This article was shared by Hetvi Vora
I am an exchange student from India. Je suis un échange étudiant de l’inde! a line i do not know how many times have i repeated! Kind of lost count ...
One fine Wednesday and a realisation dawns upon me! I realise the fact that i haven’t written back home since a long time ...so here i begin.....
"I am an ex CHANGE student”! Emphasis being on the fact that everything had changed.....right from the food i eat to the bed i sleep on to the language i speak ...clothes i wear ...the view outside my window ...things which were obviously going to change but sometimes the change is so natural that you don’t feel it at all and sometimes it’s so different that it takes days to get used to....
i guess that’s what the best part is " i am a new me “!
The older me didn’t have coffee after meals, the older me banged in to people every now and then , the older me was impulsive and hyperactive , the older me slept late , read newspapers for hours... was glued to the TV !
I guess like all 16 years old in a new country (not English speaking) i have had my crazy, embarrassing, silly, happy, nervous moments!
I guess i have experienced all the human emotions in these 2 months and 15 days!
My first day at school seemed like my first day at school back in 1st grade ...though i think we can cut out on the crying part!
It’s so much fun when i am finding similarities between the two countries and suddenly how amazed i am when i realised that they are so different! The first month passes in a jiffy! It’s all going fast ...you meet new people every day ...you have to be yourself and be a perfect ambassador breaking myths and clearing misconceptions!
You meet exchange students from all over the world! Some countries that i only studied way back in my geography lessons! Surprising how similar all of us are! We have the same moments of joy and similar difficulties!
I now can proudly boast of the fact that i can greet people in 7 international languages!
My city is called mayenne .it is located in the west of France! It is small, ancient and you can kind of walk around it...really tiny! Everybody knows everybody and i am officially "the little Indian mayennais”!
I realise that being an exchange student is a big responsibility ....the person i will be in this city is the person the people here are always going to relate Indians with! The beauty of this is that i am much more Indian here then i was back in home! You value things better when away from home i think...
i have been lucky to have extremely wonderful host parents ,both active Rotarians and both striving to make the world a better place!
My host mother runs the "banque alimentaire “and" épicerie sociale”, an organisation which provides food at minimal rates to poor people... the transparency and efficiency is remarkable in non-profit organisations here. Both these organisations are government aided!
My host father on the other hand, recently visited Madagascar for two weeks with grammar books and mobile phones since Madagascar speaks French! every year" the rotary club of mayenne" and "the rotary club of Nosy be" work towards helping the villagers in Madagascar and developing a school in a village close to nosy be
the rotary club of mayenne has about 25 odd members and is a small family of people who believe in the idea of service above self !
I think i have been fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to be a" Rotary Youth EXCHANGE Student” and fortunate enough to be living a change!
This article is a part of a series called "Soul Curry"
Its second part can be read on Soul Curry 2
I am an exchange student from India. Je suis un échange étudiant de l’inde! a line i do not know how many times have i repeated! Kind of lost count ...
One fine Wednesday and a realisation dawns upon me! I realise the fact that i haven’t written back home since a long time ...so here i begin.....
"I am an ex CHANGE student”! Emphasis being on the fact that everything had changed.....right from the food i eat to the bed i sleep on to the language i speak ...clothes i wear ...the view outside my window ...things which were obviously going to change but sometimes the change is so natural that you don’t feel it at all and sometimes it’s so different that it takes days to get used to....
i guess that’s what the best part is " i am a new me “!
The older me didn’t have coffee after meals, the older me banged in to people every now and then , the older me was impulsive and hyperactive , the older me slept late , read newspapers for hours... was glued to the TV !
I guess like all 16 years old in a new country (not English speaking) i have had my crazy, embarrassing, silly, happy, nervous moments!
I guess i have experienced all the human emotions in these 2 months and 15 days!
My first day at school seemed like my first day at school back in 1st grade ...though i think we can cut out on the crying part!
It’s so much fun when i am finding similarities between the two countries and suddenly how amazed i am when i realised that they are so different! The first month passes in a jiffy! It’s all going fast ...you meet new people every day ...you have to be yourself and be a perfect ambassador breaking myths and clearing misconceptions!
You meet exchange students from all over the world! Some countries that i only studied way back in my geography lessons! Surprising how similar all of us are! We have the same moments of joy and similar difficulties!
I now can proudly boast of the fact that i can greet people in 7 international languages!
My city is called mayenne .it is located in the west of France! It is small, ancient and you can kind of walk around it...really tiny! Everybody knows everybody and i am officially "the little Indian mayennais”!
I realise that being an exchange student is a big responsibility ....the person i will be in this city is the person the people here are always going to relate Indians with! The beauty of this is that i am much more Indian here then i was back in home! You value things better when away from home i think...
i have been lucky to have extremely wonderful host parents ,both active Rotarians and both striving to make the world a better place!
My host mother runs the "banque alimentaire “and" épicerie sociale”, an organisation which provides food at minimal rates to poor people... the transparency and efficiency is remarkable in non-profit organisations here. Both these organisations are government aided!
My host father on the other hand, recently visited Madagascar for two weeks with grammar books and mobile phones since Madagascar speaks French! every year" the rotary club of mayenne" and "the rotary club of Nosy be" work towards helping the villagers in Madagascar and developing a school in a village close to nosy be
the rotary club of mayenne has about 25 odd members and is a small family of people who believe in the idea of service above self !
I think i have been fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to be a" Rotary Youth EXCHANGE Student” and fortunate enough to be living a change!
This article is a part of a series called "Soul Curry"
Its second part can be read on Soul Curry 2
-Hetvi Vora
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2 comments:
You have the unique opportunity to represent a billion plus people in the little tiny hamlet, may you fare well. Spontaneous write up :)
thank you very much ! i will surely do my best , it is feels nice to be sharing " the change " you are living !
cheers !
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