We danced together. We flied together. We lived together. More importantly, we “bound” together.

Different from any other colleges, NYU has a system called J-term (as you can read through the name, this program happens in every January). Being allowed to pick only one course, every student have a class at least 3 hours in a day, and it is often highly intense in order to finish the whole course in a single month. In NYUAD especially, it would not be a surprise if you asked any of the students whether or not he/she has a trip to another country during J-term. But, have you ever heard a course that has a nearly two and a half hours of “movement” class plus approximately one hour of discussion/lecture? So far from what I heard from other students, their eyes popped with amazement as I told them that this was what I did in my class– How Movement Makes Meaning.

Whenever someone asks me about my opinion about this course, there is one particular thing that I would always like to bring up, which is the “bond” that we created during the class. I am really proud of it. I believe there is no other course would be able to reach the idea of “bond” to a similar scale like us.

Typically, students who have the class with an international trip normally tie to each other more than regular or entirely study away course. Indeed, the trip is the usual way to shorten the distance with other classmates. What was special about us is that we were close even before the trip. The visiting to Varanasi is the catalyst that brought our relationship to a higher new level.

• 

The activities– such as leader/follower exercise, relaxation exercise, accumulation piece creation, and work observations– that we did during the class demand lots of physical engagement. Without breaking the distance comfort zone with the other person, the exercise would not shown be correctly. In addition, due to multiple opportunities to observe others’ work piece, we put our full attention and truly used our feeling to sense the person’s intension on each movement. As we know, a small detail can make a big difference. In order to accurately receive the message from the movement, we need to somehow understand what the person’s thought. Exploring into other people’s mind, we gradually formed an invisibility bond with each other as the days passed.

So, if we had this level of “bond” already, how did the trip elevate us to another level?

The key is the location we traveled– Varanasi, India. At least for me, the two cities that I knew in India are New Delhi and Mumbai– I have never heard of “Varanasi” before.

• 

“I feel I might die in any second.” This is exactly what my first impression for this place when we were on the took took. Without seatbelts or any further protection beside the passenger seats, we held our luggage and stuck ourselves super tight during the ride. Even with only three to five centimeter distance with the pedestrians or other vehicles, the drivers never care. While walking on the street, literally there was no stopping moment of car horn sound. I was expecting that the car horn would appear in every five second. Well, here is the result– I could not even count to five and another car horn just blasted into our ears. Moreover, the environment (cow fecal waste and all kind of trashes spreading around the road) and the cleanliness of the food (water, milk, fresh fruit & vegetable) were terrifying. Our lives did not only got threaten by physically but also our internal body systems were challenged as well. Nevertheless, despite from these, the overall trip was amazing (as you can read from the other blogs about our experiences in Varanasi), mainly because of the accompany of our wonderful Professor Debra, Tegan, and all the classmates.

Right now, though I look forward to the spring semester, I cannot imagine myself sitting in the classroom all the time. I must move.

This course has dramatically shifted my view on what an interesting course should be, and I am glad that I chose this course and really appreciate that this course has chosen me, too.

The “bond” has become stronger within us. It can never be broken. It will forever be there.

by Yuki