School

After getting back from the trip to Karnataka I’ve been getting back into the routine of going to school. School here is set up very differently than in the United States so I’ll try and explain it all, but fair warning it’s going to be a long blog.

I am enrolled in Symbiosis College of Arts and Commerce and I’m in 11^th standard in the Arts stream (hopefully by the end of this post you’ll understand what that means). All of the exchange students are in this class and in addition to us with the Rotary there’s 3 girls from AFS, 2 from Italy and 1 from Thailand.

I have school 6 days a week (we have Sunday off) from 11:30-5. To get to school every day I leave my house at 11 and walk about 10 minutes to the main road (Paud Rd.) to catch a bus with 4 other girls, Tamara (from Mexico), Jaee, Aditi and Abah. The bus costs 10 rupees (16 cents) to get to SNDT, which is an all-girls college and the stop we get off at. From there we take a rickshaw (usually just over 20 rupees, or about 35 cents) to Symbiosis.

Symbiosis is on one of the main roads in Pune and after passing through a gate there’s a long courtyard, our favorite hangout spot, with benches on each side. To the right is the building with my college, Arts and Commerce, and the Law College inside. On the left is the canteen (or cafeteria) and housing for some students who live on campus and go to the school of Liberal Arts.

Each day we have 7 periods (one of them is free time) of 45 minutes each. I have my first period off so I don’t need to be at school till around noon. My classrooms are on the 5^th floor (also the top level) and we rotate in between just 2 or 3 rooms. Other than that the teachers come to the rooms for each new class. Most of the classes are just straight lectures and although we have textbooks we often just read straight from them and take notes on it.

The school system here is very different so here are some of the important differences:

- “College” in India is 11^th and 12^th grades (or standards as they call them here) and it is separate from School, which is 1^st to 10^th grades. At the end of 10^th grade students take really big board exams to determine what college they can go to. However their admission is based purely on what score they get on the test. Each college sets a score percentage (it changes slightly each year depending on how people do) and if you get above that then you get into the college.

-The score you have to get depends upon your caste. There’s a system that’s similar to Affirmative Action in the US where based on their caste they need a certain score to get into a college. For example, in order to get into Symbiosis (one of the more competitive colleges) some castes need to get scores in the 90s whereas others only need in the 60s. This definitely causes some resentment, especially when there's so much pressure to go to a good college.

-Because of this competitiveness and the sort of single shot to get into a good school basically all of 10^th grade (and often 9^th as well) is spent studying hard for the exams. Then when people get into 11^th all they want to do is relax and have fun.

-Attendance isn’t really compulsory (although we’re told that in order to pass you must attend 70% of classes) and often isn’t even kept track of so a lot of people just don’t go to class. Even the teachers don’t always come to school. My host mom explained to me that it’s a vicious cycle. Because they students don’t go to class or don’t pay attention the teachers don’t find it fulfilling to come to class so they don’t show up and if the teachers aren’t there students find it pointless to come to class and so it continues. However it’s not like in the US where if the teacher is gone we have a substitute. Instead that class is off and we’re free to do whatever. On multiple days we’ve found out in the morning that all the classes of the day are off and I have yet to attend a full day of school.

-While in “School” everyone studies the same subjects (except for maybe language) in “College” there are 3 streams: Arts, Commerce and Science. Sometime in 10^th standard everyone has to decide what field they want their career to be in and therefore what stream to follow for college. Considering in the US we don’t need to decide until junior year of University (College for us) this seems like a big decision for a 15 year old to make.

Based upon their stream there are certain classes specific for it. For example in the Arts stream I take: Geography (a lot like Earth science), History (of Maharashtra and India), English, French (there’s also German and Hindi), Information Technology (basically computers) and Economics.

Having school is nice because it adds some structure to my schedule and gives me something to do during the day. It’s also a really good way to meet people. In addition to the kids in our class I’ve made friends with people who have just come up and introduced themselves and asked me where I’m from. Jesus (from Mexico) and Audrey also somehow collectively know half of the people at Symbiosis so when I’m with them I invariably meet someone new. Though my fellow exchange students are my absolute best friends, I’m trying to make an effort to meet more Indian students and make some good friends.

