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One year ago today, I received my acceptance letter to study abroad at Oxford.

I still remember the moment clearly. I had spent the entire week stressed because I hadn’t received any notification yet, and people had been pestering me about it (Now I know they were asking incessantly because they cared about me and were excited for my sake, but at that point at time, it was not helping my nerves). I was sitting in my Introduction to Indian History class, waiting for the professor to walk in, when I randomly decided to open my email before class. I saw an email from IFSA-Butler at the top of my inbox and my heart started pounding so fast. I quickly opened the email, read the first few lines, and yelled out, “Oh my god, I got into Oxford!” My friends next to me congratulated me and immediately tried to convince me to leave class so I could go back to my room and tell my friends and family. Not wanting to give up one of my class skips (ha), I stayed in class, only initially texting my parents and brother the good news. That fifty-minute class seemed to go so much slower than usual – at that point, I was restless and anxious to tell everyone! The second class ended, I texted my closest friends and updated my Facebook status (Of course). I was on Cloud Nine – after a nearly six-month long application and waiting process, my dream had come true. I was excited, I was elated, I was relieved, I was…terrified. I was preparing myself to leave the comfort of my home university, an environment I was safe and comfortable in, and was about embrace a whole new experience in an entirely different country.

Yup, I was terrified.

Now here I am, one year later, currently on holiday after finishing my second term at Oxford and already looking forward to going back for my final term. Any fears I had one year ago have completely evaporated, and I am incredibly happy with how my life is going right now.

One of the questions I most frequently get asked is “Do you feel you are a different person now?” That question is a lot harder to answer than it may seem. In some ways, certainly, I am a different person. But in other ways, I’m still the same old Tasha that I’ve been for the past 21+ years of my life.

How am I different? For one thing, I’ve met new people, who have influenced me in ways that I never thought imaginable. The people I’ve met here are some of the most intelligent and most wonderful people I’ve ever met. Each and every one of them has influenced me in some way or another, and I am unbelievably grateful for their friendship. I know that when I look back on this year in the future, I’ll of course remember all the big events, including the Union Ball, my 21^st birthday, and the St Edmund Hall Feast, just to name a few, but I’ll also remember all the little things, from watching University Challenge and The Apprentice (the British version, not the American version…) with my friends on Kelly 2, to drinking tea and listening to communist music with Stephen, to spending nights in with Ainsley as we rant about life and procrastinate on our tutorial work, to lunch dates with Natalie and Laura, to photo shoots in the Ashmoleon with Shannon, to getting brunch with Brady and discussing social issues for hours. I’m lucky enough that I get to call all these people my friends – close friends, even.

I have certainly changed in regards to how I approach academics. What I have realized at Oxford is that unlike professors in the U.S., tutors at Oxford do not really care as much about what you know.  Of course the tutors care about the facts, but what they care about more is how you think – how you approach a topic, how you analyze it, and how you interpret it.

There’s also a few superficial ways that I have changed. For example, I use certain vocabulary words that my American friends find utterly hilarious (I used the word “queue” in a chat with a friend a couple of weeks ago and he nearly passed out from laughing too hard…) and I now love to drink tea (I think my mom certainly appreciates this).

Of course, in many ways I am the same person. I still am a complete night owl and tend to run on very little sleep. I call my mom twice a day, just like I do at Case. My desk is almost always a complete mess. I’m a complete scatterbrain every once in a while (okay…I’m a complete scatterbrain more often than not, let’s be honest). I can still spend hours video chatting with my best friends back home. Most importantly, my values are still the same, and I’ve never once thought about compromising on them.

Another part of me that is still the same that I think is important to talk about is that I still do struggle often. Study abroad can often be portrayed through social media as this incredible glamorous, fun experience. I’ve certainly experienced some amazing things – I’ve fallen in love with the city of Oxford, am thriving in the rigorous academic environment here, and have been lucky enough to travel around Europe with even more traveling planned for the next few weeks – but it isn’t all sunshine and roses every day. Sometimes the stress and academic pressure gets overwhelming, to the point where I withdraw almost completely into myself. I try my hardest to keep up with friends back home, but it isn’t always easy, given different schedules and time differences. I sometimes become absolutely terrified at the thought of having to leave here and going back to a life in the U.S. that I, quite frankly, do not remember or recognize anymore. I am afraid of going back to Case Western and being unable to re-integrate myself into the community. I am afraid that I have permanently lost friends from not being around in their lives. On occasion, I fear that I’m not good enough to be here.

