After preparing for a couple days before all the students arrived, the South Asian students presented on their cultures for the international students. You can read more here, and see a few student interviews here, beginning with Olga!
Monica
Mohammad
Rohini
Kultwisiso
Shilpi
To start today off, I went on a walk to a park in Madurai, India. As we walked out the hotel we were greeted by an elephant. The elephant then blessed me by tapping his trunk on my head. This is the great thing about India. You simply walk out the door and your day is blessed. The citizens of India are very nice. In America, you do not really see this. In America we keep our heads down looking at our phones. We should look up and engage in conversation. We don’t need to bless someone, but you can wish them good luck. You can say “hello”, or “how are you doing” and you may as well make someone’s day as much as this elephant has for me.
It was 6 am when I woke up this morning, I was really struggling to get out of bed. I was debating whether or not I should stay in bed for another hour or go for a walk. With much consideration I made my decision to go on the walk.I got dressed and rushing out my room because I thought that I was going to be left behind. When I got to the lobby Sridar, Goran, and Daniel were sitting and waiting. We waited for 2 mins for others to join our walk, apparently we were the only ones up and ready for the morning walk today. As we walked out the hotel gate, we came to a sudden stop.There was a huge grey friendly elephant right outside our hotel. It was so shocking to just run into an elephant while walking down the street. Back home in New York this is something that would never occur. Actually seeing the elephant made my whole day! I was so blissful when the elephant but his trunk over my head and blessed me. In that moment I felt so fortunate to be on this trip because this is something that I will carry with me forever! This is an experience that I will brag about all the time.
This was my first experience going to a temple in southern India. Last year on the trip, we only visited temples in northern India so I was excited to see the differences and the similarities. We got in a line and the first thing I noticed was how everyone was fascinated with us. They all wanted to talk to us, to take pictures with us, and interact in any way, shape, or form that they could get their hands on. I heard a woman screaming, which meant that God was entering her body. When I finally got up to the front, a man blessed me with flowers and put ash on my forehead. In these moments, I was touched by the fact that this was such a sacred place of religion and they were still welcoming foreigners in to their home. Even with the language barrier, we communicated through the appreciation of the God or gods that they were worshipping. In California, I’ve been to places of religion and we also welcome and open our doors to anyone. Everywhere in the world, religion is so prominent and sacred. It’s amazing to me that Churches, temples, mosques, and other forms of holy places open their arms to strangers and embrace them. You see so much evil in the world, but it’s the taste of goodness that strikes home the most.
