My Thoughts on Moving to Delhi

Moving to Delhi from Jakarta was not an easy thing for me to do, as I was leaving behind friends and teachers whom I had known throughout most of my life. As far as transitions go however, my transition form Jakarta International School to the American Embassy School has been remarkably easy, mainly because the two schools are alike in nearly every respect. From curriculum to facilities, even the teacher’s personalities are mostly the same. The transition wasn’t hard because AES is an international school, and most international schools on that scale share pretty much the same ideas/curriculum/activities, so for me, it was like going back to JIS, just smaller.

There are differences however, the most obvious being the size of the two schools. JIS has 3000+ students, while AES in total has something like 1000. AES also possesses a gym, with treadmills and everything, which I use twice a week. The respective curriculums, as mentioned above, are pretty much the same, although AES offers a few more extracurricular activities.

The two cities share their similarities and their differences. Jakarta is as polluted, noisy, and chaotic as Delhi, but much less crowded. There’s also better infrastructure, which allows for the predictability of traffic jams, thereby making them easy to avoid with a bit of planning. It also rains much more frequently in Jakarta (Heck, there are only three seasons, semi-dry, wet, and very wet) and overall, Jakarta is a little cleaner than Delhi. Delhi is much, much greener, with trees found nearly everywhere and boasting many parks. Jakarta is somewhat green, but most of the trees are found in neighborhoods, while in Delhi the greenery is found pretty much everywhere.

The big problem that I have with living in Delhi is that it is much more noisier than Jakarta, and there is SO MUCH HONKING DEAR GOD! Aside from that, there is also the fact that Delhi is super crowded, and, unlike Jakarta, traffic jams are just as likely to pop up on neat, state of the art roads as they are on the less state of the art roads. It also gets freezing cold in the winter, something that I’m experiencing now. Delhi is actually a much nicer place to live than other Indian cites, chiefly because of its environmental regulations and the sheer amount of greenery that can be found. 

Moving is never easy, especially not for someone like me, who is not the best at making friends. I think that Delhi and AES were the right places for me, as I have fit in very comfortably and easily. While I still do miss my old friends, the wonders of email and the like have allowed me to remain in touch, so that even while I’m far away and making new friends, I still have a tangible link with my past.