It’s not easy. And at times, the insecurity can be overwhelming; to the point where I take it out on people that I love. But at the end of the day, the incredible people that I’ve met, the amazing memories that I’ve made, and the academic environment that I’ve fallen in love with, all outweigh these insecurities, and I can say that this current academic year has easily been the best one yet.

So, to answer the question: Yes, I am a different person, but yet, I am still the same. It’s a paradox, yes, but it’s 100% me.

Much love,

Tasha

Hey everyone,

I first want to say a massive thank you to everyone who has been keeping up with this incredibly sporadic blog – so many of you have reached out to me saying that you’re loving what I post, and that means a lot to me.

With that, let’s get into this week’s blog post – my trip to Berlin! I’m sorry this is a day late – I needed yesterday to recover from the long coach ride, plus I needed to edit the hundreds of photographs that I took (I’m still not done, but that’s another issue…). Fair warning, this blog post is much longer than normal, but I hope you all enjoy 🙂

I’m going to tackle this day by day, so let’s start with…

THURSDAY:

As most people know by now, we didn’t fly to Berlin. Our coach left Oxford at 5:30 PM, stopped in London at 7:30 PM to pick up more students, and we reached the Port of Dover at 9:45 PM so we could catch, what we presumed, was a 10:30 PM ferry to Port of Calais in France. Sounds like we were making decent time, right? NOPE. The second we got to customs, they informed us that due to bad fog that day, THREE separate ferries had been massively delayed, so we were pushed back to take the ferry at 12:50 AM. I read part of my book (The Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri – would HIGHLY recommend) and played Cards Against Humanity with some of the other students on the coach to kill time, and we eventually made our way onto the ferry just before 1 AM Friday morning.

FRIDAY:

We docked in Calais about an hour and a half later before we all got back on the coach and I immediately fell asleep, waking up about 6 hours later and we were apparently somewhere in Belgium. We ended up reaching Berlin around 3 PM local time (Berlin is an hour ahead of Oxford time). We checked into the hostel, freshened up a bit, and then immediately went out to explore! Our first stop was the Brandenburg Gate. The sun was setting just behind the gate and it looked incredible.

We then took the underground to the Reischtag, or the Parliament. We unfortunately couldn’t go up the famous glass dome because we didn’t realize you have to book tickets a good week in advance, but the architecture of the building itself is beautiful.

We then made our way back to the hostel and got ready for the pub crawl! The pub crawl was awesome – for 12 euros, we got free entry into three bars and a club, and with drink deals at each place. It was a great first look into Berlin’s incredible nightlife scene. I ended up back at the hostel at around 3 AM, which was surprisingly early for Berlin nightlife (the club we went to, Matrix, is open until 7 AM!)

SATURDAY:

Saturday was easily the most enjoyable day for me. Although it was freezing, the sky was blue and it was sunny (the only day where it didn’t rain at all…), so I decided to go on an “alternative” walking tour of Berlin. For all my friends who are planning on visiting Berlin soon, I would highly recommend this alternative tour. Instead of going to all of the typical touristy sites, this walking tour took us around Berlin’s arts/graffiti scene and through several alternative communities around the city. Our tour guide was a hilarious Scottish artist named Cami. He showed us various works of graffiti in the neighborhoods of Alexanderplatz and showed us alternative artists’ communities in Kreutzberg (I think I’m spelling that right…) before we ended up in Yaam (it stands for Young African Art Market) which is a cozy reggae community on the edge of the river (they’re actually on the beach, which was obviously closed because it’s still winter and it’s freezing). It’s a colorful little communal space, and everyone was so friendly and welcoming.

Here’s a few pictures…

Following the end of the walking tour, I made my way over to the East Side Gallery, which was just down the street from Yaam. It was my first time seeing the Berlin Wall in person, and it was honestly quite unbelievable in the moment. The wall is absolutely beautiful now – bright and colorful and covered in artwork. It was somewhat hard to believe that less than thirty years ago, this wall was a sign of sheer terror and control.

After the East Side Gallery, I made my way over to Gendarmenmarkt, a public square in Berlin that is the home of the Konzerthouse.

After Gendarmenmarkt, I made my way back to Alexanderplatz for a quick dinner before heading back to the hostel for a few hours to relax. That night, a group of friends and I decided to go out to a jazz bar. We unfortunately showed up pretty late – only for the last thirty minutes of the set – but the music was incredible! (I really wish Oxford had a good jazz bar – but I digress). After the jazz bar, we ended up at a bar that Cami had recommended earlier called Eschloraque, which was easily one of the coolest bars I have ever been to. It was nestled in the back of a graffiti-covered alleyway and you wouldn’t have known it was a bar from the outside, especially since you had to ring a doorbell to be let into the bar in the first place. We spent a few hours there enjoying drinks and the live DJ before making our way back to the hostel for the night.

