Tay the Pennant!
It's finally here! The stress and lack of sleep have finally built up enough momentum to force me into spoonerisms.
Anyway, this past Tuesday I received a license for Rosetta Stone. In order to keep it, I need to complete about five hours of work by October 31st, so I'm happy I went with the beginner-level software. The few things I retained from high school French class have been more than enough, and it's nice to have a refresher course, but I can't wait to see what "advanced" looks like. I know I won't be able to get away with going through each lesson only once, like I have been doing, so it's probably going to turn into 100's of hours of work.
Speaking of doing lots of work for free, Shalabh Gupta has volunteered to be my guest this week, so without further ado:
Cherish the Mix of the Community
I am from the beautiful country of India and came to US for school three years ago. It was a big move for me and I faced an extended struggle to adjust to the new environment and culture. But I made a lot of quality friends quickly who helped me in my transition. I am very grateful to them for their time and efforts and making me a part of their life (I am not naming anyone here since they would come back to kick me for being grateful and everything despite the lifelong friendship we have developed).
Fisher is essentially a global community, as is the so called ‘real-world’ or the ‘world out there.’ You encounter people from all over the world, which provides a tremendous opportunity to learn about different cultures. People from different backgrounds bring different perspectives, and everybody stands to gain from that. It can only happen if you appreciate the diversity in the community and give everyone a chance. People not from US stay within their own ethnic group a lot of time. I have also felt that Americans do not mingle with students from abroad as much as they could (no fingers pointed at anyone, it can be hard for anyone), though it is not the case in Fisher (I am referring to my non-Fisher experiences here). If you restrict yourself in this aspect, you are missing out big time.
My experiences at Fisher in this context, so far, have been amazing to say the least. Everyone is more than willing to lend a helping hand at the slightest indication. My friends have been taking me around and telling me a lot of things they believe might be new to me. I also have been trying to spread around the Indian culture to the best of my abilities. I have committed to my friends towards a home-cooked Indian dinner (just haven’t been able to find the time that works for the whole group due to our different schedules) and I have also taken a couple of them to an Indian festival celebration in Dublin.
I am trying to ensure that I learn as much as I can about the American culture since that was a major reason why I came to the US and also spread the Indian culture in US beyond what people encountered in Slumdog Millionaire. ‘GO BUCKS’ and ‘JAI HO’, living the best of both worlds.