I am in India. I am sunburnt. The dirt underneath my nails appears to be permanent. The tan that I naively believed I was getting actually turned out to be nothing more than a buildup of sweat and earth. Cold water is my new favorite drink, due to its rarity. Peanut butter is the best meal of the day, eaten straight out of the jar with my absolute most cherished utensil, the spife (spoon, fork and knife all in one. God definitely invented it.) I have become vastly aware of my ankles at all times, and am constantly checking that they are covered by my skirts. Baby wiping is the new form of...

How do you sum up experiences in a way that connects to others as if they took the journey with you? How do you tell them about the love you felt or the days you felt at complete peace or the moments that will always stay in your mind and heart for the remainder of your life…How can I express my emotions, feelings and life lived in India for four months, where do I began and where do I end.. I guess what I am saying is that what I have seen and experienced can truly only be a gift that has been given to me, I will try to share it with others but it does not hold the same value, and...

1. clean clothes are not always necessary. in fact, they’re hardly ever necessary. 2. buckets are your best friend when running water is scarce. 3. trash cans aren’t too necessary either. why not just skip the middle man when you’re done and throw your own trash on the ground? 4. there’s a high chance your life isn’t as hard as you think. people in kolkata break rocks with hammers, pull rickshaws by hand with bare feet and pick up cow poop with their hands to make a living. 5. it’s not the big bugs you’ve got to watch out for. it’s the little...

What brings us together as humans? I know that in my home our family would gather around the dinner table to share meals with one another, the food and fellowship as a family brought us all together. It was always my favorite time of day to see each member of my family, to hear them laugh, smile and share about how there day was. Some days there were serious matters to discuss and other days we could not stop laughing and joking, especially my father, brother and I. I feel so much love and joy with my family. The more I think about what brings us together, I think about the beauty of being...

I still can’t process that I have been here for a month! But on February 21st, it was official; the only white people in Barasat, Kolkata had been in India for 31 days. And here is a little summary of what that month has been comprised of: What I have learned: Crossing heavily trafficked streets is hard, but has been successfully mastered. Any mode of transportation you take through these streets is an adrenaline rush. Which vehicle honk is for the traffic and which one is for us. We are kind of like celebrities here. Kind of. All guys will holler, stare, and smile creepily. Women...

Have you ever had a birthday in Kolkata, India?  Yeah me either, but I can now cross it off the bucket list. Like a new year a new age makes me look back and review all the things that happened to me while I was the young age of 18. God has blessed me with so much, from the new people He put in my life to the strength He put into the relationships I already had with my friends and family. I’m closer to them now then I have ever been before. He also blessed me with the crazy journey that He put me on to place me here. If you had told me last winter that the following year I...