Hey guys,

let me make a little introduction of who I am.... My real name is Indy, same as written as on my user name. I'm a newbie here. Recently, now I'm stay in India, as a student of Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, Kerala. I'm doing my bachelor of art (B.A) of Economics.

have you guys ever wondered why I should choose India for my scholarship program of study? well, let me share my experience here and the merits and demerits of staying in India.


Once, I was a student of Tourism Destination in STP Nusa Dua Bali. after 6 month in my first year of studying tourism, my mother offered me a scholarship program from ICCR (Indian Council Culture Relation). It's a full scholarship, when all of my live expenses, including all school fees, book fees, health insurance, even my visa application is paid by the government of India. So I tried to apply it.

when I applied it, I felt like hopeless. I mean, all of my rival is such a master student program - which they had make their own thesis or anything like that. But, 4 month after I submitted the application, the surpised come to me when I get called from Indian Embassy in Bali.

"Good morning Ms. Hindy. your application of scholarship has accepted by ICCR. You are therefore, hopefully confirmed your willingness to study in India at least on 12 July. I will send you the nomination letter to your email soon." if you are in my position, what will you feel? when you just wake up in the morning, with half awaken, then you get that call. Don't you feel like you are still sleeping? that is what I feel that time. feeling like I still sleeping and not yet had awaken. it's just feel like it was a dream. but yeah, it's a dream, which is (finally) comes true.

actually my parents are not really allowed me to study abroad. beside, I'm still too young to go far away from my family. I was 19 years old when I nominated by that scholarship. on the other hand, who doesn't know about India? with a track record of highly sexual abused, extreme religion and extremely vegetarian, and the GNP of India still 2 times lower than Indonesia. but with all faith and believe of my destiny is in India, I departed to India at 31 July 2013. until now, it is my 6th month of my living in India. I domiciled in Kerala, Kottayam district.

1. English level in India is defined as medium level.so, if your English is cannot said as a bad level, eventhough it is not really good, it's a nice chance to improving your english to the very good one.
   
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2. life expenditure in India is very cheap. I got +/- 10,000 INR per month (P.S : 1 INR = +/- 200 IDR). until the end of the month, I can saving until 4,000 INR. another indication of cheap in India is, when you find a book from Cambridge publisher, the price might be at least 250,000 IDR. but here, a book from the same publisher, is only 400 INR (80,000 IDR).
   
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3. it's a very good stepping stone to get higher education in abroad. why it says so? because, if you are applying for a higher education in (especially) western conduit (for example, England) it will be easier for them to accept you if you are graduated from India. I don't know what's the reason. but I think it's because of India is a country with England ideology. another country which is have a same ideology is like Malaysia, Singapore, United Emirate Arab (Dubai), and most countries in Europe.
   
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4. it's a chance for you, if you are extremely wanted to know a "bule" deeply. studying in India means you can meet another international students from many countries whole around the world. when you are in your hometown, you might feel that another race are good/bad. but when you are here, you can see that the foreigner is a human too. he also bleeding if he gets injured. So, when you are in India, it means you are competing not only with 1,2 bill people of Indian citizens, but also another people from different countries. beside, you might feel like the world is integrated become one when you are meet them in one event as a foreigner students.
   
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5. it is a nice chance for you if you want to be independent and live by your own way. since I';m far away from my family, I learned so many things. I learned how to cook perfectly - from uneatable food until eatable one ; I learned how to manage my own finance - without help from the parents, I should learned how I manage this money so that it will long last until the end of the month; I learned a self defense and awareness - because we cannot trust anybody until 95%. so if you dreamed to be independent, just go out from your comfort zone.
   
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