Being an Exchange Student in India

A fellow exchangee in Mumbai, Trevor Hlynski from Canada, made this wonderful video. It really provides an amazingly precise picture of the exchange student life in Mumbai - India!

मराठी बाणा (Marathi Bana)

On friday the 15th, my rotary club (RC of Mumbai West Coast) was hosting a fundraiser for 5 villages they adopted in Karjat and two other places. They were having a huge dance/play set up - मराठी बाणा - a quite famous musical showing the best of maharashtran culture. More than 150 artists were on stage and it was a marvelous show! Riina, Finland, and Beatriz, Brazil, had come with me and my family there, and we were all dressed up in saris (not the traditional maharashtran 9-yard saris though) and I wore my new Indian jewelry. We really enjoyed the show the dancing and singing was good - but the long monologues in marathi weren't exactly easy to comprehend. In the intermission we had a billion samosas - yum!


A great evening, and a lot of money were collected - for a very good cause!

One month and 26 days...

Now we're almost halfway through april, and i'm returning to Denmark on the 5th of june. I feel really weird about it... On one hand i'm really excited to go back to my friends and family and returning to my "normal" life. On the other hand i still feel like i belong in Mumbai, it's an odd feeling and it didn't really come before sometime in december, but now i actually feel like a part of this city, i'm not like an alien on a strange planet anymore - this is my home too!

My friends here are the best! and it's very hard to imagine that one of them, Beatriz, is going back to Brazil in only one month. It really made me realize how it's all coming to an end, and frankly i don't like that thought!

It's funny actually, in the beginning, the first two months especially, i felt like time was passing in slow motion and i really thought that a year would feel like a lifetime. Let's just say it snuck up on me. This morning i woke up and almost started panicking because i started thinking of this wonderful and fantastic year coming to an end.

Dont get me wrong, i miss my danish family and my danish friends and i am so excited to see them all again. My friends here, Riina and Beatriz especially, i hope to stay in touch with for the rest of my life. I want the magic of this year to continue forever.

Deep down i know that you cannot "have your cake and eat it too". But i really wish i could!

India win the world cup

Cricket Fever!

The 2011 Cricket World Cup was held in India! My interest in cricket didn't really start before the semifinals India-Pakistan (These two are sworn enemies!) It wasn't just a cricket game, it was a battle of honor !!! To most indians, it would be more important to win this game than to win the final.



Beatriz (Brasil) and Riina (Finland) had come to my place on tuesday to watch the game on the big screen that had been put up in my society. We had a popcorn machine, a sandwich maker and a guy making bhel (a typical street food). They were all geared to sit there from 2.30 pm. when the match began till around midnight when it would get over! Us girls had so much fun, we watched the first half hour of the game and then we went upstairs and made nachos with my host mom. We were just talking and talking and talking, then we ate some mango ice cream and talked some more. Then we went down and watched the last two hours of the game. India won! (of course)! And we went to Barista in Lokhandwala to celebrate with my host mom and some of the neighbors. It was crazy in Lokhandwala! People were dancing on the cars and on the streets, waving the indian flag and screaming from the top of their lungs! There was an awesome vibe and everyone was happy!



Then a couple days went by and it was saturday, the day of the final! India would be meeting Sri Lanka on the field! It was a tough fight and a many point of the match it looked as if Sri Lanka was about to win... But ultimately Dhoni hit a 6 and India won!
Everyone was jumping up and down, and the city was in euphoria! It was awesome. We went out driving and I hijacked an indian flag from to guys on a bike. So we were waving the flag screaming and driving around the suburbs which had all turned in to one big party! Finally we went back after 3 am. and I still (two days later) dont have any voice! AWESOME!!!!!!!!