Pre-Travel Thoughts

It's past 3 AM as I begin the first entry in my "India Blog" that I've been so excitedly telling friends and family I'm going to create and maintain for the entire semester. This is a groundbreaking moment in and of itself, as I find that most blogs tend to be made by self-indulgent assholes that think what they have to say is more funny/important than anyone else on the internetz. Like this trick:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvuSzHax4ao&feature=channel

She's very profound. I don't know if you could tell.

Now, you may have noticed that this entry is dated June 26th, even though I don't actually leave for Hyderabad until July 15th. I thought it might be a good idea to begin with a few pre-travel thoughts. A Foreword, or Introduction that you don't have to actually read to understand the rest of the blog, but still always makes the author feel a slight sting of pride if you skip over it. So without further ado...

THINGS THAT MAKE FACE FREAK OUT ABOUT INDIA
1. The question, "Are you worried?"

The thing is, I usually can answer this question with a rather standard, "No, not really" ...until 10 people ask me. Then I start thinking about things like:

2. Forgetting to take my malaria pill. And getting, well, malaria. Which leads to:

3. Being in a rural area where clean needles aren't available and the healthcare is questionable, if not nonexistent. This one isn't as big a concern, as Hyderabad is quite the bustling metropolis (or so I hear, I'm not there yet).

4. Getting lost in a bustling metropolis.

I mean, let's be real here...It's going to happen.

5. Accidentally drinking the water. (You might forget, you know?)

6. Having important things stolen from me.

7. Being raped.

8. Getting caught in an epic cross-fire between Indian Government Agents and the Maoist Extremists. (Very unlikely, so low on the list...)

9. Not being able to work blogger.com or post videos. Which is an actual concern, as I intend to turn this into a video blog once I get a reliable portable camera.

10. Hating it and wanting to come home.

This is last on the list for a reason. I'm going to enjoy myself. It's just the way things are. I'm going to be in India, with cool people, taking cool classes. It's going to be hotter than sweat pouring down a fat man's back in Hell, but you learn to deal with these sort of things. I've already been put into contact with numerous people through the Indian Grapevine, which, if you are Indian, you already know how deep its roots run. I even have a nice family I can escape to if things get nasty. I've been vaccinated, prescribed, warned, and mentored. All that's left is to pack and get there.

This is more of a self-indulgent personal entry. I apologize. Though I will always try and make my posts as interesting to readers as possible, you must understand that this is going to be a very personal (and I'm sure at times hard) journey for me. Internal thoughts will leak in from time to time. I don't think I will be making many more posts before I leave, unless I have some particularly cool or enlightening information to share.

Namaste for now.