Morning Tuk-Tuk Ride
SA: SIT International Honors Program
Alina, one of the Semester Abroad Correspondents, shares her experience abroad during the Spring 2025 semester. Follow along with the group of correspondents on our blog and look out for their images on the @pennabroad Instagram feed.
This morning, just as I was about to step into my tuk-tuk for my daily half-hour ride to school, I happened to turn my head to zip up my backpack. Deepa Ji, my host mom, was standing at the balcony on the third floor, making sure I boarded the vehicle safely. Over the next few days, I made it a point to glance up discreetly, and sure enough, she was always there, watching over me with quiet vigilance. No words, no grand gestures – just her presence, a silent shield of care. It’s the little things, these small but profound acts of love, that make my heart ache with gratitude.
My study abroad program places my cohort of 26 students with host families across Southeast Delhi. Deepa Ji is reserved and gentle. She helps me practice Hindi, and I help her with English. We watched her favorite Bollywood movie together, she accommodates my food allergies without me even asking, and her smile brightens my day. Yesterday, she told me she’d miss me while I was at school; I feel an overwhelming sense of love, care, and safety. Love is expressed in so many different forms, and how lucky am I to experience yet another one?
My program is structured – 9-to-5 classes and a 9 p.m. curfew. There is so much routine. Every morning, I call a tuk-tuk to school, and every morning, Archna Ji, the program coordinator, won’t let me step into the classroom without first wrapping me in a warm hug. I feel intensely connected to my cohort. There’s something unspokenly unifying about the fact that we all chose to spend our semester here. We understand each other as if we’ve grown up together; I never knew a bond this deep could form so quickly.
I’ve been thinking about how the transition from high school to college never felt smooth to me. One day, you’re a kid, and the next, you’re legally an adult, living on your own. I expected a sense of finality or a symbolic shift, but instead, it felt like just another day – another box checked off. I kept waiting for a moment where I would suddenly feel like an adult, but it never came. This program is beautiful because it rewinds back the clock a bit and helps me grasp onto childhood a little longer: 9-5 class, curfews, homemade meals, big hugs.
Paradoxically, this stability – the knowledge that I am cared for even in a completely new environment – is what has helped me find my footing and shape my independence. I bargain at the markets in my mother tongue, I’ve learned my host mom’s secret chai recipe, and I can feel my identity finally piecing together. My entire family lives in India, and I am learning about the culture, the history, and how that has informed my upbringing. India is a country of contradictions, as my professor delicately put it on our first day of class. I’m now learning about the good and the bad in a way Western media never showed me. I’m slowly thinking for myself and becoming an adult in every sense of the word.
It’s another morning in Delhi, and I’ve left my AirPods at home. In my tuk-tuk, I listen to the symphony of horns around me, soak in the sun, and take note of the smog. I make small talk with my driver, and I let my hair ruffle in the wind. Yesterday, we were sightseeing at the beautiful Lodhi Gardens. The day before, I learned about India’s unique community health model with ASHA helpers through visiting the Priyanka Camp. Tomorrow, we’re leaving for Udaipur. We are so overstimulated, but I’m no longer desensitized. My cohort and chosen family help me process and absorb as I exhale into the comfort of collectivist culture.
My host brother reminded me that next week, I’ll have to leave India behind. I know that this too is temporary, as all things are. But the time will pass anyways, and the growth I’ve achieved will not be temporary. The moments are fleeting, but all I know is that the purple shade of the tuk-tuk is the same as my childhood bedroom’s and the breeze is puffing up my hair and I feel immensely lucky that all paths led to me being able to experience this moment now.
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