For those that know me well, they know that my single greatest desire that I've yet to fulfill in my life is the ability to travel and experience culture. While I've had tremendous opportunities to see a great deal of the United States, having experienced New York, Boston, Washington DC, Seattle, San Francisco, and Chicago among many others plus driving across the country twice as a wee little boy, I've never really had the chance to explore outside of my native country. I always thought my first travels overseas would be during a college summer break in Europe, where I would sip tea with the English, gaze upon the Mona Lisa at the Lourve, and experience a gondola ride in Venice. However, this never came to fruition, and I began to believe my travel desires would not be achieved until mid-life.
Cut to late 2012, the middle of my second year in my doctoral program at UCLA. I'm 26 going on 40 (grad school has done a number on me) and I receive a mass email from a former professor providing information on cross-cultural research grants. Before I know it, I'm presented with an opportunity to go study a subject I've been passionate about for the better part of a decade in a place I never imagined visiting, let alone living... India. This is that adventure... the experience of an international travel unexperienced 20-something given the opportunity to live, conduct research, and learn about a modern city in a third world country. This is my New Delhi story.
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