January 30, 2024

Pivoting

The GCILers have officially completed one week of working with our individual programs! Huzzah! It has been really fun to see everyone start to branch off into their own work groups and organizations. It has also been interesting to see how things are starting off for everyone. Some organizations have more structure than others. Some students are still spending a lot of time at UTC while others seem to never be around anymore. It may be cheesy to say, but it makes me miss when the whole group was together. After just three weeks of bus rides, activities, and sicknesses with this group, I find that I miss when I am not around everyone. I will see a fellow GCILer after just a couple of days and feel like I have not seen them in months. I believe this just goes to show the importance of the experiences we are having and how interesting the work we will be doing is.

So far my group, Biome, has been getting started on a couple of different projects. Our organization does not have a formal office, so we are one of the groups getting very familiar with the UTC couches. From a number of site visits and zoom calls, we have learned about rainwater harvesting systems on government schools, wells, shallow and deep aquifers, the elevation and topography of Bangalore, and groundwater flow. Taking topics we have learned inside the classroom in Seattle and seeing how they apply to and develop in a completely new city has been one of my favorite parts. Seattle is just feet above sea level while Bangalore is on a plateau. Seattle has a rather drawn out rainy season with lots of misty, drizzly days. Bangalore experiences a monsoon season with heavy, days-long rainfall. It is a new perspective learning about Bangalore in these technical aspects as opposed to the visual and sensory aspects I am much more abruptly aware of. Our current projects consist of writing reports on already in-place rainwater harvesting systems and strategy reports for systems still in the design phase.

As we turn this corner with our professional work, we are also turning a corner with our GCIL work. Our assignments are slowly turning from understanding the problem-solving process to actually defining a problem to solve. This task is both daunting and exciting. Like being allowed to drive a car for the first time. It’s what we’ve all been preparing for, but now it’s really go-time. I am excited to see where this pivot takes everyone in the upcoming weeks.

By Elena