God's Own Country

 

Ashley and me before an early morning boat ride

Hello, again!  I am excited to tell you all about my most recent adventure: a seven day excursion to Kerala, a state on the southern tip of India.  The state promotes itself as "God's Own Country," with reason.  The views were outstanding, and churches abounded.  This was the final opportunity for the twelve students from CSB/SJU and our professors to travel as a whole group, and we had a fantastic time.  Nothing like a vacation to provide some relaxation before final exams!  Then again, it also means less time to prepare for the semester's end, but we'll survive.  Now for some highlights from the trip:

The Beds: Indian people prefer to sleep on much harder mattresses than the pillowtops Americans love.  The hotels we stayed in while in Kerala, however, had the soft beds we had not experienced since leaving home.  This, and other very Western elements of the tourist locations, provided a feeling of luxury as one of the first things we noticed upon arrival.  It actually took me a few minutes to adjust to the fact that we were still in India.  I don't think it was the beds or the showers or anything of that sort that truly made this a highlight so much as the way they forced me to change my image of India.  These tourist resorts, too, are part of the country's culture today.

The Houseboat: We had the fun of spending one night of our trip on houseboats.  The service and food was fantastic as we relaxed and watched the beautiful landscapes pass by.  There were plenty of opportunities to take photos of palm trees, the sunset, and more.  After dark, we introduced my friend Kia to the wonderful movie that is The Sound of Music.  I heard snippets of the movie's songs on everyone's lips for the rest of the trip.  Like many of the places we stayed for the night, we would have loved to stay on the boat for much longer.

Easter: As I said, churches are everywhere in Kerala.  I believe we entered five or so (and a synagogue), but we saw many more.  However, that does not mean that finding a Catholic mass in English is easy.  The four of us who chose to attend Easter mass ended up deciding that our best option was a 7am mass at a church near the resort...in the language Malayalam.  We arrived to find women and men sitting in different sides of the church, women covering their heads, and the Eucharistic prayer led by a priest facing away from the congregation.  I think I now know what masses were like prior to the Second Vatican Council, although I may have understood Latin a bit better than Malayalam.  Thank goodness for the fact that masses all contain the same mass parts, because I only recognized "Amen", "Hosanna", and "Happy Easter!"  It was nonetheless a fantastic and spiritual experience...followed by reading the Gospel from a Lenten prayer book my godmother had sent.

Demonstrations: Of course, what is a trip without some cultural and other demonstrations?  We visited a spice garden to learn about the many spices that Kerala is famous for as well as a tea museum to learn about how plantations make tea.  We also watched a demonstration of a local martial art and two kinds of traditional dances.  It was great to learn a bit about Kerala's culture, which is different in many ways from what we saw in northern parts of India.  To add to this, we learned a bit about the local history and walked around the hill city of Munnar.  I loved experiencing yet another culture in India.

Boat Ride: We woke up early one morning for a boat ride to see wildlife.  At least, that's what we thought.  When our bus hit a spot of traffic, our local guide told seven of us to go to a jeep up front.  We were confused but did as told.  It turned out, people had been waiting for hours, lined up at the gate to the tiger reserve in a way that seemed like what Oklahoma's border probably looked like with people waiting to claim their land many years ago.  When the gate opened, it was practically a NASCAR race of jeeps and autos racing into the park.  We thought it was the strangest, unexpected experience so far!  Then, when the jeep stopped at another gate, the men with us threw open the doors and told us to run!  We ran with no idea what we were running for and finally learned that the footrace was for boat tickets.  Apparently, the early morning ride is so popular that people must race the day of to get tickets for the best seats.  This amused us, as the ride itself ended up anticlimactic - relaxing but not particularly exciting.  What will I remember of it?  The strangest way to queue for a ticket that I have ever heard of.

Beach: Our last night of the trip brought some much-anticipated time on a beach.  We stayed in a beach resort next to the Arabian Sea and, yes, swam in said body of water.  The waves came quickly to make for a fun, albeit salty, experience.  Better yet, all twelve of us shared this experience together as we counted down the time left as a complete group.  Move over, Atlantic and Pacific Oceans!  I swam in the Arabian Sea!

I could probably write for another few hours and still not exhaust everything I want to say about this fun trip.  However, I assume that you are already thinking that this post has gone on far too long.  As a result, I will wrap this post up by saying that I had an unbelievable experience in this week-long vacation with my study abroad family.  It was an excellent final excursion to a wonderful semester abroad!