Submitted by Naomi Major on the 2016 winter session program in India sponsored by the Department of English…
Free Tibet
After spending a few days in the bustling city of New Delhi, India, we traveled by plane and car to the much more quaint hillside town of Darjeeling. On our second day there, we visited the town’s Tibetan Refugee Center, the oldest and largest facility of its kind in India. Its main purpose is to provide resources such as housing and economic opportunities for people who have been displaced by China’s occupation of Tibet, although part of the center remains open to the public. Our group roamed the grounds, watching Tibetan women carpet weaving, buying handmade items from the center’s store and even playing basketball with a couple of locals. As we did so, we noticed various flyers calling for Tibetan independence and global outrage against China’s occupation hung side by side images of and quotes by the Dalai Lama. Visiting the Tibetan Refugee Center was my favorite part of our stay in Darjeeling; it was such a unique opportunity to be able to speak with Tibetan refugees in person and hear their stories firsthand. It truly gave me a deeper appreciation for how the center’s residents have managed to create entirely new lives for themselves in a different country while still remaining fiercely and unapologetically proud of their Tibetan nationality.
Homestay
There’s only so much you can learn about a people’s culture and lifestyle by exclusively staying in hotels and hostels, eating at restaurants and visiting tourist destinations. Thanks to the nature of my study abroad program, I’ve been given the unique opportunity to stay with a family in Guwahati, India for a few nights, allowing me to get to know a group of people who I probably would never have come into contact with otherwise. To be perfectly honest, homestay is a little uncomfortable. It’s unfamiliar and kind of overwhelming. But those are all good things; it’s pretty hard to grow as a person by staying in your comfort zone all the time. In fact, one of the reasons I decided to study abroad was to take advantage of new experiences, even if that meant feeling a little uneasy now and then. I’m already taking the leap of traveling in India for an entire month, I might as well jump in. Besides, it’s pretty neat to have woken up the last few mornings next to a rooftop garden overlooking the town.
