I had high expectations about the time I would spend in India when departing from the UK. The experience still managed to far exceed them. It has re-shaped my career aspirations and has in this respect been a life changing experience. You learn a lot about yourself when you are thrown into a situation like that. It felt like a crash course in problem solving in the toughest of environments and I'm sure that the skills I learnt in the small time I had in India will serve me in the future. It was also a great opportunity to meet people from all over the world. I made many friends, both volunteers and Indians, who I now write to regularly. The opportunity to see Indian culture from the inside, something that few tourists get an opportunity to do, is definitely something that I will never forget.