Study Abroad

Art and Culture of India

I had no idea what to expect when I signed up to go to India. This was my first time out of the country so I was nervous and excited for this experience. On the plane ride to India, I sat next to an older Indian man who was drunk the whole time. He was rude to me and acting very strange. I was uncomfortable, but looking back on it, some of the things he did were pretty entertaining for me. I was very glad when the flight was over and when I saw familiar faces and was saddened that some of my classmates also had bad experiences that were worse than mine. It was also dark when we arrived so on very little sleep in a new place, it was unsettling. When we got to the place we were staying, it was cold and dark and it was difficult to go to sleep. I eventually got some sleep and had to wake up early to start the day. When we woke up and toured the place we were staying at, my whole perspective changed. It was bright and beautiful and filled with art that made you feel at home. The first half of our trip was spent here where artists came to us to teach us traditional art styles and cultural practices. A few of the things we learned were shadow puppeting, sanji, and palm leaf bindings. My favorite was creating the palm leaf bindings and I did my final project on it. I tried to upload it, but it exceeds the file size so here is my creative self reflection from the project.

Download [12.89 KB]


When we traveled to another part of India, we learned other forms of art like block painting and dyeing of materials. We did a combination of both when we got to make a design on a scarf by block painting and then dyeing it. It was one of my favorite things to learn about because they taught us about the chemistry involved in the pigments used. There’s a lot more chemistry in art than you would think.
When we got to site seeing and exploring cities and such, it was crazy how many differences there were compared to America. There was a lot more poverty on the streets and you could tell a difference in homelessness. In India, the physical conditions of the homeless were much worse due to the pollution and contamination of the environment. It was sad to see. Since we were foreign to them, they were more attracted to us because they thought that we would give them more money or food. You just had to learn how to ignore it which was difficult because we felt sorry for them. There were many instances where I was uncomfortable.
The food was great because I love spicy food. They toned it down most of the time because they saw that we were Americans, so I was a little bummed at that part. Eating with your hands is more common in India. I also thought it was interesting that you shouldn’t just buy food from anywhere because it could be contaminated because of how bad the environment was. we had special water coolers with filters in it to have safe drinking water. At the restaurant associated with the Taj Mahal, a chocolate cake for someone’s birthday gave everyone who ate it food poisoning. That was not fun especially because it was a couple of days before we had to leave.
Overall, India was a great experience where I learned so much about a culture that I knew nothing about. The uncomfortable experiences made me grow as an individual and realize that it’s okay to be uncomfortable because you will always gain something from it.