Tag Archives: observation

WE ARE…..

Well we are about six days into this program and we have just been completely immersed in organic farming and ideas of sustainability as it relates to culture, day to day living, family, and whatever else you can imagine. Thus far we have seen hillside farming (actually it was a mountain approximately 28 – 30 degree slope) and flat lands farming sites. I have sen both organic farming and that which is very close to it. My group is staying at a Organic farm and Sustainble site called “Durga’s Den”, I’m living in a cabin made of reused materials and all is well. The learning expeiernce is not built or blocked into certain hours, everything we do is apart of the learning experience. WE ARE….living the sustainable lifestyle and learning much from it at the same time. 


Location: Durga's Den, Ocho Rios, Jamaica

Le monde est vraiment petit

I’ve met SO many people in the last few days, French and international students alike, most of them quite randomly. In India, if you go out to a club or a party, everybody goes with their group of friends and mostly sticks to that group for the entire night. You will never run into someone on the street and become friends with them, it’s too random and potentially unsafe. However, in France, you can meet anybody anywhere and it’s not weird. Maybe it’s different here, because Rouen is not the same as Paris, for example, but that’s my observation all the same.

Rouen is much bigger than I thought it would be. I went into the city and it was mind boggling how everything seemed to stretch on forever! I’m waiting for it to start looking familiar because getting off on the wrong bus stop and walking for miles in the dark is not something I’d like to repeat!

Yet, it’s pretty small. A few days ago, I met a boy from Marrakech, Morocco. One of my good friends at Penn State is from Marrakech, so I casually mentioned it to my new acquaintance. Turns out, he knows him! Rouen is such a small city by comparison, I never expected I would run into anyone I knew (or who would know someone I know).

The truly amazing part? It happened AGAIN today! I was at lunch with a Parisian girl from my seminar along with some of her friends. Her friend inevitably asked me where I was from, and then proceeded to tell me how one of his friends is studying abroad in India for an entire year. In fact, I met a French student who was studying abroad in India this year at a friend’s house over the summer. So, taking a wild guess, I asked him if it was the same person…and it was! So crazy!

The world truly is a small place.


Location: Rouen Business School, Rouen, France