This is my last Indian update! My train to Chennai leaves tomorrow evening after the SITA Program Farewell Tea. It's tradition: all the families, friends and host students have tea and say their goodbyes at a hotel near the center. If a student wishes to they can perform their extracurricular activity for the group. Sarah and Asumi will do traditional Indian dance; Laura will sing; Danielle will play violin; and I will go yoga! I am very nervous to get up in front of the entire group of people and bend myself in ways often unbecoming, but it's a rite of passage. To make it a little more interesting I've written a fairytale to go along with the moves; in it, my name is Yoga Lakshmi. I try to wake up, get yelled at in class, walk across bridges, and salute the sun. Hopefully, the story will make it a little more interesting...

I finished my paper a day early and turned in all 30 pages with a flourish! I am so proud of the work I put into it and plan to add it to my DU Portfolio- as soon as I get back I'm going to try to find an internship! Luckily, I finished the majority of the work the week before the paper was due, because I got very sick last Tuesday and ended up in the hospital. Don't worry; contrary to popular belief India has some of the best hospitals in the world so I was well taken care of. I was diagnosed with Chicken Gonya, a fever that has been plaguing this part of India and causes severe joint pain. If you catch it early enough all you need is one injection and a couple days rest, which is exactly what I took. I also had laryngitis but some antibiotics and spicy food cleared that right up!

I stayed two days at an ashram in Natham, a rural area outside Madurai. I spent the time doing yoga, eating plain ashram food (they have a very strict diet), resting and relaxing. It was a much needed vacation! Then, I met up with the other students at a Gandhian Thought social work center also located in Natham, where we spent two days resting and relaxing as a group. Now, I have two days with my host family to pack....and rest and relax.

All this relaxation has been nice but, honestly, it's driving me a bit nuts! After such a busy semester it's weird to slow down, especially when I'm so excited to go home. There's only so many times I can pre-pack! My trip home is going to be arduous: it starts with a night train and ends 2 days and 3 planes later. My suitcase is full of presents, and not much else!

I can't wait to see many of you on Thanksgiving! As for everyone else, let's do lunch! But please, no rice.

I have attached a picture of, surprise surprise, me resting and relaxing.

The home stretch is here!

Pondicherry was a nice little getaway although it did provide some important travel lessons. For one, don't let your autorickshaw driver show you "the cheap guest houses"- they will be anything but cheap and very poor quality! Also, beware the "pristine" Bay of Bengal beaches, unless to you "pristine" means "full of smelly fish drying on the sand." Finally, stay in ashram-owned guest houses; after our first night in the driver-recommended pig sty we pulled out our wallets for a marginally more expensive but ashram-owned guest house. The owner treated us like her grandchildren and the room was spectacular. We bought some fine French cheese (available in Pondicherry) and spent the night relaxing. It was the perfect break from my busy research schedule!

Aside from booze and cheese (Pondicherry is a Union Territory so alcohol is not illegal) Ponidicherry is famous for it's socialist community, Auroville. It was started by a popular guru, The Mother, upon inspiration from her guru, Sri Aurobindo. It is an exemplary new-age community based on the ideals of sharing, spirituality, and peace. It feels like a movie to walk through the place; a huge golden dome marks the community center and contains sand from every country. Auroville limits tourist access to a small area so as not to bother it's inhabitants, who number now in the thousands. The community was started in the 1970's and is still undergoing construction; it is slated to hold 51,000 by the time it's finished! It's an inspirational experiment in harmonious living between people and nature, and I recommend anyone interested check it out. One of our SITA students swears he will return to live there post-graduation, and I actually believe him!

For Halloween the SITA students hosted a big party at the SITA Center. The main attraction was our very own Haunted House. I don't want to toot my own horn but, in the words of my host family, I was the "main star." My character was a blood-soaked doctor. The smell of ketchup (blood) and the food I used as guts (Ramen, pumpkin innards, and boiled okra) combined to make me nauseous for the entire 2 hours, but it was all worth it to hear the terrified shrieks of so many poor Indian children! ;) Honestly, "scary houses" in India are nothing compared to those in the U.S. and I think us students may have gone a bit overboard with cutting/killing/zombie crawling. When my host sister came through I had to take off my mask and say, "Suruthi, it's OK, it's just me!" However, the free cake and candy made it all better!

I will post at least once more before I return to the States. Pakalam for now!

Emily