After being enrolled in school for almost 2 months I’ve realized that I’m not going to be able to get a lot out of it. The classes happen too erratically and the style of teaching don’t exactly make the classes enjoyable when they do happen. Still, I need to be there during the day so my task now is to figure out what to do at school so that I can still get something out of it.

One place I’ve been going a lot is the school library. A nerdy as it sounds it’s air conditioned (a huge draw because for some reason it gets hotter in October here) and there’s a good collection of books. It’s very disorganized within the sections,but I’ve found the English section is basically all classics that my Mom has recommended I read at some point. Recently I’ve been picking a book to read (right now its Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude), hiding in a less frequented section (usually the finance and tax shelves) and reading for a half an hour or so.  I still haven’t had an English class (the teacher is also the Vice Principal) so I don’t know if we will have books to read. But in the meantime I’ve found some good bookstores (there’s a chain called Crossword that is heavenly) around Pune and I’ve already bought quite a few books, so I always have that to fall back upon.

I’ve also been hit with the reality of applying for college. Luckily because I took some online classes this summer I can graduate with my grade when I come back in June and I’ll be attending college next year. Unfortunately that means I need to do all of my college stuff here. I did a lot over the summer, but somehow I suddenly have less than 3 weeks to finish up my applications if I want to apply Early Action by November 1^st. Though I’m almost done my biggest stress is writing and finishing up my essays. I’ve started carrying around a notebook with me so whenever I get a chance I can try and get some writing done. At school my classes are on the top floor and there’s an outdoor walkway connecting the two sides of the school with a terrace in the middle. There’s chairs and tables there and with the breeze and shade from the roof it’s a great place to try and get work done.

I have found some of the classes that are actually worthwhile. Economics happens pretty regularly, the teacher takes attendance strictly and we have good discussions. I don’t know much about the particulars of economics, but she makes it interesting and really involves the class. My favorite class by far (though there’s not much competition) is French. It’s the first year of it for everyone else (my seventh) so it isn’t much of a challenge. However, the teacher is really good and pushes everyone to work hard. In just a few months I think they’ve already learned more than I did in my first 2 years. She speaks as much as possible in French and expects everyone to pay attention and be ready to read aloud with a semi correct accent. I don’t know if I will learn anything new, but as long as I get the chance to keep speaking French consistently I’m happy. Gustav and Hugo both speak French so sometimes just to liven things up I attempt to communicate in Franglais with them.

Right now exams are about to start for everyone else (we don’t need to take them thank goodness) so even less classes have being going on than usual. This past week I’ve been meeting up with the other exchange students and a few Indian friends who want to take a break from studying and just relaxing (in between reading and working some on college essays) around Symbiosis. After exams finish up (sometime around the 22nd) we have maybe a week of school until Diwali vacation, which is (brace yourselves) between 3 and 4 weeks! It gets even better. Right after that I’m leaving on a two week tour of Southern India with the Rotary, so I’ll get almost 2 months off from school overall! 

I think I've covered all there is to say about school. I don't have a big conclusion (or at least not one I've already said) so to close here's a low quality picture of school that I did my best to take really casually with my iPod. (My college is the farther one on the right)

Karnataka Tour

Firstly let me say that I’m sorry I haven’t written in almost a month. It’s been daunting to put down all of my experiences on paper, but I’m going to force myself to post at least every other week from now on. There’s so much going on that I really do want to share with everyone. That being said, let me dive right into the past week. It was the first trip for the students of my district and it was to Karnataka, the state directly south of Maharashtra. Though it went incredibly fast and I’m not sure how we managed to squeeze all that we saw into just a week, I had an awesome time.

