UTC Info
I guess as I settle into United Theological College, you might also wish to know a little about the school – and my first week getting oriented. The school evidently has students from all over the country (and each state in India can be extremely different culturally) and it is an ecumenical institution, so there’s a variety of denominations as well. Students are presently on break between term 1 and term 2 (Term 2 is what I’m here for from Sept 25-Dec. 1), so I have been getting acclimated by meeting some staff, faculty, and lots of people coming through the Ecumenical Resource Center (ERC). This has been extremely helpful!
The ERC is really an amazing place. My room is in the building adjacent to the ERC
modern ‘hostel’ (in photo, my place is viewed just to the right of all these sculpted heads - the inset gray building between the white building in the center and the one with overhangs on the right. I'm on the second floor. The ERC hostel is mostly unseen in the photo, to the right.) I have been most connected with them this week as I have had all my meals there. New groups and individuals from all over the world seem to come through here for conferences, courses, or just passing through. The food is spiced down a little for us Westerners, and there is cornflakes and toast once in awhile at breakfast to accompany the spicy Indian breakfast. It has been a nice way to ease in, but I will begin eating at the student mess starting Sunday. It is a lot less expensive there and if I really want to know what student life is like, I need to be with them for meals! I think I’ll keep getting drinking water and newspaper reading opportunities at the ERC in the future.
I’m presently at the Library, which is a big, beautiful building and at this time, it’s still rather quiet. There are not many computers for student use, so I wonder how it will work out once the masses return! As I try to understand systems here, I have had about 50% success rate in getting questions answered to my satisfaction. Even if I do get an answer, I’m not sure if it will change the next day. Yes, I’m practicing my patience and flexibility!! I was rather surprised to realize that Henrika and I are the only two international students here this coming term. Although I was hoping for a bit larger int’l community, I am extremely thankful for Henrika. More about her in a minute.
As an ecumenical exchange student, I have the flexibility to take whichever courses I wish (from either the B.D. offerings, which is the same as our Masters of Divinity courses… or from the Masters in Theology courses). I waited all week to get the final course schedule so that I could plan my courses, but even now I only have the BD course times and do not know which classes I will actually take. For now, I will for sure take the Intro to the Religions of India course and attend some others about Indian Society, Politics, Economics and Philosophies. I plan to sit in on various courses without taking them for credit – audit them to absorb as much learning as I possibly can!
I am officially r
egistered with the Bangalore Police Commissioner as an international student until the end of December. This process has been challenging - with lots of paperwork, running back and forth to the Commissioner’s office, and a TON of waiting. BUT, it is done and I was thankful to the school’s Receptionist, Jessie, for her assistance and for accompanying me through it all. Jessie has been at UTC for 40 years and I am sure thankful to have made friends with her, because she is the one who KNOWS EVERYTHING and runs the place. Other institutional administrators will know exactly what I’m talking about! She is a tiny, vivacious woman who rushed me from office to office saying, “Come! Come!” to me every five seconds, but she also kept my attitude up when our patience was being tested.
By the way, I am officially 10 ½ hours ahead of MN in time zones. I don’t have a phone in my room and have to go outside the campus to make long-distance calls, so I guess I’ll rely on Yahoo messenger with Voice or Skype at the internet café down the road a little ways. The school has all sorts of rules about study hours, involvement in all campus activities, and curfew – I’m curious about how strict they are about enforcement. If anyone wants to send me a letter, the address here is:
PO Box 4613
63, Miller’s Road
Bangalore 560 046, India
And if you needed to contact me in emergencies or leave a message, you could use the ERC phone # 011-91-80-23339269
I have taken my first two auto rickshaw rides to M.G. Road a couple times. That’s the busy main part of the city. Henrika (photo right) was again very helpful in this venture. She is bold in trying things out. We are paired together for most everything and I am thankful to have someone else to process with about t
he information we are getting. She is kind of quiet – or at least does not initiate a lot of conversation. She is 23 years old. She even knew Ligretto when I forced her to play with me!! We probably won’t be the best of friends, but you’ll probably hear a lot about her throughout the next couple months. The other person I’ve bonded with is a 37 yr old nun from the Solomon Islands named Veronica (photo left). She’s been a part of a Cross-Cultural Ministry experience through the Council of World Mission. Her group is made up of people from all over the world and they finish their 7 weeks of travel in India today. I was invited to attend their closing celebration, which was my first ‘official’ event at UTC. There have been lots of other ‘characters’ I’ve meet at the ERC as well.
I also explored the area around the school by walking quite a bit as well. I quickly developed sinus problems from all the crap I have inhaled on the busy streets, so I have been trying to double medicate myself for the sinus congestion and the sleep deprivation from jet lag. I’ve had several awake nights, which is not only distressing as I am restless in my bed, but also have caused a bit of crabbiness from being over-tired during the day. It’s coming along, and I think the routine of classes beginning next week will also help.
During an afternoon tea break, a monkey decided to hover over our gathering, but ended up being more curious than hungry, so he just sat and watched from 3 ft above our heads. There was a Hindu holiday one day, but no one was able to tell me what it was about (most people here at UTC didn’t even know there was a holiday!) And a Bangalore man I met at Luther Seminary (Sam Harry) stopped to visit me and check up on how I’m doing one morning as well. How nice! The weather and the food has been FANTASTIC. Overall, I’m doing well, but trying to take it slow. I’m already working through some spiritual lessons and psychological/philosophical questions as I read the Bhagavad Gita (a Hindu book of poetry/story) in my times of sleep deprivation. May as well start this ‘love the struggle’ growth process right away, huh? When I do sleep, my dreams are filled with friends from home while incorporating new things from India. It’s a trip!
