“board” meetings & one-way tickets (laura)

Normally, I would go for the ladder, but I love this cause I’m working for in Charleston. So much so, I don’t mind working and going to meetings all day long. I feel very lucky to be surrounded by like-minded people and am honored to be a part of this awesome team of conservationists for the summer.  I must admit, paddle boarding and the likes are included when I use the term “work”… they say it’s important to get out in the environment they are working to protect. These people really get it...

So as my time in Charleston comes to an unwelcome close, I will undoubtedly soon be overwhelmed by excitement and to-do lists for this seriously ambitious foreign adventure I'm about to set out on. We are buying one-way tickets to Panama tomorrow. That's a sentence I never thought I'd say. I’ve also been busy getting tons of vaccinations and waterproof gear for the trip. Next challenge: figuring out how to fit everything I need from late August to mid-January into a backpack… that I can “carry for long distances and in dugout canoes, for example”- SIT packing guidelines.

While that sounds like it’s going to be hard to do, the following item on my list will make even that task feel like a breeze: convincing my parents, via maps and itineraries, that I’ll be okay in Chile/Argentina and it’s not going to require some big bodyguard to tag along. Please… wish me luck.

A few years ago, all of this travel would have been a mere pipe dream. Now it's reality?! I can't believe it. I already miss home and Sewanee so much and I have no idea what lies ahead. I just know the fact that a hammock and snorkeling gear is on my packing list has got to mean something good…

-Laura

rumination (aimee)

            I leave for Delhi in less than three weeks. I think I’m just now realizing what that means. After years of dreaming, months of planning, and hundreds of to-do lists, I am finally beginning the “next chapter” of my life. To cope with my constant anxiety, I have decided to do as many American things as possible before I move to Delhi. Although I am embarrassed to admit it, I have been watching a lot of reality TV in the past couple weeks - can’t get much more American than that, right? I've also enjoyed a few chocolate shakes from McDonalds, and more than a few pints of Ben and Jerry’s.

My dad doesn’t understand my desire to fill my last weeks at home strictly with American things. Our fridge is filled “Indian” food from Costco, leaving little room for the fried chicken I crave. Last week, my dad and I got chai lattes from Starbucks. He asked me if it tasted the same in India. I laughed, he had no idea. Tasty? Sure. Indian? No way. 

I decided to add “chai latte” to my American to-do list. 

            I leave for Delhi in less than 20 days. To be honest, I’m terrified. I thought that leaving home to begin my adventure would be easier than this. I thought it would be easy to leave all the stress and drama of my American life behind, but it hasn’t been. I’m homesick for Sewanee. I’m homesick for Middleburg. I’m homesick for things that haven’t even happened yet. 

So, why torture myself? Because despite all my doubts and the butterflies that have taken up residence in my gut, I want to experience something. I want to challenge myself. I want to see, hear, understand, question, cry, smile...if nothing else, I want to grow. 

            I leave for Delhi on July 14th. I think in time I’ll realize what that means. 

-- Aimee