Currently sitting in my room, sipping a cup of tea (one I wish was Chai tea with those delicious cookies from the classroom!), and reflecting on the past three weeks. What a time it was!

I am so grateful to have met the students from all over that I did, I certainly made friends for life. Looking back, there is not one thing I would change about my experience. It has been 5 days since we left India for America, and my fellow students and I are still in contact with our new Indian, Chinese, and Japanese friends! We miss them already!

In India, we got to explore so much in and outside of the classroom at K.L.E. Tech, in Hubli. Our first day off we explored a beautiful temple in downtown Hubli with some of our fellow students to show us around. We ended that day with shopping for new Kurtas!

Some of our other adventures while in Hubli included visiting a Rock Garden, with a MUD BATH! A few of us went in, with hopes to get bonus points on our grades (ha-ha)!!

Overall, Hubli was one of the best parts of the trip, and getting to explore our new friends’ native land was extra special, too.

Looking back at these pictures, I am missing everyone!

-Emily 🙂

Hello, again!

I was not able to post this in India, due to the lack of down-time…we really kept ourselves busy! After our orientation on Friday night when we arrived to K.L.E. Technological University, we got to know some of our fellow students from China, Japan, and India a bit more. It was really cool to have some time before we entered the classroom to get to know everyone a little bit.

On Saturday, we entered the classroom for the first time and officially met with our four other group members. We were all so excited to begin our work! The first couple of days consisted of us getting to know each other by completing small, yet effective classroom activities that we had to work together to solve.

As the days went on, we began our projects and got more in depth. We became more and more comfortable with each other, with lots of inside jokes! My group’s project was based on E.P. Carrillo, a cigar company based in the Dominican Republic. Our group had to decide whether or not a social media marketing method was worse or better than the traditional methods of marketing such as billboards, newspapers, and posters. Through thorough research, we decided that a mixture of both methods were a good idea!

After the two weeks in the classroom were up, it was finally time to present. Each group (14 of us groups!) prepared a 15 minute presentation to show the class what we had been working on together. It was truly incredible to see all of the hard work everyone put into each project.

Being in the classroom with everyone taught us so much more than just entrepreneurship or business. It taught us how to work with students from other countries, and bring our own cultures together to solve problems and create solutions. 

Hey there!

My name is Emily Jenkins and I am a junior at the University of Massachusetts Lowell studying Civil Engineering with a minor in the UTEACH program. However, right now, I am currently thousands of miles away from Lowell in Hubli, India!

Through the study abroad center at UML, I was able and lucky enough to attend this years Winter 2018 program in India. On December 27, 2017, I grabbed my bags and headed for Logan Airport in Boston, Massachusetts. It is currently December 30, 2017, and man, does that feel like years ago! So much has happened since then!

My plane took off around 4:30 PM (Boston time), and I landed in Frankfurt, Germany around 5 AM (Germany time). I then had about a 7 hour layover until we took off on the next plane and headed for Bangalore, India. We arrived in Bangalore around 2 AM (India time), and took off on our bus around 5 AM (India time). With a 7 hour bus ride and a couple of stops in between, we arrived in Hubli, at KLE University! And, after 37 hours of traveling, our journey had ended, only for the next one to begin!

With jet lag knocking on my door, we proceeded to Orientation where we met all the students we would be working and studying with. This included students from Japan, China, and India, too! Everyone is so nice, and I can tell I will be making life long friends.

I cannot even begin to explain my excitement for this trip!

P.S.- A couple of travel tips if you’re interested in going to India:

1.) Bring a comfy blanket and towel (or two).

2.) I wouldn’t bring a lot of cash in your travels, there is ATM’s in the airport and I would get your rupees from there!

Will update you, soon! -Emily 🙂