Missing you all,
Sara
The ERC is really an amazing place. My room is in the building adjacent to the ERC
modern ‘hostel’ (in photo, my place is viewed just to the right of all these sculpted heads - the inset gray building between the white building in the center and the one with overhangs on the right. I'm on the second floor. The ERC hostel is mostly unseen in the photo, to the right.) I have been most connected with them this week as I have had all my meals there. New groups and individuals from all over the world seem to come through here for conferences, courses, or just passing through. The food is spiced down a little for us Westerners, and there is cornflakes and toast once in awhile at breakfast to accompany the spicy Indian breakfast. It has been a nice way to ease in, but I will begin eating at the student mess starting Sunday. It is a lot less expensive there and if I really want to know what student life is like, I need to be with them for meals! I think I’ll keep getting drinking water and newspaper reading opportunities at the ERC in the future.I’m presently at the Library, which is a big, beautiful building and at this time, it’s still rather quiet. There are not many computers for student use, so I wonder how it will work out once the masses return! As I try to understand systems here, I have had about 50% success rate in getting questions answered to my satisfaction. Even if I do get an answer, I’m not sure if it will change the next day. Yes, I’m practicing my patience and flexibility!! I was rather surprised to realize that Henrika and I are the only two international students here this coming term. Although I was hoping for a bit larger int’l community, I am extremely thankful for Henrika. More about her in a minute.
As an ecumenical exchange student, I have the flexibility to take whichever courses I wish (from either the B.D. offerings, which is the same as our Masters of Divinity courses… or from the Masters in Theology courses). I waited all week to get the final course schedule so that I could plan my courses, but even now I only have the BD course times and do not know which classes I will actually take. For now, I will for sure take the Intro to the Religions of India course and attend some others about Indian Society, Politics, Economics and Philosophies. I plan to sit in on various courses without taking them for credit – audit them to absorb as much learning as I possibly can!
I am officially r
egistered with the Bangalore Police Commissioner as an international student until the end of December. This process has been challenging - with lots of paperwork, running back and forth to the Commissioner’s office, and a TON of waiting. BUT, it is done and I was thankful to the school’s Receptionist, Jessie, for her assistance and for accompanying me through it all. Jessie has been at UTC for 40 years and I am sure thankful to have made friends with her, because she is the one who KNOWS EVERYTHING and runs the place. Other institutional administrators will know exactly what I’m talking about! She is a tiny, vivacious woman who rushed me from office to office saying, “Come! Come!” to me every five seconds, but she also kept my attitude up when our patience was being tested.By the way, I am officially 10 ½ hours ahead of MN in time zones. I don’t have a phone in my room and have to go outside the campus to make long-distance calls, so I guess I’ll rely on Yahoo messenger with Voice or Skype at the internet café down the road a little ways. The school has all sorts of rules about study hours, involvement in all campus activities, and curfew – I’m curious about how strict they are about enforcement. If anyone wants to send me a letter, the address here is:
PO Box 4613
63, Miller’s Road
Bangalore 560 046, India
And if you needed to contact me in emergencies or leave a message, you could use the ERC phone # 011-91-80-23339269
I have taken my first two auto rickshaw rides to M.G. Road a couple times. That’s the busy main part of the city. Henrika (photo right) was again very helpful in this venture. She is bold in trying things out. We are paired together for most everything and I am thankful to have someone else to process with about t
he information we are getting. She is kind of quiet – or at least does not initiate a lot of conversation. She is 23 years old. She even knew Ligretto when I forced her to play with me!! We probably won’t be the best of friends, but you’ll probably hear a lot about her throughout the next couple months. The other person I’ve bonded with is a 37 yr old nun from the Solomon Islands named Veronica (photo left). She’s been a part of a Cross-Cultural Ministry experience through the Council of World Mission. Her group is made up of people from all over the world and they finish their 7 weeks of travel in India today. I was invited to attend their closing celebration, which was my first ‘official’ event at UTC. There have been lots of other ‘characters’ I’ve meet at the ERC as well.I also explored the area around the school by walking quite a bit as well. I quickly developed sinus problems from all the crap I have inhaled on the busy streets, so I have been trying to double medicate myself for the sinus congestion and the sleep deprivation from jet lag. I’ve had several awake nights, which is not only distressing as I am restless in my bed, but also have caused a bit of crabbiness from being over-tired during the day. It’s coming along, and I think the routine of classes beginning next week will also help.
During an afternoon tea break, a monkey decided to hover over our gathering, but ended up being more curious than hungry, so he just sat and watched from 3 ft above our heads. There was a Hindu holiday one day, but no one was able to tell me what it was about (most people here at UTC didn’t even know there was a holiday!) And a Bangalore man I met at Luther Seminary (Sam Harry) stopped to visit me and check up on how I’m doing one morning as well. How nice! The weather and the food has been FANTASTIC. Overall, I’m doing well, but trying to take it slow. I’m already working through some spiritual lessons and psychological/philosophical questions as I read the Bhagavad Gita (a Hindu book of poetry/story) in my times of sleep deprivation. May as well start this ‘love the struggle’ growth process right away, huh? When I do sleep, my dreams are filled with friends from home while incorporating new things from India. It’s a trip!
Missing you all,
Sara
posted by Namasday | 12:15 AM
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