Remembering India

Name: Ashley Clark

Type of Project: Study abroad

For my STEP signature project, I studied abroad to Hyderabad, India through CIEE’s Arts and Sciences Program. During this time, I lived with a home-stay family and took classes at the University of Hyderabad.

During my time in India, I was able to learn about the daily lives of people from a culture completely different fro

m mine. While learning about Indian culture, I felt that I could better reflect on my own culture in the United States and see that from the outside looking in. I’ve never been outside of the country for that long before and was able to not only learn a lot about where I come from and culture in India, but also about myself and my own interests.

I have learned a lot while I was in India; one of the greatest lessons being one of gratitude and humility. I have grown an immense amount of compassion for women of different cultures and immigrants and refugees. I have so much more respect for those in the United States who have traveled across the world to settle in our country. I can’t imagine how difficult it truly is do that.

Living with a host family was a very impactful part of my experience. I didn’t live with a wealthy host family. W

hen I was there, it was four people (including me) in a two bedroom home and this didn’t even include my host-mom’s husband, who would come to visit from Mumbai. This is a very normal living situation and in other parts of the country the living space may be even smaller, such as having an entire family i

n a single bedroom. Many of the local Indian students I met grew up like this as well. They would grow up sharing a bed with their sister and/or mom.

This experience of living with a host family helped me to understand the daily life and living situations for normal people in India because I was personally experiencing it. Through this, I learned about the resilience and importance of family and relationships in India. I also learned that a person doesn’t need that many things in life to be happy because material items won’t really bring a person true happiness.

I became extremely aware of women’s issues when I was in India because gender discrimination manifests itself in completely different ways than it does back home in the US. By seeing a different way that women carry themselves and are treated, I am also able to better see and understand how gender discrimination manifests itself in the United States. This has really inspired me to learn more about gender studies and possibly pursue this in the future. At the beginning of the semester, I met with an NGO that worked with women’s issues in Hyderabad and they were very inspirational for me. I decided to not work with them because I wanted to travel too, but my interactions with this group of people has made me want to pursue work with an NGO or the government for humanitarian issues.

My degree is in Comparative Studies with a focus on culture, so studying abroad is extremely valuable for me in my academic and professional career. The experience of living abroad is crucial when it comes to understanding people on the other side of the planet. I am sincerely inspired by my experience in India to work with immigrants and gender issues in the United States and abroad. I feel that immigrants have not gained the respect from people that they deserve and I want to help these people.

My experience in India also affected me very personally. I feel that I have grown a much greater sense of compassion for those coming from cultures completely different from mine. After going to India, I can better imagine how disorienting it must be to migrate to a country and culture completely different from one’s own. I have also learned to relax a little more and to enjoy life and things that make me happy. In past years, I have neglected hobbies and interests that I have had for years. After, spending time away, I realize that it is so important to hold on to the things and to continue learning new things every day. A mentality that I thought was really interesting in India is that people wouldn’t try to make more money than what they need. Greed wasn’t absent in India, but it was less, and this is something that I really appreciate. Of course, some locals may want to charge more for foreigners, but a lot of people aren’t too worried about making more money or having more things than what they actually need. This is an important lesson for me because I always try to work too many hours, take too many classes, and then I barely have time for friends, let alone the things I enjoy doing myself like painting or hiking. This is an important lesson I am taking home with me and hope that am able to preserve.

 

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