SUNDAY:

When I woke up Sunday morning, it was already pouring. Not wanting to even attempt to do any outdoor exploring, I decided to head over to Museuminsel (Museum Island). A UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1999, Museum Island is the home of five art museums. I spent the whole day exploring three of the museums – the Alte Nationagalerie, the Neues Museum, and the Altes Museum. I tried to get into the Pergamon, but the queue was wayyy too long.

(I took a lot of pictures of the art, but I’m not going to post them here. See P.S. at the bottom of the post…)

After a full day of museums, I was pretty exhausted and my left foot was killing me, but still wanted to go out for my last night in Berlin. My friends and I ended up going back to the jazz bar we had gone to the night before and ended up seeing the full set. We ended up at another smaller bar soon afterwards and ended up calling it an early night, heading back to the hostel just after midnight.

MONDAY:

We checked out of the hostel at 10 AM, but we weren’t leaving Berlin until 5:30 PM, so we had one full day left to explore. My foot at this point wasn’t in the best shape, but I still wanted to make the most of my last day. My first stop was the Holocaust Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, and it was very starkly beautiful.

After the Memorial, I made my way over to the Berliner Dom, or the Berlin Cathedral Church, which was back over on Museum Island.

Despite my foot still killing me, I climbed the nearly 300 steps to the dome, which provided a panoramic view of the city. The view was sadly quite dark and cloudy, but still absolutely stunning:

From the top, I happened to notice that there was no line to get into the Pergamon Museum, unlike the day before, so after slowly (and painfully) climbing back down the stairs, I walked over the Pergamon and spent about an hour wandering through the Pergamon’s exhibits. At this point, I was in a lot of pain, so I grabbed a quick lunch and made my way back to the hostel, where I relaxed for a few hours before heading back onto the coach for the 17+ hour journey back to Oxford. The journey back seemed to go a lot faster than the journey out to Berlin – perhaps because I was more used to it?

I also got to see a beautiful sunrise on the water as we were sailing from Calais to Dover:

And so here I am, back in Oxford with a most-likely-sprained ankle, hundreds of pictures to edit, and a newfound love for the city of Berlin. Berlin has a very rich and beautiful history, but it also has a very dark history underneath it, and it was fascinating to get to see both sides of that history in just a few short days.

What are my plans for the next month? You’ll have to keep reading my blog to find out 😉

Much love,

Tasha

PS: In regards to photographs: I took several hundred pictures, and it’s impossible to post them all here, so all the pictures will be posted to my main Facebook page and to my professional photography page! Keep an eye out 🙂

Hi friends,

I’ve been absolutely awful about blogging about my life at Oxford…which is why some of you may be shocked to hear that my second term at Oxford is over!

I can hardly believe it myself. These past eight weeks flew by. I figured I’d just do a quick update on some Oxford life highlights.

1. Another CWRU student arrived! Laura, another one of my sorority sisters, joined Natalie and I at Oxford. We’ve all been hanging out together a lot more, and it has been really lovely having another close friend from Case around 🙂
2. The balls! I attended two balls this past term. The first was Dante’s Inferno: the Oxford Union Ball. I went with a large group of my friends, dressed to the nines in black and red, and it was incredible. There was live jazz, free cocktails, a casino, and a silent disco!

A few pictures from my own camera (If you are interested in seeing pictures from the actual event, go through my tagged photos on Facebook!)…

The second ball I went to was Lumina: The St. Catherine’s College Ball. I went with my friends Ainsley, Natasha, Nick, and Sam from Teddy Hall as well as with Natalie and Laura. I thought the Union Ball was amazing (and it certainly was), but the St. Catz ball was spectacular, with great food, incredible live entertainment, art displays, and, of course, yet another silent disco. (It also gave me an excuse to wear my prom dress, which I love 🙂 ).

