Exploring the facets of the City

Bangalore may be a haven for information technology, bio-technology, fashion and education but on the flip side, there are the never-ending traffic blocks, the autorickshaw drivers who fleece the commuters and the garbage dumps at every nook and corner. Yet a lot of foreigners come to the City, either on work, education or backpacking expeditions.

They find their way through the chaos and take back with them the colour, warmth, traditions, sights and sounds of the place. This is precisely what a few students from France, Germany and the United States of America, who have come on an four-month exchange programme to Kristu Jayanti College, are doing. They predict that their stay is going to be nothing less than adventurous. Metrolife caught up with the students and got them talking about their experiences in the City.

In addition to attending regular classes, the students do explore the City after class. One of the things that caught their attention when they landed in the City was the cows on the road. Reynald from France opines, “There was cattle straying on the thoroughfares. I was shocked because you never find something similar back in our country.”

Mathias has taken a liking for Indian food, “They say foreigners are intolerant to spicy food but I haven’t had a single meal here in Bangalore which is not spicy,” he adds.
The campus culture here is quite opposite to what it is overseas. Kathryn from the United States of America feels that the students back home aren’t as respectful to their teachers as they are here in India, “Here, the classes always begin with a word of prayer and students address the teachers with a lot of respect and obey them. In our classes, teachers are addressed by their first name and students talk and behave the way they want to,” she notes.

Commenting on the family setup in India, Rabea from Germany and Mechin Alexia from France feel that the concept of families is taken pretty seriously in India. “Teenagers move out of their homes as soon as they enter college and find their own means of survival. Some fund their own education as well,” observes Rabea. Mechin Alexia pitches in saying, “Parents support their children not only in their educational pursuits but even after they are married. They lend them a lot of emotional backing as well.”

Fr Augustine George, head of computer science and international studies, informs that the foreign students are here as a part of the exchange programme, which the college has with several universities abroad. “The programme is reciprocal in nature and we also have some of our students going overseas. Our students stand to benefit the most as they are exposed to an international culture and discipline,” he says.
Augustine sums up, “The foreign students take every assignment very seriously and are punctual when it comes to deadlines.”