Tag Archives: adjustment

Words do no justice to Delhi’s complex environment

I’m was just sitting inside eating dinner as the maid watched me, unable to eat until I finish. I could see my “Aunty” or the woman who is hosting me outside from the window. It is a full moon tonight so she is outside praying from 8pm to 10pm. Dinner was awkward without her but I texted my friend about a 3am cab ride to the train station that is happening in the morning. I am going to Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan in the morning.

Anyway, this is my first blog post from Delhi and I wanted to find a way to convey all the emotions I’ve had since I arrived almost 3 weeks ago, but there are just too many things to write about. It is a beautiful, dirty, chaotic, crowded, historic and yet modern metropolitan city with a mix of conservative Indian tradition and western-styled liberalism. In India, Delhi specifically, there is so much to take in; between colorful bazaars, cows walking the highway, angry rickshaw drivers that overcharge you, young homeless children begging for food, and a confusing mix of wildlife and metropolis, I can’t begin to accurately describe the environment. You really can find anything here, including cute vegan-friendly wifi cafes in Hauz Khas Village/Market. This is the spot where I feel most comfortable and “homey” while I study.

Today is also Rakhi, a holiday celebrating brothers as protectors of sisters. On this day, siblings get together and exchange gifts. Sisters give brothers a bracelet tied with a red string that has decorations on it, and brothers give their sisters sweets and presents. As an only child wanting to celebrate the holiday, I found another only child in my abroad program, Jeremy, to be my Rakhi brother.

Pictures are to come, including one from the Taj Mahal with my friend Marnie and a guy who asked to join our photo.  The awkwardness is still an ongoing joke between us.


Location: Delhi, India

Don’t call it a tube, you’ll sound far too American.

IES Dorm Room

Here’s a picture of our dorm room (like I promised)!

Hey everyone! Sorry it’s been so long since the last blog – this past week and a half has been packed full in an attempt to prepare for the start of classes and adapt to life in London. Since it’s been so long and I have so much to blog, I’m making it into 2 parts!

Last Tuesday morning we had a free day so some of us decided to wake up and meet downstairs around 10am to journey over to City University. Our plan for the day was to find our way around the campus, go to a 99 pence store (comparable to a dollar store – “pence” is their change), and find the closest ASDA (Wal-Mart). The weather that morning was actually nice; it began as partly sunny. However, I knew that I was in London and I took my umbrella with me anyway. We took the underground and got off right near City University. When we arrived, we got our bearings and headed to the University; it only took us about 5 minutes to walk to the campus. When we got there, my initial thought was “it’s a lot smaller then Penn State”!Social Sciences Building We walked around the small(er) campus and to the back side of the buildings where we entered the student building. When we got inside, there we’re very pleasant receptionists sitting there so we decided to ask them where the closest 99p store is. It turns out that it is located in the beginning of a shopping market right by the underground station. The market had a lot of great shops and stands with great prices! We took a walk to the end of the market and then finally found the store. We were able to buy a lot of necessary things in there; I ended up getting most of my toiletries and soaps there for only 12 pounds! From there, we found a cute panini caf� that had a lot of options at a very low price. The panini’s were really good! We got back on the underground and headed for (what we thought) was the right direction to ASDA. We found out after arriving that we went in the wrong direction. I was perfectly fine with that – it’s all part of the adventure! We hopped right back on the underground and went in the right direction. We arrived at our destination after about a 45 minute underground ride. We then had to get a bus to take us the remaining distance (this was one of the first times I was on a double-decker bus). Once we got to Clapham Junction (location of ASDA) we were ecstatic to finally be there! As we were walking up the hill to get to ASDA, I spotted a Whole Foods!! I was so happy! I didn’t go in that day because I wanted to see what ASDA offered so we walked to ASDA and spent about 2 hours in there. This store is not even comparable to Wal-Mart back home; it is amazing! There are so many organic brands there; ASDA even has their own organic brand which makes buying organic much cheaper. I was in heaven. I picked up most of the staple items I needed and after a long while spent roaming through the store and a long time in line, I was finally at the register. I was scared to see how much I was going to be spending; to my surprise, I spent under 40 pounds! The prices were great; even though it is much more expensive when converting to dollars. Collectively, we had so many bags to carry back to the bus stop. It was incredibly entertaining and I’m sure hilarious to watch but it was quite challenging. Nonetheless, we arrived to the bus stop and were able to get off at the stop right in front of our dorm building. Later that night, a few of the girls wanted to go to a pub for a light meal and some drinks. I’m not a fan of beer or hard liquor so I decided to have a rose wine. It was fun just hanging out and talking with the girls and getting to know everyone. Only one other person that came out was from PSU, one of the girls is from Wagner and another is from a small school in Minnesota.  I was pleased that I was at least meeting people from somewhere other than Penn State.

