U students have an opportunity to see sugar canes and mustard fields and change their lives forever.
The study-abroad program on campus offers students an opportunity to travel to many different parts of India with the Kotwara Project, a three-week intensive study-abroad program, which has been at the U for the past few years. A meeting was held Wednesday afternoon in the International Center on the first floor of the Union to discuss this year’s trip. About 10 students attended, although many more students have shown interest in study-abroad opportunities to India, said Aaron Rose, study-abroad coordinator.
“In India, nothing’s filtered. You see life as it is. You see the real human experience and India is a great prototype of what goes on in this world,” said Ted Wilson, program director.
The actual trip is only three weeks instead of an entire semester. According to Jamie Sorenson, assistant program director, U students are often reluctant to travel abroad for an entire semester. But India is not the kind of country people can just pick up and visit-it’s good to go with a tour guide.
Students in the program are required to take a political science or an in-depth Indian history class as part of the program. They are also encouraged, but not required, to take Indian culture, religion, economics and language courses if possible.
In India, students will have the opportunity to spend five days teaching children sports, basic math and hygiene. The curricula are decided by each U student. They also visit government officials, holy sites and regular tourist attractions. At one point in the trip, they visit funeral pyres where families burn their dead. Although it’s a terrible thing to see, the students walk away transfigured by it with a deep respect for the event, Wilson said.
Other unique experiences students have is to be hosted in one village by India’s leading film director, Muzaffar Ali, and hear his views about the country. India is a difficult place to visit, Wilson said. When students first arrive, they notice it stinks and it hurts their eyes and ears. “It’s a cacophony,” he said.
“They do everything in public-everything. They don’t have anything to hide,” he said.
Michelle Sullivan, a veteran of the program who served as an intern in the Indian slums, said, “When you’re in India, every sense is stimulated by walking down the street. Being in India forces you to face all your demons-your views on poverty and education.” The trip is a real culture shock, Wilson said, but the students are put up in the best four-star hotels in India so they have a refuge to go to. But after half an hour, they realize where they are and want to go back out, Sullivan said. Sorenson said his most exciting memory was teaching the children and seeing the excitement in their faces when they welcomed him. Summer Zemp, a mass communication major, said she’s always wanted to go to India. “It’s such a dynamic environment. Nowhere else in the world is religion so ingrained in every breath and every movement,” she said.