— Khushi M P
I first met Amalie at an informal Vannam meet, where we spoke about our countries, culture, college and more. I recently had the opportunity to interview her, to get a taste of what an exchange student’s experience at IITM is like. Amalie Farestvedt is a Norwegian foreign exchange student, currently in her third year, studying at the Department of Biotechnology. She has introduced the group ‘Effective Altruism’ to our college, which tries to be progressive and make the world a better place.
Hi Amalie, could you please introduce yourself?
Hello, my name is Amalie. I’m from Norway, and I study Biotechnology here. I am in my third year right now, and am on a semester exchange program for one year, so I’ll be here till May next year.
How did you know about IITM?
I knew a person who went to IITM. She told me about the campus, and I remember thinking that it sounds amazing. That’s where the idea of going to India came to me: I’d never thought about it before, but that’s how I ended up here.
Was there any particular reason you wanted to go to India?
It’s mostly because it’s such an interesting country. You know, when you’re far away, you know some things about India, but living here is a different experience altogether. I wanted to live here, and because it’s such a big country, one or two weeks would not be sufficient. I’ve been on a semester exchange before as well, so I know that one year gives you enough time to wander around and get a sense of the country.
What do you think IITM as an institute stands for, and what is your opinion on that?
Oh, that’s an interesting question! I’ve only been here for two and a half months, but I think you have different ideas regarding the administration and who you are. I think if you ask students, then I’m not too sure, everyone thinks differently, but I have a good opinion overall of the Institute. I’m still trying to figure things out and talk to people though.
How do you find the academic and social culture here, and comparing it to the routine life you led at college back home, what has changed since coming here?
That’s interesting. Academically, it has changed. Socially as well. I am more used to a kind of conceptual learning, not much memorising, and that is a slight change for me. Problem solving and teaching methods are a bit different. Our classes are smaller; not more than 30-40 people. But I quite enjoy this here. I think the professors here have more of a control over the courses, but back home, it is quite different. The Professor does not have full control over the course and how the semester will pan out.
I noticed that you have started the group ‘Effective altruism’ on campus, and you hold meetings quite often that are announced through smail. What exactly is this group?
Effective alriusim’s main idea is; we want to do good in life. We want to make the world better, and we want to be as smart as possible, while doing it. The world, unfortunately, has a lot of issues, so we try to help where we can. We try to measure which solutions are better, and choose the best one. It’s like a global philosophy of sorts, a kind of a big ethos, which people across the world believe in and are aligned to.
How was the general student response to the group? What did you expect from them and how has it panned out?
It’s not something I want to force on people, I want people to genuinely like it. It seems like they do at the moment. A lot of Indian students have appreciated the idea of effective altruism, but going forward, I would like more people to be interested. If not, then that’s okay too. The next step going forward would be to see if people are engaged enough to continue with this.
If you could change anything about the way things are happening with the group, what would you change?
I think I would want to get more of a solid member base, because as of now we have people coming and going. It would be nice if more people came back and contributed. It is effective only if people keep attending meetings and engage more with people in the group.
Do you see issues such as racism, sexism, homophobia on campus? If so, could you elaborate a bit on the ways they manifest in our daily life?
I have no experience but this comes from my background, but that’s not to say it doesn’t exist. I think maybe differences between sexes manifest differently and it may not be so plainly obvious. Over here, it’s something I’ve only heard from people, not seen or experienced.
As a biotech student, you would have to take a humanities elective. How was your experience been so far with that?
Yes, I have taken Development: Theory and Practice. I think I really like the course, and I really like the broader subject. But I don’t think how it’s been done has been to my liking, but compared to other courses, it’s not bad. It’s all about how a professor handles the course. Overall, I really enjoyed taking the course.
Do you think students here could be doing anything different to make the campus a better place to live?
I think we should open up more social arenas. I think that’s what makes life good. It should be easier to hang out with your friends on campus, so maybe if there are more places for that, it would help in combating loneliness and improving mental health in general. This is maybe the key factor, so this is one thing I would suggest.
Is there any final thing you’d like to say to the students of IITM?
I think I would like to say that I really appreciate everything, I find your campus beautiful and a lot of people are very welcoming and warm. It’s so beautiful and there’s a few people that make life a little less lonely. That’s just a really nice thing.
Edited by Devika Dinesh
Design by Archa Narayan
Article 19 