Sorry, probably most cliché title ever, but whatever :)
It's sunday now, half past three and I thought it's about time to write my first blog post, here in India.
Where to start... I guess just in the beginning?
There were five muwci students on my plane: two portugese, two dutchies and myself. We landed in Mumbai at 9.30 pm. Coming out of the airport, some of our secondyears were waiting for us and they started screaming 'WELCOME TO MUWCI'. They put a smile on my face that has been there for almost a week now. We got 'chai', a kind of tea with a lot of sugar, people here drink it all the time, it's really good! The five of us and then some people from Japan, Costa Rica, Mexico,... shared a mini-van. The secondyears told us how beautiful the road was, but it was so dark we couldn't see anything. We stopped somewhere halfway to eat and drink something (guess what: chai!). We finally arrived on campus at 4 am and the secondyears brought me to wada 3, house 7, my new home! There are 5 "wada's" on campus: groups of houses built around a common room. There are two rooms in every house and about eleven houses per wada. Every house has two showers and two toilets, and also a courtyard, the perfect place to socialize. Wada 5 is different, there are two big houses with luxury rooms, bathrooms and beds. They don't have a common room or courtyard, but that's getting built now. Wada 2, 4 and 5 are close to the "AQ" (Academic Quarter) where all the classrooms are. My wada has a treehouse with an amazing view, but the rooms in wada 5 have the best view. I'm happy with this wada because of all the nice people and it's cosy!
So when I arrived, my roommates were all sleeping. Waking up the next morning was so weird. It takes a second before realizing you're actually in the place where you have wanted to be for so long. My secondyears roommates were in class, but my coyear, Indi from the UK, was there. She's such a nice girl and I'm really happy to have her as my roommate! There was nothing planned on that first day because the students were still arriving. I did some administrative stuff and got to know the people with who I had talked on facebook! It was nice to recognize some people!
The next day, Wednesday, was busy! There were lots of meetings with staff, faculty and the other students, a maths and english test and in the evening there was the secondyear show. All the secondyears performed, it was really amazing. I also met my other roommates, So Hee from Korea and Gauri from India. They're really friendly and nice!
There were more meetings, campus tours, games, info sessions etc. planned in the last few days, and yesterday I had my 'homestay'. We had to walk down the hill, to the villages and stay there for the night. There were two people staying in each house, mostly one secondyear and one firstyear but I was with another firstyear. The families don't understand English, but they try to give you a very nice stay. I ate delicious food and my family was very interested in Belgium. Luckily, my homestay-buddy knew Hindi, so we could communicate :)
Tonight, there's firstyears show and tomorrow our trial period starts. We can try out all the subjects and in the end of the week, we have to decide which ones we're going to pick. We can pick 6 subjects in total.
I'm so happy to be here and I'm not homesick yet. The people are all so friendly and it's an incredibily beautiful place! During homestay yesterday, I missed 'home', Mahindra college. I love to be here, on a beautiful campus with beautiful people. The last week was like a summer camp, so I sometimes find myself thinking that I'm going back to Belgium in a few days. But it's not like that, and that doesn't make me sad. I think I made the right decision!
It's sunday now, half past three and I thought it's about time to write my first blog post, here in India.
Where to start... I guess just in the beginning?
There were five muwci students on my plane: two portugese, two dutchies and myself. We landed in Mumbai at 9.30 pm. Coming out of the airport, some of our secondyears were waiting for us and they started screaming 'WELCOME TO MUWCI'. They put a smile on my face that has been there for almost a week now. We got 'chai', a kind of tea with a lot of sugar, people here drink it all the time, it's really good! The five of us and then some people from Japan, Costa Rica, Mexico,... shared a mini-van. The secondyears told us how beautiful the road was, but it was so dark we couldn't see anything. We stopped somewhere halfway to eat and drink something (guess what: chai!). We finally arrived on campus at 4 am and the secondyears brought me to wada 3, house 7, my new home! There are 5 "wada's" on campus: groups of houses built around a common room. There are two rooms in every house and about eleven houses per wada. Every house has two showers and two toilets, and also a courtyard, the perfect place to socialize. Wada 5 is different, there are two big houses with luxury rooms, bathrooms and beds. They don't have a common room or courtyard, but that's getting built now. Wada 2, 4 and 5 are close to the "AQ" (Academic Quarter) where all the classrooms are. My wada has a treehouse with an amazing view, but the rooms in wada 5 have the best view. I'm happy with this wada because of all the nice people and it's cosy!
So when I arrived, my roommates were all sleeping. Waking up the next morning was so weird. It takes a second before realizing you're actually in the place where you have wanted to be for so long. My secondyears roommates were in class, but my coyear, Indi from the UK, was there. She's such a nice girl and I'm really happy to have her as my roommate! There was nothing planned on that first day because the students were still arriving. I did some administrative stuff and got to know the people with who I had talked on facebook! It was nice to recognize some people!
The next day, Wednesday, was busy! There were lots of meetings with staff, faculty and the other students, a maths and english test and in the evening there was the secondyear show. All the secondyears performed, it was really amazing. I also met my other roommates, So Hee from Korea and Gauri from India. They're really friendly and nice!
There were more meetings, campus tours, games, info sessions etc. planned in the last few days, and yesterday I had my 'homestay'. We had to walk down the hill, to the villages and stay there for the night. There were two people staying in each house, mostly one secondyear and one firstyear but I was with another firstyear. The families don't understand English, but they try to give you a very nice stay. I ate delicious food and my family was very interested in Belgium. Luckily, my homestay-buddy knew Hindi, so we could communicate :)
Tonight, there's firstyears show and tomorrow our trial period starts. We can try out all the subjects and in the end of the week, we have to decide which ones we're going to pick. We can pick 6 subjects in total.
I'm so happy to be here and I'm not homesick yet. The people are all so friendly and it's an incredibily beautiful place! During homestay yesterday, I missed 'home', Mahindra college. I love to be here, on a beautiful campus with beautiful people. The last week was like a summer camp, so I sometimes find myself thinking that I'm going back to Belgium in a few days. But it's not like that, and that doesn't make me sad. I think I made the right decision!
Great going. .... keep it up.
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