Well it’s been almost a week since I last blogged and there is some cool stuff I need to share. I had several days of nice downtime which I will discuss in a minute, but I’m going to start with Saturday because it was full of new and fun experiences. I began the day with every intention of attending my classes (the majority at least). However, on the rickshaw to Symbiosis, Colby mentioned that he had plans to go with some friends to a traditional dance. Because I am on a cultural exchange and not a stay-in-school-and-miss-exciting-adventures exchange, I deemed this was a worthwhile substitute and left school. As it turned out, getting there would be another first: riding the bus. I’m not going to go into a lot of detail about this trip, but I will say two things. First, it is ridiculously cheap. Like 5-10 rupees (9-18 cents). However, for some reason nobody asked for my money so I’m pretty sure I rode the bus for free. Really glad I saved all that money! Second, I now truly appreciate the standard to which the United States holds all public transport.
When we finally arrived at MIT (no idea what it stands for, but it certainly does not involve Massachusetts and likely is not quite as selective) I was pleasantly surprised. From what I have seen of colleges here, they are nothing like the beautiful, sprawling campuses we picture for higher education. For those of you who have not considered this, India’s population is over four times that of the United States, but all those people live in less than one third the space. The density is overwhelming, and more so in an urban city as large as Pune. Let’s just say space is a scarce resource here. That tangent considered, it is understandable that most colleges consolidate and use as few buildings as possible. After so much cramping, it was refreshing to find myself on a campus as large as MIT’s where we actually needed directions to find the recital hall.
The recital was a collection of kids about my age all doing different classical Indian dances decked out in full Indian garb. It was really cool to watch and definitely worth missing class. I stayed from 11 to 3 which gave me plenty of time to take in all the culture. I thoroughly enjoyed it, but opted for the familiar rickshaw ride home during which I saw two more camels. I don’t know if I will ever get used to that.
Sunday turned out to be the first meeting for all of the exchange students so it was good to see a bunch of familiar faces and talk outside of school. We also received our monthly allowance! I get Rs 2000 per month from rotary (about $36), which may not seem like much in comparison to the $80 Northfield inbounds receive, but everything here is much cheaper as I have mentioned before. I got my allowance for September, August, and the few days I was here in July earned me half a month’s allowance. All this money is burning a hole in my wallet and I’m really tempted to go crazy and buy a bunch of stuff right now. However, I will make the responsible choice and save it for a rainy day (which means pretty much any day here during the monsoon season). Back on topic, I found out there will likely be seven exchange students in Pune once we all arrive. I do not remember who I have talked about already, but here is a list of all the exchange students with Rotary already here: Colby and I–Minnesota, Trent–New York, Axel–Sweden, and Ana–Brazil. Everyone is really nice and we all get along well since we all attend Symbiosis and spend a lot of time together. We are waiting on a girl from Canada and one from Mexico, both of whom were having trouble with visas. Hopefully this all gets figured out soon and they can join the rest of us and begin their year!
In the quieter portion of my time since my last blog post, I have done a lot of reading. Since Tuesday, I finished Kite Runner and The Lost Symbol, as well as reading A Study in Scarlet (Sherlock Holmes) and starting Dracula (one of my favorites) on my iPod touch. This is more reading in one week than I have probably ever done voluntarily and I have enjoyed it a lot. It is good for me to do something useful with my down time and I may need to use some of my monthly allowance to fuel my newfound literary needs. I also begin yoga tomorrow! This promises to be quite enjoyable and valuable both as a good source of exercise and as insight into the importance of yoga in Indian culture, regardless of the fact that it is taught exclusively in Marathi. We'll see how it goes! Colby and I attend a class Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday mornings bright and early – great way to start my day!
I guess I lied about this blog post when I said it would talk about my dhol playing and the Ganpati festival, but I promise I will get to it. Also, today marks my brother’s 17th birthday and last day of summer before starting his junior year. Happy birthday Nathan! Sorry for jumping around here, but I am guessing that blogging will become less daily and more of a weekly activity as I exhaust the daily cultural differences. I have to get up early in the morning, so I’ll wrap this up and come up with another post soon.
When we finally arrived at MIT (no idea what it stands for, but it certainly does not involve Massachusetts and likely is not quite as selective) I was pleasantly surprised. From what I have seen of colleges here, they are nothing like the beautiful, sprawling campuses we picture for higher education. For those of you who have not considered this, India’s population is over four times that of the United States, but all those people live in less than one third the space. The density is overwhelming, and more so in an urban city as large as Pune. Let’s just say space is a scarce resource here. That tangent considered, it is understandable that most colleges consolidate and use as few buildings as possible. After so much cramping, it was refreshing to find myself on a campus as large as MIT’s where we actually needed directions to find the recital hall.
The recital was a collection of kids about my age all doing different classical Indian dances decked out in full Indian garb. It was really cool to watch and definitely worth missing class. I stayed from 11 to 3 which gave me plenty of time to take in all the culture. I thoroughly enjoyed it, but opted for the familiar rickshaw ride home during which I saw two more camels. I don’t know if I will ever get used to that.
Sunday turned out to be the first meeting for all of the exchange students so it was good to see a bunch of familiar faces and talk outside of school. We also received our monthly allowance! I get Rs 2000 per month from rotary (about $36), which may not seem like much in comparison to the $80 Northfield inbounds receive, but everything here is much cheaper as I have mentioned before. I got my allowance for September, August, and the few days I was here in July earned me half a month’s allowance. All this money is burning a hole in my wallet and I’m really tempted to go crazy and buy a bunch of stuff right now. However, I will make the responsible choice and save it for a rainy day (which means pretty much any day here during the monsoon season). Back on topic, I found out there will likely be seven exchange students in Pune once we all arrive. I do not remember who I have talked about already, but here is a list of all the exchange students with Rotary already here: Colby and I–Minnesota, Trent–New York, Axel–Sweden, and Ana–Brazil. Everyone is really nice and we all get along well since we all attend Symbiosis and spend a lot of time together. We are waiting on a girl from Canada and one from Mexico, both of whom were having trouble with visas. Hopefully this all gets figured out soon and they can join the rest of us and begin their year!
In the quieter portion of my time since my last blog post, I have done a lot of reading. Since Tuesday, I finished Kite Runner and The Lost Symbol, as well as reading A Study in Scarlet (Sherlock Holmes) and starting Dracula (one of my favorites) on my iPod touch. This is more reading in one week than I have probably ever done voluntarily and I have enjoyed it a lot. It is good for me to do something useful with my down time and I may need to use some of my monthly allowance to fuel my newfound literary needs. I also begin yoga tomorrow! This promises to be quite enjoyable and valuable both as a good source of exercise and as insight into the importance of yoga in Indian culture, regardless of the fact that it is taught exclusively in Marathi. We'll see how it goes! Colby and I attend a class Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday mornings bright and early – great way to start my day!
I guess I lied about this blog post when I said it would talk about my dhol playing and the Ganpati festival, but I promise I will get to it. Also, today marks my brother’s 17th birthday and last day of summer before starting his junior year. Happy birthday Nathan! Sorry for jumping around here, but I am guessing that blogging will become less daily and more of a weekly activity as I exhaust the daily cultural differences. I have to get up early in the morning, so I’ll wrap this up and come up with another post soon.
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