The First Travel Let Down

As far back as I can remember I had always been intrigued by India, it was a foreign world to me- the colors, the people, the animals. I remember the first time I heard about an Indian wedding and the first time that I saw one on TV. Then I moved to Spain and discovered Indian food (an unlikely place to fall in love with it, but it was one of the only vegetarian things I could find!). I had friends go to India and come back with amazing stories about how great it was. So when I decided to travel I knew that I wanted to make India apart of the itinerary and I had a friend there. Perfect.

I had already been gone for 2.5 months when I went to India. The first few days I was jet-lagged and content hanging out with my friends. I had booked a solo 6 days, 5 nights tour to Delhi, Agra and Jaipur and was excited and nervous to be traveling completely alone for the first time.

I survived the near week alone, but that is really all I can say about it. It has taken me several weeks to come to terms with the fact that it is ok to not like everywhere you go. A fact that was hard to accept when I had such high expectations of a country. The things I imagined were not true. The people were rude, stared relentlessly, didn't respect a single woman, do not take no for an answer, I felt like I couldn't go anywhere without a guide or driver, foreign tourists are overcharged for everything and the most heartbreaking of all, the food made me really sick.

India taught me an important lesson, that you don't have to like everywhere you go and not every trip can be amazing. Sometimes things just don't meet your expectations and I am only now coming to terms with it. I am sure that this will not be the first time that this happens and I will more easily accept it the next time!

Let downs are always balanced out with places you end really liking a place that you really didn't expect to enjoy as much as you did, such as Israel! (Even with a 3-day migraine!)

And I do still want to see an Indian wedding...

(As an FYI, the time I spent with my friend's family was great and hanging out, it's just not what I expected the country to be like. And the Taj Mahal was freaking amazing too!)

Other Updates:

I start Spanish class on Monday, have set-up a volunteer orientation and have scheduled 4 meetings with people to talk about my professional future! I also met a co-worker of my mom's who has contacts in Peru and Ecuador who has offered to pass around my resume!

Things are coming along!