Wednesday morning, we had to get to City University at 10am for our first day of orientation so we left the dorms around 8:50. My commute takes about a total of 45 minutes, but I am the type of person who needs to get to my classes early so I usually leave an hour and 15 minutes before I have to be on campus. When we arrived at City, we realized that we had 10 minutes to get to the room and no idea where it was! We ended up finding our way, but we were about 5 minutes late. The orientation lasted from 10am-4pm (16:00) and then at 4pm, we met for a Cheese and Wine welcome social. That was really fun because we got to meet other people in our program that were living at the University dorms.  When we got back, I had to put together my timetables for my classes. Timetables are pretty much equivalent to schedules at home. There is one huge difference here; they don’t make you schedule the class time you want to attend, just the class name. I thought that was pretty odd; however, I was reminded that attendance for European students is very unimportant and class time usually doesn’t mean much to them. Thursday was a tough day for me; I celebrate Russian Christmas on January 7th and Thursday was my Christmas Eve. This year was the first time I have ever been away from my family for Christmas. Thankfully, our meetings at City were mainly about our academics at the school and didn’t take too long. That night I was able to come home and skype my whole family; it still boggles my mind that I can video skype my family internationally (with no fee)!!  Later on that night a few of us were sitting around trying to figure out what we could do so we took the bus to a place called Piccadilly Circus for a while and walked around. This area is more or less a smaller version of Times Square in New York City. It was pretty cool to see all of the nightlife and shops around there. There was also this really cool frozen yogurt place called Snog’s.Snogs Ceiling It was so cute; the ceiling changed colors and it was very trendy. We didn’t walk around for long because it was close to midnight on a Thursday so most places were getting ready to close. Friday morning, I found where a Russian Orthodox Church that my uncle recommended was located. I went to the Russian Orthodox Cathedral of the Dormition and All Saints which was only about a 15 minute bus ride/walk away from my dorms. I had a bit of trouble getting to there because I got lost when I started walking but I eventually made it to church (and only 5 minutes late).  I like to think that I have a pretty good sense of direction but I was still very happy when I found it. Russian Orthodox Church It was a beautiful church and a familiar service but there were so many people there! The church itself is pretty small so it was a tight squeeze.  It was very calming to be in a familiar setting for Christmas morning; although, I was really upset that I was away from my family. This was a weird feeling for me because it was the first time ever that I was truly homesick. By the end of the service I was calmed down and confident that I was alright; this is all part of the experience. After the service, I traveled back to the dorms and met the girls downstairs. We decided we were going to spend the day at Harrods, Top Shop, Zara, and H&M. Harrods Department StoreHarrods was unbelievable! The size of this department store was enormous (an entire block!!!) and it included every single designer you could think of, cars, a grocery store, a bakery, a restaurant, a (Harrods) gift shop, and a cafeteria. I was in awe! We left there after about 2 hours and went to Zara, Top Shop, and H&M. We then left our shopping extravaganza and journeyed home in the pouring rain. It was already dark when we were heading back but it was before 5pm (17:00).

