Although it was not my first time in Asia, India was extremely different from any of the experiences I have made in other countries. As a European, you can only understand the way things work and the rules that exist (or do not exist) once you have been there yourself. It is precisely because it is so different that India has always appealed to me, especially because of the incredible diversity of culture, nature and the people who live there.

Therefore, I applied for a DAAD-funded scholarship at Bharati Vidyapeeth University in Pune at the beginning of 2020. I soon had my interview, received my acceptance letter shortly after, and in July of the same year I was planning to start studying for three months at one of our partner institutes in Pune, India. Unfortunately, my original travel plans quickly evaporated due to the worldwide pandemic, and the conditions in both India and Germany meant that I had to put the idea of studying in India on hold for a year and a half. However, the continuous support from Indian and German professors, the constant contact with the International Office and, last but not least, my personal persistence was to pay off. Almost two years after my application, the visa had arrived in time, the flight was booked, and the start of the journey drew nearer. Shortly after Christmas I was finally due to start on 29 December 2021.

During the next few weeks, I mainly worked on my master’s thesis with a focus on modelling hydrological ecosystem services. Travelling was not really an option in January due to the high COVID case load in India. The support I received from staff and students at the institute during my time in India helped me to progress productively with my master's thesis. After about a month, the situation related to COVID gradually improved and, in addition to smaller and larger trips and excursions, I discovered the city more and more for myself. In Pune, everyone gets their money's worth, whether it's seeing the many sights such as temples and historical forts, enjoying street food at one of the many food stalls or simply standing on a street corner with a chai and watching the hustle and bustle. Especially with my academic background in environmental science, I was particularly taken with nature and its foreign flora and fauna, such as hornbills, chipmunks, and monkeys.

For the most part, I had very good experiences during my time in India. The Indians I met were all very kind and helpful people and the exchange with them offered many new perspectives and horizons. Nevertheless, I also have to say that there were some things I first had to adjust to, especially at the beginning. Giving up the German compulsion to control things and instead getting used to the fact that not everything can be planned in advance and that things sometimes take a course that is unusual for us Western Europeans can be quite challenging. You should definitely be aware that everything is entirely different here to what you are used to coming from a Western European country, the culture, the food, the traffic, the people.

And even though the time in India was not always easy and carefree, I would definitely not want to miss the friends I made and the experiences I had there. The acquisition of intercultural competence, an improvement in my language skills as well as tolerance and independence - these are just some of the soft skills that I was able to learn or deepen on site. I also learned a lot about myself during my time in this new environment and can only recommend everyone to take the step into the adventure that India is. I am really looking forward to coming back to Pune after having my master’s degree finished, meeting my friends again and, above all, getting to know even more places in this unique country.

For this exciting and instructive experience, I would like to thank the DAAD as the funding agency, and also the responsible persons at the Department of Geography at the University of Cologne and the "Bharati Vidyapeeth Institute of Environment Education and Research" as my host institute in Pune.

All Photos: Anna Klaverkamp