First Day of School

This morning I woke up slowly, took my time with my shower, and was in no hurry to finish my breakfast.  This was the most relaxed I have ever been on a first day of school.  The fact that I had to be there at noon may have helped.  Following tradition, I wore some of my favorite clothes, gulped down a generous glass of orange juice, and put on a cheesy smile for a first day of school photo.  With nothing in my backpack other than an abundance of pens and a single notebook, I was off to start my second chance at 11th grade.  Despite having gone through the first day of school drama for 13 years, I was still a little nervous.  This was not an average first day of school, this was a first impression for my entire year as an exchange student.  It was good that I had Colby with me, so I at least knew one person in my classes.  We walked in together, and took about an hour waiting in lines so I could receive my
Bona Fide certificate from Symbiosis, the final form necessary to register for school and for my residential permit. We missed the first two classes of the day. Oh well.

No one seemed too distraught about our absence when we climbed the many flights of stairs to the top floor of the building and asked for help finding our room. As we stood there, waiting for the bell to ring signalling the start of our first class in India, I spotted Axel, the Swedish exchange student who was the first to arrive in Pune over a month ago. I had never met him before, but he was easy to distinguish: a tall white kid with light blonde hair among a sea of 15-16 year old Indian girls. I also could not help but be surprised when he turned around and I saw that he looked like the Swedish twin of Perry Tetreault.  He turned out to be a really fun guy (what else can you expect from an exchange student?) and we talked a lot throughout the day.  His English is very good, and it was fun to talk about some of the differences we've experienced here from our homes.

I don't quite understand the schedule yet, but school runs Monday through Saturday, 11-5 or so, depending on which classes you take.  My schedule is this: economics, history, French (be proud, Maggie!), English (toughie), psychology, geography (more like what we would call geoscience), and occasionally environmental awareness.  Most of my classes today were fine, but I really could not understand the psychology teacher because of her accent.  I had originally signed up for Hindi, but everyone here is fluent and my only word in Hindi is 'namaste'.  This is the equivalent of a first grader equipped with basic arithmetic walking into a calculus class.  French, on the other hand, is covering introductions and numbers 1-100, much more my speed.

School here is much different than the US.  First, the classroom environment is much more chaotic, with 10-15 more kids per class than I am used to in a smaller space, leaving two or three kids per bench/desk.  This makes it very difficult for the teacher to control the room and the group of young adolescents who would rather sit and talk with their friends than listen to the lecture.  Another difference is that attendance expectations are much more lax.  To pass, you are expected to attend 75% of your lectures, whereas even 90% in Northfield would earn you a talk with the principal and your parents.  

My Indian classmates were outgoing and friendly, and many people were curious about all of the new exchange students.  I met a lot of people today whose names I do not remember (and probably couldn't pronounce even if I did), but that has been true of the last 2 weeks.  Based on today, finding friends will be less of a problem than choosing from the large number of volunteers.  However this goes, I still have Axel, with whom I am sure I will get to spend a lot of time over my exchange.  It was good to finally meet another exchange student because there are some aspects of Indian culture that are difficult to discuss with Indian people.  It is nice to find someone who understands exactly what you feel.  This only made me more anxious for the arrival of the other exchange students.  There will be eight of us in Pune, but no word from local Rotary on which countries have sent exchange students, or when they will get here.  However, I did meet two other exchange students, here through AFS, one from Austria, one from Italy.  I didn't talk to them for very long, but they seemed nice enough.  I think they will only stay a few months, but the more connections I make to foreign countries and the more exchange students I meet, the better my year will be.

As my very interesting first day comes to a close, I am not sure what to take away.  I met my goal of one new friend, though he is an exchange student, so I guess it was a positive experience.  It's one of those things where I need more of a sample to make a conclusion, a few more days, and I will be able to tell how I feel.  It's not a bad feeling, so I maintain hope that it will be a positive experience.  Tomorrow is my second day, and as everything becomes more normal to me, I begin to settle into life as an exchange student.  Everyday I get a little more comfortable with my surroundings, and I can't wait to truly get into the routine of my exchange, because that's when all the fun happens!  Expect another update soon!  Namaste.