Story by Zane Dziļuma

If you are a bit familiar with the AIESEC processes, you know that before going on an exchange, you are supposed to go through an Outgoing Preparation Seminar (OPS) that will give you the basics about the exchange, representing your country abroad, and, of course, the culture shock. I must say that I’m very grateful to AIESEC Riga for organizing a good OPS before I left, because even though a presentation can never prepare you for the real thing, I’ve seen too many times here in India what it can mean if an intern comes without any preparation (indeed, there are countries that do not practice an OPS).

I’ve just hit the 6 month mark in my internship in India/Delhi, and I must admit that it hasn’t been easy all the time. In my 5th month here I felt that I’ve had enough of everything and I was ready to go back home to Europe and never come back to the Indian subcontinent, and then in one day everything changed and I realized how blessed I am to be having this experience here – and after celebrating my 6th month here by paragliding in the Himalayas, I am ready to make my remaining months here as colourful as possible.

Culture shock is something you can read a lot about and think you understand it, but only when you experience it on your own skin, you get the idea what all the scientists and travelers are talking about. Sure, moving to a different culture and country is not easy, and moving to a culture that is 180 degrees different from what you’re used to is even less easy. From my experience I feel that the culture shock is not something that will come on one day, linger for a few weeks and then leave you either frustrated or adapted – no, it’s a continuous process of being exposed to small everyday events, adapting to them and getting frustrated about them, and questioning everything that is happening around you. For me this process is still continuing and I’ve been shifting from love to hate and again love with India constantly. And believe me, it is worth it! In the process I am learning a lot about myself and I am discovering qualities that I did not know I have in me. There is the beauty of personal growth, going through a whole spectrum of emotions and learning how to deal with new situations and crisis.

As cheesy as it might sound, you have to keep an open mind to be able to deal with your new environment, and I know myself how difficult this is at times. I’ve caught myself so many times thinking “Why am I the one that has to adapt, why can’t the people hereact normal and stand in a queue, for example?”. But what is normal? It’s not the western way of life that is normal for the majority of the population of our planet Accepting that there are things that you cannot change is another lesson to learn, and it took me some time to accept that the bus will not start moving faster just because I want it to or if I shout at the driver – I might as well be knocking my head against the wall, the result would be the same, as the people have different way of making things work here.

At one point when I was going through my rough phase, a friend of mine reminded me of the simple truth – “Noone asked you to come here, it was your choice – if you don’t like it, leave!”. And that is so true – when you are choosing your country or internship, you have to know the reasons and motivation for doing it, as it indeed is your choice of coming into the new country and adapting to it instead of waiting for the country (a country of 1.2 billion people in my case) to adapt to you. My time in India has made me understand how much I love Europe – and that is another learning point for everyone of us here: even if you understand that your new country is not made for you, you learn to appreciate your own country much better and at least your government will be happy about someone returning back, right?

Dealing with problems is never easy, and especially dealing with problems in a culture you don’t understand or in a country where you don’t speak the language. Just as you learn how to cope with something, it changes again. Just as I got used to the Delhi heat of +45’C, the monsoon started. As I got used to the hot and humid conditions, the monsoon ended. Now my challenge is to understand that +25’C in October actually is warm and I don’t need a sweater yet. When you learn how to live without a stable internet connection, the water supply system breaks down. When you adapt to that, the electricity cuts become an everyday issue. On a day when everything seems to be working, you start looking for other things that might go wrong, and when there’s nothing wrong, it just calls for a fiesta!

India has the highest number of internships available, and I’d certainly say that it is worth taking the plunge! India is not for everyone, but you will never know if you are made for India until you try it. The contrasts between the rich and poor here are downright visible and the scenes you see in the “Slumdog Millionaire” are not fiction, but the everyday reality of a vast population of India, but the people here have learnt how to make most out of what they have. And by the way, it is very easy to try out the vegetarian lifestyle in India and play your part in reducing your carbon footprint

India is the land of contrasts and incredible beauty! As challenging as it can be, it is not easy to find an intern who would regret trying out the India experience.