Soham Roy

Q1) Can you describe a situation in which you felt it necessary to be an ambassador for your India? For example, has there been a situation in which you needed to clarify erroneous stereotypes or assumptions about our home culture? How did you handle that situation?

I felt the need to be an ambassador of India during the "Les Journées Internationales" - an event organised at INSA Lyon where exchange students are allowed to promote their home universities. Since people often have reservations about coming to India, it was necessary to break stereotypes. A misconception they have is that they would face language problems in India - whereas almost everyone in Indian universities is good with English.One of the biggest stereotypes that foreigners have about Indians is that the caste system is still very much prevalent, whereas this is not true. Apart from the event I mentioned earlier, I also got the chance to interact with a classroom of freshers in one of their humanities courses where I clarified that this is just an erroneous stereotype. Many foreigners also told me that they believe that most marriages in India are arranged ones, but at that time I used to think that this is not true. Later upon checking some statistics, I realised that this was indeed true.

Q2) Did you experience a culture shock during the exchange? If yes, how did you deal with it? 

I did not face too much of a culture shock, because I had been to other foreign counties before. However, this was the first time I went to a country where everything was done in a language other than English - all official work and day-to-day conversations were carried out in French. So it was necessary to learn the language. Another oddity was that in Europe, everything operates during fixed hours and no one works overtime. So it often used to happen that shops used to be closed on weekends, and on weekdays we would get late after classes by when shops used to get closed! This made me plan my leisure time schedule better to enjoy the exchange program in the best way possible.

Q3) What are the major problems that you had to tackle while on exchange? Did they hinder your development or were they a part of your growth as an individual? (Keywords - Language, Accommodation, Transportation, Food, Staff, Profs, People in general etc.)

The main problem we faced initially was that of language, but we were able to overcome it slowly over time. Food was also a problem, because the one that was served in the university restaurants often did not suit our tastes: many-a-times it was too bland. Whereas, eating from outside used to be really expensive. These problems helped me become more adaptable and contributed to my growth: I learnt cooking some food items and would cook for myself when I didn't like the food in the university restaurants. On the other hand, the accommodation, people, staff, Profs and transportation systems were all quite pleasant and did not cause any major issues.

Q4) How has your exchange experience helped you to improve your skillsets, be it academic, extra-curricular, interpersonal etc.? Could you provide specific examples?

I did some CS courses during my exchange program (because they were the only ones taught in English) so they helped me learn some new things apart from my EE curriculum. I also did a project under a Prof there, and it was a good experience. Unfortunately, I did not participate much in extra-currics during the exchange program because I was mostly travelling or hanging out with friends in my leisure time. My interpersonal skills improved tremendously through the exchange program, because I was forced to come out of my shell and talk to people in a new environment. I overcame my introvertedness to a large extent.

Q5)Has your experience in the host country helped you gain an appreciation of how the world is interconnected on all levels (environmental, sociocultural and geopolitical)? If so, can you cite specific examples? 

Environmentally, I did not find too much similarity between India and France (or other European countries). Socio-cultural similarities are conspicuous through festivals: for example "La Fête des Lumières" of Lyon and Diwali of India both being festivals of lights. In the international cuisine dinner hosted by exchange students, we also saw how different kinds of ingredients used by people of different countries are used to produce similar tastes in various food items. I did not observe geo-political similarities as such.

Q6) What are the biggest differences you see between the college experience here and in your host country? What did you like the most/the least about your host country?

The engineering curriculum in France is a more general one, where the first two years are common instead of just one year like in India. This ensures that every engineer has a decent exposure to all fields (definitely more than what we get in one year). They are allowed to choose their major after two years. Also, most programs in France are of 5 years (integrated bachelor+master) which gives a more rigorous training. Another big point of difference is that there are special provisions in the degree for those who play sports well - they are allowed to get degree credits through sports. What I liked the most is that all exams used to be open book - which meant that rote learning was not at all needed. What I did not like is that there used to be long waiting lines in the university restaurants (unlike our hostel messes) and people would often cut lines.