About a month ago, Ryan and I were roaming around a market that we often frequent. We were honestly feeling pretty down and out and lonely about being the only Americans in our city for a while. We did what we often do when feeling down, went and ate some ice cream. :) After leaving the new found treasure of an ice cream parlor(which we will visit again!), we walked to the road to grab a bicycle rickshaw. To our left, also standing at the road, was a group of young westerners.
*Let me just say at this point that we are weirdos. Sometimes at the mall we see Europeans and we just stare at them and discuss if we should approach them or not, usually we discuss it so long that they have walked away by the time we decide. Anyways, we are weird now.*
I nudge Ryan on the arm and say, "look!! should we go talk to them." As we stand there thinking, I hear a voice behind me in a melodic American accent say, "Hey, where are YALL from?" I turn around and see a man who looks like an Indian(his parents grew up in India, but he has lived his whole life in Texas) speaking to me in an American(maybe even Texan accent). I think I stare for a few moments in confusion before saying, "America". The rest of the group(there are 6 of them) make their way over to us and tell us they are also from America. They are studying for the summer at the prestigious IIT Kanpur that is located just outside of our city. If you are interested in learning about IITK go here. These people are SMART!!
The whole meeting gets even crazier when they tell us what university they are from.....TEXAS A&M!!! No way, that is where Ryan went to school. We have just "randomly" bumped into a group of aerospace engineers(and one literature) majors from A&M...AGGIES in Kanpur!!
There was also another girl with them named Victoria who has been on a Fulbright scholarship from Princeton at IITK. She is a civil engineer. Really like this girl!! Sad we met her at the end of her time here in Kanpur, but it is amazing how God puts people in your life when you need them. So, even though we just got to hang out a few times, I am so thankful for her! Hoping she will miss Kanpur so much that she won't be able to stay away to long.....
We all return to the ice cream shop to chat a little bit and reminisce about Chuys, Chipotle, Rudys, and other wonderful Texas things :)
Apparently, A&M and IITK have just recently set up an exchange program during the summers. So, we look forward to seeing who comes out here in the future, and if you are an Aggie you should look into it :)
Life is so crazy :)
*Let me just say at this point that we are weirdos. Sometimes at the mall we see Europeans and we just stare at them and discuss if we should approach them or not, usually we discuss it so long that they have walked away by the time we decide. Anyways, we are weird now.*
I nudge Ryan on the arm and say, "look!! should we go talk to them." As we stand there thinking, I hear a voice behind me in a melodic American accent say, "Hey, where are YALL from?" I turn around and see a man who looks like an Indian(his parents grew up in India, but he has lived his whole life in Texas) speaking to me in an American(maybe even Texan accent). I think I stare for a few moments in confusion before saying, "America". The rest of the group(there are 6 of them) make their way over to us and tell us they are also from America. They are studying for the summer at the prestigious IIT Kanpur that is located just outside of our city. If you are interested in learning about IITK go here. These people are SMART!!
The whole meeting gets even crazier when they tell us what university they are from.....TEXAS A&M!!! No way, that is where Ryan went to school. We have just "randomly" bumped into a group of aerospace engineers(and one literature) majors from A&M...AGGIES in Kanpur!!
There was also another girl with them named Victoria who has been on a Fulbright scholarship from Princeton at IITK. She is a civil engineer. Really like this girl!! Sad we met her at the end of her time here in Kanpur, but it is amazing how God puts people in your life when you need them. So, even though we just got to hang out a few times, I am so thankful for her! Hoping she will miss Kanpur so much that she won't be able to stay away to long.....
We all return to the ice cream shop to chat a little bit and reminisce about Chuys, Chipotle, Rudys, and other wonderful Texas things :)
Apparently, A&M and IITK have just recently set up an exchange program during the summers. So, we look forward to seeing who comes out here in the future, and if you are an Aggie you should look into it :)
Life is so crazy :)
ice cream is our outlet too! we don't have ice cream shops here, so we buy a magnum bar and sit on the curb. don't feel weird about looking at other white people, i make up stories about where they're from or why they're here. when i admit that to others, i feel weird! :) glad you met some "locals".
ReplyDeleteumm....I live in a Western country where people think that you are even weirder if you do something like that. But once I met an American backpacker at a coffee shop and invited her back to my house .... really weird!
ReplyDelete