My life at Northwestern

This academic year has started a little earlier for me. I flew in in the beginning of September and took part in the student orientation for the incoming international freshmen. This orientation program is designed to help the international students adapt to the life in the US and help them feel more comfortable with the university environment in general. Because I have a lot of fond memories of this orientation and a lot of my current friends are people whom I have met during this orientation last year, I decided to take part in it again, this time as a peer advisor.

Because the quarter has not started until a week after the orientation, I have used this free time to move in into my new apartment that I currently share with two friends from India. Living with them is a big cultural experience for me. I have learned to like the Indian cuisine and have seen probably way too many Bollywood movies. Almost every week a big part of the Indian student community meets in our apartment and sometimes it feels as if I’m living in the heart of Mumbai.

This academic quarter is also as fast paced as the previous ones. I am currently enrolled in classes from the field of psychology, econometrics and astronomy. All the professors are experts in their respective fields which makes the lectures both interesting and demanding. However, I have to say that the professors from the psychology department are so far my most favorite. All of the ones I have met are not only extremely knowledgeable, but also very approachable, which is why I have been visiting some of them during the office hours not only to talk about the class material, but also about other topics, including their current research.

Even the hockey season is currently in full swing. After a terrible start, when our team lost 5 of the first games, we have finally found our pace and we managed to decisively win the last 5 matches. If we maintain the current level of our game, we might have the chance to get into the national playoffs, which would be a historical success for Northwestern.

A big part of my current activities is also my position as the “Global Wildcat Coordinator” in the international department of our admissions office. The goal of our organization is to assist international prospective students with their application process and to connect them with the International community at Northwestern. The activities that I am responsible for include email and Skype communication with prospective students, or meetings with the students who decided to visit our campus.

As you can see, there is a big variety of activities that you can take part in at Northwestern and I have been trying to take full advantage of the opportunities that have been given to me by both Northwestern and the Kellner Family Foundation.