Fourteen inbounds went on the trip, ten from Pune and four from towns nearby. Of the inbounds from Pune all but one went. There were Audrey and me from the US, Gustav and Hugo from Sweden, Bruno from Brazil and Tamara, Jesus, Ana, Grecia and Pato from Mexico. In addition to us 4 students from outside of Pune came along. Iury and Paola from Brazil, Peter from France and Leon from Germany.

We were able to jam tons of things into just 7 days and even though we spent a lot of time on the bus, we saw lots of great landmarks. The best way for me to show all that I saw and experienced in the past week is through all of the pictures (almost 500!) that I took, so here are a sampling with helpful captions:

We visited more temples than I can count

 

 We saw 3 different waterfalls

We went swimming in the ocean

We went white water rafting and to a natural Jacuzzi at a beautiful hotel in Dandeli

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We saw a Buddhist Monastery

I made friends with multiple cows, monkeys, a kitten and an elephant

Best of all I hung out with the coolest people on Earth

Some of the most fun we had was just all the exchange students hanging out together. When we weren’t in the bus on the way to somewhere we did have a lot of freedom to do what we wanted. Although we couldn’t really go anywhere (sorry Mom, no wandering around unknown Indian towns by myself) we still had a good time.

On the bus we ranged from dance parties (mostly to Brazilian and Mexican dance music) to everyone doing their best to sleep (mostly on top of one another since we had very little space). Each place we stopped was also an opportunity to take countless pictures (both serious and funny) of everything and everyone. We also were responsible for getting lunch and dinner on our own, so we usually all ate together. Dinner was mostly a full typical South Indian meal, but lunch was often a mix of snacks while we were on the bus. We must have consumed more chips, soda, candy and nutella in one week than I had the month before.

One day for lunch we stopped in a tiny village to get food. There weren’t any actual restaurants to get a real meal so we just bought whatever we could find. Hugo and I decided to try all of the different Indian chip like snacks we could find and so we bought probably 5 bags, combined them into a weird, oily and heavily spiced mix and ate them while sitting on the roof of the bus.

A lot of the eating was definitely experimental. We have our old favorites to rely on (my personal choice being Masala Dosa) but depending where you are (region as well as restaurant) dishes can be very different. Therefore it was always a bit of a gamble whether the Kolhapuri chicken would be delicious or would permanently burn our taste buds off. This mystery made it fun too though. At the canteen at school our choice of lunch is always Chinese Chicken Noodles, so each and every time that was on the menu during the trip someone would get it to compare it.

We also had fun comparing our experiences (in the city of Pune) with Leon, Peter, Iury and Paola’s (each of them in small towns). While they definitely envy the fact that all of us are together in a city they had to admit they have certain advantages. They are forced to make Indian friends and are more directly exposed to the culture, and they are able to pick up the language easier. Though I love my fellow inbounds in Pune and am very happy here, I am a little jealous of them.

Returning to Pune after this trip was a weird experience. The tour was like a vacation within this year-long trip. I had a feeling of coming back home, even though it isn’t my real home. Pune is definitely becoming familiar to me and I really love it, but I still really think of Edina as my home. Still, coming back and seeing all the familiar landmarks was comforting and I did miss sleeping in my own bed each night.

While I was on the trip my 2 month mark passed. During all of time I was on the bus I was able to reflect on my time in India so far. I realized not only how lucky I was that I was given the opportunity to be in India and travel around with such awesome people, but also that this year was without a doubt the right choice for me. Sure I felt nostalgic looking at pictures from Edina’s Homecoming and I’m sad that instead of getting cooler and the leaves changing colors it’s getting warmer and dryer here. But forcing myself out of my comfort zone and diving into a new culture has been the best thing I could do for myself. As I so eloquently told some friends back home “I miss you, but not in a ‘buying a plane ticket as we speak’ sort of way.” That’s probably the best way for me to sum up my feelings. I think I’m at a place that I hope I will be for college next year. I appreciate all of the great things and people at home, but I accept and am okay that I don’t have them at the moment.

