I’m not sure how to feel.
It’s weird…
Being back home sitting on the same couch where I wrote my first blog post just two months ago after spending nearly 7 weeks in Bangalore feels “weird.” It is a mix of being glad to be back and spend time with family and friends before heading back to Santa Clara, but also missing the people, places, and things that I grew to love during my time in India and Sattva. I miss the chaotic, but occasionally serene rickshaw rides to the office every morning. I miss my team’s daily morning meetings where we set the goals and tasks for the day. I miss dosa (Indian food).
Yet, for all the things I already miss, I am also happy to be back home. There are some things which did strike me during my first few days of being back home as something I had usually never appreciated such as constant hot water or walkable sidewalks. My time in India went remarkably better than I had anticipated when I first read the “Congratulations!” email inviting me to become a Global Fellow. At that time, reading “congratulations” filled me with more anxiety, fear, and worry than anything else. I did not know what traveling to the other side of the world would entail or if I could handle all the responsibilities and worries that come with international travel.
Being back home, I cannot help to reflect and feel proud of what I was able to do this past summer. However, I also am not blind to the fact that simply having the opportunity to travel to India and work at a consulting firm for six weeks puts me in a very privileged place. My work at Sattva will stay with me for quite some time. The endless hours spent on summarizing client documents and creating PowerPoint slides only to be revised and edited three or four more times gave me invaluable experience and knowledge. I know that I ended my last blog post with some thank you’s; but, I cannot help in feeling I must repeat them. Thank you, Sattva, working for a company that has truly stayed true to its mission statement and values was refreshing and inspiring. Thank you, to every member of my team, you all are the reason why I looked forward to working day-in and day-out. Thank you, Tanya, for creating a program that truly helps students to grow by exposing them to new sights, smells, and tastes.
I learned that I am much braver and capable than I give myself credit for. I never had grand dreams of traveling outside the U.S. as a child and as I mentioned previously, was terrified at the thought of traveling to India when I first received my offer to become a Global Fellow. Being a Global Fellow has been one of the highlights of my time at SCU and gave me yet another perspective at which to view the world from in addition to gaining extremely valuable work skills.
P.S. This blog post is nearly three weeks late because I forgot to click on the very important publish button when I first wrote it. It had just been resting in my drafts section.