This week really threw me right into life in another country. I was thinking about it and one of the reasons I like traveling so much is because I get to be somewhere that is different from what I’m used to.  Although London is probably the closest thing to an American city, it is definitely still a change from home. British products are different, people are different, different words are used, and so on and so forth.  Like I said, I love that about traveling to new places. Something that is going to take me a while to get used to is military time. If you noticed, throughout my blog I converted the afternoon to military time in parenthesis because that’s how they tell time (I probably missed a few spots in my blog). Hopefully, within the next week or so I’ll be using military time too. Also, everyday life and college life here is going to take some getting used to. So far, London has been very good to me and I love living here!

(The continuation blog should be posted tonight) 🙂


Location: Chelsea, London, England

My first week in Rome

Ciao from Italy! I have been in Rome for almost a week now, and it has been very interesting so far. There have been both positive and not so great things, but each is a learning experience. On the first day, adjusting to Rome was a little difficult. I had never been to Europe before, and the extreme differences amazed me. I miss people back home, but skype has been great. Rome was dirtier than I expected with a lot of graffiti everywhere. I am surprised that they don’t try to keep it cleaner. Safety precautions are not the same as in the United States and that especially pertains to cars and pedestrians. Their space limits are very different than than of Americans, and the cars will get very close to each other and to people walking the streets. The streets are often narrow and made of cobblestone, which is beautiful. The city is so old and every monument, building, and piazza has it’s own story of ancient history. Overall, it is amazing and overwhelming because there is so much to see and learn. Here are some of the things I have done so far: Toward the beginning of last week we found our classroom, the markets, the great gelato and pizza places, but it was a lot to take in especially being jet lagged. On the first day of classes, I walked with five friends, and because we had seen so much so quickly, we got lost for over an hour and were late for class. Cheryl (my teacher) understood. Rome can be very, very difficult to navigate, but we are starting to get the hang of it, partly. We learned how to use the buses and the metro, and we know how to get to places like class and the market, as well as some good places to eat. One thing that I thought was very strange here is that they have a cat sanctuary in the middle of the city. It is all ruins that they decided to give to all the stray cats in Rome. This is an interesting concept. As for the food in Rome, I still am deciding how I feel about it. I am a very picky eater, but I have been trying a lot. The pizza was kind of a let down because the cheese is kind of bland. I decided to try bell peppers on it to add some flavor and it was very good. I tried pesto yesterday and it was great! The pasta dishes are good but I need to get up the courage to try more. The gelato is of course amazing. The other day we went to an open air market where they have the best fruits and vegetables because they pick them fresh each morning. The strawberries were the best ones I had ever had! They were so fresh and juicy, and I ate them all before I got back to my apartment. I got an orange there too and that was very good as well. DSCN2676.JPG DSCN2643.JPG The thing that has been most difficult for me is the language barrier. A lot of people working in the touristy areas speak English, but sometimes it gets very frustrating. It is hard to be in a country when you don’t speak their language because you don’t want to be a typical American tourist. I am trying to use Italian more and I am definitely learning, but no matter what we do, they will always know we are Americans (or maybe even Canadians) because the culture is just so different. On Friday my class went on a field trip to Ostia Antica. We took a train there, and it was very interesting. Ostia Antica is an ancient city on the outskirts of Rome, and it is all ruins now. We saw where the cemetery, apartment buildings, stores, Roman baths, the theater, and a temple had been. It was so interesting to imagine how it had been back when it was a busy metropolis. DSCN2674.JPG A couple days before this, we went on a field trip to a church which used to be an ancient Roman bath. We learned a lot about the baths, and I was so intrigued that they used this for many reasons other than bathing. They were used for status, socializing, and recreation. They decorated it with rich architecture and art for the gods and goddesses. In my pictures, the art is of angels because it was changed when it was turned into a church. It was amazing to see the ancient art and architecture and to imagine it when the baths had been there. DSCN2630.JPG Overall, it has been amazing so far, and I know it will be a wonderful experience. It is very interesting to be exposed to such a different culture. I have some more field trips planned, and I just planned trips to London, Dublin, and Barcelona! Check back for updates.


Location: Rome, Italy