Heading to Canada on a three-month research internship, I was not sure what to expect. It could be a stereotype, but Canadians are known to be very polite. The summers, I was told, were the best time of the year to visit. So there were at least a couple of things I knew would work out. Applying for the scholarship was my way of finding out whether I wanted to consider research in the social sciences as a career option or leave my academic aspirations behind. Lady Luck was shining quite decisively in my favour as I got assigned a senior professor who was generous enough to take the time out and teach me the ropes. For the next three months, I spent my time in a room surrounded by ceiling-to-floor bookshelves populated by textbooks in comparative politics, typing away steadily at my wizened laptop halfway around the world.
Cozy campusThe University of Windsor, my host university for the duration of my stay, is a cozy campus on the banks of the Detroit River. It is on the border of Canada and the U.S., and on a quiet Windsor evening, you can even hear the particularly loud music from riverside clubs on the other side. The majestic buildings on the American side stand out against the small homes on the Windsor banks and you feel a sense of peace descend upon you — the bustle of modern life, the impersonal interactions that seem to define growth; it all lies on the other side of the river. At Windsor, you have the time to lie on the grass with geese for company, blow dandelions into the air, speak to strangers on the sidewalk about the everchanging weather, stroll downtown because you have an hour to spare.
At the university, the cafeteria lady will chide you for eating a muffin for lunch, the girl at the local Subway will know your order by heart at the end of a couple of weeks and you will soon come to recognize every face in your dorm, fellow students spending their summer on campus.
Studying abroad came with its own challenges and rewards, magnified by my choice of subject. Focusing largely on Indian politics and sociology under the guidance of a non-Isndian professor, my assumptions and biases were questioned every step of the way.
Every move had to be justified and every sentence needed to be self-explanatory. Nothing was taken for granted and every argument was pre-structured and pre-planned. The perspective that this change provides is indescribable, forcing one to rationally question every claim, think through every word. The process of writing an academic article itself is quite challenging, a task populated by drafts and rewrites. You wouldn’t know how many colours the track changes on your word processor can adopt until you start working on a research paper!
The deep end
An article this length does no justice to three months of learning, academic and otherwise. My guide has shaped the way I approach academic writing. He gave me the confidence to ask questions that some may claim are controversial and problematic and set the enthusiastic but inexperienced student I was on the path of a possible future in research.
The university threw me into the deep end of the pool in terms of growing up and being independent. Suddenly, I was faced with the prospect of planning grocery trips and cooking dinner after work, and it is surprising how quickly one learns to adapt to that routine.
Windsor, in its characteristic small-town way, showed me how welcoming a set of strangers could be. My farewell dinner was attended by Indian, Pakistani, Mexican, American, Canadian and Chinese students among others, all of whom had found, and shared, a slice of comfort on those streets in the southernmost tip of mainland Canada. Most people wonder where in the world Windsor is. I spent three months finding the answer and loved every minute, every person, every opportunity that contributed to that discovery.
