M2 Travellers and Tourists
I am trying to figure out, what this blog should be like - an Indian student's guide to Melbourne city? Choosing Universities, Filing papers, choosing subjects .No way, don't expect that, for I didn't live through that process. Maybe I'll put in pointers towards that too wherever required.
Year 2001, the third and final year at the Journalism Programme at Lady Shriram College comes to a close and I am offered a chance to spend a year at La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia as an exchange student.
Wow. This is something new and different and so I chose to go, although I had no dreams of living in a country other than my own, didn't apply to foreign universities but I was curious to see ‘the world’. And this wasn’t going to be The United States of America or the U.K that were more familiar in my knowledge. This was Australia. What did I know of the Continent other than the cricket team. Nothing! Precisely the reason to take it up!
This would be an adventure that i secretly dreamt of. Of course there would be ‘responsibility’ representing college and my country. Now, even that would be a challenge and something to look forward to.
But, I had other reasons that I shared with none, I would get a chance to be so far away from the much protected and disciplined home that I was brought up in. Now would be this be a good thing – I didn’t know but that’s what I wanted.
I would also get the chance to choose what to study. Choice – something I had to constantly fight for in our kind of upbringing and education system where you are expected to live as per system or rebel.
And finally, it was a scholarship so it would be paid for and the parents would be happy :)
So the second tryst with choice was (the first was choosing to go..remember) to choose my subjects. I chose to further my interest in media and communications with subjects from the 'Media Studies' course, that included Compulsory media theory and subjects of my interest - The New Media and Radio.
And of course, most importantly as i mentioned earlier, I would have a room of my own – now this I couldn’t give up at any cost. In modest middle class Indian lives one learns to share room at home and in colleges and not complain about it. But I was being offered space of my own and this I couldn't give up :)
Since this was meant to be an adventure, I didn’t want to overload my mind with too much of information that would remain just facts and figures at that stage, but some details that I read would make sense later, for instance when you hail a taxi you take the seat in the front next to the driver – there’s no feudalistic class system of being chaperoned where the driver drives while you take up the backseat. Why would this be, i wondered. I'd find out as i get on with the TRAVEL.
So, finally coming to the Heading of this post. "Travelling' - the idea of "travelling", I must acknowledge is something i discovered through this experience.
I was familiar with tourism, you travel to places (other than for work)- it's a pre-planned experience, you know where you will stay, for how long and the places you will visit. so a 100 people visit the same city, stay in the same hotels, see the same pre-determined tourist spots, often bring back the same souvenirs and often a picture of them clicked in front of the tourist spot in the same pose...now this wouldn't, couldn't happen to me...
I had to 'travel' and I am glad i did......
PS:
the fonts are playing up, i hope this post shows up alright and ...the cybercafe is shutting down..10pm IST...good night!
I am trying to figure out, what this blog should be like - an Indian student's guide to Melbourne city? Choosing Universities, Filing papers, choosing subjects .No way, don't expect that, for I didn't live through that process. Maybe I'll put in pointers towards that too wherever required.
Year 2001, the third and final year at the Journalism Programme at Lady Shriram College comes to a close and I am offered a chance to spend a year at La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia as an exchange student.
Wow. This is something new and different and so I chose to go, although I had no dreams of living in a country other than my own, didn't apply to foreign universities but I was curious to see ‘the world’. And this wasn’t going to be The United States of America or the U.K that were more familiar in my knowledge. This was Australia. What did I know of the Continent other than the cricket team. Nothing! Precisely the reason to take it up!
This would be an adventure that i secretly dreamt of. Of course there would be ‘responsibility’ representing college and my country. Now, even that would be a challenge and something to look forward to.
But, I had other reasons that I shared with none, I would get a chance to be so far away from the much protected and disciplined home that I was brought up in. Now would be this be a good thing – I didn’t know but that’s what I wanted.
I would also get the chance to choose what to study. Choice – something I had to constantly fight for in our kind of upbringing and education system where you are expected to live as per system or rebel.
And finally, it was a scholarship so it would be paid for and the parents would be happy :)
So the second tryst with choice was (the first was choosing to go..remember) to choose my subjects. I chose to further my interest in media and communications with subjects from the 'Media Studies' course, that included Compulsory media theory and subjects of my interest - The New Media and Radio.
And of course, most importantly as i mentioned earlier, I would have a room of my own – now this I couldn’t give up at any cost. In modest middle class Indian lives one learns to share room at home and in colleges and not complain about it. But I was being offered space of my own and this I couldn't give up :)
Since this was meant to be an adventure, I didn’t want to overload my mind with too much of information that would remain just facts and figures at that stage, but some details that I read would make sense later, for instance when you hail a taxi you take the seat in the front next to the driver – there’s no feudalistic class system of being chaperoned where the driver drives while you take up the backseat. Why would this be, i wondered. I'd find out as i get on with the TRAVEL.
So, finally coming to the Heading of this post. "Travelling' - the idea of "travelling", I must acknowledge is something i discovered through this experience.
I was familiar with tourism, you travel to places (other than for work)- it's a pre-planned experience, you know where you will stay, for how long and the places you will visit. so a 100 people visit the same city, stay in the same hotels, see the same pre-determined tourist spots, often bring back the same souvenirs and often a picture of them clicked in front of the tourist spot in the same pose...now this wouldn't, couldn't happen to me...
I had to 'travel' and I am glad i did......
PS:
the fonts are playing up, i hope this post shows up alright and ...the cybercafe is shutting down..10pm IST...good night!
