Indo-French EXCHANGE - REfLECTIONS

The Indo- French exchange took place in the months of February and March. First, the French students came to Mumbai for a week. They spent the last 3 days living with us in our houses in order to gain a first hand experience with the Indian culture, food, clothing, etc. For the first 4 days, we visited the villages Hasachipatti and Kumbhargar. There, all of us worked as a team to help improve the lives’ of the villagers. Having only visited Kumbhargar, my experience there was unparalleled. On the first day we made mud houses by thoroughly mixing red soil, sand, gravel and water and then pressing it into the allocated areas for the walls. On the second day we worked on plastering the toilets by first actually making the cement and then learning the skill of plastering it. Finally we also gave out solar lamps to all the villagers. Overall it was a great learning experience for me and I was so touched that I could reach out to people who required the much-needed help we gave them. Further I also felt we benefitted from the collaborative teamwork that made our work faster and more efficient

The second half of the exchange involved us visiting France. We lived in Maisson-Laffite, where the school l’Ermitage was located. This was an extremely enriching experience as we got to live the French culture by eating the food, speaking the language and most definitely visiting the historic and mesmerizing museums and monuments.

On the first day we went sight seeing around the town. The following day we visited Champs Elysees and shopped. On the third day we went to Euro Disney and thoroughly enjoyed the rides and attractions. The next day, saw the magnificent Eiffel Tour and also the entire city of Paris from the top level. We then also went on a cruise of the river seine and learnt of all the architectural marvels by the seine. On the 5th day we visited Musee d’Orsay and saw the stunning post impressionist paintings. Being an art student I was completely absorbed in all the brilliant masterpieces that surrounded me. We then also saw the beautiful Sacre-Coeur. The following day we put up a bilingual cultural presentation for the primary school. We taught them about our languages, culture, yoga, clothing and art. We also taught them how to wear a saree and distributed bindis. The children were delighted by this. Finally we also danced for them on traditional Indian songs. We also got the opportunity to visit the palace of Versailles, which was an unforgettable experience. It was like a ride through history, which fascinated all of us. Finally on the last day we visited the Louvre and saw the brilliant and ancient artworks. We were lucky to get a guided tour from one of the teachers of the school who made it even more memorable for us. And lastly we visited the Notre- Dame. Its architecture took our breaths away and it was simply marvelous.

This exposure taught me a lot. It made me sensitive towards a foreign culture and made me learn from its different history and culture. I also made several new friends. All in all this Indo- French Exchange was an extremely enriching experience for me and I have walked away from it as a more rounded person.

Ayushi Gupta
IBD 1