International Experience - 1

My new partner eventually stopped meeting with me, which put me out of luck in terms of blog posts.  However, I thought I’d write about my experience of having two good friends at TCU who are from different countries.

My best friend and roommate, Anannya, is from India.  She grew up in Bombay and moved to Dheli when she was older.  I met her the first or second week of our Freshman year, and I immediately became interested in Indian culture.  The first time we had a movie night, she brought a bag of “Bhelpuri” with her—a spicy, grainy Indian snack.  I had never experienced such a wonderful combination of spices in my life, and I manhandled the bag from her, gulping down the rest.

All of Freshman year, we spent nearly every day together.  We would often go on long walks late at night, and she would tell me about the caste system, Indian traditions, food, and her experiences of going to boarding school.  I found the boarding school conversations extremely interesting.  Because of the British occupation of India, their influence remained.  Their boarding school was structured in the same way one in England might be. 

We began talking about me visiting India someday, but now I’m taking that dream much more seriously.  Already, I’m saving up money to go with her.  I would have places to stay, plenty of food to eat, and a raw cultural experience with my own tour guide. 

We communicated all summer with Facebook and Skype, and this year, we are roommates.  Since we live together now, I have been able to observe even more cultural differences, as well as similarities.  Recently, she became horrified when she learned that Americans spelled “fetus” without an “o.”  Aside from small details like that, and a lack of knowledge about the intricacies of American politics and history, Anannya is American to the core.  Growing up in India, she experienced American and British TV fully.  As a result, she understands a lot of cultural references.  She has even perfected a fake American accent, so most people here don’t know that she’s foreign!