’s hard to remember that we are in the winter months; the average temperature here is 80 degrees Fahrenheit (26 degrees Celsius)! Even so, people all across India have been celebrating the passing of the winter solstice. Each state (or even each individual family) celebrates the end of winter differently so I …
No Meat, No Problem
I have been a vegetarian for most of my life. I’m not sure why—no one is—but it always seemed to suit me. In the last decade or so, as the diet has become more popular at home, being a vegetarian has become incredibly easy. Still, there are so many unnecessary stereotypes about vegetarians in the …
My First Assignment: Getting to Class
Before I left for Hyderabad, India I did everything I could to brace myself for a good deal of culture shock. I was prepared for the food to be different, I was prepared to wear more conservative clothing, and I was even prepared for the wild traffic. What I was NOT prepared for, however, …
Reflecting on my time in South Africa: A Changed Person – A Changed Perspective
Almost five months. I lived in South Africa for almost 5 months. I could hardly imagine so much fun and pain, so many learned lessons and new perspectives, so many breathtaking and tragic sights all could be crammed into a mere 150 days. Yet I experienced all that and more. The John Luke that stepped onto the …
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Trauma
I wrote my last blog about a month ago concerning the protests taking place at the University of Cape Town and other universities across South Africa. When I wrote that blog, I was in the second week of not having classes and UCT being shutdown. Now as I sit here in a cafe writing, I …
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