Back in Indiaaaa

Und für die armen Deutschen, die das Video wegen der Musik nicht angucken dürfen: Versuchts mal damit, das dürfte funktionieren <---- KLICK

My time in India - a questionnaire. #1

So. I came back to Germany. And, actually, I am about to return to India (Bangalore, to be exact), at the end of next week for an internship! I am working on this resume since my return. It is freaking hard! I did a presentation for my colleagues in university and I was told it was good, but afterwards I felt that I could not express and share what I have experienced during my stay in India. So. This is a new try.



I still tell everyone how much I love and miss India.

And still people keep on telling me how crazy my decision to go to India was. That they would never dare to do this. That it is too different, too scary, too dangerous. So I started thinking about the reasons.
We are always afraid of so many things, we are scared of giving up all our safety, of stepping out of a system, where all the big trouble happens in the news on tv, where everything is clean, everybody is looking healthy (and if not, we lock them away from sight), where we always know what will happen next, where the water is clean and we can pretend to save the environment by buying organic food, washing our clothes with washnuts and driving a car with a respirable dust filter.

Yes, I was scared before I went to India, too. But that was the reason why I wanted to go! To step out of this soft perfect bubble. To get away from "Don't do this, it is not healthy!" and "Don't do that, it is dangerous!" and "Let's not think too much about the world outside of what we know". Away from the safety of knowing everything.

Because to me, that is what India was all about.

Impressions from NID.

Please enjoy a short video I did about my time at NID. I am planning to do a video about our one month of travelling, too.

Looking forward.

As most of you know, I am back home, in Germany. I have to take care of my family, so I decided to leave India quickly. Which was extremely hard for me, especially because I was in such a hurry, I have the feeling that I couldn't say goodbye properly to people and country (to some of my friends I couldn't say goodbye at all!). Sooo I will try to return in summer for an internship. Let's hope that it works out.
I just want to say Thank You! to all the lovely people I met in these 5 months, I had the best time with you guys, I will keep the memories and take them always with me. I'll never forget what we had :)

I won't stop this blog though. I will try to finally write about our travels, and more about my time in Ahmedabad. Actually, being back sharpens my view on the differences between both our cultures, so there will also be one or two entries about what I have noticed during my time in India

So, what the previous entry had to much concerning pictures, the following one will have concerning text. Be prepared!

Hope to see you all again soon :)

A random day in Ahmedabad - in 96 pictures!

I got used to so many things that are actually different to Europe, I stopped wondering about most of them. But maybe you guys back home would find it interesting to see what I come across every day. I decided to photodocument one day. I clicked more or less randomly what I saw to give you an impression of how life in Ahmedabad and at NID is.

So, shall we begin?

First thing in the morning: Shower! Because it is fucking hot! I wake up and I am already sweating... It gets better with Palmolive, Indian walnut shampoo and herbal hair conditioner.

A matter of courtesy

To me showing respect to people comes with being polite. When you live in a different culture then your home country, it is not always easy keeping this standart, because rules of courtesy are different, and a lot comes with language. Unfortunately my Hindi is very poor, but I try my best.
So but how does it work over here? (This article does not claim to tell the universal truth or to be complete. India is a huge country and views may differ. And I can simply be wrong^^ So please do correct me!)

Chocolaty birthday!

I do have the best friends :) They did not only got me a super yummy cake from The Chocolate Room Cafe, they also gifted me a soft toy pony!!! How cute is that! (Although I can not wine about wanting a pony anymore now...) Biiig Thank you to Sarah, Dannie, Robert and Prasurjya again! Youre the best <3

Unfortunately there is this tradition kind of thing in India where you smudge cake into the birthday person's face... but I had my revenge :D We all had to take a shower... good that we have so many^^ Still I found cake in my ear(!!!) one day later!

 All pictures by Robert. Thanks!