More pictures (Again, pictures that were actually taken at the Ball can be found in my tagged photos. I don’t want to risk copyright issues.) …

3. My tutorials: As I mentioned in my previous Oxford-related blog post, I doubled up on history tutorials this term. Both ended really well!
4. LIMUN. My first international Model UN Conference, and my first conference in over ten months (My last conference before this one was ChoMUN, the University of Chicago’s collegiate conference, in April 2016). I represented the United States in the UN Commission on Sokovia, a fictionalized UN body based on the Marvel Cinematic Universe (If you’ve seen Avengers: Age of Ultron and/or Captain America: Civil War, you’ll probably understand this). I came away with my first Diplomacy / Best Delegate Award, and I was absolutely thrilled that all the hard work paid off.
5. The Hertford College Music Society. As some of you may know, I joined HCMS when I first arrived at Oxford, becoming a member of both the Hertford College Orchestra and the Hertford College Concert Band. I go to rehearsals at Hertford twice a week and we played two incredible concerts at the end of the term. I don’t have any pictures or recordings yet unfortunately, but hopefully I will soon! In the meantime, here’s an utterly hilarious photo of me that was taken during rehearsal one day.

And that’s only naming a few things that happened in the eight weeks of Hilary Term.

So what’s next, you may ask?

I’m now on break for another six weeks, and I’m going to be traveling through Europe! I have a couple of days to relax in Oxford before I make my first trip – to Berlin, Germany! I’ll blog about my trip when I return.

Much love,

Tasha

PS: Thank you to everyone for putting up with my incredibly sporadic blogging. I promise I’ll do a better job next term!

So Tomi Lahren posted this gem on Twitter earlier this week.

Let’s break this down.

First, the facts.

Yes, the Equal Pay Act was passed in 1963, during the Kennedy Administration. You can read it here (https://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/history/35th/thelaw/epa.html), but to sum it up pretty simply, it states that employers cannot discriminate between employees of different genders when it comes to paying wages. To use Tomi Lahren’s words (ugh), “equal pay for equal work.”

She’s right that the Act was passed. That’s what the Act was supposed to do. But has it worked?

Not by a long shot. Let’s look at the numbers.

The wage gap certainly has narrowed since the Equal Pay Act was passed, largely due to more women going to college and getting a higher education, as well as the fact that the number of women in the workforce has significantly increased. However, the gap still persists. Statistics show that among full-time, year-round workers, a woman is paid 78 percent of what a white man was paid (White men are used as the benchmark because they make up the greatest percentage of the workforce (Hallman et al. 2015). Some states are better (in Washington DC, the gap is 91 percent) and some are worse (in Louisiana, the gap is around 65 percent (Hallman et al. 2015). The pay gap is worse for women of color. The salary of an Asian-American woman shows the smallest gender pay gap, at 90 percent of a white man’s earnings (Hallman et al. 2015). A Hispanic woman’s salary shows the largest gap, at 54 percent compared to that of a white male (Hallman et al. 2015).

Here’s a chart on earning ratios of women compared to white men by race and ethnicity:

(Source: The Simple Truth about the Gender Pay Gap, 2017 Edition).

A more recent study has claimed that at the rate of change between 1960 and 2015, women are expected to get equal wages as men in 2059 (Ho et al. 2017). However, progress has stalled in recent years – at this rate, women will not reach pay equity with men until almost 100 years after that, in 2152 (Ho et al. 2017.).

Here’s a chart that reflects the rate of change towards equal wages:

(Source: The Simple Truth about the Gender Pay Gap, 2017 Edition).

Disability status is a difficult population demographic to capture because it covers such a broad range of definitions. The ACS measures disability in six categories: hearing, vision, cognitive, ambulatory, self-care, and independent living (Ho et al 2017). According to the ACS, in 2015, people with disabilities made only 68 percent of what people without disabilities made. The gender pay gap, furthermore, is substantial – women with disabilities earned just 69% of what men with disabilities made (Ho et al 2017).

Sexual orientation and gender identity is another interesting demographic to study. Gay and bisexual men are paid 10-32% less than of similarly qualified heterosexual men (Ho et al 2017). That same study also found that while lesbian women may be paid more than heterosexual women, lesbians are still paid less than heterosexual or gay men (Ho et al 2017). When analyzing the pay gap, it is important to recognize people who do not identify with the gender they were born with. A study found that transgender people who transitioned from male to female experienced a significant drop in pay post-transition, while those who transitioned female to male experienced little to no increase in pay (Ho et al 2017). This can be tied back to how transgender people unfortunately receive a lot of harassment and discrimination within the workplace.

What people often don’t realize is that the gender pay gap follows women into retirement. Because women are paid less than men during the years that they work, when they retire, women receive less income from Social Security, pensions, and other potential sources than retired men do (Ho et al. 2017). Furthermore, certain disability and life insurance benefits are also smaller for women because these benefits are based on earnings (Ho et al. 2017).

