This summer, St. Cloud State University’s College of Science & Engineering has sent two SCSU students, Ali Almanasif and  Peter Ojambo, to India. The students are completing an internship at JK Lakshmi  Cement Company. The internships were arranged through the JKLU-SCSU Internship Exchange program, a partnership between SCSU and a university in India. The partnership creates internship abroad opportunities for students from both institutions. We are tracking the students’ progress here on the COSE International Programs blog. Check back periodically to hear more about their experiences abroad.

Peter’s Experience in India, Journal Entry 3:

You can’t say you have experienced all of India without experiencing the monsoon period.  Prior to our fourth week, we had sunny skies and high temperatures – then we had our very first introduction to monsoon weather. It rained nearly every day and rather than getting wet from the heat making us sweat, we got drenched with rain nearly everyday.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While walking it would appear as if you were stepping into a puddle of rain, but once you made that step, everything would turn into a pool of water.  I’ve got to say that, I’m loving the rain because it’s keeping the temperatures down, but it’s keeping me away from my daily exercise routine of playing basketball and football (soccer) with the people of the colony.  I guess the weather is telling me it’s crunch time, time to stay in and focus more on what I really came here to do.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What a better way to end a new experience other than with a bang, right?

We had learned about the mining process at JK Lakshmi Cement, but never got to see the mining actually take place. Realizing that our time in at JK Lakshmi Cement was coming to end we were even more determined to see the blasting process.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once we arrived to the mining site, we received pertinent information on procedures and finally, watched the process occur.  Unfortunately, we did not witness the 9-meter holes being dug, but we saw the explosives put inside.  After a while we were taken far away to a safe location to see the blasting.  The explosives were so loud and made the whole ground shake.  The video we took of the blasting would do a good job of illustrating how loud the blasting was – it was quite the way to end our time here in India.