Last week we traveled to the Indian State of Kerala! It is called “God’s Own Country” and also the Texas of America because everyone who is from Kerala is very proud to call it their home! I think everyone from the program agrees that is it a pretty great place! We jokingly called it our “Spring Break” since we don’t get a real break from school until our classes are over.
The trip consisted of classes and lectures each more, and then afternoons filled with visiting many different places!
We had a wonderful trip! Here are some pictures/highlights!!
Kerala is the port where St. Thomas first came to India! So we got to see more places he has been and churches he started!
Another afternoon we went to this place called Amma’s Ashram. An ashram is a village or community where people of the same faith live and practice their faith together. Its very hard to convey exactly what it was like there. It was mostly white people who had come from far away to live at Amma’s Ashram. The people at the ashram are Hindu, but they don’t view Amma as a main god. Amma’s big “thing” is hugging people for encouragement. I still don’t completely understand what the purpose of the ashram is, but here is an explanation/description from the ashram’s website that might help you all understand what they believe the ashram is for:
“Built up on the very property where Amma was born, Amritapuri is now the headquarters of Amma’s worldwide mission and the spiritual home for Amma’s monastic disciples and hundreds of householder devotees. All the residents have dedicated their lives for realising God and serving the world. Everyday, Amma’s children from across India and abroad flock here to have Amma’s darshan. She sees each and every one, listens to their worries, consoles, encourages, provides new direction to their lives.”
It was an extremely interesting experience! But while we were there we also had one of the funniest things happen! We were told to go wait by the temple stairs to go on a tour of the Ashram, and while we were waiting we were put to work! Before we realized what was happening, we were told to form a line and start passing these pamphlets or papers from the building to a truck. Here are some pictures of the line and of the truck when we were done!
It was an extremely random event, and we were laughing about it the whole time! We don’t really know what the papers were, but maybe its best that we don’t know what sorts of propaganda we were helping distribute!
After the ashram we went to a beach! At some point on the way their most of the group decided they wanted to get in and swim around in their clothes. Our director Kirk had actually brought his swimsuit so he was all for it! On every trip we go on we have several different faculty or staff from our college in Coimbatore go with us. The two women staff got really scared whenever everyone started running into the ocean and they started yelling at everyone to come back in. They didn’t realize we all knew how to swim! I don’t think it is extremely common for people to swim in India, so they don’t realize that basically everyone in America can swim! Here is a picture of our director Kirk explaining to them how it isn’t dangerous! It was pretty funny to try and get them to understand that we know how to swim!
The next afternoon we went to another beach! I decided to stay on the beach and watch! I love the ocean, but only when I can wear a swim suit and go back to my hotel and shower afterwards.
When we got to the beach it was pretty empty. But nothing draws a crowd like a dozen of Americans jumping and swimming around! Here is a picture I snuck of all of our fans.
After the beach we did something that apartently you HAVE to do when visiting Kerala. That is to take a boat ride along the famous Kerala Back Waters!
There are also houseboats you can rent for the night like a hotel room! They look really cool!
This was really enjoyable, and at one point I got to drive the boat!
We stopped to get a drink at one point and I made a new friend! Meet Roma Krishna!
Overall, everyone really enjoyed Kerala! This was our last trip until the last two weeks of the program when we leave Coimbatore and travel around the north to end out program! We have three more weeks filled with classes, research papers, and tests! It’s hard to believe how much of the semester is already over, but there is still so much left to do before the program is over!
Thanks for reading!
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