"All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go..."

We're heading out tomorrow to start our 18 day trek across north India!

As of Friday, all of the classes are over- papers are turned in and presentations are completed. We ended by having a celebratory meal put on my the Catering class to demonstrate all that they have learned over the course. Delicious!

Friday night was Candlelight- a special ceremony to honor those that have made this semester possible and to celebrate the student's hard work.

Kirk congratulating the students for their hard work

Batch 6 is DONE!

Batch 6 with their friends

Students are making the most of their last weekend here- visiting their favorite restaurants and hanging out with their friends.

The journey will comprise of about 85 hours of train travel, 7 different cities, from the Bay of Bengal all the way up to the foothills of the Himalayas. Follow our journey here to get updates of what the students are up to!

A Week of 'Lasts'

It's hard to believe that this is our last week in Coimbatore! Students still remember their first time to the grocery store, restaurants, and classes. It's amazing how fast the semester has gone!

This week students are turning in their final papers and presenting their various projects:

Students Shaina and Amber from the Indian Design class designed and created beautiful saris. Fellow students Maaike and Megan did a great job modeling the designs!

Design students, their models, and the professors

 Students in the Art class had to come up with some art form to show what they have learned about India over the semester. Kara and Chrissie wowed us with a Bollywood-style dance and Corey presented photography on the Powers of Women in India.

Art students with their professor and Kirk Ji

Students are also trying to make the most of this week and enjoy their 'lasts'. Last times with friends, last sunsets on the rooftop, last times to eat out at their favorite restaurants, last chances to shop, and last chances to explore Coimbatore.

Sunset from the rooftop of Raheja-overlooking the mountains and the Taj

Apartment 408 enjoying dinner out together

Apartment 408 PLUS Corey!

Packing Up and Heading Out!

We can’t believe we only have 5 DAYS left in Coimbatore! The time has really flown! Was it really 3 months ago that students flew into the city and began their experience? Was there ever a time that they didn’t know how to barter for an auto, or dodge across the streets, or eat with only their right hand, or find their way on the bus route by themselves?

Tina in her costume for dance presentation

Tayler's beautiful painting of a traditional Toda woman

Stevie's handmade cookbook, Emma's mobile and the clay pot they made together

 This week is crazy with trying to finish everything up. Students have final papers and projects to complete-art projects to create, a clothing design to finish, and a cuisine final to cook, and an exam to take. Meanwhile, they have to get in last minute shopping, eat out at favorite restaurants and say goodbye to all their friends and the life they have made here.

Faith is exhausted after all her hard work

We leave for our north trip on Sunday evening. It is going to be a wild and exciting ride: 18 days, 76 hours on trains, 7 cities, rafting on the Ganges river, visiting Mother Theresa’s Home for the Dying, seeing the foothills of the Himalayas, and of course- taking pictures in front of the Taj Mahal! 

Follow us on our journey across India!

Still Traveling. Still Processing. (Two of Three).

Holi, the Festival of Colors

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“Creation and destruction are one, to the eyes who can see beauty. And the greatest praise to India is this: not only are her people beautiful; not only are her daily life and culture beautiful; but, in the midst of the utilitarian, humanitarian, dogmatic world of the present day, she keeps on proclaiming the outstanding value of Beauty for the sake of Beauty, through her very conception of Godhead, of religion and of life.” 

- Savitri Devi

Still Traveling. Still Processing. (One of Three)

This is just a small series to let you know that we're still here. Our time in Coimbatore has come to an end but our travel component is just beginning. These next couple posts are quotes about India that allow you to question some of the things that our own students are continually being challenged by. Enjoy, friends!

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“In the West we have a tendency to be profit-oriented, where everything is measured according to the results and we get caught up in being more and more active to generate results. In the East -- especially in India -- I find that people are more content to just be, to just sit around under a banyan tree for half a day chatting to each other. We Westerners would probably call that wasting time. But there is value to it. Being with someone, listening wihtout a clock and without anticipation of results, teaches us about love. The success of love is in the loving -- it is not in the result of loving. ” 

-Mother Teresa, A Simple Path

In Pictures: Roof-top Party!

Holi, a religious festival celebrated all over India, is known as the Festival of colors. It celebrates the beginning of the new spring season and commemorates many events from Hindu mythology. It is most commonly celebrated in Northern India but our ISPers were able to celebrate it in the South with a little help from some friends. Ladies and gentlemen, we welcome you to our Holi Celebration:

"Before" 

We began our party at sunset, on the roof of our apartments. T-shirt color of choice: white. (For obvious reasons.)

Getting the "color" ready. The dye in this bucket was used to fill up the squirt guns. 

Ashley and Abraham prepping the colors. There were two buckets filled with color and a bunch of pouches filled with colored powder. (Everyone got their own pouch of powder to throw).
The rules were simple:

1. Avoid throwing color at the eyes and mouth.
2. Have Fun! (Heavily emphasized by Abraham).
3. Observe rules 1 & 2. 

(slow moving) Action shot!

Ingredients for a Holi celebration: colors and friends! (Roof is optional). That's all you really need.

Downstairs apartment. They love each other.  Clearly. 

"After"

Without a doubt, one of the best nights of this semester. These pictures (and our t-shirts) will definitely be some of our favorite things to show off to our friends and family back home. 

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

{photo from our recent trip to the weaving village of Nehemem}

While it may not *feel* much like the Christmas season here in Coimbatore, our students are wrapping up their studies in the classroom, taking finals, finishing their papers, evaluating courses and looking forward to our two-week travel component with much anticipation. It's not snowing, turkeys are in short supply and the tradition of cutting down and decorating evergreen trees isn't common here. However, in the midst of the crazy and the different, we look forward to Christmas and the next few weeks with excitement.

We leave in a week for our trip, and will be traveling to Calcutta, Varnasi, Jaipur, Agra and Delhi to visit various NGOs, see the sites (yes, we'll be stopping by the Taj Mahal) and taste an India similar, yet very different from our little corner here in Tamil Nadu.

Please keep our students in your prayers as they finish their academics in the classroom. We're hoping and praying for restored health, enough rest to feel rejuvenated for our whirlwind tour and an ability to stay engaged and invested in our trip as our semester winds down and the holidays approach.

Thank you, as always, for reading. We'll post a bit more about what we'll do up north this next week, and try to stay updated from the road as much as possible!