My India

India, as cheesy as it sounds, was completely life changing. A lot of my personal growth has occurred since I have returned back to the U.S., my home country. While I was in India, I was able to meet so many different people, including exchange students from other countries. This international experience was not like traveling to Europe over the summer with my family, but it truly immersed me in Indian culture and encouraged me to test my own beliefs and values. Often, I came across a person I did not agree with. In the beginning I would always try and prove to them why my opinion was correct, and theirs was wrong. Throughout my exchange, I learned how ineffective this was. Instead, my goal of a conversation would be to help them understand why I believed what I believed as well as for me to understand their thinking. This is one of the most critical things I learned from my time in India. How to not only tolerate but respect others especially when their views or opinions differed from my own. In addition, I suffered from ethnocentric views. This inhibited me from curly being able to see the beauty of other cultures. Living in India for 11 months showed me so much of India which is not usually showed in media in the U.S. which helped develop my genuine love for the country. Finally, the most important part of exchange were the people. Whether I'm talking about my host family, friends, other exchange students, AFS staff, all these people made such a detrimental impact to my exchange and who I am today. As I grow and create new relationships I start to see bits and pieces of other people in myself. Growing in India helped me to become a better person and these bits and pieces have developed me into a more conscious, kind, empathetic and critically thinking human. Of course, I have to give a shoutout to all the amazing people I met through AFS. I will never stop believing that the president of my local AFS chapter in India was the kindest most considerate human I have ever met. Ajay Mehta of the Rajkot, Gujarat chapter showed me more kindness in a time that I needed it most than anyone else. Ajay uncle was someone who all the exchange students agreed always had our best interest at heart. We always knew he would do whatever he could to help any situation possible. Ajay uncle made a difference in my exchange as I felt I have someone who would advocate for me when needed. a year after my exchange, Ajay uncle was in Oregon (where my parents live) for an AFS conference. When he came he was able to stay for dinner with my family which was such an amazing experience. Other people that were important to my exchange were my host family. My host family was the highlight of my time in India. I truly could argue that nobody had a better host family than the Vadgamas! Living with my grandmother, aunt, uncle, two cousins, mom, dad, three sisters and my younger brother, I truly got the traditional Gujarati experience. One of my favorite parts was sleeping on the floor in a common space with my three sisters and little brother all under the same mosquito net. Of course I was offered a bed, but I preferred to sleep with them because it meant I was not getting special treatment, I was a part of the family. My family was so kind and always tried to do things that would expose me to their culture. Living in a big family never got bored and I became incredibly close with my mom and three sisters. We were all the same size so we all shared clothes. Getting ready for festivals was so much fun because they got to dress me up in whatever they had. My sisters were so interested in American culture so we would dress up in my western clothes whenever we got the chance.
I could go on for forever and talk about specific times that were life changing like the time I climbed a mountain in the northern part of India in the middle of winter to the famous Vaishno Devi temple, celebrated 9 days of dancing (Navratri), got off at the wrong bus stop in the middle of nowhere, saw the Taj Mahal and so much more.
India was incredible.