Information Sciences and Technology

Dispatch from India: IST students settling in, having 'lots of firsts'

IST student dispatch from India series

Steve Garguilo, Joel Boucher, Matt Prindible and Larissa Andrejko are rising seniors in Penn State’s College of Information Sciences and Technology. They are spending this summer in Bangalore, India, interning for Honeywell International, a diversified technology and manufacturing corporation. They are blogging about their experiences on the other side of the world. Included in this second dispatch is the next installment from Garguilo’s blog.

Lots of firsts

Pretty eventful happenings the last few days since my last post. A lot of firsts: I managed to get sick for the first time -- not terrible, just some stomach issues, but I know that's part of the normal adjustment process. By the time I make it back to the U.S., I'm going to be immune to anything it can throw at me. I don't know if it was food or water or what, but I'm just going to take it a little more slowly with the food. It's all very spicy: breakfast, lunch, dinner, you name it. I like spicy, but I'm just going to need to get adjusted to it.

I also exchanged money for the first time. I handed over 160 U.S. dollars and 10 euros and was handed back about 8,000 rupees. The exchange rate is about 42 rupees for one U.S. dollar. Overall, things seem to be cheaper here than at home. For example, I can get a meal out somewhere for about 100 rupees, which is about $2.

Another first was my first day at our campus. I met my manager for the first time and some other people on my team. I'm not really sure yet what I'll be working on, but that should be sorted out by the end of the week.

The biggest positive to take out of everything so far is that everyone we've met and worked with has been so very nice. The human resources people here have all been absolutely fantastic, and the guys on my team also seem great. They're going through this for the first time as well, so I can understand that things are a little hectic here to start.

One first that I'm still waiting for is a hot shower. The apartments we're staying at are fantastic, but I always seem to catch the shower at the wrong time. I know Larissa gets a hot shower every day and Joel has been lucky as well, but I must be trying to get a shower at the same time as everyone else. I'm going to try some different times so I can start getting hot showers. Otherwise, it's going to be a long 10 weeks!

 

IST senior Steve Garguilo Credit: Jenna SpinelleAll Rights Reserved.

Last Updated November 18, 2010