A Time to Reflect..in the City that Never Sleeps

Welcome to NEW YORK! (Where everything is larger than life-literally)

I and Elmo in Times Square--good ol' buddies

The Busy streets of NY on a bustling morning

Im typing this from behind an orderly desk in an orderly fourth floor in an eloquent building in the middle of Manhattan in New York City. Yes I am in the New York Public Library but my mind is still in India. I just arrived this morning and while I had a 11 hour layover in Newark I decided to hop the airtrain to New York City just to use their library so I could write this blog...not really. I wanted to see New York while I was here well because its new york. It is the city that gives you inspiration, great ideas, and its a great place for me to grab a coffee from one of the numerous starbucks that have hour long lines and just look up at the empire state building while I reflect about my time in India. I am touring all of this grandeur city's sites in a salvar kamis (which is an indian traditional dress suit girls wear) with henna on my hands. I look fresh off the boat from India. I guess you could say, I don't really look that American anymore.

I still miss her (India) very much. It hit me a little while we were taking off in Delhi and I was listening to some bluesy jazz song that seemed to fit the mood. I just kept thinking about all those people and especially the lil angel/rascal (my resident director's three year old) and if I will ever see them again, and if so, when?

At this point many people had already made it back to the states so I had a whole flight alone to reflect but I didn't wish to sit 13 or 14 hours sulking at how much I would miss the amazing life I had in India so I read books and watched movies instead. I actually slept a good 8 or so hours on the plane, very surpised at this feat. When I got to Newark, with coffee in hand and chocolate danish crammed in my purse, I just knew I had to go for it and see New York. So you can imagine me bustling about to get a train ticket and riding in a fit of excitement to the center of broadway, singing out loud "I'm in New Yoooorrrk" as if I am a glee cast member.

Then I trek through the many street having no idea where I am going or what I will find, just spontaneously moving forward and looking at street signs and occasionally asking someone where such and such is (i.e the library so I can write my blog, Times Square of course, where they film the Good Morning America Show, which I passed by and got to be on tv for a good second, and Central Park). Yes I visited all these places and some. I was about to go shopping until I remembered I am in America again and it isn't as cheap as India was, where I was almost living like the well off doctor I aspire to one day be. The cheap cost of everything in India is going to dissuade me from shopping here for awhile or worse I will try to bargain a price on everything.

Thus I headed back to Newark Intl Airport to check into security with a smile on my face and a tiredness seeping in since after all it is now night time in India. But I have much to do when I get home, besides finish all my other blog posts that I started but never quite had the time to finish while in India. I must also distribute gifts like Santa on Christmas, probably eat tons of American food- which I don't mind because I missed it sooo much, talk about everything to everybody countless times, and I know my brother wants to watch Harry Potter so I best make good use of that three hour plane trip home because the next few days will be full of family/friends that I have neglected in the US while making newer friends overseas.

I must also get to writing the people I became close with in India, keeping in touch with them in case I do one day return, along with planning my trip to CALI- yes the other side of the continent! I have never been on the west coast, the farthest being Tennessee. But now I have a reason; five of my study abroad friends live in Cali, and one of them lives in Puerto Rico. She will be traveling with me hopefully when we visit.

So was studying abroad worth it? I don't even have to reflect on that. It is more than an experience. Sometimes we get caught up in our daily "busybody" lives back home, but when we get the opportunity to go somewhere completely different and experience and learn new things, you realize how much bigger LIFE is.