It's been a fantastic year - I can't believe how quickly it's gone by! It feels like just the other day that I was ringing in 2013 in India last year...
2013 was a great year for me, I learned so many things about myself and others in the world.
I spent two months in India volunteering at a day care center for the mentally disabled. I worked with so many others who were recovering from various illnesses such as manic depression, schizophrenia, and severe paranoia. The day care volunteers helped assimilate these people into society by assigning them small responsibilities such as making tea, taking role, organizing files by name, and doing inventory. We helped them do arts and crafts and use the computers. I befriended a young hemiplegic girl who I helped train for a job and managed to get her a small desk job. We became very close and it was very hard for me to leave her at the end of my two months.
I then went to visit close family friends in Sri Lanka for a month. They took me on safaris, I visited an elephant orphanage and a Buddhist temple. I went around the city of Colombo and had the opportunity to visit a local college for arts and dance and the city's Congress building. It's a beautiful place and the wildlife there is extraordinary - the elephants were unbelievably cute!
After nine months in India, it was finally time to go home. It was a bittersweet feeling. I didn't want to leave but I was so excited to be home. It was strange being around the house after a long time. I felt like an outsider for a while but things went back to normal and I took up a summer internship at the National Archives. I didn't know much about the Archives and I initially didn't think it was interesting because it wasn't as adventurous or exciting as India. However, I learned a lot and was able to talk to people who had the inside scoop on the various gifts the presidents received - which was very cool!
Then of course, I finally joined college. I mentioned in an earlier post that I was never a studious child growing up and that my India trip and entering college made me care about my education. And it's true. I used to study for my parents to get them off my back but I find that it's much more satisfying to study for myself and know that my hard work will bring me success (hopefully) later on.
2013 was full of moving around and adjusting to different places. It was a welcome challenge and I hope that 2014 will be filled with similar, if not greater, challenges! Happy New Year!
2013 was a great year for me, I learned so many things about myself and others in the world.
I spent two months in India volunteering at a day care center for the mentally disabled. I worked with so many others who were recovering from various illnesses such as manic depression, schizophrenia, and severe paranoia. The day care volunteers helped assimilate these people into society by assigning them small responsibilities such as making tea, taking role, organizing files by name, and doing inventory. We helped them do arts and crafts and use the computers. I befriended a young hemiplegic girl who I helped train for a job and managed to get her a small desk job. We became very close and it was very hard for me to leave her at the end of my two months.
I then went to visit close family friends in Sri Lanka for a month. They took me on safaris, I visited an elephant orphanage and a Buddhist temple. I went around the city of Colombo and had the opportunity to visit a local college for arts and dance and the city's Congress building. It's a beautiful place and the wildlife there is extraordinary - the elephants were unbelievably cute!
After nine months in India, it was finally time to go home. It was a bittersweet feeling. I didn't want to leave but I was so excited to be home. It was strange being around the house after a long time. I felt like an outsider for a while but things went back to normal and I took up a summer internship at the National Archives. I didn't know much about the Archives and I initially didn't think it was interesting because it wasn't as adventurous or exciting as India. However, I learned a lot and was able to talk to people who had the inside scoop on the various gifts the presidents received - which was very cool!
Then of course, I finally joined college. I mentioned in an earlier post that I was never a studious child growing up and that my India trip and entering college made me care about my education. And it's true. I used to study for my parents to get them off my back but I find that it's much more satisfying to study for myself and know that my hard work will bring me success (hopefully) later on.
2013 was full of moving around and adjusting to different places. It was a welcome challenge and I hope that 2014 will be filled with similar, if not greater, challenges! Happy New Year!
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