We arrived in Calcutta on August 27 evening, though tired from the day trip from Bangkok. Coralie was sick from something you ate in the street on the last day so it was not easy for her.
A school car picked us up at the airport exit.
Myth No. 1: All Indians speak English -> FALSE
Our driver had vague notions, and even if he understood vaguely what he said was not really able to communicate with him.
So, we did not know how long our journey would take to campus. All we knew was that it was far (we had been told when we cleared customs at the airport). In the end, it took us two hours anyway!
During the trip, I open my eyes wide, my first discovery of India. Many people, little scenes of traditional life, women wear their saris baby, children play, a circle of people sitting cross-legged listening to the oldest of them, and of course, cows on the side of the road ... In the end, nothing surprises me, nothing shocks me. On the one hand, I feel not really be there and watch these scenes as I was watching a news story. On the other hand, I read a lot about India's preparation for my arrival, and this may be what took away the element of surprise ...
Myth No. 2: Indians can not drive -> FALSE
Indians obviously have a very special way of driving. Most cars do not use flash or mirror. They drive very fast, honk a lot and do not use the same concept of priorities in the West ...
But in reality, I quickly realized that the drivers know very well what they do! The rule for the priorities is the "fittest" in the sense that larger vehicles (buses and trucks) to pass the cars that pass by the auto-rickshaws, rickshaws passing by and motorbikes. Pedestrians have qu’à se frayer un chemin parmi les véhicules!
On est arrivés sur le campus et on nous a attribué nos chambres pendant que Dorian est allé à son hôtel, pas très loin de notre campus.
Même s’il fait nuit, on remarque déjà que les photos du campus que l’on a vu sur le site internet sont relativement mensongères (ou bien datent de l’année où a été construite l’école) et les bâtiments méritent un petit coup de peinture. L’explication par un indien:
“En Inde, on part du principe que tant que ça ne tombe pas par terre, ça ne sert pas à grand chose de renovation "
Our rooms with basic facilities. Some students were upset about their condition, but personally I do not clearly expected to arrive in a 5 star, so it suits me. And then as we had just spent two weeks moving from place to place, we were quite happy to have our room and we can get our business from our backpack!
On campus, there are several "hostels", buildings which house students. All foreign students are housed in "Ramanujan Hostel" also called "Old Hostel ". The boys are housed at the New Hostel "(which has little of" New ") or" Schedule ".
Once installed, we headed to the small grocery store in our building for us to buy food (It would still not try everything on the canteen!) . Once there, we found Navitesh.
Navitesh is a member of the welcoming committee for foreign students. We leave with him to visit the campus. Night is not transcendent, but on the way, arrived at the only grocery store on campus that sells beer, we find all les étudiants étrangers déjà arrivés à Calcutta… Après les présentations, nous avons passé la soirée ensemble sur le toit d’un des Hostel, qui est désormais notre QG…
Petit aparté pour mes collègues de Generali, et tout ceux que j’ai bassiné avec l’histoire de quarantaine due à la Grippe A: A l’aéroport, on a juste eu un contrôle de température pas réellement significatif, et une visite médicale sur le campus qui tenait plus de la formalité… En revanche un des étudiants de l’école est suspecté, mais il est actuellement à l’hôpital…
