The silver lining in long layovers – time for reflection.

For me, India: Mind & Body was all about listening. It began with listening to myself; listening to my soul, my true intentions, and my passions. Being true to myself and seeking new perspectives that challenged me in a way that my life in San Diego simply could not. This engagement with listening evolved throughout the program, and listening to myself was only one component.

The days are winding down, and my flight back to the States is approaching quickly. It’s hard not to reflect on the entirety of my trip, much less the past few days and weeks.

When I think about the founders of the United States and what they had to endure, the monumental tasks they faced to both secure independence and build a government, I’m awed at their patient persistence.

We spent our first few days in Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh. This city is a sensory overload; flashes of a city young in age but old in culture.

Travel changes your perspective on everything, potatoes included. It turns out that all it took to give this underappreciated root some more love was a gruelling 6-day trek through sun-drenched valleys and rugged desert mountains, ice-cold rivers, and a climb up to a 17,000 foot high mountain pass.

“Dorothy, we’re not in Kansas anymore.”

We arrived in Delhi around midnight in the heart of monsoon season. The humidity was heavy, the heat stifling, and horns were honking. People lined the streets. From the moment we stepped out of the arrivals section of the airport, we knew the adventure would be nonstop.

During the late summer India: Gender and Religion program, participants visited the Golden Temple in Amritsar. Here, two participants reflect on their experiences pitching in on the temple’s daily tasks.

On the day of my arrival in India, Christophe picked me up at the airport. As I walked out and felt the stickiness in the air, I knew something untamed and wild would be coming. I just didn’t know when. We rode the metro all the way from the airport to our stop in New Delhi, and began to climb the mountain of steps which eventually led to the street where we would begin a half mile walk to our hotel.

It’s hard to capture what New Delhi was like for us as newcomers to a country, continent, and culture so different (yet so similar in many ways) from our own. The first few days seemed like whirlwind (without a lot of wind) of heat, excitement, apprehension, awe, fear, and appreciation…

It’s not easy trying to explain emotions and feelings in words, so I tried to find a word to explain what I feel about, and the undying love I have for, the mountains.

Travelling as a Westerner means encountering complex issues of power and privilege daily, carrying coded wealth and imperialism everywhere you go. Ethical choices are not always easy to spot, especially when navigating across cultures. For me, participating in a trip through Operation Groundswell meant embracing this challenge head on, and exploring the ideas of cultural exchange, privilege, and ethics with each step on the ground.