Alumni | Advisors & Faculty | Contact

CET Academic Programs

Study abroad programs for college and gap students

Photo Essay: UW in India

Photos by Madeline Titus (American University) Student Correspondent UW in India: Varanasi, Spring 2018

The first few weeks have gone by very fast! Started in Delhi, moved into our homestays’ in Varanasi and took a weekend trip to Kolkata. Here are a few pictures from our trips.

Lodi Gardens Delhi
We began the semester with orientation in Delhi for a few days before heading to Varanasi where all of our classes will be. The Lodi Gardens is a quiet placed in the middle of Delhi with very old Muslim tombs and mosque from Pre-Mughal reign.
After arriving in Varanasi, we found out that one of the program staff, Sundar Rao, made an appearance in a Bollywood film about a famous boxer. Sundar plays a cop and is maybe in the film for a maximum of 5 seconds, but nonetheless, we all went to go see it on a Saturday afternoon. The picture is of the movie poster.
After the last day of orientation, we all have a welcoming banquet with all the staff members. At the banquet we also listened to a traditional Indian wind-instrument music. The drum like instruments are a tubla – they come in a set, shruti is the according-like instrument, and the main instrument of the performance was a shehnai, very similar to an oboe.
train compartment
Republic Day, January 26th, celebrates the day India’s constitution came into effect, and a national holiday – so no classes. We took the opportunity to visit Kolkata. We took an overnight train from Varanasi to Kolkata – everything went well, except for the fact that the train was delayed 6 hours and didn’t board till around 2am.
Kali Temple
The goddess, Durga, is widely popular in West Bengal, a form of Durga, Kali, know for wildness and killing demons has a very special temple in Kolkata that we visited. This is just the outside, no photographs are allowed.
St.Paul's
Kolkata was the former British Capital durning colonization, and has had a lot of influence to this day in the city especially with architecture.  Kolkata also has a larger Christian population than many other Indian cities, this is a picture of St. Paul’s Cathedral, apart of the Church of North India Cathedral of Anglican, inside the church has many plaques dedicated to those who have died – most are dated late 1800s to eary and mid 1900s.
While in Kolkata, there was a week-long Literature festival going on at Victoria Memorial, where we were able to see the Punjabi-Canadian poet Rupi Kaur read and perform live either spoken word or from her work Milk and Honey or The Sun and Her Flowers.
Rupi Kaur
Rupi Kaur
Mother Teresa Museum and Tomb
On the last day, myself and a few others, visited the “Motherhouse” Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity house and where Mother Teresa, lived, died and is buried. We were able to visit her tomb, her room and a museum dedicated to her work

Learn More about our Programs!