India - Packing & Expectations

Hi Friends!

   So this summer I had the opportunity to study abroad again, by the grace of USF Ed Abroad and my sheer determination to see as much of the world on the college's dollar. After months of going back and forth trying to pick a trip to apply for, I settled on India! This post will be the first of a series on my experiences planning, packing for, and adventuring to the other side of the world!

   My initial thoughts on to going to India were very mixed--it's a very diverse country, with rich culture and history, but it's also very very far away and VERY very different from anything I'd ever experienced. But, I decided that nothing ventured, nothing gained, and applied. I was also almost at a disadvantage, because as this was my second study abroad trip my expectations were very very high. Another thing was flying internationally by myself. I can say though without having gone to Europe last summer, I would not have had the mental capacity and nerve to throw myself into a trip with a higher chance of complication like this one, with various flights to catch and layovers where luggage can get lost, but in the end everything worked out fine!

   My next complication was of course was what on EARTH do I pack? I scoured Pinterest, searched blogs, and started to get an idea. The difficulty for me was for three weeks, I needed business casual clothing, and believe it or not there aren't that many blog posts on what to wear for business casual in India. Luckily, this trip didn't require a large amount of travel once we got to Mysore, so I was able to pack one big suitcase with everything, rather than last year where I lived out of a backpack.

 

 Skirt Bought on Commerical Street
     in Banagalore

Tank & Skirt from home,
Scarf from CS in Bangalore

For classes, my business casual outfits switched between dress pants with simple blouses and maxi skirts with blouses. For excursion days, I packed lots of loose pants in various patterns and maxi skirts, pairing these with solid-colored v-necks or a tank and scarf. And of course, I was (as promised by every blog post out there on India) able to buy clothing there, picking up a couple skirts and another pair of pants. My biggest take away from this is pack comfortable and pack stuff you can easily rewear (i.e. the black maxi skirt I wore way too often in between washes). And remember, you will shop, and you maaayyy have to buy another suitcase in order to fit everything on the way back!

   India truly is one of the most remarkable places I've been to, from exploring thousand-year-old temples to going on safari to learning from one of the biggest technology companies in the world, my experiences there are some that I will forever hold dear and ones that will help shape the way I perceive the world.

   If you're interested in more about my trip, stay tuned for the rest of the posts about the places I visited, my top five takeaways from India, and why study abroad is so important today!