Wow, I can’t believe I am writing my last blog. Time flies! My entire blog is centered about the theme “A Girl in Translation” where I explored all my passions and interests through the perspective of the younger-me back in Mumbai and the current me at Penn State University. And how a girl in translation came to be is through Travel! I love traveling, seeing new destinations, meeting new people and spending quality time with your loved ones whether it is a trip to Europe (which I haven’t been to yet) or simply a road trip to D.C.
“Travel can be one of the most rewarding forms of introspection,” Lawrence Durrell once said. I have found the above statement to be truly very powerful and true! This can be viewed from the view of trips to places or in my case, the entire moving to a new place experience. If you recall from my first blog post, I was really reluctant to moving to the US back in eight grade because sure there were great opportunities here but leaving all my loved ones behind was really tough for me. With the exception of a few adventurous souls here, it is human tendency to be reluctant to change and leaving things that we are very familiar with and fond of. But today, I can gladly say it was all for a wonderful reason and I have developed in ways that I never would have had I not gotten out of my all-the-familiar and comfy Mumbai life. I have actually learned a lot about myself and have a more lucid perception of myself than ever before. It has also given me a very broad and better-developed perspective on the world.
Martin Buber once said, “All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.” I can absolutely testify for Buber’s statement based on my own experiences! When I started school in Long Island, NY, I had no idea what I was in for. But within two months before I moved to PA, I had formed such a close bond with all my friends and teachers there and same with my school in PA.
Everyone says there are better opportunities here as the reason why we moved but I couldn’t have possibly imagined all the wonderful things I have been exposed to and been able to do – Never held a tennis racket in my hand and now it is one of my biggest passions; lived my dream by being in the OR and observing a surgery that one day I aspire to perform; and many other little things like being able to speak Spanish, go caroling, be at a football games with 120,000 people and much more. Most importantly, I met some of the best people that I wouldn’t even know the existence of had I not moved out of my little shell!
And now, here at Penn State, I couldn’t be any happier! Dreading the “new girl” image for the past few years, I missed being a core part of a group and having the connections I shared with my friends back in Mumbai and I am thrilled to say that I can’t complain anymore! I have discovered my Mumbai right here at Penn State among the daily banters and laughter of my dearest friends!
Thank you for reading about this Girl in Translation! 
Some pictures:
