Looking Back

It has been two months since I left the airport of New Dehli and surprisingly enough almost each day that pasts by I catch myself going through my mind of the moments I experienced in India. Post India tour has been a whirlwind of re-adjustments and sharing of stories. Being in America, there are immediate differences that are brought up before me that questions my previous way of living. Thinking about the way of life in India with all of its diversity, cultural richness, cuisine, education and politics, and the people, I wondered how I will take away from this wonderful experience to grow as a person. I challenged myself to be a different person walking away from that trip and I believed that I will. Knowing so much more about another country’s people, language, history, and way of living, challenges my previous outlook and perception. Unfortunately, I found myself spending more time fighting jet lag, surfing the net at ungodly hours, and lording over the toilet bowl as my bowels tried to return to normal than reflecting and thinking.

However, what I did find pleasant were the unique conversations I’ve had with both old friends and new ones when I returned back to campus. Sharing my experience with others helped me to connect the final thoughts and observations into newer threads of conclusions and takeaways. I believe this was called externally processing because more often than not I find myself surprised by the nuances of information that left my mouth as I engaged with others.  In the latter half of the tour, we spent more of our time exploring the cultural side of India (while the beginning half was more business and tourism).  We visited a farm out in the country, attended an ethnic Indian wedding, rode on elephants and explored in New Dehli’s shopping district. My favorite aspect of the India Tour was that we did not just observe India from a distance but rather we experienced it firsthand. We walked, talked, and ate in the streets and stores of India. In retrospect and upon speaking with Professor Kahai, the impact that lasted was enforced by the emotional connection the students made in India where no book could ever provide.

How to move forward? I honestly do not know. I hope that the experiences and lessons I’ve obtained in India will continue to go forth with me wherever I go. I hope my future experiences abroad would always be as memorable, and extensive as India. For now I’ll continue to share my stories in hopes to gain newer insight or something like that

Mac & Taj

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The Maharaja Burger
This is India’s version of the famous Big Mac burger in the states. It’s modified to fit the diet customs in India; instead of beef they use chicken for the patty. We stopped by a McDonald’s on the way to the Taj Mahal to pick up some lunch. It was definitely a refreshing change from all of the Indian food we had the past few days. I was super intrigued by the McDonald’s in India. This was especially true because one of the classes I took Junior Year was International Business and in the textbook I read about the Maharaja Burger which was India’s modified Big Mac. It was a treat to see something in a textbook in real life. To be honest it was no Big Mac like in the U.S but it’s close and still tasty. A must have for foreigners to try! This was quite a culture shock; to see a very clear American icon adapted to Indian culture. Globalization is very clear once you’ve stepped out of America and see how far companies have travelled and created establishments for their own.

Taj Mahal

Located in Agra, India, the Taj Mahal stands as a mausoleum for the mughal emperor’s third wife. Filled with stories of romance and heritage, the Taj was truly a sight to see. With thousands of visitors you can sense the enormity and fame of the Taj even if you know little about it. The Tour Guide was very helpful in explaining the history, stories, and architecture of the Taj. One of my favorite things he did was taking unconventional artistic photos with our cameras. He used trick photography to enhance the pictures such as reflecting off sunglasses and playing with the distance between subject and background to create illusions. The Taj Mahal’s architecture was very interesting as it took only 22 years to make and is made of hand carved marble. It was quite astonishing to think that in those 22 years everything was made without any help of machinery. If you look closely the Taj was made with extreme detail. Some interesting things about the Taj is that there are no paintings on the Taj Mahal; the flowers are made with semi-precious stones carved into the marble and the four pillars around the Taj Mahal are angled outward in case of any natural disaster it can fall away from the tomb site. Quite an amazing sight to gain more in sight to the heritage and history of India!

 

Just the Beginning

My thoughts and expectations before the trip:

I always consider myself as someone who is very open to try new things and experience new cultures. Meeting new people and adapting to unforeseen situations is not something that frightens me. Coming onto this trip to visit India,  I was prepared, excited even, to be immersed into a new culture. The format of the course however, was not the most appealing to me at first because i originally had the intention of simply enjoying myself in a new country in short of being able to actually study abroad. The coursework consisted of article readings, short videos and clips, corporate business visits, and cultural tours and lectures. In addition, we also needed to prepare a video presentation, case study, occasional blogging, and writing assignments. The “work” had no appeal or so it seemed. I was in for an unexpected journey to India.

The week started with intensive presentations and exposure to business practice in India. Some of the exposure included visiting PWC, Dunhumby, Oxigen and meeting business students at Fostimma and JRE. I personally was not ready to absorb all the information being thrown onto me but it was that kind of situation where it was do or die. With every event we attended, the professors followed up with discussion and questioning to stimulate our thinking and understanding about all the things we were learning from economics, education, and policy making to diversity, spirituality, and culture. Professor Gupta and Kahai facilitated excellently brought up interesting perspectives and points to think deeper. I was challenged in my own thinking and knowledge of the business, culture, sociology, and systems. Turns out that the “boring” parts of this course is starting to look a lot more interesting than I had previously thought.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.