Leveling-Up Your English Proficiency

After being in India for nearly a month, I think what impressed me the most about being here has been how elaborate the temples are. I knew quite a bit about Hinduism before I came, but I had no idea how creative the religion actually is. I guess it's something you have to experience rather than just read about, kind of like how the Taj Mahal was a couple weeks ago. Last weekend, I was finally able to go to the temple near where I've been staying and it felt like a much more genuine experience than the two I visited during my trip. If you haven't read about my experience seeing them, you can do so here . Oh, also I was able to take pictures in this temple! The first thing I noticed about this temple was how much more genuine it appeared. Whereas the temple's in Delhi seemed somewhat flashy as if they are meant to attract tourists--let's face it, they most likely are-- this temple appeared like it was actually intended for worship. Even the people around see...

I feel like my trip here has been the opposite of what you may expect such a trip to be. Typically, you would expect some grand experience--a climactic moment of sorts--to occur toward the end of the trip; something that the entire trip is leading up towards. Something that makes the entire trip memorable. However, in my case, this climactic moment occurred the second week I was here. If what I'm alluding to is not obvious, I'm talking about my trip to Delhi/Agra which you can read about here . Since then, I have not been doing anything more exciting than shopping, going out to eat, and watching a lot of Bollywood movies. All of these experiences have been great and it's been a lot of fun trying new things, but at the end of the day, no smaller experience I have could possibly surpass seeing the Taj Mahal. Even so, there has been one thing I've really realized these past couple of weeks, and I imagine this is something that every international traveler realizes a...

The past couple days have definitely been enjoyable. After what happened last week with the pen, I wanted to spend some time inside, but this weekend I was able to explore a bit. I went to the mall again with my friend and her family. I briefly wrote about my experience at the mall in my second traveler's log which, if you haven't read, you can do so here . This time, rather than personally experience something, I noticed something that really confused me. It was a large photograph of a woman near the registers at one of the clothing stores we were in. Now there were two things that seemed off about the picture: the picture itself and the two words written in bold text near the woman. I really wish I had taken a photo of the picture to share with you, but unfortunately, I was not thinking of writing this when I initially saw it. In fact, it wasn't until later that day after reflecting on it that I realized how potentially problematic the image is. Now you're pr...

Things have been rather uneventful since I returned from Delhi. The area in Bangalore that I'm staying in is pretty desolate. There's really nothing close by other than a couple restaurants and a temple. To make matters worse, the conditions of roads and the absence of sidewalks make walking anywhere an impossible task. My entry today will be a short one because I will only discuss one unfortunate experience and the lesson I took away from the incident. I had wanted to go see the temple near by where I'm staying, so my friend, with whom I've been staying with, and I decided to get a rickshaw to take us. After being told by three drivers that they wouldn't take us to to temple, which was strange considering how close it is, we decided to walk. The walk itself wasn't too bad. It only took about twenty minutes. Unfortunately, when we arrived at the temple we were told by a security guard that it was closed. No problem though! The walk back seemed quicker,...

[Note: I will be hyperlinking a lot in this entry so you can understand the details about the places I mention] This past week has been the busiest thus far. I went to Delhi  and Agra to go sightseeing. For those of you who don't know, both Delhi and Agra are in northern India. There are a lot of differences between life in northern and southern India, but a good way to summarize these differences is that northern India tends to be less developed than southern India. In fact, after going to Delhi I realize how similar life in southern India is to life in the United States. The first significant difference I experienced as soon as I left the airport in New Delhi. As soon as I stepped outside I felt a rush of hot air, and not the typical humid mid-summer hot air, but really dry, nearly unbearable hot air. If you have never experienced such air you could not possibly know how miserable it is. For the duration of my trip, the temperature teetered around one hundred deg...

The past few days have been eventful to say the least. I have experienced riding the Metro--which in my opinion is a much better experience than riding the Boston T, just saying-- going to a restaurant, going to a mall, and going to a food store. As you can probably imagine, all of these experiences were drastically different than my experiences in the United States. It was quite an interesting feeling to have trouble in these places. I imagine this trouble is very similar to what a person from India experiences when they move to the United States. One of my biggest intentions when coming here was to go to places I typically go to in the United States and experience things I normally do back home and see how they differ. As someone who enjoys to go shopping and likes to go out to eat on occasion, visiting a mall and going out to eat here were near the top of my to-do list. I still have a lot I would like to experience, but the over the past couple of days, I have been to two mal...

In my previous post, I promised that I would dedicate a separate post for those who wish to take their reading skills to a higher level. Some of you may need to do it for educational purposes while others may want to do so for their own personal satisfaction or desire. I fall into the second category. I have grown to love reading to the point that I wanted to read as many books as I could; this is what gave me the determination to pursue my degree in English literature and improve my reading skills.  I am sure that all of you have different reasons and motivations to bring your English proficiency to a higher level. Whatever your motivations may be, I am going to share some tips on how to take your reading to an advanced level.  As usual, I’m going to acknowledge the fact that these tips may not work for everyone and that any advice provided in this post is purely based on my own experiences and preferences. If you need any personalized strategies and advice for im...

I imagine the first couple days living abroad are the most difficult. Not only are you likely disoriented from travel, but there is the inevitable culture shock that probably happens within the first day or two. Realizing that you are in a completely different place than the one you're use to can be tough. Such as has been my experience in India so far. After a long twenty-one hour flight, I arrived at the airport at 2:15 in the morning. The last thing I wanted to do was talk with government personnel about my plans while in India, something that I had trouble doing given the fact that I was half   asleep. Then after filling out the necessary forms and getting finger printed, I had to endure a third security check before I could retrieve my luggage. This is when I really noticed how different everything was. I was surrounded by people who were all different. I think the most stressful part was realizing that there was a pretty significant language barrier between me...

Day 1: Flight from Boston to India Over the past several weeks we have discussed many important topics like common grammar mistakes made by nonnative speakers of English, the significance of having a mentor, and the importance of reading to improve your proficiency. For the next four weeks, I will be traveling to India, and by doing so, I will essentially be putting myself in the position of a nonnative speaker who comes to the United States. Culture shock has been a term we have used more than once because of how relevant it is. Perhaps there is less of a shock for those who immigrate from European countries but for those coming from African or Asian countries, there are a lot of different social aspects that may take some getting used to. My goal through this journey to India is to experience culture shock firsthand, and more than that, I hope to be confronted with challenges because of my ignorance in their cultural nuances. I feel confident in saying that I am an expert in...