PSA: By the way, all of this data is coming from various U.S. government bureaus, including the U.S. Bureau on Labor Statistics and the U.S. Census Bureaus. No #alternativefacts here.

That’s all for today! I promise I’ll blog about Oxford again in a few days!

Much love,

Tasha

 

Works Cited:

Hallman, Linda et al. 2015. “The Simple Truth About The Gender Pay Gap.” American Association of University Women. 2015 Edition:1-26

Ho, Patricia Fae et al, 2017. “The Simple Truth About The Gender Pay Gap.” American Association of University Women. Spring 2017 Edition:1-30.

 

…So it’s been a while.

(Please don’t flay me).

I was still in India when I last posted a blog. Yikes.

In case it wasn’t obvious…I’m back at Oxford and am already in Week 4 of Hilary Term. Whoops.

I’ve honestly picked a terrible day to blog – I was up very late last night working on a paper that was due this morning and I have another paper due tomorrow, but I figured I’ll just do a super quick update now and do a more in-depth update in a few days when my workload slows down.

So, here goes:

1. Term’s been treating me well – I’m busy as ever. My tutorials this term are Middle East in the Age of Empire (1830-1971) and Postcolonial Historiography: Writing the Indian Nation. Two history tutorials this time, and both are equally fascinating. Fun fact: I have two female tutors again, which is incredible. All four of the tutors I have had have inspired me and have pushed me in ways that I never have before. Can you tell I love the tutorial system?
2. I’m still basically living in the library.
3. I’m making an effort to post something about Donald Trump and his policies every single day on my Facebook page, whether it be an article written about him, one of Trump’s ridiculous tweets, something that someone in his cabinet says or tweets, or something one of his followers shares. My mom is doing the same thing. Like mother like daughter?
4. My first Oxford ball is on Friday!!!! I’m going to the Union Ball with a large group of friends. The theme is Dante’s Inferno. I can’t wait 🙂
5. This week marks my halfway point. I’ll write a bit more about this in the next few days, so look out for a blog post on that.

That’s all for now. Back to the grindstone!

Much love,

Tasha

As my India trip draws to a close, I now finally had the breathing time to think about everything I’ve witnessed over the past five weeks. I’ve seen so many spectacular sights, from the Mehrangarh Fort in Jodhpur, to the sun setting over the dunes of Jaisalmer, to the Bara Imambara in Lucknow, to the evening aartis along the River Ganges in Varanasi. I’m so blessed that I got to spend the past five weeks exploring India, the second country that I am lucky enough to call home.

India, while it is home to some of the most beautiful landmarks in the world, is also rife with poverty. It’s visible in every city, in every corner.

Take Mumbai, for example. I’m writing this blog post from the comfort of my Dadi’s spacious apartment. Four floors below me is a slum, where hundreds of people call the narrow street outside their home. Families cluster into small huts, creating roofs out of tin and tarp. The children of these families, unable to go to school because they can’t afford the fees, run through the hard stone streets barefoot, tapping on windows, begging for a few rupees or selling small products, like balloons or perhaps even car chargers. I think about my upbringing, how my parents always pushed me to excel in school, and how all of that pushing has culminated in me currently attending Oxford.

In New Delhi, both of my uncles live in affluent, gated apartment complexes. As I’m driving from one apartment to the other, you’ll see hundreds of people who don’t even have a roof over their heads – they live under the highways and sleep on the dirt.

As we drove through the desert from Jodhpur to Jaisalmer, we saw the occasional little hut, visible solely because of a small burning fire or by a single light bulb. In the desert, temperatures are high and hot during the daylight hours, and can get bitterly cold in the evenings and late nights. We spent two days in Suryagarh, an absolutely stunning hotel that looks like a palace, the thought of the impoverished people in the desert living unprotected from the harsh desert conditions not even existing in our heads.

Varanasi (Benaras) is a holy city that rests on the River Ganges. I loved exploring the ghats, and my mother and I will never forget our boat ride on the Ganges with the musicians serenading us as we floated along. But Varanasi is an overcrowded city, with thousands of men, women, and children lacking the basic necessities, squatting along the river, begging for money.

After spending seven years away from India, it was honestly eye opening to see so much poverty. It can almost make you uncomfortable – but it’s that discomfort that’s important, as it’s an acknowledgement of privilege.

My years in debate, as well as the addition of a sociology minor at Case Western, trained me to be the kind of person where if I don’t truly understand why something is the way it is, even if I know all of the facts I possibly could know, I try to think about the theoretical reasoning behind it.

