My Favorite Life Changing Experience Ever

My dream since I was a little kid was to go to India, and I found out about Rustic Pathways when I was about 12. So I had two years of long waiting till I could go. And it was so worth it. The first day there was overwhelming, we got to India around 10 and I had to wake up a 2 30 am to fly to Kerala (where the great houseboat adventure is). I was stunned at the beauty of Kerala. Initially, I was not expecting the program to be much (I was originally only going to do The Lost Children of India, but I added Kerala just to get extra time in the country). God, I was wrong. Every morning, I would wake up around five and watch the sunrise from the upper deck of our houseboat. After breakfast, we trekked down to the school we were working at. Just standing there, you were already sweating ...so the working part was intense. But then the local boys started helping out and we ended up on the news and it was just so great. The kids were adorable, and even though they didn't understand most of our English, they got so happy whenever the got things right. My favorite part was working at the girl's home though. I brought a camera with me, and all the girls were obsessed! They were constantly dragging me around to take pictures and teach me dances and I genuinely felt like the wanted me there. Everywhere we went, people were smiling. I got to experience so much of the culture, as well as getting to help. Later, in Jaipur, we ended up on the news again! At a fertility festival!! My last day at the orphanage, I felt like crying. I didn't want to leave. The one thing I would say is, these trips require a certain level of maturity. I was the youngest on both trips at 14, most were 16 or 17. The leaders on the trips don't constantly check in on you and baby you, they treat you like adults (or at least mature teenagers) and expect you to be able to take of yourselves. They even set us free alone in the marketplace with just a meeting place and a time. Personally, I loved the independence, but some may not feel comfortable with that. Overall though, I would not trade this experience for anything and I'm soo excited to be doing Rustic again this year!!