There were “whisperers” throughout my college application process. I had heard the name “Hamilton” mentioned at the ‘Diwali’ parties and prayer ceremonies — traditional Indian events that provide an excuse for well-to-do professionals to slip their child’s Ivy League status into all conversation.
It is either confused frowns or congratulatory expressions that one is greeted with if they mention Hamilton. Those who do not know it will judge and those who do will ask if you have compared it with Colgate. However, I had seen the little ‘NY’ abbreviation placed misleadingly next to ‘Clinton’ on Google and went straight for the bait. How could I not apply? A few months later, I was excited to visit the college I had been waitlisted for while simultaneously ruing the day I fell for Google’s location-based trickery.
I have traveled to the United States a few times in my life. As an Indian from Mumbai, I have relatives in all corners of the world. New York City is no exception. I have spent weeks, even months of my blissful summer holidays roaming the island of Manhattan with my family. Upstate New York is a far cry from those towering buildings and that indescribable stench of NYC.
At age 13, I was sent to a boarding school in England. That was where my first cultural transition took place, against my will. Hearing an English accent in films is one thing, discerning the tones amongst multiple accents that I had no knowledge of previously was a far greater challenge altogether. It took me years to pick up on the nuances of British culture. I had taken on facets from ‘British’ and spliced it into my own personality. And when it all clicked, it felt as if I had finally been allowed into a group from which I had previously been alienated. I no longer felt like an outsider.
My life has played out in phases during which my self-perception has been that of Indian, and then British. Coming to the USA, I have prepared for that same transition to occur again, but I am much more willing for it to take place this time.
I arrived at Hamilton with this mentality. All students here are a sum of lived experiences that define them in some way and add to the quality of the Hamilton community. International students are never too far from their home at this college. There are at least a few of us here that share a common country and culture of origin.
During my visit to the College in the spring of this year, I was given a tour by an Indian student, Shanay Wadhwani, the son of my father’s acquaintance back in Mumbai. He introduced me to his academic advisor, Andrew Dykstra, who is now my mathematics professor. And he invited me to sit in on his American social movements class led by Professor Britt-Hysell. And strangely enough, I have found myself in that same classroom with the very same professor teaching the American academic essay. It is funny how my visit turned out!
I can attest to the fact that the Hamilton community is tightly knit. Everyone brings something crucial with them and for international students, it is a compilation of their culture to share with students like themselves but also with a bright and accepting student body. I hope that this trait continues to be nourished here as it is vital to the growth of a multicultural liberal arts education beyond the classroom.