So, let’s get academic for a second (sorry) and think about the sociological perspectives on poverty. Sociologists analyze poverty through one of two possible approaches. One approach, known as the structural-functionalist approach, would argue that every level of society contributes to the stability of that society overall. To be more specific, theorists who believe in the structural-functionalist approach would argue that inequality and social stratification are actually beneficial to society overall, because it ensures that the “best” people occupy the highest social standing and that those who are deemed “less worthy” occupy the bottom rungs. The people who are at the highest standing thus receive power and rewards because of their “better” abilities and/or skill sets. This logic implies that social inequality makes sure that those who have the best qualifications fill the most functionally important jobs. The second approach is known as conflict theory, which directly criticizes structural-functionalism. Conflict theory argues that it is near impossible to determine the functional importance of any job, because societal interdependence means that every position is arguably necessary for a society to function properly. The theory also argues that the idea of stratification being “fair” and “rational,” and that the “best” people occupy the top level of society because of their superiority, doesn’t make any sense. Conflict theorists instead believe that stratification is inherently harmful to society. According to these theorists, stratification benefits the powerful and wealthy at the expense of the poor and vulnerable, as those people who are at the top of the social hierarchy can continually build on their wealth; which, in turn, allows them to further the power and wage gaps between the groups. Conflict theorists further believe that the competitive, hierarchal system, coupled with barriers that make social mobility difficult or impossible, only perpetuates stratification.****

I personally side with conflict theorists. Inequality is continually perpetuated by elites who want to maintain or increase their own personal status, primarily for selfish reasons. In the case of Indian society, with the caste system still alive and well in the country despite being technically illegal, that perpetuation is clear, simply because it’s all around you.

India is gorgeous – I can’t deny that. But it is such a stratified country, hell-bent on maintaining an abusive hierarchy that punishes millions of people. That, I believe, is a human rights violation, and I hope that some day, years from now, I can be someone who helps to change that.

****This information was gathered from You May Ask Yourself: An Introduction to Thinking like a Sociologist, 4th Edition.

The current leg of my India trip has brought me to Lucknow. For a quick geographical lesson, it’s a large city in Northern India.

For people who have known me for a very long time, you will know that Lucknow is where my mother grew up, and that I spent a lot of time in Lucknow when I was little.

If you’re close to me, you also probably know that my Nani’s old house is my very favorite place in the world.

I have fond childhood memories from Nani’s house The house was absolutely gorgeous – large, Spanish-style, made of red brick and sandstone, with brightly colored bougainvillea creeping over the stark white arches and circling around the columns of the house. The memories are numerous: Riding scooters through the house in the early mornings with Nikhyl, trying to avoid scootering into people (We usually weren’t very successful). Reading Archie Comics on the playroom floor. Climbing up on the roof with Rohan and Shefali, with my tiny five-year-old self struggling to pull myself over the air conditioners, as they got in the way of getting to the front part of the roof (This usually ended with either Rohan or Shefali picking me up and plopping me on the other side). The whole family piling onto Nani’s bed, eating cheese toast and fruit, glancing up at Nani’s massive photograph wall. Nikhyl, Rohan, Shefali, and I setting up mattresses in Sharad Mamu’s and Sabina Mami’s bedroom in the back of the house, playing board games and huddling together at night to sleep. Eating meals in the grand dining room at the front of the house. Seeing lizards crawl into the house and scurry behind the paintings, never to be seen again. Watching Rohan and Nikhyl play cricket in the pebbly driveway. Meeting my cousin Raman for the first time, when he was a little under two months old. Dancing to ABBA with the whole family late into the night (This is the reasoning for my obsession with the musical Mamma Mia!). Rohan, Shefali, and Nikhyl taping my mouth shut. (Not necessarily a fond memory, although I can find it somewhat amusing now).

And of course, the swing in the front yard. If you’re either (a) friends with my mother on Facebook, or (b) have been in my bedroom before, you know what that swing looks like.

If you don’t, here’s a picture.

That swing was old, rusty, and creaky, with a hard wooden seat, but I used to spend hours on the swing in the bright Lucknow sunshine. I can still picture it now – me in a summer dress with my long hair tied up behind me, Mom pushing me, smelling the fragrant lemon trees behind me, and, of course, Nani calling out from the porch, with her cup of afternoon chai, telling me to be careful.

As you can probably tell by the word vomit above, I spent many wonderful summers there.

But soon, things changed.

Nani was diagnosed with cancer when I was seven; during one of the last summers I spent there. She was given only about a year to live.