I’ve been getting into a habit (I’m not sure if it’s good or bad) of ending my blogs on a deep and sentimental note so to change it up I wanted to say that I’ll be trying to write more about what’s going on and I’ll put up pictures (for those of you who can’t see the ones on Facebook) soon. I’m still trying to figure out how to balance staying in touch with people back home with my day to day life here, and I’m also trying to establish more of a routine so bear with me until I do. If I don't get back to anyone immediately know that I'm having the time of my life here and I'll try to use my blog more to keep everyone updated!

Pictures!

At some point I will figure out how to put a page of just pictures on here, but in the meantime here are some pictures of what I've been doing for the past 5 weeks or so!

Some of the amazing views on the way to Mumbai to drop my host brother off

Rickshaws!

I got mendhi (or henna) done

A cow in the middle of the street

I visited a temple called Parvati

Audrey's and my host parents and us and Tamara at Parvati

The amazing view of Pune from Parvati

Me, Audrey and Tamara at Parvati

All the girl inbounds and our maxi skirts

A dhol (the huge drum) competition

Playing a game called carrom with Hugo, Gustav, Audrey and Tamara

My society's Dahi-Handi

Building the pyramid

The crowd under the Dahi-Handi by my house

The Dahi-Handi

The winning team's pyramid (the upper half of it)

My new saree!

Audrey, Tamara, Jesus, Hugo, Me and Gustav all dressed up for the Rotary orientation

What Just Happened?

To commemorate my first month in Indian I had planned a blog post that summed up my whole experience thus far, but that will have to wait for my story of last night. Yesterday was an exciting day from the start, but I never would have expected how it ended. It was Krishna Janmashtami, a festival which basically celebrates the birth of Krishna, a god and a good king. Although there are celebrations the night of the 28th when he was born (at midnight) most of the celebrating takes place the evening of the 29^th. All around India clay pots, or Dahi-Handi, are hung high off the ground and people build human pyramids to break them. Yes, HUMAN PYRAMIDS. There are professional teams and people train well in advance for it. In fact, when I arrived in India (exactly a month ago!) I saw people practicing on the side of the streets. It’s all for good reason because the team that breaks the pot gets a huge prize. Most are around 1 Lakh (or 100,000 rupees or 1,500 dollars) but some are even more, and supposedly there’s one in Mumbai that is 25 Lakh! The week before a lot of preparation goes into the stages being set up and the streets decorated. Then the entire day of they play music (mostly Indian dance music) from the stages really, really loudly.

For me it started with a mini celebration at my society (or apartment building). After spending the day with some of my fellow inbounds I came home to practice for a dance I was performing. Some girls in my society in 8^th - 10^th standard had invited me to dance with them to the Bollywood song “Gun Gun Guna Re” from the movie Agneepath. That evening we performed it for most of our society in the area under the building. After that a pot filled with candy was hung above a Rangoli design (made out of colored sand) and we made a pyramid to reach it and break it. As one of the older and taller (yes you read that right, I am comparatively tall to 10 year olds) kids I helped form the base. Because of this I really don’t know what happened besides someone standing on my back. Eventually the pot was broken and everyone fought to recover some candy. The pot was basically a clay piñata, so unfortunately when it broke and the candy rained down so did shards of pottery. This made me nervous to crawl around blindly on the ground like everyone else, but some sweet little kids took pity on me and gave me some of their extra candy. After breaking the first pot there was a second one filled with layha, a kind of grain. Then everyone there ate a small dinner of a pattis, a cake, kala (a kind of grain salad) and strangely enough potato chips. While we were waiting I danced to music with the girls I’d performed with. 

Afterwards one of my host mother' neighbors invited me to her in-law's house to see a depiction of Krishna's village that their family had made. It was a combination of different statues, including some homemade ones, and lots of flowers. They welcomed me into their home and explained to me all about the different parts and even put a red dot on forehead and gave me a treat called ladu. This was just a reminder of how generous Indian people are. So far everyone has been very excited to share their culture with me and because of it I've gotten to meet new people and had lots of new opportunities. As I was leaving they invited me over again in early September for the Ganpati festival honoring Lord Ganesh. To have total strangers who are so kind and welcoming to a foreigner made me smile uncontrollably and even tear up a little bit.

