Arriving in India is fantastic & scary, unexpected and adventurous, simple yet exhilarating. It is a greater experience than what can be described in a sentence or even in a single post.
I finally arrived in Mumbai on August 24th after almost two days of traveling. After walking around Charles de Gaulle for 7 hours and freaking out at Mumbai Airport because my bags were the last to come out at baggage claim, it kind of felt good to have arrived at my final destination: India.
The best streets of Mumbai are about as nice as the worst parts of Mexico City --which is my only point of comparison. I guess what I mean is, the clash between the people who are well-off and the ones that aren't, is pretty big. You will see incredible ten-story buildings next to slums and advertisements for private villas & condos in the dirtiest of streets.
Driving through India is a unique experience. Some people say that if you can drive through Mexico City, you can drive anywhere --which is a lie. In India, drivers keep a distance of less than 1cm between each other, and honking here has a whole different meaning, which I have yet to decipher.
Something really weird about India, is that people don't mind being barefoot at all. In fact, most rickshaw drivers go barefoot and even people walking on the streets don't always have to be wearing shoes. Even at school, shoes are totally optional and when we go into most classrooms, everyone leaves their shoes at the door. Isn't life awesome?
Oh, and by the way, during the 5 seconds I was in Mumbai, I saw one cow crossing the street (not one thousand, as everyone back home seems to think...) and only one girl begging for money, which is way less than the 5+ guys asking to clean your window in any given street of Mexico.
When I got picked up at the airport, I rode with two French guys (one boy & one girl) who are also studying their first year in MUWCI. I mention this because Antoine (the French boy) is blond, so we got a lot of stares along the way. People in India like to stare, and even when you make eye contact with them to let them know that you're not comfortable with it, they won't turn away. It's just India, man.
Getting to school took about 3 hours of bumpy roads and the most amazing views after leaving the big city. Everything around us is green & so, so alive.
Being at school is different though, it sort of feels like being on extended summer camp. Since the atmosphere is completely international, most of the time it doesn't even feel like I'm in India. Except for the weather, which is completely different from home, but not bad at all. Right now, we are having monsoon season (which is basically just continuous rain) and even though it is cloudy all day long, actual rain is on and off on the hill (but always fun!).
On my very first hour on Campus, I got to tour around the school (it's huge!) and I accidentally ended up joining about 20 people who were climbing Internet Hill (the hill right next door to the school, which ironically, has no internet access). I had the wrong shoes --of course, but I didn't mind the long walk because the views are breathtaking. It is still hard to believe the amount of good stuff that is going on in my life right now.
The rest of my week was packed with Orientation Activities, which mostly meant running up and down the school, getting used to having muddy feet all the time, trying to get everyone's names right (it is impossible...) and being so tired by the end of the day, that it truly makes me wonder how my body can resist so much.
The food here in MUWCI is not as bad as everyone has made it seem. It's actually pretty decent. On Sundays we have amazing brunch. As for the rest of the week, I almost never know what I'm eating, but most of the time it's tasty enough. Life is good, so good.
As for my room, I got to live in the "Fancy Wada". A Wada is a community, kind of like a cluster of homes. I live in Wada 5, House A4. I share my room with an incredibly funny Indian second year, an Indian/American co-year who is probably the sweetest person I have met in my life & a beautiful Danish co-year. They are all so lovely & helpful, it's unbelievable. I sometimes can't believe I am allowed so much happiness in such a short amount of time, after all, I've only been here a week!
Last Thursday we had a trip to Pune, which is the closest big city to the school. It's about a two hour drive, and I'd say completely worth it. Pune may not be traditionally beautiful, you know? It's not like Florence or Paris where you instantly fall in love, but rather, it requires some getting used to. Again, the clash between rich and poor is so big! However, it's great to know that we do have McDonalds, Pepe Jeans London, The Body Shop, Starbucks and pretty much everything else we have back home.
It's impossible to try and explain everything that has happened in the last week. I suppose for now it is enough to say that I can't believe I'm so happy. As most of you know, my birthday was just last week and even though it was my third day here, I got two cakes at midnight, a bunch of notes, hugs & congrats...I pretty much celebrated my birthday for two days in a row. I feel so loved.
Life has been pretty intense, but the truth is, very few times have I felt more excited. And I definitely have never felt more like myself. Coming to MUWCI was a great decision.
Finally, you will excuse the lack of photos & the messed up, random structure of this post, but my recent travels have had a lot more to do with getting acquainted to new places & people, and I don't even think I have the energy or the willpower to try and correct this to perfection. I do promise to post some photos soon and give a more detailed account of my life in later posts.
Thanks so much for reading.
-F
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