Category: Housemates

Claire: Learning, Jodhpur, and Saying Good-bye

I’m learning a lot at my internship. The language barrier is still tricky, but it gets better everyday. My co-workers teach me hindi at lunch. I can count to ten now! I’ve been working on my AutoCAD skills, and re-drafting floor plans and sections in 2D. My supervisor told me to alter the plans, hatchings, and furniture layouts as I see fit. I think the first few weeks will be me practicing, observing, and asking questions, and hopefully the following months I’ll be able to do work that directly contributes to the company (while continuing to practice, observe, and ask questions, of course).

This weekend a few roommates and I took an overnight train to Jodhpur. It was my first sleeper train experience, and boy, was it an experience. Our friend had taken the air-conditioned sleeper train before and thought it was too cold, so we took the non-ac train. The trains were crowded, but not as crowded as I imagined they would be, so I was happy.

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After a 5.5 hour ride, we arrived in Jodhpur at 8am, and went straight to Mehrangarh Fort. From atop the hill we took in the magnificsnt views of the entire city. Earlier when I had the thought you’ve seen one fort, you’ve seen them all- I take it back. This one was BEAUTIFUL, a sequence of courtyard after courtyard with strong style and intricate design.

Many of us were discussing how we felt the Mehrangarh fort was more beautiful than, dare we say it, the Taj Mahal. We had an audio tour, which was cool. Then we went zip-lining through the fort’s mountainous landscape! INCREDIBLE. MAGICAL. BEAUTIFUL. The company was called flying fox, and their course is Swiss designed and British run. We went on 6 different zip-lines, some going over water, some over parts of the fort. Spectacular views of the fort and the old blue city. We saw a couple sites where Batman-The Dark Knight Rises was filmed.

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Sunday was our roommate Sanne’s last day. It was hard to say goodbye. It’s amazing how quickly you can bond with someone when you’re experiencing new, exciting, occasionally uncomfortable, unforgettable, and unique moments together. We made plans to meet up in New York for spring break this coming year. I hope it works out!

Claire: Settling Into Life as a Jaipur Intern

I’m getting settled into my new life in Jaipur, and it’s very exciting! I’ve done some exploring of the city near the house and got some quality road crossing practice. It feels completely against human nature to walk out in the middle of a chaotic intersection with buses, cars, motorcycles, auto-rickshaws, and bicyclists zooming by you! Every time I’m convinced I will die. My trick is to buddy up with a local and follow their lead. Maybe after three months of practice i’ll be able to do it as casually and calmly as they do.

It has been fun getting to know the people I’m living with. There are girls from Finland, Switzerland, Holland, Germany, Austria, Brazil, and America. It is very international! I love that. We chat about simple things like our favorite foods from home, and our favorite music. Dani (from New York) and I go on and on about peanut butter and the other girls find it hilarious.I pulled out a giant jar of peanut butter form my suitcase that my mom insisted I pack, and my roommate from Vienna goes “That is American sized!”. We joke a lot together, and are always laughing. We also discuss more intense things like our education system, politics, and healthcare system at home. I am learning so many interesting perspectives and ways of life. It is very exciting!

The first day of my internship was on Tuesday. The head architect speaks great English, but the other workers barely speak any. Communication was a challenge, but it’s a great opportunity to practice hindi. My co-workers were really nice, even though we couldn’t verbally communicate; they brought flowers and sprite, and these indian sandwiches for a welcome party. I spent most of my time in AutoCAD refreshing myself on the commands, Hopefully I can learn quickly and be able to contribute to the company soon.

Our cook prepared lunch boxes for us. They are adorable and interesting looking. They are a thick insulated plastic with a screw off cap, and inside are three stacked metal bowls with little lids and a metal clasp holds them all together. In one was chipatis (indian flatbread), curry vegetables in another, and a hard boiled egg in the third. At work I learned that everyone shares their lunches. It’s adorable. All 8 of us put our metal canisters in the middle of a little table and ate together. They laughed as I tried to repeat the indian names for the food.

We’re heading to Agra this weekend to see the Taj Mahal! Cannot wait 🙂