I did tell you that I'm going to India, right?

11th July 2012

Dear Ms Catherine Richardson,

I am pleased to inform you that the Admissions Committee has considered your application and has offered you a place on the “International Diploma in Mental Health Law and Human Rights” for the academic year 2012-13 starting from 27^th October 2012 at Indian Law Society (ILS), Pune, India. 

When people ask me what I'm doing now that I've (technically) left Warwick, there's the surprise when I tell them that I'm doing a postgraduate course based in India. Then I explain that it's a distance-learning correspondence course, so I do my reading and complete coursework by computer while continuing to live in Coventry. I mention the two-week residential session in India at the end of October, which seems too far in the future to get too excited about. And now I'm flying off tomorrow. It hasn't quite sunk in that I'm leaving yet, then again, it rarely does when I go travelling.

I first learned of this course the summer before my 3rd year, when I started wondering what on Earth I'd do after my undergraduate degree. At the time I was toying with the idea of moving from psychology toward law, but wasn't convinced that I'd want to go straight into a law degree. Then I came across this diploma course on the World Health Organisation website, which focuses on mental health and policy making in such a way that promotes human rights, and felt that this would be a good next step. When applications opened after Easter this year I had the fun of writing a personal statement (just like UCAS all over again...) and pestering my tutor and supervisor for references, then began the waiting game. I got my provisional acceptance letter in early July, then final confirmation not long after. By the end of September I'd paid my course fees and received my visa, updated my travel vaccinations (a very kind nurse gave me Hep B jabs for free on learning that I'm on a mental health course), and last week got my malaria tablets and began packing my purple suitcase.

The two-week residential session starts on Saturday, and tomorrow my flight leaves at 11am from Gatwick. Mum and I are staying in a hotel just outside the airport tonight so we don't have to get up too early - I left Coventry yesterday afternoon and spent the night with my family, then this afternoon we drove down to the hotel. I'm flying into Istanbul first, where I'm hopefully meeting another student on the course (Oana from Romania), then flying on to Mumbai. From there we'll be picked up by a taxi hired by the law college to the hotel in Pune, which is around 3 hours away. I'm due to get to Mumbai at about 4.30am local time on Friday, so midnight over here - Pune's 4 and a half hours ahead of London. 13 hours in total from Gatwick to Mumbai, so I'm guessing my total journey time to Pune's about 17 hours. I decided to arrive a day before the course started to give me a chance to recover and to get over jet lag! 

Two weeks of seminars and lectures from mental health policymakers and human rights advocates and professors, and meeting people from different countries who're as interested as I am in mental health and human rights. In India, a country I've never been to before and that I've wanted to visit since watching 'A Little Princess' as a 6 year old. This looks to be awesome!