Travelling is one of the most charming adventures of life – visiting different countries and cultures, discovering new places and habits. But some travels are different – sometimes you feel the need not just to travel to a country, but to live it, purely.

That was my idea when first I decided to come to India. In my imagination, it was such a captivating place to experience and I was deeply curious to enjoy Indian culture. However, I had some prejudices that were making me a bit scared to spend much time in the country. People around me kept telling me India is not a safe place, diseases are very dangerous and the hygiene conditions are awfully bad. When I landed, my head was full of this.

After one month spent in India, I can say reality is different from the European view. I am living in an Indian host family that treats me as good as an actual member of their family. I learnt so much from them that a thousand words won`t be enough to explain it all. At the beginning, it might be shocking (and it was for me too), but it is very easy to get used to the living conditions, local food, and various habits.

After a few days, everything became really easy and I started to enjoy time with the family -playing with the kids, learning Kannada words from the grandfather, and showing photos of my life back in Europe to the host mother. I spent time with them handling daily issues (power loss, insects and snakes) or during holidays and religious ceremonies and I loved it.

Living in a host family was probably the most touching emotion of my entire life and one month is definitely not enough. I strongly recommend it to everyone who is looking for something different from just travelling.