Feeling Blessed in Madurai

Today I feel blessed. Not in that joking, Instagram hashtag, emoji praise-hands way, but truly, deeply blessed. We arrived in Madurai by sleeper bus, which meant we were all sleep-deprived and cranky, but already I feel more at home here. Madurai is much smaller than Bangalore, and to me it feels more familiar, slightly more […]

Arrival on the Subcontinent + Adventures in Bangalore

The first few days in India have been filled with new experiences. The thing that immediately struck me as we left the airport in Bangalore was the activity on the streets. Along with the hundreds of people crowding the roads, stray dogs and cows roam around, undisturbed. The drivers in India do not stay on […]

Reflections on Orientation

Our 2016 Leadership Collective Orientation at The University of Chicago was jam packed with workshops and activities focused on India, unpacking terms such as culture and identity, and developing a common foundation of topics and ideas to make our time in India as valuable and rewarding as possible.  Students participated in hands on workshops led […]

Reflections on Orientation

Before I came to orientation, the whole idea of this massive trip felt like an abstract mess of images in my head, pictures I had seen on National Geographic of vibrant colors and writhing throngs of people. And while I still sort of have that picture in my mind, this week has been really good […]

Talia Ivry

Hometown: Madison, Wisconsin Tell us about your favorite book: I have many favorite books, but one I am reading right now that I’m really enjoying is a collection of myths and legends by Jake Jackson. This book is very interesting since it includes all sorts of stories and fables from a variety of different cultures and regions […]