Off to a Good Start

My first week in India is officially over! It’s been a crazy one full of emotions and new experiences, but on the whole it has made me incredibly excited for the months to come.

I’ve (mostly) gotten past the initial shock phase and I’ve begun to adapt to life here. It was hard at first because I was both overwhelmed by how different (and AMAZING!!) India is as well as getting used to a new way of living. Every family has a different way of doing things and it’s just the matter of becoming familiar with those of my host family. So far it’s been going well and my host family, especially my Mother, has been incredibly accommodating.

When I decided I was going to write a blog about my year I set a goal to write one every week. I assumed I both wouldn’t enjoy writing it very much and wouldn’t have much to say. Instead it has turned into a weird combination of therapy and personal journal and now this is the 4^th entry in a week. It’s been enjoyable documenting all of my experiences on here and a good way to reflect on things.

For the next 3 weeks I have decided to cut myself off from Facebook, Skype and other than anything really important, e-mail. Instead I am going to immerse myself in India and all of the incredible things it has to offer. I may be writing a little bit less, but in order to have some material to write about it is necessary that I have some experiences!

Last night I Skyped with my whole family on my Dad’s side who are on vacation in South Carolina. It was so good hear everyone’s voices and see their faces, although a little overwhelming to have fifteen people trying to cram themselves into one screen, but it made me really, really miss them. However they were all so excited to hear about what I’m doing here and what India is like that I didn’t really have time to be sad. Instead I got to tell them all about my time here and how much I love it and how happy I am. It did remind me of many of the things that I’m missing back home, but I’ve been able to find a way around that too. I’ve been finding ways to introduce Minnesota to my host family and new friends, mostly through food. Two nights ago Audrey and I made a (slightly improvised) chocolate cake for my family and I’m already planning on Kraft Mac and Cheese and wild rice soup! I’ve also used street view on Google maps to show my house as well as other landmarks around Edina. The most interesting thing to explain has been the State Fair. There is no even remotely close equivalent in India so it’s been a little challenging to explain all of it. Especially the food. I would be lost without the aid of Google images to show what exactly a “Scotch Egg” and all of the other weird foods are.

I did say that it was an emotional week, so I’ll explain a little more about that. Let me first say that homesickness was not one of the things I thought I would have to deal with this year. I have never really been homesick and although I’ve also never been alone in a different country for almost a year I naïvely assumed I would be fine. Therefore I was completely caught off guard on the morning of my first day when I was completely homesick. I was tired from the flight, but I couldn’t go to sleep so my mind started racing. While lying in bed I started thinking about my family and friends and questioning why I ever thought it was a good idea to go to another country for a year, especially to India. I actually didn’t recognize it as homesickness at first, since I’ve never experienced it, which would be funny if I hadn’t been so miserable. I did finally fall asleep from exhaustion, but not before I realized that homesickness would happen and I needed to accept that and not suppress it. I had no idea how to do this, but it was the advice I’d gotten from Rotex (former Rotary students) so I decided to figure out how to do that. So far my strategy has been staying busy so that I literally don’t have time to be homesick. Getting out of the house running errands and meeting new people has distracted me, and I’ve found so many things to love here! Once I start school (next week!) that will be even easier. I’ll be busy most of the day and I’ll be able to meet tons of new people and make new friends.

There’s so much to see and do and it gets me excited about my upcoming year. Pune is really an amazing city and I’ve already made some amazing friends. It can really only get better from here!

Things I’ve learned in the past week:

-Even if my windows are completely shut and curtains are drawn I still get noise from the street at all times of the night

-No one on the road slows down or stops for pedestrians

-Wearing long jeans actually isn’t too hot and it’s what younger women wear most of the time

-No matter where you are from if you meet any fellow exchange students they automatically become your best friends

-Pigeons are essentially the same all over the world (although the ones outside my window sound like they may have a respiratory problem due to the pollution)

-Potholes and road work in Minnesota are nothing compared to those in India. “Road construction” usually means that instead of any sort of road there is mud and no sign of anyone working on it

-The dashed lines that “divide” lanes are completely ignored and traffic lights mean nothing. Basically the only traffic rule here is that there are none.

-I take a lot for granted, including knowing my way around town and not having to turn on the boiler and wait 15 minutes for hot water to take a (bucket) shower

-It’s guaranteed that I always forget to pack something

-It’s possible to make chocolate cake in a convection microwave

-Food is the best way to cross cultural differences

-I need to try new things and say yes to everything, because I don’t know when a new experience might turn out to be really good. My best example is a weird and delicious fruit that looks like an artichoke and tastes like banana mixed with mango and has black seeds inside of it. According to Google it is called a “Cherimoya” in English, but all I know is that it is delicious and I’m glad I had the courage to try it. Who knows whether the weird combination of vegetables or mystery fruit will be utterly delicious? So I try everything.

-And finally: Indians are the some of the most welcoming and most generous people in the entire world and I know that the coming ten months will be some of the best of my entire life