After returning home we almost immediately left to go to the stage nearby my house. There was a stage set up with a crane off to the side and a huge, colorful Dahi-Handi hanging from it. Underneath it was a giagantic crowd of people dancing and getting excited for when the human pyramids would begin. At first we (my host mom's friends in the society and their kids and us) were on the outskirts, but we decided to climb up onto the stage to get a better view. There were a lot of tall men at the front so we couldn't see much, but when they saw that I was a foreigner they offered me a seat in the first row with the best view. This was incredibly exciting and (briefly) the highlight for me. Suddenly my host mom told me to stand up because the organizers of this specific Dahi-Handi wanted to "facilitate", or honor, me. Suddenly the man with the microphone was saying (in Marathi) that "Elisabeth Lee has come all the way from the United States to see the Dahi-Handi of Bhusari Colony (where I live)". Then he gave me flowers and a coconut and had me lead the crowd in a cheer. Although at the time I couldn't stop shaking and I'm sure my face was beet red I've realized that it was actually super cool. Apparently he phrased it as kind of a marketing scheme, but the entire crowd was looking at me and it was still really amazing. After me and the girls who I had performed with earlier went down into the crowd to dance. Although the middle was a mosh pit of guys there were a lot of girls my age or younger on the outside dancing in groups. Also the moms could all see us from the platform so it felt pretty safe. While in the crowd on the ground a few girls shook my hand and suddenly every person in sight wanted their hand shaken. A few even had their friends take pictures of them with me. Some girls invited me and my friends into their groups to dance and they were really excited and obviously felt honored that I was dancing with them. 

After a while they announced that the teams would be building the pyramids so we went back to the platform to watch. The first team was wearing matching shirts and they had obviously practiced a lot. Instead of people frantically climbing each other they had a predetermined order and calmly lifted each other up. At first they couldn't reach the Dahi-Handi, but after lowering it a few times they easily broke it. The money wasn't actually inside it, instead it was filled with butter and they collected it afterwards.  While watching all of this I stood on a chair in order to see above everyone's heads. Some boys a little younger than me started asking me about where I was from. However they soon lost interest when they found out I wasn't from Los Angeles and as I was about to leave they eagerly asked me how we spell "socks" in the United States. That definitely helped diminish my ego after being honored in front of the whole crowd.

Now that I've had time to calm down and reflect on all that I happened I've realized that this would never have happened if I hadn't done this exchange with the Rotary. Instead of being announced to all of an Indian street at a festival I would be spending time enjoying the last few days of summer before my Senior year of high school. It actually really put things into perspective and I know that although there are things that I will miss this coming year, I am having experiences that are a once in a lifetime chance. 

Just Say Yes

I’m sorry I haven’t written the past few weeks. I’ve been getting adjusted to going to college (more on that later) and having so many crazy and fun experiences that it’s been hard to sit down and write them down. That being said I'll try to write more and make this post entertaining. Here’s a few of the exciting things that have happened to me.

School: I’ve started school and have been getting used to the structure. The Indian school system is very different than the American one, so I am going to devote an entire post just to that. I'm just gonna say so far it's been a lot of fun and very little learning (which I don't mind one bit).

Making friends: I’m still a little overwhelmed by all of the new people at school who I’ve met, but I’ve started to make some great friends. Tamara and I go to school with 3 other girls who live by us and they’ve been super nice and interesting to talk to. We also officially have 6 Rotary inbounds (including me) going to school and more to come on the way! There are Audrey and I from the US, Tamara and Jesus from Mexico, and Gustav and Hugo from Sweden. The 6 of us have been having so, so, so much fun being foreigners together and they are some of the best people I’ve ever met and some of my best friends already.

