Getting Oriented

Hello everyone! Sorry again for the lack of pictures. I should be figuring out a way to get my photos onto my laptop sometime soon, but it seems like just about everything in India takes significantly longer than expected, so, who knows! Anyway, while a lot has happened since my last post, I'm afraid none of it is very exciting. Classes here started on Monday, so I have been going through a long series of orientations that explain the unique ways in which the Indian Higher Learning System functions. I'm really thankful for these explanations, brief though they may be. So many of the basic methods of functioning that I took for granted in the United States simply do not apply here. Simple things like acquiring textbooks and school supplies, or figuring out my course schedule happen in a totally different manner in India.

Take textbooks for instance. In the U.S. students are given a list of books which the university bookstore generally has in stock. The student takes the list, pays an exhorbitant amount of money for these books (hey, I didn't say our system was without flaws!) and has everything they need for their classes for the semester. This is most definitely not the case in India. Instead, the professor tells the students on the first day of class what the required reading will be for the next few classes. The students then go to the school's library and check out one of the few copies of the text and either read the section immediately or else copy the pages for later. As you might imagine, this can be quite stressful near the end of the term when all of the students in a class are fighting to get some alone time with the materials. Also, these books are generally not textbooks that one could purchase if she wanted to, so the library really is the only option. And, professors reserve the right to add texts to the required list later in the semester if he or she chooses! While I recognize that this certainly cuts down on expenditures for students, part of me wishes I could just hand over my usual $400 in the school bookstore and keep my peace of mind!

Adding to this confusion is the structure of the semester. I wish I could list my daily schedule for you by saying that every Wednesday I have this class, every Thursday, this one, but that just is not possible. The problem is that, true to Indian fashion, my class schedule is a confusing web of various courses that meet at irradic times, yet still somehow synchronize to produce a harmonious blend of everything required for the semester. Let me give you an example: Today, Friday, I met with my Social Work Practice Perspectives course for 4 hours. The next time this course meets is next Saturday morning, but only for 2 hours. After that, we will not meet again until sometime in late November to early December! Looking on the bright side though, it looks like I will have plenty of time to complete my readings for that class!

Beyond school, I am also in the middle of moving into my apartment. Next week I will begin living in a small place about 15 minutes walk from campus. In total, there will be 5 or 6 of us sharing the apartment: 3 girls from Nepal, and 1 from Bangladesh. I am really excited about my new roommates. They are really sweet girls, and all speak Hindi very well, so I know that will really help me to learn the language here. However, as I am sure you can imagine, moving in India is not simple at all, so I am a little overwhelmed for the time being. I will try to write again soon, and will do my best to have pictures to go along with my musings. Until then, have a great day!