Contact a Program Graduate

Justin Wilson, American University

Namaste! I’m Justin Wilson, a senior at the American University in Washington, D.C. I’m an International Media major and Political Science minor, so getting the chance to study in the world’s largest democracy and among an expansive free media corps was, needless to say, a really exciting opportunity. While in Pune, I interned with Daily News and Analysis, a major English language newspaper. I got to accompany journalists on their beats, participate in daily briefs with editors and even wrote a feature article that was published.

Pune is a great destination for a study abroad program, the city is known for its rich history and culture, and houses several reputable universities. The program center is right on FC Road, amid a variety of shops and restaurants and bustling with students. Super convenient for hopping in a rickshaw and heading out and about in the city. Once you get used to navigating the streets, there’s lots to do. I miss the days when I could leave class, hop in a rickshaw, and head down to Laxmi Road or climb up to Parvati Temple!
 

One of my favorite aspects of the Alliance program was being able to experience globalization from a wholly different angle. I found myself deeply fascinated with the city’s ability to blend their rich cultural history with rapid and, in many ways, momentous modernization. I had a really valuable experience studying with the Alliance. I know Pune pretty well, feel free to contact me if you have any questions, of if you’d just like to hear more about my adventures in India!

Julie McCormick, Carleton College

My name is Julie McCormick and I am an English major at Carleton College (Class of 2011). I went on the Alliance’s Pune program in Fall 2009—the very first Fall session. For a long time before finding the Alliance program, I had been utterly fascinated (some might even say obsessed) with Indian culture. This program was a wonderful choice for me because it allowed me to expand my horizons not only experientially, but also academically: as an English major, I had hitherto had very little experience with development studies and it also allowed me to continue my studies in Classical Indian Vocals with a wonderful local guru.

Pune has a lot to offer the international student: dozens of universities and colleges that create an educated and open atmosphere, beautiful green neighborhoods and lovely weather, exciting markets, access to world-class institutions such as the Film and Television Institute/Archives and the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, proximity to Mumbai without the overwhelming hustle and bustle of a big city (Pune, with a population of 4 million, is considered small), and most importantly in my mind, food that is so good it will change your life. Although living in Pune can be a delightful sensory overload and the classes offer insight and information, I will treasure most the relationships that I formed there with my host family and others that I met. These are the interactions that truly make studying abroad worthwhile, for they challenge your views, open your mind, and ultimately can lead to lifelong friendships.

Caitlyn Tivy, University of Denver

My name is Caitlyn Tivy, and I am a third year undergraduate student at the University of Denver in Denver, CO. I’m pursuing my B.S. in Molecular Biology at DU, and I’m minoring in Chemistry and Spanish, so my time in India served as a bit a break from my normal academic routine! I’ll be graduating this fall, so I am incredibly grateful to have had the chance to study abroad in a place as amazing as India before leaving college! I participated in the Alliance for Global Education’s Pune program during the fall of 2009; in addition to the required “Contemporary India” and “Research Methods” courses, I elected to take the “Social Justice” and “Nation, Caste and Gender through Film” electives. I also chose to live with a host family, which was an experience that I would wholeheartedly recommend to any student considering studying in Pune. The material presented in my classes, my interactions with professors, and the directed research I performed on violence committed against urban Indian women all served to radically change a portion of my worldview and to help me truly come to terms with what it means to be a woman outside of the global “West”. I traveled to some amazing places, which allowed me to see the true beauty and diversity of the Indian subcontinent, and I made a number of very close, life-changing friendships. I truly feel that this experience changed me for the better and will continue to serve as a catalyst for further development in the remainder of my life.

Elizabeth McKellar, University of Kentucky

Hi my name is Elizabeth McKellar and I am an English/Pre-Med major and History Minor at the University of Kentucky, Lexington. I was lucky to spend my spring 2009 semester studying with the Alliance for Global Education in Pune, Which is just one of the many great cities that India has to offer. There is no way to fully explain the effects the study abroad experience had on me, but with all the challenges that I faced in India I not only gained a deeper knowledge about myself, my country and just people in general. I loved every minute of it and will always remember my time in India as a pivotal moment in my life. There are so many memories that I wish that I could share but there is not enough time or space. There are all the stories about my adventures with girls in the hostels that my Host mom ran, course work and classes that were unlike anything that I had experienced in the US. Trips to the villages in the surrounding area of Pune, as well as trips to Mumbai both planned and unplanned. Living and studying in Pune was so similar to my time back at the University of Kentucky and at the same time so different. It was the similarities more than the differences that really made Pune become like a second home to me. Being in India opened my eyes to the positives as well as faults about my own country and culture while I fully interrogate myself into the wonderful and colorful culture that India has to offer. India is a country that has so much to offer, it’s vibrant and beautiful and will open up not only a person’s mind but heart as well. To anyone who wants to travel I will always recommend India, in such a big country with so many different landscapes, cultures, languages all in one big continent it is an explores dream. The Program that I feel will do the wonders of India justice is the Alliance for Global education. I was shown things that being a tourist would have been blocked off to me, I was given the opportunity from the alliance to travel around and explore on my own. I was given the chance to Intern at a NGO and take classes with well known and respected professors. The Alliance gave me everything and more and I believe it is because of them that I was able to explore and know India to its fullest. It is because of them that I know I love India as much as my own country and will defiantly be visiting in the future.