Wur-dan gor-dae? I slowly still stumble with these words that mean, “How are you?” in Norwegian. It is all these little things that we bring back home with us. The apartment C2 at Maison Raja, became home and on the day of departure, it felt like we were clearing out our home. I wanted to get back home after the 10 weeks, but I couldn’t bear the idea of leaving the beautiful Pondicherry. More importantly, it became difficult to go away from the people who I had lived with, whose faces I saw every day from breakfast till the night when we would sit at the rooftop and talk about nothing.

Faces might become blurred, but we remember how they laughed with us and how time was made shorter by them. The farewell party organized by Kulturstudier and the one we had in our apartments and the rooftop were emotional for us. The last 10 weeks had passed us by, as if in a blink. It had all ended too soon.

There are so many things to recall: the days spent on the beach, yoga classes, Bollywood dance classes. Some evenings when no one felt like cooking, we would go out suddenly without any plans. Out of all the places we hung out at, the rooftop is what perhaps everyone misses the most. It was everything from group paper meeting spot to Friday night party spot.

We spent only 10 weeks there, which is so little time that we don’t even realize when it passes by. But in memory, the 10 weeks are longer than many years. Spending all our time together brought us so close that even the thought of departure made us wonder how we would wake up to not seeing these faces at breakfast tomorrow morning. The experience gave me friends that I would love to keep for my entire life and 10 weeks that I will never forget. Pondicherry remains close to my heart but even closer are the things that I now associate Pondicherry with.

P.S. If you’re still wondering whether you should take up this course in faraway Pondicherry, just take it. You will not regret it.