Hi everyone!
I am Freek Soetenga, former student of Tilburg University.
I majored in Human Resource Studies and graduated in February 2010 in Tilburg. Of course I could have opted for a more common start of my occupational career, but I decided differently.
In 2007-2008 I spent one semester as an undergrad student at a American University and ever since I have felt the desire to go abroad, for a longer period of time, again. I feel like you really get to know the inhabitants and their culture when you live and work in a foreign country, as opposed to visiting
the same country as a tourist. I wanted something new, something different. Therefore I decided to sign up for AIESEC and try my luck with them. Soon I realized that India would be the best option for me. For many different
reasons, but mostly because I had heard so many fascinating stories about that place. I wanted to experience and see what it is like myself.
My coach warned me that several LCs in India are on a blacklist because they
hardly organize anything for foreign EPs. I decided to go anyway and two weeks after my graduation I landed on Indian soil. Well, to be frank, the LC is almost non existent. I met my contact person there only once, at work, just because the organization I worked for (Centre for Social Research, CSR in New Delhi) wanted them to come over because they also experienced some problems with that LC. To be completely honest, they did invite me twice for a
dinner party, but both times it was during the weekend. And weekends are there for you as an EP to explore the country! That is the good thing about AIESEC in India. They put all AIESEC trainees in 4 or 5 different apartments so you have always other foreigners around you to hang out with.
The downside is that you do not have any privacy really. We had to share rooms with one, two, three and at times even four other people. Two trainees had to sleep in the hallway, with just a little curtain to block the view. I was pretty
lucky because I roomed with a very nice American guy and we got along well.
Unfortunately our room did not have any windows, and just a fan to keep us ‘cool’. Just so you know, I am not complaining, I had a great time and I would definitely do it again, but I would not recommend it to anyone. I am trying
to give you a realistic picture of the situation. Anyway, at one point the thermometer reached 48 degrees centigrade and the warmer it gets,
the more likely it becomes that the power cuts out. One week there was some kind of construction going on, which resulted in four hour long
power cuts, every single day. I had to work that week and I spent an equal amount of time in a basement, a relatively cool place, to read a book and wait for the power to come back on..great!
Work. Of course I should also tell something about that aspect. What I learned in India that, and this is not just my opinion, but most other EP’s shared this, you should NOT go there if you want to expand your professional knowledge/skills. Most EPs were disappointed with their job and as a
consequence, changed or quit early. I did not end up being disappointed because I kind of expected this to happen. I, and I would recommend this to everyone, went there to get to know the people, the way they work and to experience what their daily life looks like.
To some extent I managed to do that and I am thankful for that. However, I would also like to tell something about my job.
CSR is an NGO that focuses on researching issues concerning underprivileged areas of society, restructuring gender relations and empowering women. I joined the research department to help them out with there ongoing and new studies, but, given my HR background, I was also promised that I would be responsible, together with a colleague, for setting up a HR department.
From day one I have been regarded as full-time employee. I started working
right away on different studies. This really reminded me of just a month earlier when I was still working on my thesis. What I am trying to say is that my daily activities were very similar, especially at first, to what I had been doing at home. It helped that I felt like I was working for a good cause. At times I was the only one in that department - there were no other trainees and just two other foreigners - and because they treated me as a regular employee, they did not give me extra attention or whatsoever. I did not find this a major problem, but I can completely understand if someone else would have felt lonely. If you are that kind of person, try to join an organisation with many other foreigners (not hard to find)
Luckily, this got better in my situation as well. At the end of April, beginning of May a lot of Indian and some foreign interns joined the organisation for the summer break.
Also I got to go to several conferences (of which some were completely in Hindi..) and into the field to conduct the questionnaires I had developed. This made things more interesting. My second part of the job, the
HR-related task, unfortunately never really materialised, except for some recruitment tasks.
One more thing I want to say about CSR is that I was surprised by the way they carry out their research. It is very unprofessional (and this goes for a lot of things in India) and often even incorrect. I really feel that I helped them out in that area. I finished some projects, got funding, wrote research proposals and papers.
At work, but even more so in daily life I experienced how bureaucratic and hierarchic the Indian society is. I can think of numerous examples. The caste system is still prevalent and everyone seems to be so afraid to lose his or her job that they will always live by the rules. For the most part people are sincerely friendly, but you have to be careful because you will also meet a lot of people
(more than for instance in Nepal and China) who will try to take advantage of you; especially when you act like a tourist. Do not wear shorts or sunglasses and try to learn some Hindi, this will be a big help. Oh, somehow, people that try to sell random weird stuff to you - which happens all the
time - never seem to understand that you are not interested in their product, instead they assume that they will have to lower their price. As a result they will follow you around for 40 minutes whilst shouting an arbitrary number in rupees at you; and in the end they will possibly get frustrated and most likely shout at you and then leave.
Like I already said before, I would definitely recommend going to India, but be careful. Do not expect anything from the LC. Therefore, only go to a city in which there are many other AIESECers.
Do not expect too much from you internship because you might end up getting frustrated. If you cannot stand heat, like me, you are going to have a hard time. The sweaty weather I did not like, in fact it was my least favourite part. Also, sometimes it is fairly hard to deal with all the beggars and poor people that surround you. One time, three little boys grabbed my leg and just would not
let ago anymore. It is such a cliché, but at times like that you realise how well off we are in Europe.
What I did like were the parties and weekend trips with other foreigners (and locals), the street food, the hospitals (yeah, you might get sick and some of your friends will for sure), every single rickshaw ride, the interaction with locals, getting to know the city and so much more. I could go on for hours, but I already rambled on for too long. So, if you have any questions, please, do
not hesitate to ask me.
Freek Soetenga
No comments:
Post a Comment