Below, Year 10 student Nathalie shares her memories from her World Classroom trip to India:

The trip to India was an experience which I will never forget.

We spent the first few days in Delhi, which is a very big city and a more modern part of India. We visited the kingdom of dreams on the second night. There, we got to see a Bollywood concert. It was so bright, active and colourful! I thought it was very interesting to watch the performance, as they told a story while dancing. On a rickshaw ride, we saw how some Indian people live. We were driven through small streets; sometimes the street was only wide enough to fit one rickshaw. We saw many small shops and homes. On the street there were people selling gifts, some of which I never saw before. But I thought it was really nice to see what India really is like, not just seeing the modern side of it.

While staying in Delhi, we also went to visit the Don Bosco School, and the visit gave us the opportunity to interact with people who are less fortunate than we are. The people looked very happy when we taught them how to use chopsticks and how to write Chinese characters. It was a very touching moment, seeing them smile, and their performance was very special--I enjoyed how all the people were participating. They all looked like they have been practising for a long time. It was a really nice experience making friends with them and getting to know more about them.

Agra was our next stop, and we went to see the Taj Mahal. It was impressive to see how the marble was put together so nicely. It took 22 years to finish building the Taj Mahal, which I think is quite a long time, but to make something this beautiful and to cut each shape alone is amazing. While we stayed in Agra we saw many different transportations, we saw people riding on camels, elephants, rickshaws, motorbikes, buses, cars…

We also learned a lot about Gandhi while we were in India. He impressed me a lot with what he did. With some struggles Gandhi was able to make India an independent country again. Giving up everything in order to fight for his country is something not everyone would do.

Overall, I thought the trip to India was a good experience for me and I would do it again because it was really nice seeing all those unfamiliar things. The surrounding was totally different, and I got to meet many nice people and became friends with some of them. I think we learn more about the country when we actually go and see for ourselves what it is like there, and that’s what we did.