India trip was a great experience for US student

Updated on: Monday, November 21, 2011

A shot stint in Hyderabad was an eye opener for US student Sheena Hall, who says her maiden trip to India was a great experience that helped her to shed many "misconceptions" about the country and it's people.

And for Singhmila Shimrah, from Manipur, studying in the US is dream come true and she is highly impressed by inpidualism in the American society. The two were sharing their experiences along with three other students from China, Iraq and the US who have participated in the international exchange programme.

The community base of the Indian society has impressed Hall, a student of the Howard University who studied in Hyderabad this Spring as a Benjamin A Gilman scholar. She says the trip was an eye opener for her, helping her shed most of her views about India.

"When I went to India, I was surprised by the community base, how everyone was kinder. When they asked you how you were doing, they really wanted to know exactly how you were doing, versus in America if I ask someone how they're doing, I'm just kind of like, 'How you doing'? and I keep walking. You dont really wait for the response.

"At first, I was uncomfortable, but I really liked it. I don't think I felt alone as much as I would have, I guess, if I was inpidualised," Hall told foreign correspondents. "Another thing I was surprised by was the misconceptions that Indians had when I was India of us Americans, and I think that surprised me. I think that, as Americans, we have misconceptions of every country as well, but you don't think
that people misconceive you.

So her stay also helped her to clear misconceptions about Americans among Indian people. "So when I went to India, everyone was kind of like, 'Oh, wow,' and had told me all these stories of things they had seen in movies. And I'm like, 'No, that's not true. 'Well, it's not totally true'. It's only a little bit.' So it was kind of weird to see that," Hall said sharing her Indian experience.

She says Indian her experience taught her to appreciate other cultures. "When I first got there, it was more of a culture shock. So I didn't really know how to handle certain situations. So I think that India was a big growth part in my life. It helped me grow, and it helped me learn how to handle stressful situations and really how to put myself out there in anything that I do. So that was a great experience," Hall said.

"Upon returning, I really had a gratitude for my own culture, also then a new gratitude for other cultures and seeing the beauty and learning about other people," she added. On the other hand Indian student, a Fullbright foreign student at George Mason University, Shimrah says in America she "learned to be inpiduals".

"I come from a very close-knit society where we have family and everybody," Shimrah said adding that coming to study the United States on a Fullbright scholarship is a dream come true. "I will take back that dreams and have an impact on the millions of life that has been going through the same as me,"
she said.

She says humbleness and humility of Americans impressed her a lot. "I've been here only for three months, to be honest. But what I love most about America is the humbleness and humility. I love that," she said. "They don't care whether I'm Mongolian, whether I'm black, whether I'm white. I love them for that.

In "America, they see me for who I am, not because of my background, not because of my parents, not because of the life that I have lived. They see my potential," Shimrah said.

India trip was a great experience for US student

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