Hey, people are waiting (as usual) so I'm forced to keep it brief. First, I'm alive! I'm coming to the end of the trip, and since I last made a comment I have been having an indescribably good time. We had some time off this past week, so I got to go back to Varanasi and spend the day in the city shopping, walking around and absorbing India. It was good timing, since I was starting to get worn down by our overly-structured days and uncomfortable housing. It was reviving, really, and I felt like I could actually spend a significant amount of time in India with my own schedule.
We have just finished the science and Buddhism conference, which was extremely impressive and intellectually intimidating. It was also a good way to leave our studies, since it brought us back to how we can apply what we have learned about Buddhism to our western conditioning (or perhaps more accurately stated, how we CANNOT apply the two to each other). I feel really inspired by the brilliance from both sides, and it makes me wish that I could just go back and do undergrad all over again.
We met the Dalai Lama yesterday. It was incredible, but rather than describing it on the blog if you're interested just ask me to talk about it when I get back and I see you next. I don't think I could really do the interaction justice in writing.
The rest of our time here will be taken up by the exam, and when we're not doing the exam we have free time. This means I will be spending most of my time cramming the exam into a day and then trying to get back to the city to see more sights, spend time with new friends who I will soon never see again and shop for everyone, so I might not be back here. I'll try to update once more before I go, but we leave on Thursday afternoon (on an overnight train to Delhi--so excited) and then after that I won't have access to a computer until I get back to the states.

I am dreading the realization that I don't know the next time I'll be back here, but to make you all know that I haven't abandoned my culture, this is what I'm looking forward to:
a hot shower
my bathrobe
my comforter
tap water+ice
perfume
being able to pet the animals
the absence of deet on my lips
(maybe) a juicy hamburger
the food network channel in the womb with a big coffee in my hands
of course, my dear friends and family

I really admire people who can move to a place like this, giving up their modern lifestyles to gain what unique qualities India has to offer. I'm not sure I could go for months more. But then again, if Spain taught me anything it's that given enough time, we can be surprised at how adaptable we can be.

Talk to you all soon! And dammit, who will be back when I get home (at around 5 in the afternoon, I think)?