<p>I'm looking for some information from anyone who has experience with studying in India. Thanks in advance!</p>
<p>My daughter did six weeks or so in Bangalore as part of her study abroad program. Homestay. Autorickshaw commute everyday. I might be able to help you with some questions.</p>
<p>You might want to pick up a current Lonely Planet guide. They are excellent. It will make a huge difference as to where in India you will be (a country as big and more diverse than the US). </p>
<p>Consider the kid coming to the US for a semester. Is the kid in Manhattan? A Kansas wheat farm? A Florida retirement community? Nome, Alaska in January? Narrow down what you are seeking and then ask again more specifically (As in, anyone done film studies in Mumbai?).</p>
<p>I was born in india and lived there for 6 years then moved to U.S. I know a lot about India since I go there every 2 years for 3 months in the summer to see my family (aunts, uncles, cousins, etc). So I know a ton about it.</p>
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<p>My place of birth. Lived there till HS. But sadly I don’t think I can answer any questions about life there any more.<br>
Most of the kids from here that I know of who are studying there went to med school because you avoid the cost and time of the 4 year undergrad degree. Hadn’t heard of students who went for a traditional semester abroad; mostly it was for specifics such as music or language.</p>
<p>^^^
I have met someone who studied Orissian dance @ The Evergreen State College.
- of course I met her during her shift at The Gap*
Good friend of the family is working on her doctorate in Gujarat & my younger daughter traveled through southern India before college- </p>
<p>You would get better advice if we had more info about what you are studying or why interest in India.
You don’t have to do study abroad there, to visit.</p>
<p>dad of 3:</p>
<p>She did an International Honors Program (IHP) study abroad program called Cities of the 21st Century. It was a theme-based program that looked at the challenges of megacites, growth, globalization, and the rapid transition from rural to urban society. It was a comparative study of a number of cities. The group started in NYC, then travelled to Buenos Aires for five weeks, then Beijing and Shanghai for five weeks, then Bagalore for five or six weeks. </p>
<p>[International</a> Honors Program: Cities in the 21st Century](<a href=“http://www.ihp.edu/page/cities/]International”>http://www.ihp.edu/page/cities/)</p>
<p>Much of their coursework involved meeting with government, business, and NGO leaders. Bangalore is the center of the IT explosion in India with all of the major computer companies having big facilities. They did a field work/case studies. My daughter’s group traveled to Mysore and learned about the development of the new Bangalore/Mysore Infrastructure Corridor. They slept at a silk farm and got to see the rural/urban transition first hand.</p>
<p>[DiscoverBangalore</a> - Your One Stop source on the City of Bangalore - What do you Think ?](<a href=“http://www.discoverbangalore.com/BMIC.htm]DiscoverBangalore”>DiscoverBangalore - Your One Stop source on the City of Bangalore - What do you Think ?)</p>
<p>She grew to really love Bangalore and had some interesting observations. The whole program was centered around learning to “read” a city. She said that the first two weeks or so in Bangalore, it just all seemed like total chaos to her – and this is after getting acclimated in Buenos Aires, Beijing, and Shanghai. She couldn’t detect the first trace of any rules or order – for example, in the traffic patterns or haggling with the auto-rickshaw drivers over the nightly fare to her homestay neighborhood. Then, slowly, she began to figure out life in Bangalore and see that there were, indeed elaborate rules and order and structure to what seemed like chaos. She loved the energy.</p>
<p>InterestedD, thanks for description of life in “the other beantown”. I really dislike the place more ever time I visit. To me the tranquil city of four hundred thousand where I could safely bike to school is gone. I wish I could take lessons from your D to “read” the city - nowadays when I speak in the local language more than half the people don’t understand me - a bit like Orlando where the bulk of the population is a first generation transplant. The lovely open roads and the most beautiful building in town have ugly elevated tracks marring the view.</p>
<p>The irony of it all is that I was one of the first generation computer people there, from a top notch university at that, and I left just as the “silicon valley” was born.</p>
<p>Thanks for reviving the memories.</p>
<p>Dad of 3:</p>
<p>I can understand your sentiments. The growth from 400,000 to 6 million in a few decades is why Bangalore was on the itinerary for megacites. It’s the fastest growing city in India. That’s the kind of growth (and issues) they were studying.</p>
<p>The place that she didn’t like much was Beijing. She said that it was gray and oppressive in every way. She was really happy to get to spend a week in Shanghai after Beijing to give her a completely different flavor of China.</p>
<p>Thanks for the responses. I realize how my statement sounded so ignorant when turning the tables and asking about studying in the US. My daughter is considering two programs. One is located in Hyderabad and is facilitated by AIFS. The other, in Pune, through an organization called Global Alliance and offered by Butler and Arcadia Universities. Not to say that the course of study is not important but it is more of an interest and desire for the experience on her part.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>^bluejay, what exactly is your daughter looking for from the experience? Are there specific elements of India she’s interested in? I’m from Bombay, and I could help if you could give me more details regarding her interests. Academically, India and the US are poles apart and to put it bluntly there isn’t much to gain “studying” here, but it is a great life experience. I have an American friend who has deferred a year from Reed(where both of us are going next fall) and is spending a year in Bombay as an exchange student through Rotary. She came from small town Pennsylvania to one of the largest, most thriving metropolises in the world and I’ve seen her gain from and change because of the experiences she’s had here. Another Reedie who’s going to be a senior next year, spent a semester in Delhi with Brown’s India Programme. Brown and Rutgers run similar programmes that allow students to study in two of India’s best colleges-St.Stephen’s and Lady Shri Ram alongwith a Hindi language school in Mussoorie. Not that the experience is bad, but perhaps there’s more to be learnt outside the classroom in India or anywhere for that matter, when you’re studying abroad. Hyderabad and Pune are excellent places to study abroad though, smaller cities that have an emphasis on students and the youth-Pune moreso than Hyderabad in that respect. Pune in fact has the largest population of international students in India and is generally very welcoming to people from abroad.</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies. Student really is more interested in the “experience.” Paradox: I guess you are saying that the actual “course work” may not be challenging enough? I’m wondering of that’s a bad thing knowing that daily life in India may provide enough of a personal challenge and allow for much growth.</p>
<p>^ Yes, well, there isn’t much “course work” involved in the way our non pre-professional colleges function in any case, and that’s further compunded by the fact that study abroad programmes in general tend not to be academically rigorous (of course there are exceptions).While people may have an altogether disappointing or not so challenging experience inside the classroom, the merits of being exposed to an entirely different environment cannot be argued. I think study abroad is meant to broaden your horizons, and very often that can’t be done solely through an academic perspective, so I think you’re right in hypothesising that the opportunities for personal, cultural, social growth outweigh those for academic growth. Ultimately, the “experience” is moulded by the individual’s priorities and skills such as adaptability etc.</p>