The Basic Itinerary:

Everything regarding my upcoming trip to India is beginning to fall nicely into place and it's finally starting to feel official: I’m leaving next month!!! As of this week, my flights are being booked for November 16~ I can’t wait!!! My basic itinerary is this: I’ll fly into Cochin in the state of Kerala (the southwest tip of India) for 3 months at the Vijnana Kala Vedi Cultural Center in Aranmula where I'll study traditional Indian crafts—theater, Indian cooking, and music (I’m hoping I’ll be able to study sitar!)—and yoga.

After my stay on India’s southern tip, I’ll fly to New Delhi to link up with the study tour led by Pacific Village Institute that I’ll be traveling with from mid-February to mid-May. With that group, I’ll be visiting Varanasi—the holiest city in Hinduism, as it’s located on the source of the Ganges; Agra to see the Taj Mahal; Spiti for its ancient Buddhist monasteries; Ladakh to do a one-month homestay with a Tibetan family in the Himalayan city of Leh; Daramsala to spend 2 weeks in the Dalai Lama’s monastery (supposedly within those 2 weeks, our group will have a private audience with His Holiness!!!); and a few other cities, mostly in the north and northeastern regions or India. I’ll also be doing a few days of trekking and camping in the Himalayas! And then return from India to Indiana... Hmm. That'll be a bit of a letdown- just joking, Mom!

The World is like a book; those who don't travel read only a page.

~Saint Augustine