Today I allowed myself to begin gathering my travel stuff and packing it up. I'm hoping to only carry-on for this trip, so I'm attempting to take as little as possible. This process also entails trying on all of my clothing to see what is India appropriate. Somewhere between hand washing my camera strap, and deciding whether or not to make a choli skirt out of old set of curtains, I realized I forgot to apply for my travel visa!
SHIT!
I don't know what happened here! I remember knowing I needed to send away for it before my trip, and even printing out the application form. But somehow or another it completely slipped my mind in the last few months. I like to think of myself as someone who is at least semi-savvy about these types of things. Apparently not...
Luckily for me, I have a friend who was recently traveling in India, and he gave me good news. I's not too late, but I have to get on that business asap. There is a consulate in Chicago, and I might be able to get it quickly through them. But, oh! The stress! I haven't thought about where my birth certificate is in a while. I think my mom has it, but making a copy would require an hour in the car. I could give her over-the-phone directions on how to scan it, but I don't want to go there. I'll get it done by Thursday at the latest.
In other news, doula training was awesome. The weekend was quite overwhelming, but awesome and I can't wait to get started. However, I don't think I'm going to contact the doula in India about tagging along. I got the feeling from the training that something like that would be inappropriate and unprofessional. I might change my mind in the next few weeks. We'll see.
Also! There's some important information that I am proud of. I've decided to lower my spending budget while in India, and pay off some of my debts before I hit the road. The more I thought about it, the more it didn't make sense to go to India for three months and blow an entire year's worth of hard savings. I've been putting off dealing with these bills for the last four years, and I now have the savings to make a significant dent in my debt. So I will, and it's such a good feeling to know I'm handling it like a mature adult, not an impulsive child.
Later gator(s)!
MCC
Monday, April 26, 2010
Monday, April 19, 2010
A long-winded story....
Some of you may know, but most of you probably don't; in the last few months I've become very interested in, and have been researching the many aspects of birth. It all started with a medical anthropology class I had last fall. My professor was a lovely woman, seven months pregnant with her third child, whose area of expertise was childbirth in Russia. Her knowledge and passion for the subject of birth in different cultures opened my eyes to a subject I was previously afraid of and uncomfortable with. Since then, I've been reading books and watching movies to learn all that I can about childbirth.
It was during this class I was first introduced to what a doula is. A doula is basically a person who provides emotional and informational support to a woman in labor. According to the Doula Organization of North America (DONA), the use of a doula
I've found an organization in Ann Arbor, Doulas Care, that offers training classes to complete the first steps of obtaining DONA certification. The classes normally cost around $300 - $400, but scholarships are available for some students. I applied for the scholarship in January but it wasn't awarded to me. I didn't hear back from the organization for quite some time until Monday when I found a message in my email inbox offering me the training scholarship for the upcoming training session in May.
You're probably all wondering what this has to do with my trip to India, right? Well, before I received the scholarship award email, I was thinking of how cool it would be to attend some births while in India. Through a google search, I found an organization based in Delhi promoting natural childbirth in the region. The site had a list of doulas, educators and midwives working in Delhi. I looked at each profile, and decided I would email one particular woman in an attempt to make a connection. I wasn't sure what to write in my message. I didn't want to sound like I was some arrogant American traveler wanting an exotic experience seeing some Indian women give birth. But at the same time, that was pretty much what I wanted, minus the arrogance. I concluded I didn't know how to say what I wanted to say, so I saved the draft and tactfully decided to sleep on it.
I'm supposed to be working on finals and crap, but I'll probably finish the email and send it off in the next few days. Since I'll be completing doula training before going to India, I think I'll have a much easier time explaining why I am contacting her. I just keep telling myself that it won't hurt to ask. I've found that asking for things is the best way to get what you want. Sometimes I look back on the things I've asked strangers/family members/friends for, and subsequently received, and I'm amazed at my chutzpah! So, I'll write a well though out email asking if I can see how doulas work in India, and I'll get one of three possible responses. She could not respond, she could respond and tell me she's not interested, or she could respond with an interest in making a cross-cultural connection with an American traveler wanting to witness birth(s) in India. I've got nothing to lose!
Best,
MCC
It was during this class I was first introduced to what a doula is. A doula is basically a person who provides emotional and informational support to a woman in labor. According to the Doula Organization of North America (DONA), the use of a doula
- tends to result in shorter labors with fewer complications
- reduces negative feelings about one’s childbirth experience
- reduces the need for pitocin (a labor-inducing drug), forceps or vacuum extraction and cesareans
- reduces the mother’s request for pain medication and/or epidurals
I've found an organization in Ann Arbor, Doulas Care, that offers training classes to complete the first steps of obtaining DONA certification. The classes normally cost around $300 - $400, but scholarships are available for some students. I applied for the scholarship in January but it wasn't awarded to me. I didn't hear back from the organization for quite some time until Monday when I found a message in my email inbox offering me the training scholarship for the upcoming training session in May.