The house was sold when I was eight years old.

Nani passed away when I was eleven, living over four years longer than the doctors had originally predicted.

It’s been a very bittersweet experience, being back in Lucknow. We drove past the house this afternoon, although I wouldn’t have recognized it if Mom and Sharad Mamu hadn’t pointed it out. The house looks completely different now. They have moved the location of the main gate and put up a massive wall around the property.

It also happens to now be pink.

But I digress.

I’m thrilled to be back – but I miss Nani so much. She was an incredible woman. She was the matriarch of our family, a strong-willed yet loving woman. A strong advocate for women’s rights, Nani grew up in a family of empowered, free-spirited women, and she encouraged me to never let my gender hold me back. Nani showed me how to live life to the fullest because she did till the very end.

Letting go is never easy, but it’s an unfortunate part of growing up. I wish I could go back to the house and relive all of those memories from when I was a child. More importantly, I wish I could have gotten to talk to Nani about my debate career, my music, my love for history, and my desire to go into international relations. I think she would have liked reading this blog and hearing about my life at Oxford.

At the same time, however, I would like to think that Nani knows all of those things, and I certainly hope she’s proud.

Thanks for reading, friends.

Love,

Tasha

2016 was an amazing year for me.

I finished off a solid sophomore year this past May at Case Western. I got to spend a lot of time with some of my best friends this past summer before I left for England. I started my year abroad at one of the best universities in the world and met some pretty wonderful people along the way, and I am already counting down the days until I go back to Oxford. I’m currently traveling India with my family, spending time with extended family and friends and seeing parts of the other country I call home that I’ve never seen before.

So…Yes. My year was incredible.

Now before you all get your claws out and me like “OMG TASHA 2016 WAS TERRIBLE FOR SO MANY REASONS HOW DARE YOU” – I recognize the privilege I have in my saying that my year was amazing.

This year was not wonderful for the world at large.

The Pulse Nightclub shooting was the deadliest mass shooting in the US, as well as the worst instance of deadly violence against the LGBT community at large. Police brutality continued to cause outrage (and rightfully so), with the riots in North Carolina and the live Facebook shooting of Philando Castile being just a few examples from this year alone. Brexit rattled the world, testing the strength of the European Union and caused many people to become concerned about the rise of the radical right. Brock Turner’s pathetic slap-on-the-wrist punishment for the rape of a female student at Stanford University left thousands outraged about his lack of punishment. Violence continues to rage on in Aleppo, with hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children dying due to human rights abuses. Thousands of refugees are fleeing for their lives, and fear mongering around the world has left many of them homeless and helpless. The world watched a hate-spewing egomaniac get elected President of the United States, and we are now less than a month away from his inauguration. Hell, Carrie Fisher AND Debbie Reynolds passed away this week alone (I grew up in a Star Wars-loving family). And that’s just naming only a handful of the issues that have plagued 2016.

So, yes – while my year personally was good for me, I do agree that this year for the world in general was horrible.

I hope that this doesn’t come across as bragging, like “Oh, everyone should just be quiet because I had a fantastic year, and that’s all that matters.” That’s not at all what I’m trying to say. In a world filled with so much negativity, combined with the fact that so many horrible things happened this past year, I think it’s important – perhaps necessary, even – to reflect on the positive things in our personal lives, no matter how big or small. I know there’s a level of privilege to this as well, and I also know that for many people, it might be difficult to focus on happy things, especially if they are quite small.

I also find it somewhat odd that I, of all people, am saying this, and I’m sure many of my close friends who are reading this also feel the same way, considering that I’m usually a very cynical and pessimistic person. I know for many people in the US. right now, the future is uncertain and frightening. Quite honestly, I feel the same way, even though I’m significantly more isolated from it right now seeing as I don’t currently live in the country. Even though I’m scared for the future, I can’t help but be excited for what 2017 has in store for me and for the people around me, especially since the last few months of 2016 were some of the best of my life.

Happy New Year, everyone. Let’s hope that 2017 brings us all a little more joy.

Love,

Tasha

“In the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures. For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed.” -Khalil Gibran

It’s midnight.

Today – December 15, 2016 – is my 21^st birthday.

If you had asked me a year ago where I would be on my 21^st birthday, I wouldn’t have known what to tell you. This time last year, I was frantically preparing for a final exam and two final papers I had due the next day. It was also the day I submitted my application to study abroad at Oxford. So I really didn’t know whether I’d be in Cleveland, New York, or in the UK.

