Day one of the trip (or so we thought) commenced at around 9pm on Saturday the 14th of January. After days of packing and mentally preparing for a six week adventure in a foreign country, we all turned up to the airport to find that our flight was delayed until the next day. Although this…Continue Reading The Good With The Bad (But Mostly Good)
I have now spent just over one week away from home. I expected unexpectedness from this trip, but every single day I have encountered something that I never would have expected just one week ago! I’m going to share a few of my daily unexpected experiences with you below. Day 1: Upgrades Before we had…Continue Reading One Week Away!
Welcome back to another episode of Tea with Tia! I’m joined by Annelise Basham and Nic Ackland (be sure to check out their blogs as well aha). We discuss some hot takes on our time at an Ashram in Coimbatore, and then some holistic thoughts on mountains to round off 🙂…Continue Reading Willpower (and mountains!) – ep 2. Tea with Tia (ft Annelise & Nic)
Wow! It has been a journey to reach Mumbai: cancelled flights, running on 4 hours of sleep, navigating airports, and most importantly, sticking together as a group of 14 students! So let’s start from the beginning… it’s 10PM at Auckland airport. Waiting in the check-in line for our first leg of the journey to Kuala…Continue Reading A rollercoaster ride to Mumbai, India
There are an infinite amount of words to describe our first week in India, but one that comes to mind after exploring the streets of Pondicherry is colourful. From vibrant greens to rich golds and bright whites, we’ve been surrounded by every colour on the spectrum in our adventures in Pondicherry and Auroville. Pondicherry is…Continue Reading Senses of India- Colours of Pondicherry
Kia Ora! My name is Mai, and I am on the PMSA IndoGenius Reimagining India study tour! I have decided to write an overall reflection on this past week and cover some of the major questions and highlights alongside new things I’ve learnt in this short period of time! Our journey started off with more…Continue Reading Flying high and flying low in India
They say that India is an assault on the senses. For my first blog post, I thought I would share my first week in India with you through the sense of taste. Our first destination was the city of Pondicherry, which was a French colonial settlement until the mid 20th century. Pondicherry actually remained a colony…Continue Reading First Taste of India
We landed in Chennai after a couple days of flying, all tired but excited for the journey ahead (importantly, not a journey on a plane). We were greeted by a massive Indian flag in front of the airport, flapping lazily in the soupy warm South Indian air – it was our first proper look at…Continue Reading Unity in Contrasts
Culture shock: Culture shocks tend to be the things we can’t prepare for or foresee experiencing. Before embarking on the journey, I had done research and tried to keep an open mind. I roughly knew what the culture was like, the style of cuisine, and the level of poverty. I knew cows were sacred, dogs…Continue Reading Diversity and Culture shock
How long did it take you to get to India? We took: 1 shuttle taxi from Hamilton to Auckland airport, 1.5 hours 3 flights 1 bus ride from Chennai to Puducherry, 5 hours … which finally took us to Puducherry, India! It was over 45 hours of travelling since leaving Hamilton. A longer trip than expected, with…Continue Reading What my Family has Asked me Since I Arrived