Kumbh Mela is the biggest pilgrimage festival in the world and in fact also by far the largest gathering of people for any purposes anywhere. This festival attracts tens of millions people every about 12 years, when it takes place in Allahabad (Uttar Pradesh, India). The pilgrims’ crowd is so big, it could even be seen from space. The main purpose of the Kumbh Mela pilgrimage is to bathe at the Triveni, in the most holy of places – the confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna, and the mythical river Saraswati.

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When I was in the 11th grade of my school education, I went on a student exchange program to India with the German exchange organization YFU (Youth for Understanding). This is now about five years ago and though the Indian exchange program of YFU is growing and other exchange organizations have followed, I'm still asked very often “Why India?! I didn't even know that this is possible.” Yes, a student exchange program to India is possible, and it's definitively one of the best experiences of my life so far.

Of course, living as a 16-year-old Western girl in India for one year wasn't always easy. During my first weeks in India I was – quite frankly speaking – shocked. The first days I stayed with some other exchange students at the office of YFU in Delhi. It was the beginning of July, just before the monsoon, and thus very hot and humid. This alone was exhausting for us. But there was so much else: masses of people, often staring people, poverty, garbage, and a lot of different smells and noises. The language was different and even the Indian English was difficult for us to understand.

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You are thinking about going abroad, studying away from home for a few semesters? You are considering China among your choices? You want to know more about your chances and opportunities in China, which problems and difficulties you will have to deal with? China is the place to be. China makes a great place to study. In the past few years the country has done well in improving the study conditions for foreigners, while the Chinese Scholarship Council (CSC) offers more and more scholarships to students from abroad. Therefore the number of foreign students studying at Chinese universities has risen dramatically. But what is it that draws the interest of more than 250,000 foreign students annually to China?

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Jesús from Madrid, Spain, is a true devotee of everything Chinese. When he, with the help of a government grant, finally went to experience life among the Chinese people in Taiwan, he got hooked to the culture and now plans to build his career there. From starting out as a language student to working for national radio and lecturing at universities, in the five years since he made the move he never regretted his decision. Not least due to the high demand of native language teachers in Taiwan his future looks very promising. The enthusiasm he expressed in our interview will be an inspiration for many.

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When I first applied for an internship in India all I could think of was: chaos, dust, traffic jams, smells, and millions of poor people. That was my preconceived image of India. Much of what I had in mind was basically negative, but at the same time all the people I know that have been to India told me that India is an amazing country, that I will enjoy it a lot and that making an internship there will change my life. I did not understand that completely, but as I like my life to be uncertain, as I love not to know what is going to happen tomorrow and as I truly believe in CARPE DIEM: I thought I should just do it.

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