Instead of any of those three locations, I’m in Mumbai, India, writing this from my Dadi’s living room. Bua and Dadi are long asleep. Mom’s frantically creating my birthday photo album on Facebook like she does every year. The rest of my extended family has gone home, after an evening of good food and pictures. Tomorrow’s (or rather, later today’s) celebration in New Delhi with my mom’s family will be similar. It’s quiet and homey, not like your stereotypical 21^st birthday celebrations (I already did that two weeks ago in Oxford, anyway 😛 ).

I’m grateful for the life that I have, and I’m so lucky that I’ve been so blessed over the years. I have a loving family, am getting an incredible education from two amazing universities, and have friends from all over the world.

But there are many people who aren’t as fortunate as I am.

The media is not covering Aleppo the way that it should be. The genocide has been going on for years, but only now are people paying attention – but even then, not enough attention. Looking at the New York Times home page right now, almost ever single one of the headlines on the front page are about Donald Trump’s cabinet selections and questions of Russian hackers interfering with the election, which is shameful. I, too, am guilty of getting too caught up in post-election craziness, not focusing on the daily human rights abuses that are affecting the men, women, and children of Aleppo.

I am grateful for the friends and family members who have given me presents this year (including the suckers who got me the Make America Great Again hat…you know who you are). But this is what I really want.

Read about Aleppo. Search for #Aleppo on Twitter and look at the results. You won’t just find news articles – you’ll also find tweets and messages from people who are in Aleppo right now. Look at the pictures – even the gruesome ones that make you uncomfortable, and recognize the privilege that you have from just looking at the pictures and not physically experiencing the horror in person. If you are able to, donate to organizations that are able to provide direct aid into Syria. Organizations such as UNHCR, UNICEF, Syria Relief, and Doctors Without Borders are good initial places to look into, but there are many other possible charities you can donate to. It also doesn’t have to be monetary aid – even just donating your time is helpful. Remind yourself every day that the violence and horror is happening in Aleppo daily, and to constantly check the news – beyond what’s in the front-page headlines.

That’s what I want for my birthday.

Thank you to everyone for the wishes – I’m incredibly fortunate to have all of you in my life.

Much love,

Tasha

Hey friends,

I’m typing this on my phone, so bear with me in regards to any spelling or formatting errors. I’m on the train right now headed to Bordeaux, but I feel like I should recap this past week, since a LOT happened.

First, and arguably most importantly, I have officially completed my first term at Oxford!!! The time has flown by and it’s been a lot of hard work, especially the past week, but I loved every minute of it, and I can’t wait for Hilary term to start.

Now, for the recap of the week, starting with…

SHEFXIT: I spent last Sunday morning / most of the afternoon with my cousin Shefali, who officially moved from London to New York this past Friday. We got brunch and then hung out with some of her friends at a cool underground bar. I was there for a few hours before I ran out the door in order to make it back to Oxford in time for…

CHRISTMAS DINNER: Due to massive train delays, I *barely* made it to dinner (thankfully, the dinner was also slightly delayed…). It was an evening with great food and wine, phenomenal company, and some hilarious caroling.

Following the next few days of constant work that ended with me having two tutorials in a single day (which is basically unheard of here)…

MY BIRTHDAY: My birthday isn’t until the 15th of December (ten days until I’m 21!!!), but I wanted to celebrate with my friends here at Oxford since all of us will be on holiday by then, so we celebrated this past Thursday night, exactly two weeks before my birthday. We had a blast – we spent a few hours in the Dawson common room before ending up at Purple Turtle, the Oxford Union’s bar/club. It was definitely an amazing night, thanks to all of my friends 🙂

(By the way – I asked for no gifts, but a group of my friends bought me an XL bottle of Prosecco, along with a Make America Great Again hat. I’m still not sure whether I love them or hate them.)

FRIENDS LEAVING: Friday night was my last night with my fresher friends, and Saturday night was my last night with the visiting students. Friday night was definitely crazy – we hung out in my friend’s room for a few hours before spontaneously deciding to go back to Purple Turtle. Saturday night was much more relaxing – the visiting students all got dinner together and then spent a few hours hanging out in one of the visiting student’s rooms, before I eventually bowed out of going clubbing for the third night in a row (I was beyond exhausted). It was hard say goodbye to everyone, especially the visiting students who aren’t returning for next term, but I’m excited to keep in touch with them from here.

Today, as I mentioned above, I’m headed on my first trip – to Bordeaux, France. I’ll blog about my trip once I get back to Oxford!

Much love,
Tasha