Welcome

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Well family and friends, it feels like ages have passed since I left home. It was only a week ago that my parents dropped me off at Gustavus Adolphus College (GAC), so that must mean that a lot has happened. Here we go:

As most of you know, I’m spending the fall semester in Bangalore, India. I am with a group of 19 people, 5 Concordia ladies, 13 Gustavus students, and a philosophy professor from GAC. Our program is called Social Justice, Peace, and Development and we are partnered with and NGO called Visthar (www.visthar.org). Throughout the semester we will be based on Visthar’s beautiful 25 acre campus; it is our place to call home when we go out on trips and field studies. We’re living dorm style, everybody has one roommate. Each room has an attached bathroom, closets, two desks, and beds complete with mosquito nets. We had all been told to expect to was hour clothes by hand, but new this year at Visthar are washing machines! Our accommodations have far exceeded our expectations.

We are becoming familiar with the campus and our new surroundings. It’s taken a couple of days to get over the jet lag and adjust our stomachs to the new food, but thankfully our first few days have been fairly low key. Saturday included a tour of Bangalore and lunch at a Pure Veg restaurant. Sunday we went to church with David (co-founder of Visthar); it was extremely interesting to see Christianity where it is the minority and observe how it meshes with the local culture.

Today we had a traditional welcome ceremony and the inauguration of our program. The girls from the Bandhavi program (which I’ll explain in my next entry) presented us with flower necklaces and painted bindi on our foreheads. We all took turns lighting candles as the girls sang about the significance of light. David wished us well on our spiritual and intellectual journeys, and then the girls performed a play for us about the meaning of freedom. “India gained its independence 60 years ago,” they told us, “but a country whose women are not free, is not free.” The spirit of these young girls is impressive, and it was a very moving ceremony.

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Photos

Bandhavi Girls
Some of the girls who participated in our welcome ceremony.

Roommates
My roommate, KatyAnna, and me at the welcome ceremony.

Comments

[Dorothy Graff]

Hi Mallory,

[Dorothy Graff]

thanks
Hi Mallory, Thanks for emailing me about your blog site. This is a great way to let us all know what is happening with you. I will check it often and look forward to hearing about your adventures in India. Have lots of fun and study hard,ok? Love ya~Aunt Dorothy

[Megan]

wow
sounds like you have more space there then concordia!!! and no washing clothes by hand... sweet! well, it seems u have already experienced so much and such little time..