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The first two weeks in India: the "adjustment period" ...

Here I am working on the blog!

My absence was not really due to the abundance of courses, but more a phenomenon more commonly known as the "adjustment period" ... Despite everything I have said in my last post on the fact that I was well prepared, that I needed a lot to shock me etc ... The first days were hard ...

In fact, everything here is different:

• Climate: It goes from scorching heat and humid (94% humidity!) to rainy do not stop for several days !
• environment : Nous avons la chance de vivre sur un campus vert et à l’abri de l’agitation de la ville. Le confort basique de nos chambres est suffisant, et les douches froides passent encore à cette période de l’année (je ferai moins ma maline d’ici un mois quand il faudra aller chercher de l’eau chaude dans un seau…) . Le problème, c’est dès qu’on sort du campus… Chaque déplacement est un parcours du combattant , qui commence par la négociation du taxi, où l’on sait que quoiqu’il arrive, au final, on se fera avoir…
• Les gens : Je ne vais pas partir immediately into a brief explanation of cultural differences ... I would have time to talk during my stay! But there are several types of Indian ...

- First there are the Indian watching you with eyes flabbergasted, especially when you ride herd group of Western

- Those we take pictures, blondes are particularly popular because very different

- Those who want to know where it comes ( "Where do you come from?" is the question of Indian mascot) before they even know our name

- Those who dare not look you in the eye (lower castes or vestiges of colonialism ... I have not yet found an explanation ... )

- Those who harass you to sell you things you do not need, but which might need your parents / brothers / sisters, and protest when you refuse to buy "What? You do not like your mother?! " (Truthful, it happened to us last week)

- Those who haggle too much ... At home, haggling is a game, and I feel I'll be able to refine here, once I have a little more info on the value of things

- Those who shake their heads and say everything and anything: yes, no and maybe at the same time. This category includes most of the Indian reality. It's confusing at first but ultimately very funny, and I'm sure a lot of us will return with the tick (some are already trying to adopt more or less dexterity ...)

- Those who offer to help as soon as you look lost, especially on campus. Indian students are A-DO-able! (We can not however say the same thing for the administration, called "Come Back Tomorrow" by the Indians themselves)

• Food : (Yes you may have forgotten but I was doing a list of things that were different here ... I blablate so you had probably lost the thread ...)

Then the food ... Hmm ... How to explain this point without sounding too offensive?

(Note: the following is absolutely not objective and is only my opinion ... Many foreign students still appreciate the canteen for now ...)

Each of our Hostel is equipped with a "Dining Hall , "also called" Mess "(and his name deserves ...). He yaa 5 sessions of meals per day (Ptit bf, bf, lunch, dinner, night session). Apart from the small bf and afternoon tea with toast served with butter margarine, jam, and chai latte (or almost), all meals are identically THE SAME! Eat the same thing does bother me more than that if only they were good and not spicy ...

Myth No. 3 : In Indian plate, there is more spice than food -> TRUE , true, and yet TRUE!

Well, it turns out that my first meeting with the canteen, I knew we would not really be friends ... Just the smell makes me sick (literally, it is the worst ) ... I tried

force me to eat, and that's where it got complicated ... I got sick, throwing up everything I ate instant, for a whole week ...

(I promise I will not go into the details of my life stomach and bowel, even if it is a topic of conversation most popular right now among international students ...)

short, all that to say that the first week was not the easiest, but for two days, my mood and my spirit legendary conqueror came back!

This weekend, we start with some foreign students Varanasi (Benares). First expedition, 14h train ... It promises!

Where Buy Stamping Blank

The arrival at the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta

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…

How Many Calories In A School Lunch

India, a country particularly

I arrived for a week now, which will allow me to have a little back on what I'll tell you.

Many of you ask me to tell more of my adventures soon ... But I'm just back to school, which leaves me little time to write ...

I telling you all this by the weekend weekend, promise!

In the meantime, here's a short video on the habits of the Indians, and I'm going to work my way to check all these ideas, and many more ...