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A class here at Christ University is a bit different than a class at Tech. First of all, getting through the gate (yes, it’s gated) is a much harder task. The dress code here is very specific and every day students have their entry barred. They are told to go home and change. The security guards are quite serious about upholding the dress code. Women must wear the traditional Salwar Kameez or Sarees and men must wear dress shirts and dress pants (ties are optional). No T-shirts, jeans, bare shoulders, or skirts.

Once you enter, there are additional rules: no listening to iPods (having headphones in) on campus, no sitting on any steps, no smoking (if you are a smoker), and a few other regulations to keep everything neat and orderly. In spite of all of these rules that I’m not use to, I find campus to be quite a nice place. It’s a little haven in a big city. Something quite important for a small-town girl like myself.

The roads and paths on campus are all tree-lined, so upon entering the gate you immediately notice a temperature drop. The shade can be such a relief on a hot day (most days)! Everything is kept very clean as well. There are garbage cans everywhere, and they’re in the shape of animals! It’s definitely a sight to see, but the message is clearly a good one: “We value our campus and wish to keep it beautiful.”

The students are all well-educated and from middle to upper-class families. This may not seem like an important detail at first, but it truly is; the more educated the Indian, the less they tend to stare at foreigners! This apparent lack of interest in my skin tone and/or origins can be so refreshing after walking the streets all day, haggling with shop keepers that are under the impression your pockets are bottomless. All of the students also have a perfect understanding of the English language, so communicating becomes a less arduous task. Now, any one of these benefits probably wouldn’t make the campus seem too terribly wonderful to me, but when you put them all together, I practically sigh with contentment.

So, back to classes. I am in separate classes as part of the USAC study abroad group, so I do not have any regular classes with Indian students. The classrooms used though are certainly different than those at Tech. First of all they are very small. The university itself is much smaller, so I’m sure that is a contributing factor. Also, the desks are not like our table-chair method at home, but more of a ‘prairie’ style. Benches that are connected to wooden desktops. They are surprisingly comfortable! A distinguishing factor for any Tech student would be the technology used. Some classrooms have projectors, so PowerPoint can be used, but many do not. Additionally, the chalkboards are all still literally chalk, and not the marker boards that we are accustomed to.

The most significant difference in classes, I feel, is the teaching style. Here at Christ University (and India as a whole I believe), professors simply lecture. There is no group work or class discussion. The teacher may ask a question concerning the homework or a past lecture, but he/she will call on someone to answer it. Everyone is expected to be able to answer every question, so forgetting to do the reading is not really an option. For the most part, it seems that both instructors and students take their classes much more seriously here. Education is highly valued and you do not go to college simply because that’s what everyone does.

So, I will try to keep the Indian spirit in mind while studying and doing my homework. I will try harder to appreciate my education, instead of daydreaming about the places I could be traveling in India. I will also try to keep in mind how much I appreciate the quiet, clean, calm of campus.