Less than three weeks from today

This is a picture of Chavadi Purdur. It is a village in the state of Tamil Nadu in southern India. Yes, India. This will be my home for a few months, beginning in a few weeks. It does not seem real to me that I will soon be leaving this familiar life I know as a college student at BYU. It does not seem real that I will soon participate in a field study that will take me to the other side of the world and stretch me educationally, culturally, and in so many other spheres. It does not seem real that I will be conducting research, using an interpretter, washing my clothes in a river and beating them on a rock, using a squatter and no toilet paper for months, and then travelling around the country to learn about sacred sights of various world religons. It seems like only an idea; like one of the many that have been voiced but never actualized. But this is different. I've already done things to ensure the actualization of the occurence of this experience. But it still seems unreal and unbelievable. I have the intellectual understanding that I will be going, but it hasn't sunk it. I know it, but I don't feel it. But I'm content with that. It's a familiar sensation. It won't seem real until I'm weeks into the experience. But it will be real. And I'm excited. I'm going to India.