Learning Marathi (and some general observations on language): I’ve slowly been working on learning Marathi, the language of the state of Maharashtra where Pune is, and the language that my host family speaks at home. Before I left for India I had a wonderful tutor named Shreshtha that helped me with the basics of Hindi. I got down the simple theory and some basic words, but it was a challenge. Hindi and Marathi are extremely different from any language I’ve ever experienced and it’s going to be difficult to get really good at speaking it. I’m really not able to decipher anything when people are speaking to each other, so it’s a major victory when I pick out a word or two. It usually goes something like: “They said Tum!! That means you! They’re saying ‘you...and something else.’”

Because of this I’ve been working on learning to read the characters. Since I am surrounded by them constantly this has been going much better. Whenever I am out on the two-wheeler or on the bus or in the car I try to translate everything that I see. Yesterday at the Police Station while in line I made a fool of myself by translating (with a lot of help from my host Mom) every sign in sight. Some of the letters I am very comfortable with, but the rest look the same. Its difficult because Marathi has 12 vowels and about 35 consonants. Each vowel can be added to a consonant for tons of combinations. There’s also a lot of nuance in the sound of the characters. I’m convinced there’s at least 4 different variations of Sh. There’s really 6 vowels, but 2 variations of each: one long and one short (I = e and ee). With the consonants there is similar confusion. My phrase book (thank you Mom and Dad!) gives prononciation for two different sounds as "ka" and "k'a". Apparently the latter has more emphasis. Even then though the "a" isn't really an "a" sound, but more of a "u" sound (making it kuh and kUH) and then vowels must be added to give it other sounds. Even with all of this difficulty I can see the progress I've made in the past month and I am becoming more motivated to really work hard at learning Marathi.

Even with the complexity of the language some parts of it are quite simple. Easily 1/3 of the words (mostly nouns) people say are in English because the languages have become so intertwined. My host dad was just explaining to me that no matter what order you put the words in in a given sentence the overall meaning doesn’t change. This takes away some of the stress with learning an entirely new language. And considering I am completely surrounded by it and so many people want to help me learn it I hopefully will become quite good at Marathi by the end of this stay. I have an added incentive since I’ve recently learned that the US State Department runs a program to help people learn difficult languages (mostly Asian ones like Mandarin, Japanese, Turkish, Arabic and...Hindi!). In part this is to encourage more people to learn these difficult languages, but another big reason is because they may be security threats to the United States someday. Not the best reason, but I'll take whatever opportunity to learn Hindi!

Audrey and I are definitely at a disadvantage because we don’t speak a language that no one else understands. Gustav and Hugo can speak in Swedish, and Tamara and Jesus (and Hugo) can speak in Spanish and have no one else know what they're saying. I have resorted to translating in the minimal Spanish that I know. They’ll say something and I’ll respond “Casa means house and queso means cheese!!!” and then smile proudly while they laugh at me. Who knows, maybe I’ll pick up a little Spanish (and Swedish?) this year. In order to cope with not being able to speak about things in a language no one else understands Audrey and I have resorted to saying nonsensical American landmarks to try and pretend no one can understand us. It goes something like this:

Audrey: “Montana Lake Superior Tennessee!”

Me: “I know!! Alabama Mount Rushmore…and Salt Lake City!!”

Then we laugh together and leave everyone else confused.

Being a foreigner: I have realized just how much I stick out on the Indian streets. At first I didn’t think that I was getting stared at too much, but as Audrey pointed out, I hadn’t been walking around on the streets much. Now that I'm out of the house more I've been noticing it a lot. And not just a lot of glances either. People staring at me (sometimes completely surprised) and not even stopping when I stare back. 