You're probably all wondering what this has to do with my trip to India, right? Well, before I received the scholarship award email, I was thinking of how cool it would be to attend some births while in India. Through a google search, I found an organization based in Delhi promoting natural childbirth in the region. The site had a list of doulas, educators and midwives working in Delhi. I looked at each profile, and decided I would email one particular woman in an attempt to make a connection. I wasn't sure what to write in my message. I didn't want to sound like I was some arrogant American traveler wanting an exotic experience seeing some Indian women give birth. But at the same time, that was pretty much what I wanted, minus the arrogance. I concluded I didn't know how to say what I wanted to say, so I saved the draft and tactfully decided to sleep on it.
I'm supposed to be working on finals and crap, but I'll probably finish the email and send it off in the next few days. Since I'll be completing doula training before going to India, I think I'll have a much easier time explaining why I am contacting her. I just keep telling myself that it won't hurt to ask. I've found that asking for things is the best way to get what you want. Sometimes I look back on the things I've asked strangers/family members/friends for, and subsequently received, and I'm amazed at my chutzpah! So, I'll write a well though out email asking if I can see how doulas work in India, and I'll get one of three possible responses. She could not respond, she could respond and tell me she's not interested, or she could respond with an interest in making a cross-cultural connection with an American traveler wanting to witness birth(s) in India. I've got nothing to lose!
Best,
MCC
Monday, April 5, 2010
Finally!
This morning I had an appointment with another political science department faculty member to discuss classes for Fall 2010, when I begin my graduate level classes. For those of you who don't know, I'm on a plan known as a 3/2 program, meaning I earn my bachelor's and master's in five years - three years undergrad, two years graduate - instead of the 6+ years it may normally take a student. Since I already feel like a dinosaur due to all of the time I spent on my past adventures (read: transient, degenerate college drop-out), I think it is a great idea to combine things and get 'er done quickly, and move on to bigger and better things.
Back to my story. I was meeting with another adviser on grad school stuff and he asked about my internship plans. I explained I had something lined up in India, but my other adviser wasn't keen on accepting it as an internship. Instead he would approve it as an independent study, and override my requirement for an undergraduate internship. My graduate adviser then said that he thinks that would be a great idea, and since I would be doing an internship in my graduate level coursework anyway, so an internship during my undergraduate portion of the 3/2 isn't really necessary. I then mentioned that I had all of my coursework done, and actually had more undergraduate credits that I needed. I asked that since he was ok with overriding my internship requirement, would it be necessary to do an independent study during my time in India? He said no, it wasn't.
In case that didn't make sense, I'll explain what this decision means to me, personally.
Internships and independent studies earn university credits. For the opportunity to earn credits, a student must pay tuition. This particular 3 credit internship would end up costing about $1000 in tuition and student fees! On top of my tuition, I also have to pay a fee to work with the program ($1010 for ten weeks) and I recently spent over $1300 on my plane ticket. This whole trip is being bankrolled by my savings, and I was worrying a little bit on how much actual saving I will be able to do. This is a override takes a huge, HUGE load off my shoulders and I couldn't be more relieved with this news!
So there is a stellar update for you, my dear audience. I am relieved and excited! My newest adventure is officially coming together quite well. Thank you for reading. :)
All the best,
MCC
Back to my story. I was meeting with another adviser on grad school stuff and he asked about my internship plans. I explained I had something lined up in India, but my other adviser wasn't keen on accepting it as an internship. Instead he would approve it as an independent study, and override my requirement for an undergraduate internship. My graduate adviser then said that he thinks that would be a great idea, and since I would be doing an internship in my graduate level coursework anyway, so an internship during my undergraduate portion of the 3/2 isn't really necessary. I then mentioned that I had all of my coursework done, and actually had more undergraduate credits that I needed. I asked that since he was ok with overriding my internship requirement, would it be necessary to do an independent study during my time in India? He said no, it wasn't.
In case that didn't make sense, I'll explain what this decision means to me, personally.
Internships and independent studies earn university credits. For the opportunity to earn credits, a student must pay tuition. This particular 3 credit internship would end up costing about $1000 in tuition and student fees! On top of my tuition, I also have to pay a fee to work with the program ($1010 for ten weeks) and I recently spent over $1300 on my plane ticket. This whole trip is being bankrolled by my savings, and I was worrying a little bit on how much actual saving I will be able to do. This is a override takes a huge, HUGE load off my shoulders and I couldn't be more relieved with this news!
So there is a stellar update for you, my dear audience. I am relieved and excited! My newest adventure is officially coming together quite well. Thank you for reading. :)
All the best,
MCC
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