Outside In will be trailing along after Udita Banerjee as she makes her first journey out of India to pursue graduate school in Edinburgh. As the first part of the Udita Goes International series, the wee bonnie lass shares her state of mind as she prepares for the upcoming adventure.

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I’m heading to Scotland to do my Masters for a year. It will be the first time I step out of home country India. First time ever!

Am I excited? No. Am I stressed? No. Am I nervous? No.

I am numb And blank. The last couple of months were hectic, and that’s an understatement. What with winning the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Scholarship 2012 and gathering everything for the visa application, booking tickets, getting forex, shifting bank accounts; you name it!

What is Edinburgh like in my head? For starters, it’s quiet and peaceful. I’m looking forward to quiet after the madness that Delhi has been for the last two-and-a-half years. I’m hoping for beauty — natural — not tombs and parks and sad buildings, but more on the lines of hills and beaches and sunsets.

I look forward to the University of Edinburgh’s fantastic teaching and learning opportunities, the cafes, the historic libraries. And bookshops! Oh, I’ve been craving for those ever since I’ve been in India (which is forever!)

I want some freedom. No telling me what time to be out till, who to be out with, when to walk alone, when to hail a cab, when not to hail a cab, when to walk, when what where, aaaargh! I’m done being a trapped bird in the cage called Delhi. After Manipal (which is where I did my undergraduation), Delhi was chains!

Edinburgh must must be everything that India is not.

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Udita Banerjee is 23 year old Indian who doesn’t think much of India. Her closest friends suspect her of being British in all her previous births. She has taken their good advice and is now heading to Edinburgh to do a Masters. No, not in English Literature, in Electronics. She loves tea and poetry, and hates chai, but you might have figured that out by now!