I had my big “Aha!” moment about how different I look around my 2^nd week here. While going somewhere on the motorbike I saw a white man walking on the side of the street. He looked maybe American or European, tall with light eyes, pink skin and blond hair. Back in Minnesota I wouldn't have looked twice at him. Instead though I stared in shock at him (which hopefully he didn’t notice). Not only did he really stand out on the street, but I realized that he was the first white person I’d randomly seen on the street. Then I realized that that must be what I look like to Indian people. Audrey describes it best: “like a giant blob of sunshine”. This may apply to her more as she is blonde, slightly fairer than I and tall by Indian standards, but it’s not far from how I look. Especially when the 6 exchange students are in a group we really, really stand out. It’s made all of us automatic friends with any other foreigners. Two days ago at school I went up to 2 girls who obviously weren't Indian and asked them where they are from and they ended up being fellow Rotary inbounds from Rotary! I think I scared them by how excited I was to meet them, but I'm just happy that more people are arriving!

Looking really different has its benefits and its drawbacks. In school I’ve had people strike up a conversation with me just because they can tell I’m an exchange student. In these instances I don’t mind obviously not being Indian. However at times it can be really frustrating. When I’m walking to the store with my host brother or sitting in the canteen sometimes I would just like to be anonymous. However I know I can’t change how I look. Even when I completely cover my face except for my eyes (the style for women when riding 2 wheelers) it is still evident that I’m not Indian. As I’ve gotten more comfortable here I’d really like to blend in a little more. When I'm walking down the street I can tell that every single person looks at me, and most don't look away. The novelty of this attention has passed and it's getting annoying and sometimes kind of creepy. I may wear some Indian clothes (Kurtis mostly), but I can't change the fact that I have brown hair, green eyes and white skin. It can be really frustrating because no matter how comfortable I get with living in India I will always look different. It's a hard reality to accept (and I still haven't completely) but I'm going to try and learn some sassy phrases in Marathi to say to people who stare too much.

Going to a pooja: Earlier this week I went to a Pooja. Although it can be celebrated for different reasons this one was because someone Rashmi knows just got married. It's basically an offereing to the gods and involves eating and socializing and playing games. I didn’t have any idea what to expect and as I wasn’t feeling my best I tagged along slightly reluctantly with my host mother. Going was one of my best decisions so far. The games turned out mostly dancing and a lot of singing and they were so fun to watch. They were actually really fast and complicated and my host Mom told me they were really good exercise. All the women were wearing the most beautiful saris and so much gold jewelry. Overall it was just entertaining and exciting to watch.

There were 2 girls my age there and one of them, Suyoga, invited me to try one of the games. I was more than a little terrified and embarrassed to be up in the middle in front of everyone, but I agreed to try it. It turned out she didn’t know how to do it either and so we had fun bumbling through the steps together. Afterwards I talked to them and it turned out the other girl, Pratiksha, goes to Symbiosis (my school) but to the School of Photography. They two of them volunteer with an organization that hosts Americans who are in Pune for a few months. They show them around the city and have fun getting to know them. Suyoga and Pratiksha offered to show me different sights and once the Americans get here in a few weeks to have me come hang out with them. In the end I had more fun than I thought possible, got to see a new side of Indian culture, met some amazing new friends and will get to show some fellow Americans the city I am growing to love soon!

Happy Raksha Bandhan: This past Tuesday I celebrated Raksha Bandhan, or “Brother Sister Day”. On this day girls tie a bracelet (or Rakhi) on the wrist of their brother (or cousin or good friend) and in return get some kind of present. Tamara and Audrey came over to my house on this day to give bracelets to Sahil, who at some point this year will be their host brother. I also got to meet the sisters of my host Father, Sameer, and their families. It was also a fun day since we didn’t have school and I now have an Indian brother!

A revelation: Two days ago I was in a rickshaw on my way home from playing laser tag and pool with some other Rotary Inbounds and kids from my class when I had a revelation. My thought process went something like this: “First, I’m in India. A country halfway around the world that is incredibly different than the United States. Second, I have successfully communicated with a rickshaw driver (not the kindest of people) about where I wanted to go and haggled for a reasonable rate. Third, I know my way around the streets near my house and I feel comfortable with where I am and if need be I could walk home. If I can do all of these things…then what can’t I do??” It was such an amazing feeling of confidence and happiness and excitement that I smiled stupidly to myself the rest of the way to my house.

