Reading Bucket List

Colder weather is right around the corner and this year, instead of getting sucked into the tube, I'm going to sit in my cozy chair, covered in blankets, drink tea, and read books. 

Care to join in? Feel free to tell me what books you want to read and we can read them together. Books are always much more enjoyable if someone is there to share the story line with. Here's my reading list in no particular order, let me know if one strikes your fancy:

1. The Help
2. Trash
3. The Book Thief
4. Red Kayak
5. Something Borrowed
6. Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
7. The Mortal Instrument
8. Love Wins
9. The Heretic's Daughter
10. The Alchemists Daughter
11. Belong to Me
12. Winter's Bone
13. Room with a View
14. A Passage to India
15. Return of the Native
16. Beloved
17. A Raisin in the Sun
18. Into the Wild
19. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
20. The Lady in the Lake
21. Commencement
22. My Sister's Keeper
23. Major Pettigrew's Last Stand
24. The Forgotten Garden
25. Miss Peregrine's House for Peculiar Children
26. The American Heiress
27. The Magicians
28. Possession
29. The 4 Loves
30. Percy Jackson series
31. Inkheart
32. Sarah, Plain and Tall
33. Hoot
34. These is My Words
35. Bag of Bones

Anyone have any input or other suggestions? I'd love some reviews on these before I start reading :)

Memories of Half a World Away

People often ask me why I choose to study in a remote part of India, with little Western influence on the social structure. The majority of college students who are looking to study abroad generally want to explore European culture and the major cities in this part of the world. While this would have been an amazing experience and I love to live through my fellow world travelers on all their adventures, I discovered so much about myself in this about 100 miles north of Sri Lanka. Unlike my previous trip in the northern part of India, my five months abroad brought me to a small city called Madurai. Looking back now four years later, it feels like I was there yesterday, laughing with my classmates, eating meals off banana leaves, and seeing life through a different lens. Sure, not all my trip was fantastic, and maybe it has taken me four years to appreciate everything I learned over there, but the point is I did learn so much more than the classroom could have ever droned into me. 

If you want to live through my entire trip with me, please look through the ten million albums I posted on Facebook. But if you don't have the patience to look at every picture, here are some of my favorites from life half way around the world:

 Lady Doak College Chapel

 Walk Way to Classes: Definitely made coming back to plain sidewalks difficult. I actually loved walking to my morning classes. 

 Lady Doak College Guest House: This is where I lived!

 Science Building: I took Physical Chemistry and Calculus here

(Word to the wise: when studying abroad, take fun classes! Calculus not so awesome when your teacher speaks broken English!)

These flowers bloomed all over campus when I first arrived. 

  

 Boating in Kohlikanal

 National Forest in Kerala. I love how the bushes look like a turtle shell. 

 Temple outside of Madurai

Visit to the village of one of my classmates. In the village, they live in huts like the one above. Village living is still fairly rustic. In this particular village, they grow sugar cane and process molasses. 

 One tradition in the village is to hang a bell here every time a wish comes true. Wishes range from wanting a good rain to being blessed with children. According to local lore, when the wind blows and the bells ring, new wishes are granted for the villagers. 

 We actually visited on the first day of a funeral. This village honors life very differently than US culture. Here they are blessing the family and making a sacrifice in honor of the recently passed. 

 Madurai Palace: Now a museum, constantly undergoing construction, the palace's architectural features are absolutely breathtaking. This photo is of the hallway outside of the main courtyard. 

Palace decortations

 Small temples are everywhere in India. This one is in the middle of the main shopping district in Madurai. Often times, shopping areas and markets have been built up around the local temples to draw in tourists and local temple goers. 

While there is plenty of wildlife to go around, monkeys roamed around much like squirrels in the US. Here is a family unit in the mountain region of Kerala. To all you future travelers to India, don't keep food easily accessible in your backpack. You might have an extra load drop on. 

I hope these inspire you to look beyond the major tourist areas. Take a chance and go to somewhere unexpected. You might discover yourself in a world of others.