Before I left everyone said stuff like, “This year will transform you!” and “You’re going to learn so much!” I always agreed politely, but I didn’t really think about it until now, when I am actually feeling the effects that 3 and a half weeks in India have had on me. Although I have a giant support system with the Rotary and my friends and family, I really am on my own this year. While all of these people will help me figure things out, only I can embrace this amazing opportunity and learn from it. Only I (and I suppose Audrey too) are being ambassadors for our communities and all of the United States. This is exciting, but also a little scary that so many people have placed their trust in me and believe that I can make this year a learning experience for myself and others.

This (almost) first month has taught me so many things. I probably don't even recognize everything that I have gotten out of it. My biggest take away has been to trust myself and my instincts, to try new things and push myself, to say yes to every new food or opportunity and most of all: to believe in myself. As cheesy as all of that is, it's the best way to sum up how amazing only the beginning of this incredible journey has been.

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

New Friends

Yesterday was the best day so far. It was “Friendship Day” which means that people get together with their friends, exchange bracelets and generally have fun. I got to meet a huge group of my host brother Rohit’s friends. Audrey and an exchange student from Mexico named Tamara were also there and the three of us have become fast friends. It was also my first time on a motorbike. I haven’t explained very much about the roads here, but a majority of the vehicles are “two-wheelers” (which is what everyone calls them). They’re smaller and can maneuver into tiny places, so they were basically made for Indian roads. Anyway, motorbikes are also my new favorite mode of transportation. It was a little terrifying at first (every time we turned a corner I was sure I’d fall off) and I held onto the bar behind the seat tightly. Eventually I got more used to it and it is completely exhilarating. It makes me sad that there’s nothing like that (other than maybe motorcycles) in the US, but I’ve vowed to ride one as much as possible.

            With Rohit’s friends we first met at a park and then walked around the neighborhood. It was a little overwhelming to meet everyone all at once, but they were so friendly and welcoming it didn’t matter that Tamara, Audrey and I couldn’t remember anyone’s names. After walking around and talking it was decided that we were going to McDonald’s. Normally at home I don’t eat McDonalds, but I was just excited for some meat and familiar American food. My host family, the Tilaks, is vegetarian for the most part (like nearly half of India). Although I’ve considered becoming vegetarian after 5 days of it I’m certain I wouldn’t survive. I love (almost) all of the food here, but I find myself craving meat a lot. In addition to getting my meat fix I was also excited to try McDonald’s because, like many American chains here, it is “Indianized”. Which means in addition to many of the favorites (Filet-o-Fish, Chicken Nuggets) there are Indian versions, like the Maharaja Mac and McChicken Masala sandwich. The McDonalds looked about the same from the outside although it was very new and two floors. I ordered my personal favorite, the Chicken McNuggets with fries and a coke.

While I enjoyed the delicious, and familiar, food I had fun talking with all of Rohit’s friends about anything and everything. The boys asked me about what American sports teams I followed and what music and books I enjoy. With the girls we talked about school here, the different languages and they boasted about all of the amazing malls. We also passed around people’s phones comparing American, Mexican and Indian movie actors and talked about movies in India. Of course we mentioned that we want to learn Indian cooking and in return Audrey and I promised to make a big Thanksgiving meal for everyone. It was amazingly easy to talk to everyone, especially since their English is nearly perfect, and it reminded me that if you're friendly it isn't hard to make new friends.

Me, Tamara and Audrey

With my new friends outside McDonald's

I’m so glad that I’ve gotten to meet them because once Rohit leaves for Mexico in a few days it means I will have some people to hang out with. A song that has been running through my head the last few days is "I Can Tell That We Are Gonna Be Friends" by the White Stripes. (If you don't know it I suggest looking it up, it's a good song.) Not only do I have new Indian friends, I will make more friends at my new school soon and I will get to know other exchange students here. Even bigger than that I know that India and I are going to be friends. I really, really, really, really love it here and it hasn't even been a week. Although I know there will be ups and downs to come through it all India will be my friend.